I remember playing the first Super Mario Kart on the old Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The graphics were nowhere near as good as they are today, but the first Mario Kart really opened up a whole new world of racing games. As time went on, I progressed to extract a fair bit of enjoyment out of sequels like Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart DS. If you’ve ever played any of these shell-filled racers in the past, you’ll know exactly what to expect from the latest iteration in the series: Mario Kart Wii.
Just as Nintendo did with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, they took an existing formula that worked very well, added a couple of extras to spruce up the experience, and pumped out yet another instant classic. Mario Kart Wii is not the best Kart game in the series, but it’s still a lot of fun. And it will continue to be fun for years to come.
Racing with the Wii Wheel
One of the innovative things to be introduced with Mario Kart Wii is the Wii Wheel. This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a steering wheel attachment for the Nintendo Wii — GT Pro Series, a launch title, came with a steering wheel — but that doesn’t mean that it’s worth mentioning.
Essentially, the Wii Wheel works as a plastic shell for the Wii Remote. You hold the steering wheel vertically, turning it to the left and right to steer. The accelerator is mapped to one of the face buttons on the right and weapons are used by pressing the directional pad. The B button is extended through to the back of the Wii Wheel and this is used for braking, drifting, and boosting.
You’ll also notice that there is a plastic lens on one side of the Wii Wheel, allowing the infrared end of the Wii Remote to still be functional. It’s also quite notable that there really is no real mechanism for holding the Wii Remote in place. It just fits in snugly and you hope it doesn’t pop out (it never did in my testing).
Driving with the Wii Wheel may sound like it would be intuitive, but given my traditional gaming background, it just came off feeling very strange, twisting a steering wheel that wasn’t attached to anything. As the race wore on, I found a tendency to angle the Wii Wheel further, almost to the point where it was parallel to the ground. This, of course, made steering less responsive.
I can see why the Wii Wheel would appeal to non-gamers, because it makes more intuitive sense to them than a complicated video game controller. Myself, I won a lot more races using the Remote + Nunchuk combination. The Nunchuk analog stick is used for steering, and then A and B on the Wii Remote is used for gas and drift, respectively.
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Tricks, Bikes, and the Loss of Snaking
Aside from the steering wheel, the three most notable things that you’ll notice about Mario Kart Wii is the addition of mid-air tricks, the introduction of motorcycles, and the removal of “snaking”.
Until now, all the jumps in Mario Kart games didn’t really serve any function. In this iteration, Nintendo added a trick mechanic wherein if you shook the Wii Remote while in mid-air, your character would perform some sort of trick. It could be a handstand, a flip, whatever. Upon landing, you’d get a healthy boost. This adds an interesting dynamic to the game and makes the jumps much more interesting.
The motorcycles are a bit of a novelty, but they’re pretty much the same as the karts. They tend to corner harder and you also cannot get the second level of drift boost with bikes like how you can with karts. Also, if you tilt the Wii Remote upwards, you can get a bit of a boost by popping a wheelie. In the end, I think I still prefer the handling of the karts better.
When I first tried going online with Mario Kart DS, I got smoked by a bunch of people that did something called “snaking.” This is when they strung together a long series of drift boosts in a row, even when there were no turns involved. Snaking made it virtually impossible for any non-snakers to catch up. Nintendo removed this in Mario Kart Wii by making the drift boosts “automatic.” All you have to do is hold your drift to get a boost, rather than waggling a joystick left and right. There are pros and cons to this decision, but it certainly levels the playing field for novices.
Characters and Karts
What Nintendo racing game would be complete without a healthy compliment of Nintendo characters? Just like you got to experience on the DS version of the game, you have an opportunity to unlock a number of characters, karts, and bikes in Mario Kart Wii. The initial roster consists of 12 favorites, including Baby Mario, Yoshi, and Bowser. In the screenshot below, I also show two of the characters I have already unlocked: King Boo and Diddy Kong.
For each character, you also have the choice of several karts and bikes. Most of these vehicles are shared amongst all the characters, usually based on their relative size. All the big guys get the same karts, all the little guys get the same karts, and so on. Small characters even have a baby stroller! Each kart/bike has its own set of attributes — speed, weight, acceleration, handling, drift, off-road, and mini-turbo — so choose the one that fits your racing style.
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Game Modes and Online Multiplayer
Aside from regular racing, Mario Kart Wii also offers two other main game modes. There are the time trials to see if you can beat your best time (you get three mushrooms to use over the course of three laps). This isn’t all that exciting. The other major game mode is battle. Under battle conditions, you can either choose to have a balloon battle like before or you can see who can collect the most coins. The crappy part is that there is no more free-for-all balloon battle mode. You are forced into the red team and the blue team.
This is nowhere near as fun as the free for all. You can’t even slip on bananas left by your teammates. Lame.
Mario Kart Wii is best enjoyed with other people, either in person or online. The local multiplayer supports up to four racers in a split-screen format. You can be accompanied by computer-controlled racers as well, bringing the maximum number of characters on the track to 12. When it comes to online multiplayer, you can also race with up to 11 other people from around the world. This, unlike the crappy battle mode, is a lot of fun.
The implementation of the online multiplayer is much better than in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. You can choose to race against regional rivals or people who you have exchanged friend codes with, but even the worldwide online multiplayer works seamlessly. Up to two people from the same console can compete. The system looks for an available race and then you join it. Simple. You can even join a group that has a race in progress; you just hop into the action when they have concluded their current race.
Conclusion
Mario Kart Wii may have a couple of new additions that try to spice things up, but it’s pretty much the same Mario Kart that you have been playing all along. The tracks have been widened to accommodate a maximum of 12 racers at a time and the introduction of mid-air tricks is actually kind of fun. I particularly enjoy doing the tricks in the “half pipe” sections of races.
If you’re looking for something fresh and new, Mario Kart Wii is not the game for you. If you enjoyed previous versions in this franchise and want to take your races online (again), Mario Kart Wii can be a heck of a lot of fun. It really is best enjoyed with other people and the online component is very well implemented. Some people may lament the loss of snaking, but I was never very good at that anyways. So, um, bring it on!
Pros
- Mario Kart is back and it’s exactly what you expect
- Jump tricks add an interesting dynamic
- Graphics are crisp and colorful
- Online multiplayer is way too much fun
- Variety of characters and karts/bikes keep it interesting
Cons
- No more free-for-all balloon battles
- Local multiplayer noticeably reduces frame rate
- Wii Wheel is not as intuitive as you’d hope
- Brings very little that is new to the franchise
Overall Rating: 9.0/10
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