Mario Kart Wii

[Zechs Merquise]

Look, it's not the number of wacky karts, or the fact that you could select 40 different characters that makes Mario Kart great. it's not a super simulation, it's a fun racer. They can go back to 8 racers for all I care, as long as they nail the gameplay.

[Retro_Link]

Look, it's not the number of wacky karts, or the fact that you could select 40 different characters that makes Mario Kart great. it's not a super simulation, it's a fun racer. They can go back to 8 racers for all I care, as long as they nail the gameplay.

I agree! and I actually think they should go back to the 8 classic racers! Though I guess this game will have more than 8 players online, so maybe not!

[Hellfire]

Look, it's not the number of wacky karts, or the fact that you could select 40 different characters that makes Mario Kart great. it's not a super simulation, it's a fun racer. They can go back to 8 racers for all I care, as long as they nail the gameplay.

 

Are you the same guy as before? Did you go through any life altering experience? Cause lately I've been agreeing with lots of your posts!

Here's to a better future! *cheers*

[Zechs Merquise]

Are you the same guy as before? Did you go through any life altering experience? Cause lately I've been agreeing with lots of your posts!

Here's to a better future! *cheers*

 

lol, I am the same person. I guess I am just impressed by more of what I see on the Wii. I'm still slamming poor efforts and lazy developers though - just go over to the Nights thread to see that!

 

Plus, who on earth could dislike Mario Kart??? I mean, it's brilliant. After spending the whole weekend rediscovering DD I don't see why there are any complaints what-so-ever, plus I thought this game looked lovely!

[Deathborn]

Look, it's not the number of wacky karts, or the fact that you could select 40 different characters that makes Mario Kart great. it's not a super simulation, it's a fun racer. They can go back to 8 racers for all I care, as long as they nail the gameplay.

 

I agree but I 'm not expecting another thing from this game considering Reggie speech. I hope they will refresh the series one day ...

 

And Dry Bones is made of pure win (like all undeads). ROB sucks.

[Smowza]

Snes mariokart was the best, the speed was great once you got all coined up oh and there was no blue shell so thats a plus in my eyes.

I enjoyed super circuit as it too had a nice sense of speed but the framerate was very choppy at times and some of the tracks seemed out of place to me like the cake type track. But one thing it did have was the speed boost for a good powerslide, this should be implememnted in the Wii version imo.

I didn't really enjoy MK64, i've given it a good chance as i've even bought it off virtual console.

MKDD was ok, a bit slow like MK64 and the whole 2 people concept felt a bit cheap.

MKDS was a good game, i agree with previous posts about funny handling. The whole snaking thing gets on my nerves thou so that kinda ruined online for me.

 

I'd really like items to be more usefull and fair. The star was an item to be feared in the snes version but now it just doesnt seem as good (more speed might be the answer). Mushrooms have now turned crap, the golden mushroom hardly gets you anywhere when you compare it to the standard mushroom in the original MK. Blue shells just seem to spoil the game more often that not. Red and green shells actually have improved.

[Zechs Merquise]

Snes mariokart was the best, the speed was great once you got all coined up oh and there was no blue shell so thats a plus in my eyes.

I enjoyed super circuit as it too had a nice sense of speed but the framerate was very choppy at times and some of the tracks seemed out of place to me like the cake type track. But one thing it did have was the speed boost for a good powerslide, this should be implememnted in the Wii version imo.

I didn't really enjoy MK64, i've given it a good chance as i've even bought it off virtual console.

MKDD was ok, a bit slow like MK64 and the whole 2 people concept felt a bit cheap.

MKDS was a good game, i agree with previous posts about funny handling. The whole snaking thing gets on my nerves thou so that kinda ruined online for me.

 

I'd really like items to be more usefull and fair. The star was an item to be feared in the snes version but now it just doesnt seem as good (more speed might be the answer). Mushrooms have now turned crap, the golden mushroom hardly gets you anywhere when you compare it to the standard mushroom in the original MK. Blue shells just seem to spoil the game more often that not. Red and green shells actually have improved.

 

The only item I dislike is the blue shell. It's too cheap in that there's no avoiding it. I also liked the coinage in the original as a way of building up speed. Very innovative.

[Goron_3]

The only item I dislike is the blue shell. It's too cheap in that there's no avoiding it. I also liked the coinage in the original as a way of building up speed. Very innovative.

 

You can avoid it in the DS version. Can't remember if you can in DD.

[DanielTimothy]

You can avoid it in the DS version. Can't remember if you can in DD.

 

Mushroom or a powerslide at the right moment.

[DCK]

With serious skill you could dodge it. Another trick with the blue shell is that when you notice it launches is to brake hard and hope the explosion hits someone else as well.

 

They should remove it though, it's really cheap.

[DanielTimothy]

It's there to balance out the race more, so whoever is in the lead doesn't too far ahead. I thought that was half the fun of Mario Kart, close frantic races with everyone blowing the crap out of each other. I'd prefer that to lets say, Toad coming first constantly.

[Cube]

The thing I hate with the blue shell is that most of the time, it doesn't help the person using it at all. The point of is just seems to be annoy.

