I liked the remote mines a lot more. You could go hide in the vent in facility and look at other people's screens to see where they were. When they got to the right place, bam, you detonated the mine.
The "problem" with remote mines was that you could throw a mine and press A+B at the same time while it was still in mid-air. BOOM! Instant detonation! So you'd be able to just insta-kill people who weren't expecting it.
Eventually it balanced out because everyone would be a lot more careful about getting close and going around corners, but ... let's just say that raegquits are a lot more fun in-person :)
Yes! Left joystick + R + left C, twirl around and end up back in the vent. Plant a mine at the spawn point and hope you don't end up there when you die before someone else does!
God that was a great game.