Mario Kart Wii to sport 32 courses, mid-air tricks and Mii integration

The latest issue of Famitsu (via IGN) looks to have a Mario Kart Wii detail blowout. The upcoming kart racer, likely Nintendo's next big title after Smash Bros Brawl, will have a planned 32 courses for the game, comprised of 16 newcomers and 16 remade tracks.

You want new tracks and new tricks? The next Mario Kart also reportedly features mid-air tricks that, if pulled off successfully, will give you a boost upon landing. We suspect that will be course-specific (ramps, big drop offs, etc.) and not a sign that you'll be able to jump and twist your driver ad infinitum to speed through the race.

In addition to the 12-player online matches, you will also be able to play four-player split-screen, and ghost downloads for time trials will be available. In what sounds like it might be online-only, you can customize the game by playing as your Mii avatar on a bike or kart. Is that enough Mario Kart info to keep you satisfied for awhile? No? Why, you greedy little ...

Gallery: Mario Kart Wii

[Via NWF]

Reader Comments (90)

Double Dash made it easier to manipulate dual items than the N64. So it is teh good!

Plus, the 2 (human) player, 1 kart gameplay was definitely a fun and unique addition to the series that (as it sounds) no other game can match.

I guess I'm one of the few that liked the co-op too. It was largely pointless, but not as pointless as say the co-op in Galaxy. Unlike that, DD was actually fun in co-op.

Anyway, the MK is one of the reasons I even keep my Wii around. I'm really looking forward to this game.

actually Crono, I don't know, but many people around my area loved the game.

I know it was their first attempt to a co-op game, and it was amazing, and no, I guess that's why you don't like it, but if there were 2 skilled players per kart it is so fun, unlike all the other MK games, I think DD was the most hardcore, there was too much precision needed...

GIMME A SEQUEL NINTENDO!

i actually like mario kart more than SSB, this is the game i'm getting a wii for. Mario Kart will end he war in Iraq and cure your impotence

My biggest problem with this game is how they announced that beginners will be a able to compete with veterans right from the get go.

I'm not interested in a game that waters down skill just so grandma can feel like shes competing. I'm interested to see just how badly they fuck this up in the name of casual gamers.

Oh shut up.

Oh open down.

@Co

That's actually a legit concern whether you want to admit it or not. I've always loved the MK series, but if there's one thing that has always annoyed me it's how the game attempts to keep races close by giving more favorable items to the people further behind. That's pretty lame. I don't want crap like that... nothing about the game should assist people that aren't doing as well, IMO. At the very least it should be an option that can be disabled.

@ Vidikron

For the best players, though, in an 8-player match, closing the gap from 8 to 1 with a lightning bolt was still pretty much impossible

Plus, the position-based item giving worked neatly because of the series' more back-asswards feature, making finishing positions from one race the starting position in the next. F-Zero and other racing systems do it the opposite way

Sure, it doesn't help the really bad players make up the gap between them and the really good players. But if you have a race where most or all of the players are of similar skill then the unfair item distribution can easily determine the winner. I've experiences this first hand quite a few times.

Shaggi, how long have you been playing Mario Kart? Its been that way since the beginning with Mario Kart, with better items being given to those further behind.

No system link?

Please don't go backwards Nintendo, 8 player local was amazing!

Just hook two Wii's to the Internet from the same physical location and make them friends. The traffic may go out to the 'Net, but the effect is still the same as system link.

Just duct tape two Wii's together.

I hope it uses only motion controls.

I loved Mario Kart 64. It could have done with more tracks, but for an N64 game is was good.

Now Nintendo has focused on the new Casual Market, it is safe to say that many games will lose alot of their Magic.

Did MP3, SMG or SSBM lose any of their magic? Doesn't seem so (I haven't played them yet, don't shoot me but I'm moving countries again and since the Wii is region locked I'm not buying one yet)

so you are moving to other countries to find a Wii?...

No I don't want to buy a Region 1 Wii knowing that I'm moving to a Region 2 country and having to go through the ordeal of finding a modchip where I land.

I don't know if it's only me, but Mario Kart just doesn't excite me as it used to be.

Destined to be a classic!

What they need is a Create A Map Channel that allows you to make a track and then upload it. Then people can download your tracks and vote on them. Just thinking about that gets me harder than a diamond in an ice storm. Oh, and the best part is that the tracks could be like 100 points. That way it would be like an impulse buy for people that have 300 leftover points.

100 points? No! 10 points!

10 points? I see...

Am I the only one who thinks the whole Mii avatar thing is just awful? It's nice to be able to keep track of your own scores etc on your own "account"... but the whole "make an avatar for yourself" is terribly implemented, mostly because there's so little variation in the graphics. Pretty much, if you don't have a beard or glasses, you're indistinguishable from your friends.

maybe you need more diverse friends

lol @ west

i agree that the selection of features could be a little more robust, i rarely see too many alike among my friends. i mean if you go to the Check Mii Out channel then yea but for a core group of friends (im talking like 10 people here) it's fine.

The SNES one remains my favourite. The added barriers on Rainbow Road was a major let down on the 64 version. If they remove them again, I'll love this game.

"We suspect that will be course-specific (ramps, big drop offs, etc.) and not a sign that you'll be able to jump and twist your driver ad infinitum to speed through the race."

Yeah, because there has never been stupid methods to speed through a race in Mario Kart before...

With all the SSBB DLC and now Mario Kart DLC (like ghosts) how long will it take for the system's internal memory to run out?

I guess what I'm asking is what is a good size SD card to buy?

This game needs a DS companion title with cross platform online support and DS control through the Wii.

IGN article is gone.

I'm not interested unless Sonic is a playable character.

And he doesn't have a cart or bike, he's just running.

Sonic R, anyone?

Woohoo~

This game is going to the first Mario Kart game I buy since the original on SNES! I feel like the only person looking forward to this more than Smash Bros...

See i've felt that the game has been a casual/hardcore crossover series since the N64 variation (the SNES one was very tough for me, having first played Kart 64), before non-gamer guests played Wii Sports, they played Mario Kart, Bomberman, or Smash Bros

Balancing out the gameplay a little more (for gods sake remove snaking, please, please, please) wouldn't really hurt the game, because the series has been a gateway franchise before

Very good call. Exactly my experience as well. Hardcore and casual alike enjoy this and SSB. Never played Bomberman...

I love Mario Kart. I really hope the Wii version lives up to the rest of the games in the series.

Why does it look like a DS game?

Previous 50 Comments

Mario Kart Wii to sport 32 courses, mid-air tricks and Mii integration

Reader Comments (90)

Posted: Feb 6th 2008 12:54PM GewurztraminerX said

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