 

And items should be distance based, not position based.

[Aalborg]

Ahh they will probably let you take out the blue shell.. costum matches and so on

[Charlie]

The blue shell in 64 was pretty good because it could hit other people on its way to the 1st player. On DS it was just as common as any other item, there would be at least one every race. It doesn't actually help the player who fires it at all.

[Cube]

It doesn't actually help the player who fires it at all.

 

Unless they save it, manage to get to 2nd place, then use it on the last corner.

[Guest Stefkov]

Unless they save it, manage to get to 2nd place, then use it on the last corner.

If I play against someone else, just two players and easy cpu, I save it and get into first. He won't want to over take me.

[EchoDesiato]

If I play against someone else, just two players and easy cpu, I save it and get into first. He won't want to over take me.

 

You're screwed if someone gets a ghost though.

[Zechs Merquise]

With serious skill you could dodge it. Another trick with the blue shell is that when you notice it launches is to brake hard and hope the explosion hits someone else as well.

 

They should remove it though, it's really cheap.

 

I have never managed to dodge a blue shell on DD, the good thing about the DD blue shell was the explosion which would often catch the first, second and sometimes third in a race.

[Smowza]

With serious skill you could dodge it. Another trick with the blue shell is that when you notice it launches is to brake hard and hope the explosion hits someone else as well.

 

They should remove it though, it's really cheap.

 

I did do that once in an online MKDS, saved me the win. I remember the guy just held onto it for ages deliberatly waiting to use it on the last corner, i was loving it most other times the blue shell just causes annoyance...

 

....trying to think of a way they could make it more fair, a huge explosion or shockwave is the only solution i can think of but the huge explosion i'm thinking of would probably be way too big!

[Guest Stefkov]

You're screwed if someone gets a ghost though.

Funny thing is, no-one has ever gotten a ghost when I've done that.

[pedrocasilva]

CVG preview:

 

Preview: Mario Kart Wii

Classic tracks! The return of hopping! Online racing! The definitive Nintendo racer is back

 

Told you, didn't we? But knowing that Mario Kart Wii was going to be announced at Nintendo's E3 press conference didn't make us any less excited.

 

When it came to the thing actually being revealed - in precisely 30 seconds of mouthwatering footage - we were cheering on the edge of our chairs just like you, gawping at the promising new tracks and classic old ones just like you... squeezing our eyelids shut and wishing that we could be transported ahead to 2008 in order to play it right now, just like you.

 

Of course, you want to know everything there is to know about Mario Kart Wii. So we've dug away with our info spades to uncover the secrets behind Mario Kart Wii - the characters, the vehicles, the tracks, the items, the online play - and brought the whole lot to you here.

 

Nintendo's E3 showing couldn't have delivered us a more exciting announcement. Drink it in, and try to come to terms with the fact that if Nintendo's plans work out, you'll be overtaking people on your big telly - online - in less than five months.

 

THE TREES ARE ALIVE

 

 

No kidding - as with Super Mario Galaxy, Mario's world seems happier than ever. The trees lining Mario Circuit here actually wiggle from side to side - part of the general visual bounciness that sees smoke rising from pipes and tubfuls of gold careering over your head in Wario Mines. The waterfall in Yoshi Falls looking about a bazillion times better than it did on DS, yessir. You can bet that Nintendo's saving the dreamiest tracks for revealing much later: including this generation's optically-overloaded version of Rainbow Road.

 

HOP-AND-BOOST IS BACK

 

 

Hop! Hop! Hop! Forget Double Dash!!'s tarmac-glued karts. The briefest glimpse of Yoshi pogoing past Luigi proves that the ace jump/skid controls from Kart 64/DS are back. The Wii's 2 button would be the natural fit for it too, and it marks a return to gratifying last-minute foe-slamming, hours spent teasing out secret/glitchy trampolining shortcuts - not to mention boosting your way out of corners with that beautiful blue burst of blowtorch-exhaust.

 

ANOTHER BLOCK PARTY

 

 

Mario Kart wouldn't be Mario Kart without rainbow-shimmery '?' blocks dotting the tracks, and one section of Wario Mines shows them grouped in typical evil manner - a zig-zag across the track - that's just primed for those teeth-gnashing sliding-right-through-and-missing-them-all moments. Check the box right for the items we know of.

 

WAIT - WHAT? 12 PLAYERS?

 

 

Yes - it's online. Properly. Race anyone you have a Friend Code for - or, if Mario Kart DS is the template, random worldwiders. Unlike on DS, Battle mode will also be online. And while Reggie told us to "wait and see" how many karters will be racing, the video screen behind him showed a dozen karts on the track! You'll understand if we don't get round to making the magazine any more.

 

THOSE LITTLE TOUCHES

 

 

Do the characters' heads actually turn to look at the vehicles they've just sent flying bonnet-over-exhaust with a perfectly-timed red shell? Looks that way, judging by Luigi's smug glance at Bowser - and Henman-esque air-punch. Perhaps there'll be Mario Strikers-style 'highlights' bits at the end of the race to really rub it in, too.

