Mario Kart Wii Review

Mario Kart Wii is the racing game many Nintendo fans have been waiting for. With a ton of features, some new and some old, many fans have been surprised while some have been slightly disappointed. In this review, you will find out why.

What is Mario Kart?

The first ever Mario Kart, Super Mario Kart for the SNES.

Mario Kart started as a racing game for the SNES. It features Mario characters racing in little go-karts. This isn’t just any racing game though, it has many twists and turns to it. While obstacles are common in racing games, would you find walking fungus in Need For Speed? Probably not. Would you find RACING fungus in Indianapolis 500 Legends for Wii and DS? No. This is what separates Mario Kart from the rest of the crowd of racing games. Mario Kart has Koopa shells, banana peels, stars, and a whole bunch of items involved that can be used to your advantage, or in some cases, the opponent’s advantage. Mario Kart has greatly evolved since the SNES days, and it continues to awe it’s fans to this very day.

Now, on to Mario Kart Wii.

Mario Kart Wii has some things that the previous games don’t and uses those new features to it’s advantage. In my opinion, this game was what I expected, it has new features and takes them a little too far. Don’t make this get your hopes down, because I never said it wasn’t fun. What are those features? Let’s take a look.

Grand Prix- A basic four-race circuit. For winning a certain place, you can win points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the circuit wins a trophy. Players have the option of choosing one of three modes: 50cc (for beginners), 100cc (for average players), and 150cc (for expert players).

Time Trials- Players race on courses that they have unlocked with three mushrooms (speed boosts) to use throughout the race as long as they don’t fall of the track or run into enemies. Record times can be put into ghost form and sent over wi-fi to other players. Or, you can race the ghosts at any time.

VS- Players can be on their own or on CPU teams. Players can race on courses that they choose, even if they are from other cups. (For example, Let’s say the player wants to race on Luigi Circuit and Mario Circuit. They are both in different cups, and the player can choose both of them is they wish.)

Battle- Players can either grab coins on the battle arenas or duke it out in the balloon battles. In Coin Runners, a new mode, players must grab coins within a time limit. Getting hit by items or an obstacle results in a loss of coins. Balloon Battle is when players must hit each other with items to cause a loss of balloons. Whoever’s team gives out the most successful hits within the time limit wins.

Controls

The Wii Wheel, the basic controls for Mario Kart Wii.

The Wii Wheel is probably one of my all time favorite things about this game. The controls are simple, so that anyone of any age can pick it up and play. One button accelerates, one button causes you to go in reverse, one to fire items, and turning should be obvious. I love the controls to this. And if the Wii Wheel isn’t for you, then you can use a GCN controller, Classic Controller, or Wii/Nunchuck combo.

Controls: 9/10
I like the Wii Wheel. It is easy to use, just how many people like it.

Gameplay/Graphics

I love the graphics. They are detailed (look at the Miis cheering on the sidelines) and they are some of the best the Wii has seen. The white menus suit the Wii perfectly (what color is the console? You guessed it) and the character designs are great to look at. They could be better, but you couldn’t ask for much more. It’s kind of hard to find an image to show you, so, how about a video?

A trailer of Mario Kart Wii.

My personal favorite, the new Rainbow Road.

The gameplay was original. Koopa shells flying at you, a heavyweight knocking you off the track (not a problem though) and a great feeling once you dodge a spiny shell. It doesn’t get better than this. Many Mario Kart veterans and newcomers are pleased with the way this game turned out. I was very pleased once I picked up the Wii Wheel, I sensed a great game was about to be played, and it was.

Graphics: 8.5/10
Could use a little touching up, but overall, I liked the clear display.
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Liked it. The game is exactly how I liked it and I enjoy playing it.

Sounds

The sounds were great. There is a new addition to Mario Kart that makes use of the Wii speaker: a warning siren goes off when a potentially dangerous obstacle is coming toward you. It really helps once you know what to expect. Also, the music is original, except for classic courses. They have the same music, but it has been a little “modernized” to meet today’s expectations. The soothing music of Rainbow Road, the upbeat tune of Luigi Circuit, the music sets the mood greatly.

Sounds: 9.5/10
Nothing is perfect. I would’ve given them a 10, but some people would think that I claim that the sounds are flawless.

Ah, Wi-Fi. Racing against people across the globe. Did you think that was all? Of course not. The two modes to Wi-fi are Standard Racing (race until your little heart gives out. There is a kind of ranking system to it using points, which go up with wins and down with losses) and Battle (Battle it out with friends over the internet. See the above description of Battle mode for more) that will keep you entertained for hours. You can send ghost data (time trial records), enter tournaments with certain goals set up by Nintendo themselves, and much more. This game has so much Wi-Fi written all over it, a channel has been dedicated to its awesomeness. The Mario Kart Wii Channel has tournament updates, displays to show when your friends are online, help sending ghost data, and more. I won’t spoil it all for you.

A new feature on Wi-Fi is that you can race with another human player. How cool is that? And points, as mentioned above, are a sort of online ranking system that doesn’t have a leader board, but shows how good you are. You points go up with wins and down with major losses. If you get in the middle, it often goes up or down by a little.

Wi-Fi Basics
- It supports up to 12 players at a time.
- Points go up and down with wins and losses. You start with 5000 points, so don’t worry about being at 0 all the time.
- If you have another human player with you, they will not have a point total, and they will not affect your total.

Wi-Fi: 9/10
A lot more time was put into this that made it so much better. I love it.

Overall: 9/10

This game had its ups and downs, and I still liked it. It was worth my money and it was a great deal since a Wii Wheel came with it. Nintendo has surprised me again, bringing its fans what they really wanted. New features, new characters, new ways to play.

Pros

- Had great Wi-Fi.
- Awesome graphics.
- Easy controls.
- Introduced many new things.

Cons

- Lacked a bit of fun factor with multiplayer.
- Gets repetitive occasionally.
- Could use a slightly better Retro selection.

And here is what courses are in Mario Kart Wii, to wrap up this review. I listed the first two cups of each so that you can discover the rest yourself.

New Courses
Mushroom Cup (easy courses)- Luigi Circuit, Moo Moo Meadows, Mushroom Gorge, Toad’s Factory
Flower Cup (getting harder)- Mario Circuit, Coconut Mall, DK Summit, Wario’s Gold Mine

Retro Courses
Shell Cup (easy)- GCN Peach Beach, DS Yoshi Falls, SNES Ghost Valley, N64 Mario Raceway
Banana Cup (getting harder)- N64 Sherbet Land, GBA Shy Guy Beach, DS Delfino Square, GCN Waluigi Stadium