Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii is the latest installment of the Mario Kart series. Designed from the ground up for the Wii, a Wii Wheel is included in the package because Nintendo aimed that it would make it a more realistic steering experience. It is, however, compatible with other controllers as well. It features many classic Mario Kart characters as well as several new ones.

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 78 blocks, but unlike the game data, players can actually copy the channel onto their SD cards.

Gameplay
In Mario Kart Wii, up to twelve players race 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. Nintendo hopes 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(although many gamers would argue it is much more difficult without the wheel). Mario Kart Wii can also be played using the Nunchuck controller, the Classic Controller or the GameCube controller.

Controls and actions of the game

 * Accelerate: Holding the corresponding button, the kart will go forwards. 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. This feature once appeared in Super Mario Kart.
 * Drift: Drivers 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.
 * Mini-turbo: After drifting 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 them 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. 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.
 * Tricks: Players can pull off a stunt 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. They do a stunt, cheer, and obtain a speed boost when landing.
 * Wheelie: Wheelies can be performed only when riding Bikes; drivers can increase their speed when they lift up the front of their bike. While the driver holds the front of the bike up, s/he can hardly turn. The wheelie can be ended by braking, drifting, or waiting for it to run out on its own.

Modes of Play

 * Grand Prix (1 player) In this mode, the player races against 11 other CPU players in quest to finish first. There are 8 cups to choose from, ranging from most to 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.
 * Time Trial (1 player) The player races for the fastest time on a selected course.
 * 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.
 * 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. It won't have a effect to the players team. There are two ways to battle:
 * Balloon Battle: Get points by hitting opponents with the player's items. If the player looses 3 balloons, 1 point will be discounted.
 * Coin Runners: Get more coins than the other team. If the player hit a opponent, (s)he will drop half of his/her coins.
 * 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.
 * 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, 100cc using for bikes only, 150cc using for Bikes and Karts and Mirror for Bikes and Karts. By winning 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.

Competitions
''A list of Competitions 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 North 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 tournament is retired to make room for a new one. However, the rankings of older tournaments can still be viewed on the rankings table.

Types of Tournaments

 * 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.

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 vary, depending on the character's weight type, and color schemes of every kart will also vary regarding to every character who is shown.

A notorious change of the game, is the removal of Snaking, which players tend 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. However, there is a strategy to use drifting, something that has always kept on each Mario Kart game. This strategy involves managing the drifts to avoid losing speed. .

Also, a new feature called "Tricks" or "Stunts" is now a part of gameplay. When player performs a trick, the player is able to gain a momentary boost of speed, which allows characters to do a few different things, such as grabbing an Item Box out of midair. One example of trick is pulling off acrobatics in air, which can be performed by shaking the Wii Wheel upward.

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

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 not really on Double Dash!!, but somewhat a little bit on that game as well.

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.

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


 * Small: Are able to drvie small karts. 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 karts of superior weight.
 * Medium: Are able to drive medium-sized karts. Most of the karts show an average acceleration, weight and off-road.
 * Large: Participants in this category are defined by their strength, capable of banging apart other karts 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 Participants

 * 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.

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.

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.

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

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

Shell Cup

 * Peach Beach (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
 * Yoshi Falls (Mario Kart DS)
 * Ghost Valley 2 (Super Mario Kart)
 * Mario Raceway (Mario Kart 64)

Banana Cup

 * Sherbet Land (Mario Kart 64)
 * Shy Guy Beach (Mario Kart Super Circuit)
 * 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)
 * D.K.'s Jungle Parkway (Mario Kart 64)
 * Mario Circuit (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)

Lightning Cup

 * Mario Circuit 3 (Super Mario Kart)
 * Peach Gardens (Mario Kart DS)
 * DK Mountain (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
 * Bowser's Castle (Mario Kart 64)

Wii tracks

 * Block Plaza
 * Delfino Pier
 * Funky Stadium
 * Chain Chomp Wheel
 * Thwomp Desert

Retro tracks

 * Battle Course 4 (Super Mario Kart)
 * Battle Course 3 (Mario Kart Super Circuit)
 * Skyscraper (Mario Kart 64)
 * Cookie Land (Mario Kart: Double Dash)
 * Twilight House (Mario Kart DS)

Boss tracks
These are only found in Tournament mode.
 * Galaxy Colosseum

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.

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 kart 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 kart can normally turn. Usually opposes the drift rating.
 * Drift: How tight the kart turns while using the drifting maneuver. Usually opposes the handling rating.
 * Off-Road: How much speed the kart 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.

