Mario Kart Wii Impressions

So I’m taking some time out of my busy schedule (which is probably a big mistake) to quickly write about Mario Kart Wi.

After for about a year and maybe even a little more Mario Kart Wii was finally released on Sunday April 27th. The game got little to no coverage at all and it’s a shame that it didn’t too. The game definitely goes back it’s traditional roots of the N64 Mario Kart. It’s packed with plenty of new and old maps from the previous titles, even including DS, GBA, and SNES Versions/Titles. There are a few new characters and of course you’re traditional but it appears they took out a few in favor of some of the new ones.  There are some new weapons and unfortunately they removed the Item Stealing Boo. Why this was done I’m not quite sure but there is probably a number of reasons for this that I can think of.

The menu has changed a lot compared previous versions. While in a race you can’t just press start (+) and choose “Restart/Retry” like in previous versions. You can only choose “Quit” and “Continue”, this was probably most likely done to prevent everyone from being sore losers and to play the game like it was meant to be played. Choosing Quit will obviously bring you back to the main menu and you will have to start all over. In multiplayer they took out the same option but also the “Change Character” option. This in my opinion was a bad move. But hey I don’t work for Nintendo so I have no say in what goes into the game, plus I wouldn’t know why it was taken out. I’m sure they have good reason’s and I could make a few guesses why but nothing concrete.

Online play is fantastic and 10x better then SSBB. It usually takes less then 5 minutes to connect with other players and if you do not successfully connect or people drop out well you get taken back to the menu where you choose if you want to play regional or worldwide. I felt that they could have just simply put you back into search mode but I guess they wanted to give you the option of trying worldwide for example if regional didn’t work. I didn’t get a chance to try out the Mario Kart Wii Region Boards yet but the nice thing is you can access it from the Wii Channel with out a disc. Installation of the chanel takes only seconds. Nintendo got it right this time around for the online play. Now they need to implement this on they’re other upcoming games. Oh and might I mention that it’s lag free?

The Wii Wheel is great and definitely gives you a different playing experience. It’s quite easy to master but it does have it’s qwerk’s at times. For example when you go around a turn and you press B to slide some times the Wheel registers the action as sliding in the opposite direction of the turn. Luckily you can pull out of it by simply letting go of B. The power slide now has two options which are Automatic and Manual. Automatic does the slides automatically for you but you lose the ability to get that extra boost, mean while Manual you press B when going into the turn and you get the Mini Boost if you hold the slide long enough.

As mentioned before there are new characters introduced into the game. One example would be “Baby Peach”. I don’t recall there ever being a “Baby Peach” in the series but hey maybe there will be a new game featuring her in the story in the future. The new characters are all unlockable especially the “Cups” unlike in the N64 version and Double Dash if I remember correctly. Some of the original Characters must be unlocked as well. The AI can be a pain though, I’ve been in First and got bombarded by Banana’s, Shell’s, the Squid Ink all in one shot, even when I fall back to 3rd just so I don’t get hit by the damn Blue Spike Shell.

The soundtrack is nice and it’s catchy, but it can be repetitive. I mean it is Mario Kart but hearing the same tracks over and over again can get tire some. The Battle Mode has been changed to Team Based and you keep getting new balloons till time runs out. You’re goal is to hit has many players you can with items to score points before time runs out. There is also a Coin Collection mode the differs from that. I haven’t gotten the chance to try this out yet  but if anyone is familiar with the multiplayer on Mario 64 DS with the coin collection I believe it might be very similar however with Karts and Motorcycles.

The Bikes are very well balanced and are very easy to use. I was concerned about this when they were frst announced them but they were implemented very well into the game. For now I’m sticking with the Karts in Multiplayer but I’m slowly making my way over to the Bikes. Tricks have been implemented to both the Karts and the Bikes. Each controller is different but once a trick as been activated when launching off a jump, you’re character does a small move in the air and then once he/she hits the grand they get a speed boost.

I’ve pretty much covered the basics of Mario Kart Wii. Anything I missed or would like to know more about let me know and I will post an update. I highly reccommend this game and anyone who had doubts about picking it up shouldn’t as it will keep you entertained for hours with friends, family, online play or even by yourself.