First impressions: Mario Kart Wii

by Ross Miller { Apr 25th 2008 at 12:00PM }

We've been tailing Mario Kart Wii since its announcement at E3 last year, but now that we have an actual retail copy to play at home, we're finally able to share with you some quick impressions of the game. Click through to read our thoughts on the Wii Wheel, online multiplayer, the Mario Kart channel and more:

Wii Wheel: Nintendo's packaged peripheral is not as bad as we feared, especially when compared to playing the game with just the Wii remote. Nintendo has integrated a Wii Wheel icon into the game that appears next to your name when you use the wheel and tracks your "Wii Wheel %" usage. Truthfully, as long as you play without attachments (Wii Wheel or not), it'll count towards this stat, but trust us: you will not want to use the Wii remote without the wheel. There's also a golden Wii Wheel icon -- and from what we gather the "gold" means you've won a number matches using the peripheral (a "master," if you will). Despite the usability of the wheel, we still prefer the Classic Controller or Wii remote plus Nunchuk. Click here for a more detailed analysis.
Online Multiplayer: Options include worldwide, regional and friends. The numerical ranking will probably end up as addicting as it was in Tetris DS. Choosing worldwide, we had 12 opponents within a minute, most of them from Japan (with one player from Austria). One neat visual cue is a spinning globe that geographically pinpoints exactly where the players are. As an added bonus, you get to see the other players' games while you wait to join, and unlike Smash Bros. Brawl, you actually see the names of the opponents you're racing against. Online matches were lag-free, though we have no idea how well the game's servers will hold up on launch day and the weeks following.
Nostalgia: There's no way around it. For better or worse, this game is like every other Mario Kart game you've played. The mechanics most closely resemble that of Mario Kart DS, with drifting and hopping power slides. And of course, the nostalgia is most fueled by the tracks, half being from previous games in the series.
Rubber Band AI: File this under "bad nostalgia." In our very first race, we ended up passing into first place 30 seconds from the finish line. At that point, we were hit by (and we're not exaggerating here) a red shell, a blue shell and a lightning bolt, all in quick succession. Needless to say, we dropped to 8th almost instantly. Like all other Mario Kart games, it's best to hang around in 2nd or 3rd place until the very last moment.
New Additions: So far, we've had a positive experience with all the new items and stages we've seen. The addition of bikes is also interesting, although we've yet to see a noticeable benefit from performing a wheelie.
Mario Kart Channel: A welcome addition! We hope more online-centric Wii games start capitalizing on this idea. View your friends, check out/download ghost data, rankings (sorted by friends, region and worldwide), join in tournaments, and invite friends via your console-specific friends list all from the Wii's main menu.

Need a Kart fix? Check out all our coverage of Mario Kart Wii!

Tags: hands-on, impressions, mario, mario-kart, mario-kart-wii, nintendo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Ninjakamster @ Apr 25th 2008 12:05PM

In before Fernando creams himself. : P

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 25th 2008 12:11PM

I already did =p

Sam406 @ Apr 25th 2008 12:11PM

Is calling out Fernando the new cool thing to do?

It's Obvious he's gonna be here, he's bound to be interested in this game...

Shane Kim X3F! (Me love me 360 long time:) @ Apr 25th 2008 12:18PM

Yay! Mario Kart Double Dash!! But now with WAGGLE!!!! FTW!!! AMIRITE?!!

Ninjakamster @ Apr 25th 2008 12:22PM

Its always been cool.

Markez @ Apr 25th 2008 12:22PM

Shane, I really hope at some point this site finds a way to get rid of all the multiple accounts you have, being that you don't ever add anything to any conversation. The worse part is you're not even funny or amusing.

D_Average @ Apr 25th 2008 12:27PM

Yay! Mario Kart Double Dash!! But now with WAGGLE!!!! FTW!!! AMIRITE?!!

Seriously dude?? The Wii certainly has its share of "waggle" games but this is not one of them.

