No snaking in Mario Kart Wii

68 Comments by Ross Miller Mar 17th 2008 8:00PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Driving

There has been a love-hate relationship with the ability to snake (no, not him) in Mario Kart. For those unfamiliar with the (in)famous technique, it involves using the drift-boosting over and over again, causing a snake-like movement pattern across the tracks. It has been in the game since Mario Kart 64.

It appears that might have changed with the upcoming Mario Kart Wii. Go Nintendo reports on a passage from the Official Nintendo Magazine UK's review of the game, where it says, "[Snaking] has finally been scrapped, and now your speed boost is determined by how long you can hold the slide." IGN has also corroborated the lack of snaking with their build, although to us that sounds like racers will simply find a way to slide through the entire course as we did in back in the Super Nintendo Mario Kart.

Gallery: Mario Kart Wii

Tags: mario-kart, mario-kart-wii, snake, snaking

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Neebs: Mar 17th 2008; 8:04PM

Well, I guess I'll be buying the game now.

dan diemer: Mar 18th 2008; 12:24AM

My sentiments exactly.

Shinkuu: Mar 18th 2008; 11:16AM

Agreed. Because if I can't win at a video game there's just no reason to even play it.

A Pissed-off English Gamer: Mar 18th 2008; 12:56PM

Hey, it's not about the winning. Snaking was something which broke the balance of the game, simple as that. The best player should win, not the player who knows that repetitiously doing a power slide is an automatic victory.

Neebs: Mar 18th 2008; 8:00PM

It's not about winning, it's about a bs exploit.

Obie: Mar 17th 2008; 8:04PM

THANK GOD!
Snakers ruined the DS game for me.

Neebs: Mar 17th 2008; 8:11PM

"Snakers ruined the DS game."

better.

Obie: Mar 17th 2008; 8:13PM

Well, it ruined the matchmaking with strangers, but the single player and friend matches were still fun.

Mr Khan: Mar 18th 2008; 1:09PM

Right again, it ruined Online play, which killed the games replay value

TrojanGuy: Mar 18th 2008; 2:30PM

Agreed. Online w/ random people was no fun because if you couldn't snake, there was no way to be even remotely competitive. I'm very happy about this change in MK Wii.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force): Mar 17th 2008; 8:14PM

You're SO going down Fernando!!!!

Victor: Mar 17th 2008; 8:18PM

Snakers were never an issue for me, but then again I rarely played using Nintendo's WFC.

Dopple Boppler: Mar 17th 2008; 8:24PM

The thing I don't understand is that snaking made the game such a hassle to play and yet people still did it. When people were beating me left and right online in the DS game I learned how to do it, and I pretty much won every match from then on (my record to this day is like, 1,000 wins and 40 losses), but it made the game a lot less fun to play. I mean, at least don't snake when no one else is doing it; anyone who gets any kind of satisfaction from doing that every single match shouldn't be playing games in the first place.

wait in the car: Mar 17th 2008; 8:42PM

Well said, my friend. Well said.

OTAM: Mar 17th 2008; 8:33PM

As stated above,snakers basically ruined the DS version of the game.

ApolloIV: Mar 17th 2008; 8:34PM

And wave dashing, and Lcanceling. Opps wrong game.

A Pissed-off English Gamer: Mar 18th 2008; 1:03PM

Wavedashing, perhaps. L-canceling, however? Hell no.

Sam Zebian: Mar 17th 2008; 8:39PM

I had mario kart for the DS (Until my ds and all of my games were stolen), and it was fun, but I now realize why I lost almost every online matcdh.

Fatass of Kickassness: Mar 17th 2008; 8:42PM

Awesome, another game besides Smash Bros. to beat Fernando in! :)

Seriously, though, old news. Why is this making rounds now? It was already confirmed long ago that the analog flicking-style boost was scrapped in favor of a timed boost system.

BPM is Ready to Brawl! 5026 4120 1186: Mar 18th 2008; 2:48AM

Hey, FoK. Add my Brawl code? Alright?

Jake11: Mar 17th 2008; 8:43PM

i want this game even more than brawl. this just adds to the want

Neebs: Mar 17th 2008; 9:12PM

GET RID OF THAT AVATAR.
*nightmares*

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force): Mar 17th 2008; 11:14PM

http://www.eatliver.com/img/2007/2382.jpg

Jhongerkong: Mar 17th 2008; 8:55PM

Snaking isnt cheating. If it was, then why is it in the game? Its just a skill like L-cancelling or wavedashing.

Zegim: Mar 17th 2008; 9:00PM

True, isn't really cheating, is more like exploiting a game feature.

So it's a great thing that it has been removed altogether.

ApolloIV: Mar 17th 2008; 9:03PM

It's not a cheat like you said, but it is however not the way it is intended to be played.

Intentless: Mar 17th 2008; 9:21PM

which depending on who you speak to means it is cheating...

Mr.ESC: Mar 18th 2008; 1:23AM

Like camping outside a respawn point in Tf2,is not cheating but is annoying. (It never bother me tho')

Drew: Mar 17th 2008; 9:27PM

Snaking was in 64, source I say, source!

