Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii is the eighth installment of the Mario Kart series. Just as every Mario Kart game, Mario Kart Wii includes new features such as new race courses, along with other older that appeared in past Mario Kart games, more like its predecessor Mario Kart DS. New items and characters were included, as well as an increased number of players for the races. Mario Kart Wii also introduced the use of bikes that vary in capabilities along with the classical karts. Game modes are also present such as the Grand Prix, Versus, Battle and Time Trial, many of them making use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for worldwide online play. A Wii Wheel, designed from the ground up for the Wii, is included in every Mario Kart Wii ' s package because Nintendo aimed that it would make it a more realistic steering experience. It is, however, compatible with other controllers as well.

The game also includes its own Wii Channel, the Mario Kart Channel, in which a player can play in special tournaments there and trade his/her racing profile with others around the world.

This game requires 23 blocks on the player's Wii system to save game data. Also, the game data cannot be copied, so players are not able to transfer this game data onto another Wii. The Mario Kart Channel uses 74 to 88 blocks, but unlike the game data, players can actually copy the channel onto their SD cards. (Amount of blocks the game takes may differ, depending on from which region the game came from.)

Gameplay
Mario Kart Wii takes a step in a new direction, as twelve players are present in normal races. All 12 racers head to the finish in a multi-lap race around a given circuit. Along the way, players may employ items, horseplay, and take shortcuts to earn first place.

Controlling
The main feature is the use of the motion sensing of the Wii Remote. By tilting the remote, players can steer their karts. During the development of this game, Nintendo hoped to address some of the issues game critics faced with the first racing game Nintendo published for the Wii, Excitetruck, by making Mario Kart Wii compatible with the Wii Wheel. Since the Wii Remote is designed to be inserted into the Wii Wheel (as it is not an independent controller), players can also play without the Wheel if they choose to (although many gamers would argue it is much more difficult without the wheel). Mario Kart Wii can also be played using the Nunchuk controller, the Classic Controller or the GameCube controller.

The Gold Wii Wheel
The Gold Wii Wheel is available in the Star catalogus for 4000 Stars on Nintendo.nl.

Controls and actions of the game

 * Accelerate: When the driver holds the corresponding button, the kart will go forward. Accelerating time depends on the type of the karts: Lightweight karts have a high acceleration, but low speed. Heavyweight karts tend to have a low acceleration, but a high top speed. Middleweight karts have an average top speed and acceleration.
 * Steer: Steering lets drivers move around corners.
 * Brake: Braking slows the kart to a stop abruptly.
 * Reverse: The character's kart will go backwards if the user holds the brake button. If the player tries to accelerate while going in reverse, the vehicle will start to build momentum.  When blue sparks start to appear, release the brakes to get a small speed boost.  Effective for vehicles with low acceleration stats.
 * Look Behind: Players can look behind their kart. In this way, players can be alert from characters incoming to steal the player's place from the rear. The player can also use this feature to see where he is going better while backing up, or to aim a weapon at an opponent following up. This feature once appeared in Super Mario Kart.
 * Drift: Players drift to keep the kart's speed and take corners much better, with the benefit of getting mini-turbos. The feature can be set to happen automatically or when a button is held. The game tends to force the player to drift as steering is now less effective on its own.
 * Mini-turbo: When the player drifts for a reasonable amount of time, varying on the vehicle used, blue sparks will erupt from the player's rear tires. Releasing the drift button gives he/she a short burst of speed. In a kart, players can keep drifting for longer periods to get orange sparks and a much more effective boost. However, orange sparks cannot be created on bikes, as they can wheelie instead and get a much longer burst of speed that is equivalent to the orange sparks' power. From a drifting aspect, a bike is probably the better choice. Of course, the drifting stats of the vehicle used also matters. A mini-turbo can't be performed when drifting is set to automatic. The player can also perform a "standing mini-turbo" by holding the brake and drift buttons at the same time. This technique can also be used on Automatic.
 * Rocket Start: Players can perform a special starting speed boost at anytime when the race is about to begin. If the driver holds down the corresponding gas button during the countdown, then he/she will receive a small boost of speed that will give him/her a head start when the word GO! appears on the game screen. There's also a Wheelie Rocket Start for bikes, too.
 * Tricks: Players can pull off a trick when they jump in order to gain a momentary mini-turbo. Players can perform a trick by flicking the Wii Remote or pressing the D-pad (on the GCN or Classic Controllers) in any direction when going off a ramp or hill. He/She does a stunt, cheers, and obtains a speed boost when landing.
 * Wheelie: Wheelies can be performed only when riding Bikes. Drivers can increase their speed when he/she lifts up the front of his/her bike. While the player holds the front of the bike up, the bike can hardly turn. The wheelie can be ended by braking, drifting, waiting for it to run out on its own, or simply setting the Wii Wheel back down. If the player is using a Gamecube Controller, press either up or down with the D-pad.