 

PESKY 'PEDESTRIANS'

 

 

Don't blame the Goomba - it is a zebra crossing after all. But do get ready to curse more pesky kart-clattering obstacles than ever: happily bouncing cows at Moo Moo Farm, roving barrels of gold in Wario Mines, and inconveniently-placed treehouses at Yoshi Falls.

 

SHORTCUT POTENTIAL

 

 

We're such devious gits, we're already planning a Mushroom-aided shortcut behind that lamppost and over the pathway leading past these houses. YouTube is going to be filled with videos of people finding evermore ingenious and unplanned routes over, around and through different bits of scenery. Mario Kart's back all right.

 

NINTENDO-NOD SCENERY

 

The tracks are choc-a-block with cutesy Ninty references, such as these NES-sprite lamppost placards (with 'MARIO KART' written like the Nintendo logo). The pipework of Wario Mines makes us wish we could leap out the kart and explore... even if ducking down the green chimneys would get you a singed 'ass' if the smoke's anything to go by.

 

STUNTS APLENTY

 

 

Check out these screens and you'll see Wario performing the kind of 360-degree spin that will have Excite Truck players' wrists contracting in sympathy. But what's the point? Nintendo's keeping something back from these screenshots: we're predicting that repeated stunts like this - which are bound to involve waggling or rotating the Wii remote - will build up an SSX-esque boost bar that'll do... something. Extra speed maybe, like Mario Kart GBA's coins? Spontaneous powerups appearing in your grasp? We'll see.

 

So the end of Matthew and Greener's Big Cash Bet over whether Mario Kart Wii would appear at E3 ended how it should: with Greener a full £1.75 richer, and a brand new version of the greatest multiplayer series ever made roaring out of Reggie's triple-screen TV-mothership and into an applauding crowd. And - pick us up off the floor and shake us by our shoulders until we come round - we're getting 12-player online racing and battling. Aren't you glad you bought a Wii now?

 

So: best Mario Kart ever? Impossible to tell at this stage. But there's an unmistakeable aura of Nintendo returning to the series's standout instalments. In controls, design, items and tracks, Mario's tit-for-tat kart battles on Wii seem to marry the best of Mario Kart 64 and its handheld sibling Mario Kart DS - everyone's favourite MKs - and throw just enough new stuff into the pot to get us rubbing our hands and cackling like crook-nosed witches.

 

Dash it all

 

Personally, we loved Double Dash!!, but many didn't. And that was blamed partly on the ditching of the hop-and-skid mechanic of yore. Nintendo haven't just brought the old scheme back - they've thrown in tracks from DD!!, so we can experience that game's exemplary track design with the traditional controls.

 

The weapons look back to normal too - swapping characters and doubling-up weapons in DD!! was a pain for newcomers; now Mario Kart's back to its accessible best, and there's no excuse for nan not to ditch the Platinum Sudoku for a few blue shells up the ass.

 

Take it online

 

And online. After some early tantrums by Nintendo's servers, Mario Strikers Charged proved Wii can work as seamlessly over the 'net as DS - even if the game itself led to Greener putting his face through a window in frustration. With 12 players at a time (and possibly more), Mario Kart will be Nintendo's crown jewel of Wi-Fi - the game that puts Wii on the online map. No doubt there'll be official racing tournaments to keep us on our toes, loads of online leaderboards, and, hopefully, decent matchmaking.

 

But the really big deal is an online Battle mode - something that we didn't see in Mario Kart DS, and a tongue-dribbling treat for anyone who stayed up late with friends to play pop-the-balloon. Block Fort please, Nintendo. Block Fort.

 

But here's the best thing about Mario Kart Wii: it absolutely guarantees that all those people who were 'meh' about Wii before will go out and buy one. In some ways it's a better party prospect than Wii Fit - everyone knows it, everyone loves it, and without the double-kart, character-swapping befuddlement of Double Dash!!, it'll only be off-putting for people who've had some kind of debilitating real-life banana/kart tragedy in their past.

 

So: when, when, when? Rumours point to Mario Kart Wii hitting the US as early as January - and, even though the Nintendo of Europe release schedule has the game down for 2008, there have been continued rumblings about Nintendo's Euro HQ pushing hard to have it ready for Christmas 2007 (a plan that's also being enacted for Wii Fitness). A strange move, seeing as Wii isn't exactly short of big games in the immediate future - but when it comes to Mario Kart, even tomorrow isn't quick enough.

Source: http://computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=169996

[Slaggis]

This has suddenly jumped to the top of my most wanted list. Thanks for the preview!

 

12 player online, single karts and then some classic looking karts. Awesome.

[mcj metroid]

I can't believe poeple doubted this though. Asfter playing the mario gp game I have full confidence A steering wheel would work perfectly with mario kart.

 

If tracks are been remade we can also pretty much garunted a sweet 32 tracks again. After all they cant go backwards can they?(.yes I know they can)

[Cube]

Well written preview - as expected from NGamer. Still...no new info.

[Dante]

ONM UK Infomation:

Mario Kart:Wii includes 16 player online battle, all the DS tracks and new tracks.