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

(Note: the type names are all conjecture. If someone has the actual names, please add them to this section.)


 * Standard: These are well-rounded and are suitable for beginners. Examples would be the Standard Kart L or Standard Bike S.
 * 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 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 Cheep Charger or the Nostalgia 1 (Classic Dragster).
 * Rally: These vehicles are almost perfectly well rounded, but have great off-road in return for poor drift. 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 quite 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.

The following table includes: vehicles in order of class primarily and karts first, bikes second (small karts, small bikes, medium karts, medium bikes, large karts, large bikes). 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.

Development
In 2007, the game is officially announced at E3, where part of Reggie Fils-Aime's presentation of the game included was a trailer that showed that twelve simultaneous players could race at once. The Wii Wheel was shown at the Nintendo Fall 2007 Conference.

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 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 they get. Items with an asterisk (*) are unavailable during strategic.


 * Banana
 * Triple Bananas
 * Red Shell
 * Triple Red Shells
 * Green Shell
 * Triple Green Shells
 * Mushroom
 * Triple Mushrooms
 * Golden Mushroom*
 * Mega Mushroom*
 * Fake Item Box
 * Blooper
 * Bob-omb
 * Thunderbolt*
 * Thunder Cloud*
 * POW Block*
 * Star
 * Spiny Blue Shell
 * Bullet Bill*

The player can also decide what type of items can be obtainable during a race. The options include as follows:


 * Balanced - The default option. This gives everyone items depending on what position they are in and how far behind they are. Extreme items may not be as common.
 * Aggressive - Each player gets items pertaining to what place they are in. Green Shells and single bananas are rare while extreme items become more common as the player progresses to last place.
 * Strategic - Extreme items are unavailable. Weaker items take head-forth and last place gets better but not extreme items.
 * None - No items at all.

Licenses
Licenses replace normal save files. It is the first Mario Kart to feature save files. Each license contains the user data, their Mii, nickname, Friend Code and a table including all categories and cups with an empty space, after the cup is won, the space, will be filled in with a colored square, a golden one for first place, a silver one for the second, and a bronze one for the third place.

Voice Cast

 * Charles Martinet – Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi
 * Sam Kelly – Princess Peach, Baby Peach, Toad, Toadette
 * Deanna Mustard – Princess Daisy, Baby Daisy
 * Kenneth James – Bowser, Dry Bowser
 * Caety Sagoian – Bowser Jr.
 * Mercedes Rose – Rosalina
 * Takashi Nagasako – Donkey Kong
 * Katsumi Suzuki – Diddy Kong
 * Toshihide Tsuchiya – Funky Kong
 * Kazumi Totaka – Yoshi
 * Ayumi Nagao
 * Fumihiro Okabayashi
 * Hitomi Hirose
 * Katsuhiro Harasawa
 * Takuya Sato
 * Tomo Adachi
 * Tomoyuki Higuchi
 * Yuko Kaida – Birdo.

Quotes
For a full list of quotes, see here.

References to other games

 * All past Mario Kart games: Half of the stages is taken from those games in the Retro Grand Prix, while half of the Battle courses is 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 appears in the background of the Battle course Block Palaza, Super Mario Bros.-style.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The license plates on some of the trucks reads SMB3. The first seconds of the course Bowser's Castle theme resembles the music played in Super Mario Bros. 3 by it's instruments. 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 appears in the background of Koopa Cape. Penguins appears 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.
 * Yoshi's Story: A 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 courses Daisy Circuit and NDS Delfino Square, the former of which actually is from Mario Kart DS, is based on Delfino Plaza. The course GCN Peach Beavh, 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 is based on the courses in 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.
 * Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: The Battle course NDS Twilight House, which actually is from Mario Kart DS, is based on, and named after, Twilight Town.
 * 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 Wheel is based on the Battle course Tart Top.
 * New Super Mario Bros.: 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. Various things in the game is derived from their New Super Mario Bros.-look.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: Rainbow Road has several elemts from said game. Spiked Topmen was the enemy in the June 1st Tournament. In addition, the course was named Galaxy Colosseum.

Trivia

 * Part of the Title Screen Music is a remix from Mario Kart DS. Also, part of the second half of the credits is a remix of the main theme of Mario Kart DS.
 * 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.
 * Birdo is the only character who isn't used as a Staff Ghost.
 * For the marketing of Mario Kart Wii in the United States, Nintendo of America did a series of commericals 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.