Modes of Play

 * Grand Prix (1 player) In this mode, the player races against 11 other CPU players in a quest to finish first. There are 8 cups to choose from, ranging from the most to the least difficult. The player earns points by placing within 12 positions (see chart below.) The player with the most points at the end of the four races wins the cup.
 * Time Trial (1 player) The player races for the fastest time on a selected course. The fastest record will be able to be raced again as a ghost. The player can also race staff records, Regional Records/Champions (WiFi must be used,) World Records/Champions (WiFi also must be used,) and Friend Records (Friend must be registered, friend must send the ghost for Ghost Races, and WiFi also must be used.)
 * Versus (1 to 4 players, up to 12 online) Players can race to their own custom settings, but it is otherwise relatively the same to Grand Prix, other than the fact that the player can see the other racer's character's name's..
 * Battle (1 to 4 players, up to 12 online) Players team up with each other in a battle for the most points. Items only work against the other team so it won't have an effect to the player's team. There are two ways to battle:
 * Balloon Battle: Get points by hitting opponents with the player's items. If the player loses all of his/her balloons, 1 point will be discounted.
 * Coin Runners: Get more coins than the other team. If the player hits an opponent, he/she will drop half of his/her coins. However, the certain amount of coins fall depends on the item that hits the player.
 * Ghost Race (Mario Kart Channel, 1 player) A Time Trial race with ghosts made by players around the world with relatively the same skill level to the actual player.
 * Competition (also known as Tournament) (Mario Kart Channel, 1 player) The player competes in a timed competition with specific goals (see list below). This mode serves as the replacement of Mission Mode from Mario Kart DS. New tournaments are posted twice a month.

Note: Grand Prix mode for 50cc using Karts only, 100cc using for bikes only, 150cc using for Bikes and Karts and Mirror for Bikes and Karts. If the player wins all the tracks in 50cc or 100cc, it's possible to play with both bikes and karts. Mirror Mode is unlockable by gaining first place on all 150cc Grand Prixes.

Other information

 * Additionally, in this game, both normal races and battles are playable online through the use of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC). This is the second game in the series to utilize the WFC and the first to allow for online battles.  Races and Battles will now cater up to 12 players via Wi-Fi connection.
 * Just like Mario Kart DS, it is not possible to play Grand Prix with multiple players. Players can now only win trophies playing alone.
 * In Battle Mode, the player can only play in teams. Also, the Spiny Shell makes its first appearance in Battle Mode. It chases the player of the opposite team with the most points. Also the Thunderbolt is an item in Battle Mode. It shrinks the players of the opposite team and makes them lose their items, but does not take a balloon or drop coins.

Competitions
''A list of Competitions or tournaments up to the current one can be found here.

Mario Kart Wii introduced a new mode for the Mario Kart series, entitled "Competition Mode" (also known as Tournament mode in American versions). Competition Mode is somewhat similar to Mission Mode from Mario Kart DS. Competitions can be played on the Mario Kart Channel, so long as the Mario Kart Wii disc is in the Wii. Competitions require an Internet connection, and WiiConnect24 to be turned on before they can be played. After a while, a competition is retired to make room for a new one. However, the rankings of older competitions can still be viewed on the rankings table.

Types of Competitions

 * VS. Race – A standard VS. race; however, race courses are somewhat altered.
 * Time Trial – A standard Time Trial; however, race courses are somewhat altered.
 * Numbered Gates – The player must drive through the gates in order, as fast as possible.
 * Coin Collecting – The player must collect the coins on the stage as fast as possible.
 * Boss Battle – The player must fight against a special boss.