Co: Mar 17th 2008; 10:16PM

Exactly. I do not remember any snaking in 64, especially to the level of DS. 64's boosting was also determined on how long you could hold your slide.

xeleion: Mar 17th 2008; 10:21PM

I have nothing to say about your comment, but you get a +1 just for the avatar. Killer Instinct is made of pure win. Where's my next-gen version?

emagius: Mar 17th 2008; 10:53PM

Snaking's been around since the original MK on the SNES. It was definitely in 64 as well.

Just because your buddies never figured it out doesn't remove it from the game. ;)

Drew: Mar 18th 2008; 12:09AM

I've never seen it done in the 64 one in GENERAL. The shortcuts for every track I've seen just never snaking.

MisterSquared: Mar 18th 2008; 1:30AM

If you feverishly flicked your analog stick whilst in a slide in MK64, the white letters emanating would change from white, to yellow, to orange. Then on orange you could release and get a boost.

Kye NFC: 7016 - 9552 - 1191 - 8991: Mar 18th 2008; 5:11AM

When drifting in the 64 version you just had to flick the stick to the outside of the corner (not feverishly) twice to get a boost.

Man I wish that game were online.

mr nimblewick: Mar 17th 2008; 9:58PM

When I used to play mario kart ds online, I went by the name snake=d/c. Of course, I stopped playing the game altogether after a few instances of losing by 2 laps against snakers. This is great news.

Red: Mar 17th 2008; 10:22PM

Sad fact of the matter is that if something is possible to do in a game, legit or not, people will use it.

Gurei: Mar 17th 2008; 10:30PM

Awsome,these is really a plus for these game,i was gona buy it anyway but with other good games coming too,idk WHEN i was.

But oh well cant be that good right? i guess that while snaking is out,wheelies or some other gay thing will get in.

Kyattsuai: Mar 17th 2008; 10:34PM

Snake... Snake... SNAKE!!!!!

Seriously, good riddance.

i_hate_mtv: Mar 17th 2008; 11:07PM

Thank God! Those cheating fuckheads can go to hell.

Leonidas: Mar 17th 2008; 11:15PM

As a serious snaker, I have to say that hackers ruined the DS game for me.

waynski1457: Mar 18th 2008; 12:47AM

damn beat me to it.

but seriously, i loved snaking... when used how the developers intended. snaking an entire race was crazy, but i for one will not decry the skill to do so. snakers were just playing the game using what was there. but try playing MKDS online now... its all action replay whores...

Balius: Mar 17th 2008; 11:31PM

Even if you don't think snaking is cheating (it's an exploitation, and a big problem, but not cheating) you have to admit it turned a game about cartoon characters racing with tame weaponry into a chore. A game shouldn't feel like work, and if it does, the game fails.

Good riddance to snaking.

jsqueezo: Mar 20th 2008; 5:47PM

What are you saying ? It's like people who win in Street Fighter or Mortal Combat by just sweeping the legs continuously... Learn to defend against it and that'll stop your rampant crying. Remember... What makes people who master a skill dangerous is the fact that they also learned how to counter it. Learn the game full circle and not half ass and then you'll stop begging the makers to make an easier version for you to win. Peace.

Balius: Mar 21st 2008; 3:25AM

Who's complaining that I kept losing? I can snake, I can win by snaking. Doing so makes for an unfun game, so I stopped playing online. I don't beat my head against a wall, it was poor game design (or play-testing) that made Mario Kart DS a chore. A game that isn't fun is a bad game, and snaking isn't fun and isn't skill.

Hence, good riddance to snaking.

ae86takumi: Mar 18th 2008; 12:49AM

Finally!!! In Mario Kart DS I would see that these people snaking the whole race., but when it came Rainbow Road.. I left them in the dust... Snaking is a total joke to compensate for a lack of skill. Now Mario Kart is back to basics again.

Curmeo: Mar 18th 2008; 1:21AM

goood job Nintendonald's! dumb down the game even further for your precious casual audience.

here's a solution: offer both modes online: a "snaking" mode and a "normal" mode? hows that for solving the "problem"? way to piss off all the pro-snakers. they might not even buy the game because of this.

Nintendonald's: dumbing down gameplay since November 2004!

xenkylm: Mar 18th 2008; 2:25AM

Waah! I have to learn to play a game now!

chris: Mar 18th 2008; 2:42AM

If they have a snaking mode and a non-snaking mode even the snakers won't play the snaking mode since the only reason they do it is to slaughter the 95% of people who don't want to snake. They don't want to have races against a bunch of other snakers, since that's a level playing field, they do it for an advantage, not for fun. That's what Nintendo are doing, taking out something that was annoying, not something to make the game more casual. I don't know a single 'hardcore' gamer who'd be angry about snaking being taken out, like someone said above, it's just like spawn camping in an online FPS game.

Curmeo: Mar 18th 2008; 2:52AM

chris,

i've played months of MKDS online races snaking against other top snakers and they would rarely disconnect. infact, the anti-snakers would disconnect much more frequently than the pro-snakers.

seriously Nintendonald's, if you ever end up releasing Mario Kart Wii 2 or something, include both online modes. it will only increase sales of the game for you.

oh and a big LOL at xenkylm. from my experience, most pro-snakers have mastered the non-snaking skills/techniques of MK which really dont require a PHD degree to learn. infact, alot of them even know how to dodge blue shells which i bet you didnt even know was possible.

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