Reverse tears

Was taking a look at this video about the blue shell.
In short:
Blue shell in mario cart is a homing missile that spawns very frequently if you are far behind, almost never if you are 1st or 2nd. It targets specifically the 1st and often hits the 2nd too with its blast.
It causes tears to players that are far ahead but in the end is a good feature because:
Makes the game more "close". Instead of having the best players so far ahead you can't catch them unless they make a mistake, the blue shell artificially stops them so that they have to join again the competition (also removing 1st position boredom). Player in 1st position still have a chance to avoid the effect but it is usually through a very difficult stunt.
Do the guns and muskets, with their % based damage, qualify as a "blue shell" feature?
Are there more / better ways of implementing blue shells in Salem?
In short:
Blue shell in mario cart is a homing missile that spawns very frequently if you are far behind, almost never if you are 1st or 2nd. It targets specifically the 1st and often hits the 2nd too with its blast.
It causes tears to players that are far ahead but in the end is a good feature because:
Makes the game more "close". Instead of having the best players so far ahead you can't catch them unless they make a mistake, the blue shell artificially stops them so that they have to join again the competition (also removing 1st position boredom). Player in 1st position still have a chance to avoid the effect but it is usually through a very difficult stunt.
Do the guns and muskets, with their % based damage, qualify as a "blue shell" feature?
Are there more / better ways of implementing blue shells in Salem?