Mario Kart Wii – Everything You Need to Know

Thumb - Image 1More of the same? Hardly – Nintendo’s Wii-bound entry in the Mario Kart franchise will be carrying some admittedly cool new tweaks that put it in a class of its own. Now if you want to know exactly what sort of goodies Mario Kart Wii has under its hood, you can check them out in the full article.

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In just a few more days, North America will begin receiving their copies of Nintendo’s much awaited Mario Kart Wii. More than just another Mario Kart title, however, this game promises to carry some truly innovative features that aim to give the franchise a glossy new coat of paint.

There’s the matter of its use of the console’s Wiimote motion sensing features for one, and then there’s also the fact that it’s the first Kart game to brag full online support. Now we invite you, the reader to visit our preview piece so that we can give you a taste of what’s in store for you and your friends as soon as Mario Kart Wii hits the shelves.

You may want grab a chair while you’re reading (and maybe a snack) – we’ll also be displaying a full list of Mario Kart Wii‘s characters and tracks, both default and unlocked. Now, before you get started on the game there’s the matter of which control scheme you’ll be using to drive.

Controls

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know 


Besides Mario Kart Wii‘s online play – and we’ll get to that later – one of the more exciting aspects of the game is its new support for the motion-sensitive Wiimote. Players can choose between two setups for Nintendo’s magical white wand. The first involves the Wiimote and Nunchuck combo: Steer using the analog thumbstick, and accelerate, perform tricks, and drift with the Wiimote.

Using the Wiimote solo is just a matter of flipping the controller on its side, and tilting as you would a real steering wheel. For better effect, you’ll want to slap it in the Wii Wheel accessory that comes with the game. Not only will this make the drive more immersive, you might even bag yourself the coveted Golden Wheel if your skills prove worthy during the online bouts.

Got an urge to go old-school? No prob – Mario Kart Wii will also includes support for the GameCube controller, and the the Classic controller attachment for the Wiimote. Those a little apprehensive about trying out the title’s new control schemes may want to use these setups shot. Just be warned: Some of the motion-based moves that are executable on the Wiimote rigs won’t be available for these two control schemes.

It’s-a-Mii! – Mario Kart Wii‘s character lineup

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know 

After you’ve chosen which control scheme best suits your taste, we’ll move on to the next event: choosing your character. You’ll want to take your time with this though – Mario Kart Wii

has by far the largest character roster in the Kart franchise. Of course, no matter how big the game, there can only be one lead role – You (what, you were expecting Mario?).

Yup – Mario Kart Wii will allow you to import whatever personally customized Mii’s you’ve got on your console, or in your friend’s Wiimote should they decide to come over and play. While it’s more a cosmetic tweak on the game’s offline mode, this feature will definitely allow you to stand out should you decide to mingle with the big boys online.

Not that the game’s lacking in any star power of its own: Players will have a total of 13 other characters to choose from:

  1. Baby Mario
  2. Baby Peach
  3. Bowser
  4. Donkey Kong
  5. Dry Bones
  6. Koopa Troopa
  7. Luigi
  8. Mario
  9. Peach
  10. Toad
  11. Waluigi
  12. Wario
  13. Yoshi

The celebrity who’s-who doesn’t end there. There are 14 other unlockable characters in Mario Kart Wii that are just as eager to hit the asphalt:

  1. Baby Daisy
  2. Baby Luigi
  3. Birdo
  4. Bowser Jr.
  5. Daisy
  6. Diddy Kong
  7. Dry Bones
  8. Dry Bowser
  9. Funky Kong
  10. King Boo
  11. Rosalina
  12. Toadette

Not listed here but certainly up for grabs are two alternate costumes for your Mii. As to the details on how you can unlock each of these characters, we’ll leave that mini-adventure for your driving pleasure. Speaking of driving, there’s also the matter of the sort of wheels being made available for Mario Kart Wii.