Shane Kim X3F! (Me love me 360 long time:) @ Apr 25th 2008 12:29PM

Why not just release a patch for MK DD via Nintendo online adding waggle? Oh wait...

Would be the same thing...yes?

Markez, why so glum chum?

D_Average @ Apr 25th 2008 12:33PM

Will someone respond to this garble above me...I don't have the energy right now.

MariosInferno @ Apr 25th 2008 12:38PM

Shane, are you bored?

I mean...what's going on in your life that making you so angry?? Did Reggie have his way with you or something?? I know the Wiimote is intuitive and all, but I never thought Reggie would do that with it...

Get over it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Go play DiRT or something.

D_Average @ Apr 25th 2008 12:49PM

Woah...were'd shane go??

JakubK666 (Ninja Defence Force) @ Apr 25th 2008 1:27PM

Same game mechanics as DS version!? People are going to snake the hell out of this game.

Multiplayer is ruined already.

FrankTheCrank @ Apr 25th 2008 2:00PM

Shane Kim, dude...you are getting absolutely no love man. Just forget it and move along to another article.

How can you hate Mario Kart. Even with the janky wheel, how can you hate on Mario and crew? Shit, I wouldn't even do that.

I'm most likely going to pick up the game and an extra wheel for my son. He's gonna love it.

Shadow El @ Apr 26th 2008 10:20AM

"Yay! Mario Kart Double Dash!! But now with WAGGLE!!!! FTW!!! AMIRITE?!!"

Try reading the article where they mentioned it was most similar to Mario Kart DS.

And don't worry Jakub, there's apparently no snaking in this game.

Fatass of Kickassness @ Apr 25th 2008 12:06PM

Sounds pretty decent! I'm sure I'll get this on Sunday and play it nonstop for two days until GTA4 takes over my life.

D_Average @ Apr 25th 2008 12:06PM

Yup, the Double Dash killer has certainly arrived!

Shmil @ Apr 25th 2008 12:07PM

Mario Kart DS?

Jacksons @ Apr 25th 2008 12:15PM

I'm going to miss 2 drivers / character specific items.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 25th 2008 12:18PM

D_Average

Wanna play DS version? =p

D_Average @ Apr 25th 2008 12:26PM

I"d love to, but don't have it yet. I'm one of those few that just got a DS =)

I'll play you in MK Wii though. I'm going to Sears tonight to see if they'll break the street date again like they did w/ Smash.

Co @ Apr 25th 2008 1:15PM

24 hour Wal-Marts FTW. I'll be there at midnight Saturday night!

sean @ Apr 25th 2008 12:09PM

i wonder how the gamecube controller is since i really dont hear much about it in other previews

Neil @ Apr 25th 2008 2:42PM

Absolutely perfect. Been playing with a GC pad since it came out two or three weeks ago and it works just fine.

My only gripe is that you have to select the disc channel with the Wii Remote to boot the game and then use the GC pad in game. I have to pull the batteries out of my remote to turn it off when I make it to the MK title screen.

McWeen @ Apr 25th 2008 12:09PM

I like mario kart and all but I feel like they should have waited a bit longer to release this game. It just seems too soon after Brawl.

ck @ Apr 25th 2008 12:15PM

Yeah - kinda agree. While I'm glad publishers are finally letting loose great games during the spring and summer - it just sucks because I only have so much time to invest in these games. They definitely could have fine tuned some of the graphics I think if they gave it an extra 2-3 months.

JJ Rooster @ Apr 25th 2008 12:48PM

Fine-tuned the graphics? On a Wii ???

ck @ Apr 25th 2008 1:00PM

joke is old, dude.

arrrgh @ Apr 25th 2008 2:03PM

and weak.

ill trooper @ Apr 26th 2008 3:36AM

and true

Senator Dracula @ Apr 25th 2008 12:12PM

"Rubber Band AI: File this under "bad nostalgia." In our very first race, we ended up passing into first place 30 seconds from the finish line. At that point, we were hit by (and we're not exaggerating here) a red shell, a blue shell and a lightning bolt, all in quick succession. Needless to say, we dropped to 8th almost instantly. Like all other Mario Kart games, it's best to hang around in 2nd or 3rd place until the very last moment."