Licenses
Licenses replace normal save files. It is the first Mario Kart game to feature save files.

Each license contains the user data, his/her Mii, nickname, Friend Code and a table including all categories and cups with an empty space. After a cup is won, the corresponding space will be filled in with a colored square: gold for first place, silver for second, bronze for third. If at any time the Mii being used for Mario Kart Wii is deleted from the Mii Channel, the in-game Mii will be also deleted.

Major Changes
While every previous Mario Kart game allowed for a maximum of eight racers on each course, up to twelve are on course at one time in Mario Kart Wii.

In Mario Kart Wii, players can select twelve types of vehicles – six karts and six bikes – for each of the three classes. Vehicles selection varies depending on the character's weight type, and color schemes for available vehicles will also vary with regard to character selected.

A major departure from prior games is the removal of Snaking, which players can use to gain several consecutive mini-turbos after performing a powerslide. Performing a mini-turbo depends on how long a player can hold the button for drifting, and the angle at which they drift. However, drifting can be used strategically and involves managing the drifts to avoid losing speed. .

Also, a new feature called "Tricks" or "Stunts" is now a part of the gameplay. When a player performs a trick, he/she is able to gain a momentary boost of speed, which allows the player to do a few different things, such as grabbing an Item Box out of midair. Tricks consist of mid-air acrobatics and are performed by shaking the Wii Wheel upward, shaking the Wii Remote in the Wii Remote + Nunchuk combo or pressing the D-pad on the Gamecube controller.

Motorbikes are introduced in this game. Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina are in an alternate outfit while riding motorbikes, as opposed to their traditional outfit while riding karts. Oddly enough, although Wario does have a biker outfit of his own, he doesn't wear it when riding bikes.

Special Items, introduced in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, were taken out for being too unbalanced. Overall, Mario Kart Wii is based heavily on Mario Kart DS and with little influence from Double Dash!!.

Mario Kart Wii features a text chat in Online Multiplayer Mode. Users can send pre-written phrases to other users before the series of races starts. There is no facility for a user to type his or her own message. Also, the text chat is only available when racing or battling against Friends.

Items
Mario Kart Wii includes three new items: the Mega Mushroom, the POW Block and the Thunder Cloud. Items can be earned by driving through Item Boxes on the courses, just like in previous games. Once a player has done so, an item will be selected via the Item Roulette. In general, players tend to obtain a weak item such as a banana or a green shell when they are in first. However, if players are in second or a lower place, obtaining a powerful item such as a red shell or a Thunderbolt is more frequent. Usually, the lower the place of the player, the rarer and more powerful the item he/she gets. Items with an asterisk (*) are unavailable during strategic.

Drivers
A total of twelve Mario characters are available from the start, while twelve more can be unlocked for a total of twenty-four. They are separated into these three categories:


 * Small: Are able to drive small vehicles. They have mostly a good acceleration and off-road ratio, but low top speed. By their weight, these characters can be knocked apart if they try to bump into other vehicles of superior weight.
 * Medium: Are able to drive medium-sized vehicles. Most of the karts show an average acceleration, weight and off-road.
 * Large: Are defined by their strength, capable of banging apart other vehicles with low weight. They are able to drive large vehicles, mostly featuring high top speed and weight, but showing low acceleration, handling, and off-road.

Unlockable Drivers

 * Miis are also featured as secret characters with two different costumes to unlock - a racing suit and an outfit that varies depending on the gender. The color of the outfit also depends on the Mii's favorite color. Some people say that there is a Mii outfit C.

Bonuses

 * Each character has their own set of bonuses that boost certain stats for their vehicles. Units are out of 70, so +7/70 is about an extra point out of 10.