Vehicles rundown:

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know

The game will be the debut of a new vehicle: Motorcycles. Originally meant for Double Dash!! back on the GC, this new vehicle will be adding a whole new twist to the way you’ll be racing. For one, they get the ability to do wheelies, which give them a huge speed boost compared to the karts.

You can’t turn properly while doing a wheelie though, so you’ll want to save it for the straightways. Bikes are also much lighter than karts, meaning that they’re much more easily knocked around. Those who like using the lighter drivers like Toad or Yoshi will want to keep this mind, lest they get bullied to the sidelines.

Also keep note that characters like Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina change their looks when on a bike. Figures – Peach always had a head for fashion.

As for the karts, you’ll be happy to know that the snaking trick has been nerfed. Here’s the 411 on this trick: Players in Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS discovered that they could get extra boosts of speed by waggling the controls left and right while they did a power-slide.

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know  

While it certainly helped many a skilled player win the day, it looks like Nintendo’s decided the trick was a tad cheesy (read: broken), especially when used against inexperienced players. Your speed boost will now be determined how long and at what angle you slide.

There’s also the slipstream ability from the previous Mario Kart games, where you get a gradual speed boost as you tailgate an opponent. You’ll know this kicks in as your kart starts building up blue speed lines. Stay on their rear long enough, and the boost will allow you to slingshot past the opposition.

Another new factor to take note of when you’re hitting the speedway is your ability to do tricks when jumping from ramps. More than just hot-dogging, air tricks will give you a speed boost; just remember to land properly.

The diversity doesn’t end with the general layout for karts and bikes. Each of Mario Kart Wii‘s character will get a total of three starting karts and three starting motorcycles. Another three special karts and motorcycles are available as unlockables for the characters.

New Weapons:

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Skill is just one factor to remember as you fight your way to first place, of course. Mario Kart Wii will also be introducing some new power-ups to its arsenal: The Mega Mushroom, the Thundercloud, and the POW Block.

The Mega Mushroom:
Forget the speed boost normally associated with Mario Kart‘s ‘shrooms. The Mega Mushroom allows users to dramatically increase their size for a short period, giving them the ability to flatten the other racers like so much roadkill. So go ahead – pop one, and watch Bowser get squished for a change.

Thunder Cloud:
The good news – Once activated, this power-up will give you oodles of speed and an immunity to terrain penalties. The bad news – As soon as the countdown ends, you’ll be shrunk down to convenient roadkill size. You can negate this side-effect by passing it onto another kart by bumping them.

POW Block:
Causes all the opponents in front of the user to spin, and to drop their items. Just be sure your targets are on the ground though – it doesn’t work when the karts are airborne. 

Hit the road: Mario Kart Wii‘s tracks

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know 


Now that we’ve covered the characters and vehicles you can play, we’ll be moving on to the one of the biggest aspects of the game – the tracks. Mario Kart Wii will be offering up a total of 32 racing tracks, divided up between eight cups. Sixteen of these tracks are entirely new for the console, while the other 16 have been ported over from previous Mario Kart titles.

Get your reading glasses on, folks – here’s the full list:

  • New tracks
    • Mushroom Cup:
      • Luigi Circuit
      • Moo Moo Meadows
      • Mushroom Gorge
      • Toad’s Factory
    • Flower Cup:
      • Mario Circuit
      • Coconut Mall
      • DK’s Snowboard Cross
      • Wario’s Gold Mine
    • Star Cup:
      • Daisy Circuit
      • Koopa Cape
      • Maple Treeway
      • Grumble Volcano
    • Special Cup:
      • Dry Dry Ruins
      • Moonview Highway
      • Bowser’s Castle
      • Rainbow Road
  • Retro Tracks:
    • Shell Cup:
      • Peach Beach (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
      • DS Yoshi Falls (Mario Kart DS)
      • Ghost Valley 2 (Mario Kart SNES)
      • Mario Raceway (Mario Kart 64)
    • Banana Cup:
      • Sherbet Land (Mario Kart 64)
      • Shy Guy Beach (Mario Kart Super Circuit/ Mario Kart Advance)
      • Delfino Square (Mario Kart DS)
      • Waluigi Stadium (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
    • Leaf Cup:
      • Desert Hills (Mario Kart DS)
      • Bowser Castle 3 (Mario Kart Super Circuit/Mario Kart Advance)
      • DK’s Jungle Parkway (Mario Kart 64)
      • Mario Circuit (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
    • Lightning Cup:
      • Mario Circuit 3 (Mario Kart SNES)
      • Peach Gardens (Mario Kart DS)
      • GCN DK Mountain (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
      • Bowser’s Castle (Nintendo 64)