Ugh. I guess this isn't a big surprise - every Mario Kart has this "balancing". It makes for exciting finishes every time... until you realize it makes for the same exciting finish every time. Oh well. Fortunately I'm not good enough to ever be in first place much anyway. I'll be the guy in 7th that keeps touching off the lightning.

alu @ Apr 25th 2008 3:15PM

i guess this was in SNES version but it wasn't as bad because there was no blue shells in that one. sure as shit mario/luigi would use 5 stars in a race though.

Markez @ Apr 25th 2008 12:14PM

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the wheel works out, hopefully they'll be able to come close to how sublime and heavenly ExciteTruck controls are.

If they're not up to my taste, well then I'm really bummed I managed to somehow misplace those darn Wavebird remote receivers.

What is one to do with this and GTAIV coming out so close to each other. CALAMITY!

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 25th 2008 12:15PM

The rubber band AI is nothing new... every Mario Kart game do that.

If you are good enough, weapons should not be a problem. It's easy for a good player to dodge blue shells, red shells, even the POW block can be dodged.

Zertoss @ Apr 25th 2008 12:28PM

I never had problems with weapons in the previous games. In DD and DS, the blue shells were always on me when I was in 1st, but even though they always hit me, they never stopped me from winning.

So I'm trying to figure out if the complete obliteration of 1st place is as bad as so many sites describe or if it works just like it always has.

So Fernando, how exactly DO you dodge a blue shell? I tried falling back into 2nd place once, but if you're in 1st when it's fired, it locks on to you and ignores your placing when it gets to you and wipes you out anyway.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 25th 2008 12:36PM

When someone shoots you a blue shell, you hear the sound of the shell flying... when you hear that the blue shell is close to you, start a powerslide... when the blue shell is about to drop, just release the powerslide to start the miniturbo.

If the timing is correct, the blue shell will impact the floor on the DS version, or in the Gamecube version the shell will keep flying until it impact on the floor or a wall. It's not easy, but with practice, you will do it naturally.

Same with the red shells.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diq-u6IdtmI

Vidikron (FU) @ Apr 25th 2008 1:02PM

Still lame though. I really like the MK series, but the rubber banding needs to be done away with.

T @ Apr 25th 2008 1:03PM

What I find more annoying is the insane dropoff in "quality" of items between 1st place and even as close as third.

In a four player DS match, 4th place (who could be less than a second behind you) gets a blue shell...whereas once you get into 3rd and beyond you'd better like bananas and fake item blocks.

And Blue Shells have been broken since Double-Dash. I wonder if they've upped the ante even more by having Blue Shells actually KILL the player.

Zertoss @ Apr 25th 2008 1:04PM

I see. Thanks for the tip!

DJManoloco @ Apr 25th 2008 3:04PM

I got Mario Kart DS. I'll send you a message on MSN tonight to exchange friend codes. I'm supposed to get a projector today so I'll probably also be on Brawl so we can maybe get a match there. We need a rematch bro because your Pit character is such a bitch. Anyway let me know if you're up for either one.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 25th 2008 3:55PM

Of course DJ... send me a message over MSN.

xFenixKnightx @ Apr 25th 2008 12:16PM

This game needs no previews, reviews, or marketing what-sO-EVAR! Its a classic franchise baby! BUYING!! :D

Nigeria - MK: 0430-8491-9123 @ Apr 25th 2008 12:45PM

Fenix, when I click your name on this article it links back to Shane Kim. Can you explain that?

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/11/takeuchi-talks-resident-evil-5-confirms-african-setting/

Like I said yesterday: boredom is not an excuse for douchebaggery. I only found this because I was searching for that Resident Evil development video a week or so back. You really should cover your tracks better.