Vehicles
There are 36 total vehicles in the Wii installment (Here can be seen all the karts and bikes ). 18 karts, 18 bikes, each divided into the 3 weight classes, making 6 and 6 available to each character, 3 and 3 to begin (thus making half of the vehicles unlockables). Each has 7 stats which are shown during character selection:
 * Speed: How high the top speed of the vehicle is. This does not affect off-road travel.
 * Weight: How heavy a vehicle is. With a higher weight, the player can knock lighter characters away by ramming them. Bikes are lighter than karts.
 * Acceleration: How quickly the vehicle's top speed is achieved from a non-moving position.
 * Handling: How tight the vehicles can normally turn. Usually opposes the drift rating.
 * Drift: How tight the vehicle turns while using the drifting maneuver. Usually opposes the handling rating.
 * Off-Road: How much speed the vehicle retains when off of the track. A low rating of this can cause a near-standstill for the vehicle.
 * Mini-Turbo: When using the manual drift option, how effective a mini-boost will be. While all vehicles can perform a blue spark mini-turbo, only karts can execute a yellow spark mini-turbo.

The following table includes: vehicles in order of class primarily. The last half of each of these six sub-sections are the way the vehicle drifts (whether it's an internal drift or an external drift) and the unlockables; the right-hand column describes the requirement to unlock it: if it is a single cup, it must be simply won. Each individual statistic is generalized into the following:

Two of the same color does not necessarily mean the stat is exactly equal.

Vehicle Types
There are six "types" of bikes and karts (as almost every kart has a bike with similar stats):

Note: It is hard to determine each vehicles statical. Value vehicle type is subjective and the type names are conjecture.


 * Standard: These are well-rounded and are suitable for beginners. Examples would be the Standard Kart L or the Bubble Bike (Jet Bubble).
 * Speed: These are very fast and have a good drift, but have poor off-road and acceleration. Examples would be the Wild Wing or the Bowser Bike (Flame Runner).
 * Control: These are rather slow and have low drifting, but feature excellent control and high off-road, making them mirrored to Speed vehicles. Examples would be the Baby Booster (Booster Seat) or the Bon Bon (Sugarscoot).
 * Cruiser: These control similarly to Control types, but have more speed, acceleration, and drifting. However, they have less off-road and handling, and are also lighter. Examples would be the Quacker or the Nostalgia 1 (Classic Dragster).
 * Rally: These vehicles are almost perfectly well rounded, but have top notch off-road in return for very poor drifting. Examples would be the Rally Romper (Tiny Titan) or the Rapide (Zip Zip).
 * Jet: Normally unlocked later in the game, these vehicles are incredibly fast and relatively heavy, but are poor in all other stats. Examples would be the B Dasher Mk. 2 (Sprinter) or the Torpedo (Spear). Oddly enough, these vehicles have a slightly better acceleration rating than the Speed type vehicles, but they have lower handling and drifting.

Tracks
Including both retro tracks, from all five previous games, and new tracks.

Race courses are divided into various Cups again: Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup and Special Cup for new courses and Shell Cup, Banana Cup, Leaf Cup and Lightning Cup for old courses. Notably, these are the same as Mario Kart DS.

All tracks have three laps, regardless of length and difficulty.

New Courses
There are sixteen new courses in Mario Kart Wii.

Retro Courses
These courses appeared in previous Mario Kart installments, much like in Mario Kart DS. This includes 2 courses from the SNES installment, 4 from the N64 installment, 2 from the GBA installment, 4 from the GCN installment, and 4 from the DS installment. All of these have been graphically updated and have some new details such as extra trees and ramps, new features such as jumps, pipe tricks, and even added shortcuts. These retro courses appear in the Shell, Banana, Leaf or Lightning cups.

Other Stages
These are only found in the Competitions.
 * Galaxy Arena

Ghosts
In Mario Kart Wii, there are Normal Staff ghosts and Expert Staff ghosts. Beating the normal staff ghosts by a certain amount of time unlocks the Expert Staff ghosts. Unlocking Expert Staff ghosts can help unlock certain characters and vehicles in the game. Below are two tables: the first shows the Normal Staff ghosts, while the second shows the Expert Staff ghosts.

Quotes
For a full list of quotes, see here.