All 32 tracks are available in the game’s Grand Prix, Time Trial, and Versus (up to four players offline) mode, further divided up into 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc speed classes. Just keep note that you’ll only get 16 tracks to work with in the default game: Eight from the new tracks, and eight from the retro tracks. The other 16 will have to be unlocked.

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know 

Also making a return in Mario Kart Wii are the Balloon Battle and Coin Runner battle modes. Between these two, players will have 10 tracks to choose from, including five brand new courses just for the Wii. The other five are taken straight from each of the past Mario Kart titles:

  • Wii tracks (New)
    • Block Plaza
    • Delfino Pier
    • Funky Stadium
    • Chain Chomp Roulette
    • Thwomp Desert
  • Retro tracks
    • Battle Course 4 (Mario Kart SNES)
    • Battle Course 3 (Mario Kart Super Circuit/ Mario Kart Advance)
    • Skyscraper (Mario Kart 64)
    • Cookie Land (Mario Kart Double Dash!!)
    • Twilight House (Mario Kart DS)

Now, if you think these tracks are massive enough when it’s just you and your posse playing offline, you’re going to love the next feature that Nintendo’s added to the game: Worldwide connectivity.

12-car pile up!Mario Kart Wii goes online

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know 
 

Mario Kart Wii makes full use of the Wii’s Wi-Fi connectivity to hook you up with your fellow racers on the worldwide web. The end result is you battling it out with up to 11 other players online. Yes – you heard us right – that’s a total of 12 human contenders from every corner of the globe coming together to burn rubber on one track.

You can use three means to pick your competitors: worldwide, continental, and friends, with the first two matching you up with other players with a similar rank as yours. The major bummer here is that messaging among your friends consist of just predetermined text. Look on the bright side: This also eliminates the obscenities and taunts from the obnoxious players that could ruin your game (*cough* XboxLive *cough*).

Players can also opt to race in teams for Mario Kart Wii‘s online play, further enhancing the community aspect Nintendo’s apparently trying to drive home. The Battle Modes are strictly group events.

Mario Kart Channel:

Mario Kart Wii - Everything You Need to Know 


Now, if you’re serious about pulling up your ranking among Mario Kart Wii‘s online racing community, then you’ll also want to take a look at its other new feature: The Mario Kart Channel. Once loaded, this new Wii channel will enable you to view the top rankings of the game’s international and global community, and to view whichever of your friends are online.

For the utterly hardcore Time Trial contenders, Mario Kart Wii‘s online connectivity will also allow you to download another player’s Ghost Data. Think you’re the best speedster in your neighborhood? Fine – try racing against the Ghost Data from your new friend over in Italy. Just be sure to upload your own ghost to give the dudes online something to chew on as well.

The Mario Kart Channel will also host Competitions – special downloadable challenges created by Nintendo itself. Challenges may range from special course objectives, or specific Time Trials. It’s still a pretty fresh feature, so you’ll want to be prepared in case the devs do dish out something extraordinary.

The finish line: Some last thoughts
Barring some recently resolved bugs in its online mode, Mario Kart Wii is receiving quite a welcome wherever it lands. The game takes some of the better ideas from the past titles in Mario Kart franchise, marrying them with the Wii’s much-touted innovations. The end result is a title that’s easy to pick up for beginners, while offering something very new to the old vets via its online mode and Wiimote support.

That concludes our preview article for Mario Kart Wii‘s arrival in North America. Just wait – soon, you’ll be getting connected to the rest of a truly global community.

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