References to other games

 * All past Mario Kart games: Half of the stages are taken from those games in the Retro Grand Prix, while half of the Battle courses are taken from those games under Retro Battle Course.
 * Mario Bros.: The POW Block is an item in the game.
 * Super Mario Bros.: Various items from said game appear in the background of the Battle course Block Plaza, Super Mario Bros.-style. Additionally, the first seconds of the course Bowser's Castle theme resemble the music played in that game by it's instruments.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The license plates on some of the trucks read SMB3. The course DS Desert Hills, which actually is from Mario Kart DS, is based on Desert Land.
 * Yoshi's Cookie: Yoshi Cookies appear in the Battle course GCN Cookie Land, which actually is from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
 * Super Mario 64: Unagis appear in the background of Koopa Cape. Penguins appear on the stage N64 Sherbet Land, which actually is from Mario Kart 64.
 * Mario Kart 64: The course Moo Moo Meadows is based on Moo Moo Farm. Block Plaza has parts of Block Fort. Also, part of the music that plays during the Award Ceremony (if You win a Trophy) is the same as in the same scenario in Mario Kart 64.
 * Yoshi's Story: An Egyptian-style remix of the main theme plays on the course Dry Dry Ruins. Pirate Guy ships appear in the background of GBA Shy Guy Beach, which is from Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
 * Paper Mario: The course Dry Dry Ruins is based on Dry Dry Ruins and Dry Dry Desert.
 * Mario Kart: Super Circuit: The Yoshi Sphinx from the background of Yoshi Desert returns as a part of the race course Dry Dry Ruins.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: The course DS Delfino Square (the latter of which actually is from Mario Kart DS) and the battle stage Delfino Pier are based on Delfino Plaza. The course GCN Peach Beach (which actually is from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!) is based on Gelato Beach.
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Many of the courses in Mario Kart Wii are based on the courses from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. The Daisy Cruiser cameos in the background of Daisy Circuit. The course Moonview Highway is said to be in a part of Mushroom City, complete with Mushroom Bridge. Also, Block Plaza has parts of Block City. At last, the course Dry Dry Ruins has the same start port as Dry Dry Desert.
 * Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: The Battle course DS Twilight House, which actually is from Mario Kart DS, is based on, and named after, Twilight Town.
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: The course Toad's Factory may have been based on the Mario Toy Company, though Toad's Factory has bulldozers, mud and Brick Blocks.
 * Mario Kart DS: The course DK's Snowboard Cross has derived many elements from DK Pass. The Battle course Delfino Pier is based on Delfino Square. The battle course Chain Chomp Roulette is based on the Battle course Tart Top. Block Plaza has parts of Block Fort, which actually first appeared in Mario Kart 64.
 * New Super Mario Bros.: Various things in the game are derived from their New Super Mario Bros.-look. The Mega Mushroom is an item in the game. The mushroom platforms in Mushroom Gorge is based on the mushroom platforms in said game, with the red ones being "bouncy", and the green ones more like solid platforms. Grumble Volcano is similar to World 8 of New Super Mario Bros. Dry Bowser who first appeared in this game is a playable character. He also happens to be the Staff Ghost of the aforementioned course.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: Rosalina is a playable character. Rainbow Road has several elements from said game, such as Star Bits or a section based on Launch Stars. Portions of the Good Egg Galaxy's music is heard for the course's music. Spiked Topmen were the enemies in the June 2008 1st Competition. In addition, the course was named Galaxy Arena. Maple Treeway has similar parts to the Gold Leaf Galaxy.

Trivia

 * Part of the title screen music is a remix from Mario Kart DS. This same part originally came from Mario Kart 64. Also, part of the second half of the credits is a remix of the main theme of Mario Kart DS.
 * It should also be noted that the majority of this game's overall operations borrowed elements seen in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, the Mario Kart home console installment that was developed prior to it. Some elements include, but are not limited to, the animations seen for the driver selection process (for the returning drivers from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!), as well as menu operations, and the replays after races in Grand Prix and Time Trial modes.
 * Since Mario Kart 64, four avatars of the leading characters (or all eight in Mario Kart DS) were shown on the left side of the screen. In Mario Kart Wii, they were removed.
 * For the marketing of Mario Kart Wii in the United States, Nintendo of America did a series of commercials starring Cowboy Jed; primarily to promote their slogan for this game: "Get Behind The Wheel!". The slogan focuses on the Wii Wheel, Nintendo's targeted gameplay control, as stated earlier in this article.