Mario Kart Wii

several times i have been in first palce and gotten a red shell, which has never happened before, not even in diddy. this allows a bit more strategy into it, ie fall back into second to let someone else catch the blue shells, etc, then knock them out a few feet from finish. i think the turbo from the "tricks" should be longer. other wise its a great title, either using the wheel, or the gc controller.
 
I was playing online for a while tonight--and the players using bikes were kicking the crap out of people using karts. I think the bikes might be a little overpowered, but they sure are fun.

Anyone know if there's a 150cc online mode? Any game I get put into online is 100cc.
 
I think online is always 100cc. It won't let you choose the speed, so I think it puts it there by default.

One thing about Double Dash that is back is the forced "polish" to the game. I don't know of a way to describe it except streamlining the game so that no wackiness is possible. What this means is that you can't jump off of objects like other players, walls, etc. While it cleans the game up, you could dodge shells like that, take corners quicker with a bounce-off, or use bounces to send you to odd parts of the level where you aren't really intended to go. Wipe-outs off of the level can no longer get you stuck in strange places and wiping out in certain spots no longer provides an inadvertent shortcut. One of the coolest things about the N64 one (and to a lesser extent, the DS) is that the jumping provided so many alternate uses other than just putting you into a slide. DD got rid of the jump and this one has it...but it's not much of a jump. I miss the wackiness that made no two races the same and provided a lot of unintended things that made the game better.
 
The online mode is fun, don't get me wrong, but in a 12 player race, the term "clusterfuck" ceases to be adequate. It turns it into a game of "whoever gets the star in the last seconds of the race wins" because you can't gain or maintain a decent lead with all the shit on the course. Also, the turbo boost off the start is way too easy to get now. I remember it requiring perfect timing before and now there's like a full second long window in which to hit accelerate. Some of the levels are very gimmicky too and it's extraordinarily frustrating. I got hit by a blue shell on Mushroom Mountain (I think that's the name, the one with the mushroom bouncy pads) while I was on the bouncy pads and it made me fall down into the chasm below and then start again back about half way roughly 5 seconds later. I went from first to last by a good quarter of the map from this one event alone.
 
I got hit by a blue shell on Mushroom Mountain (I think that's the name, the one with the mushroom bouncy pads) while I was on the bouncy pads and it made me fall down into the chasm below and then start again back about half way roughly 5 seconds later. I went from first to last by a good quarter of the map from this one event alone.

Isn't this just like getting red shelled on Wario's Stadium (N64) or Mario Circuit 2 (SNES) during a ramp jump? I mean I know the N64 track, the race is over if that happens during a jump. SNES tracks were short though, but it's a guaranteed 3-5 place drop regardless.

*Btw - anyone still using the wheel? I was being a total noob trying to figure out where the settings were until I realized you just have to push the A on the GC controller at the Title Screen.
 
I play around with the wheel, but I'm not using it for serious play, or anything but 50cc at the moment.
It's one of those things I'll go back to once I clear all of the races with gold. Right now I've got 2 150cc races left, although one of my friends (who has more time) has everything cleared except the last mirror race.

So far I think the levels where you fall off are a LOT more forgiving than the N64 version. In that game you could camp with lightning and actually keep people from making any large jump in the game. You could also hit people on a ramp and they'd be too slow to make a jump. A lot of the physics in this game are completely blunt. Momentum isn't taken into account and people either plummet straight down, stop dead, or just turbo across a gap. That's how walls work, too. No more bouncing off them. Everything just stops you dead. It's the one major issue I have with this one so far. It uses the GC's physics which really leave no room for anything interesting.
 
I don't really love Mario Kart, but I know I'll wind up buying this just because the family is getting it.

In any event, it sounds as if MKW is to MKDD as SSBB is to SSBM - dumbed down, but not less fun per se.
 
Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty fair comparison, although I'd actually say it's more advanced than DD...but both were a step back from the N64 version. In DD, the courses were pretty much on rails. This time there's at least a little more variety with multiple paths, shortcuts, etc.
 
The bullet is teh overpower. You don't even have to do anything, it's like saying "here ya go grandma, here's your free port to 1st place!"
 
The DD chain chomp was good, but it's been amped up in Wii with the bullet. You can now just let go of the controller and it'll hit everyone in site, double your speed, and it even takes shortcuts for you. The one thing about it is that you really only get it if you're in the back, much like lightning.
In 1 on 1 you'll only see it if you're so far back that it doesn't matter.
1 on 1 mode = a single mistake and you lose most races.
 
I don't really love Mario Kart, but I know I'll wind up buying this just because the family is getting it.

In any event, it sounds as if MKW is to MKDD as SSBB is to SSBM - dumbed down, but not less fun per se.

I would compare it more to a dumbed down version of MK64. One thing that I do greatly prefer to Brawl is the online play. The matches start quickly, there is virtually no lag and it's relatively easy to play with friends. I sit here on Teamspeak talking to my buddies while I play with them since the game lacks any voice chat.
 
A lot of the physics in this game are completely blunt. Momentum isn't taken into account and people either plummet straight down, stop dead, or just turbo across a gap. That's how walls work, too. No more bouncing off them. Everything just stops you dead. It's the one major issue I have with this one so far. It uses the GC's physics which really leave no room for anything interesting.

Well, I'm not expecting GT5 (I've played this at a friend's house)...but yeah, it's pretty messed up with that - hit a wall and you come to a DEAD stop. Which, i suppose makes this an uber skill game if you remove weapons.

OTOH, remember with the SNES version?
If you saw a pipe coming and couldn't dodge it - you could hop and hit it at the right timing, and you'd bounce back a kart length or so, while only losing maybe 50% of speed. Obviously without the hop, you'd come to that complete dead stop that happens in MK:Wii too.
 
Yeah, the hopping physics are really what adds to the wackiness factor of MK games. Everything from being able to jump into a wall and bounce off causing red shells to miss, to shortcuts, to being able to take faster corners by interntionally bouncing off of something or someone.
Both DD and the Wii games lack the jumping phyisics because there is so little bounce. I once bounced off of another player that I landed on, but that's once out of about 500 opportunities.

There used to be lots of little things like being able to escape a spinout with a "music note" brake press, and even having your steering go out when players tried to slide too long or make a turn without sliding. I dunno why they got rid of those little details.
 
I think the physics are a little screwy as well. I always turn items to Strategic when playing vs matches simply cause it makes the game actually fair. AKA you don't get hit with tons of shit simply by being in 1st.

The game however is still quite fun and I've enjoyed it quite a bit with friends and family. I love the bikes in this game and it brings a whole new element to Mario Kart.

Overall I think I'd give this game a 8/10, it definitely has some annoying flaws but it's just so damn fun that they don't matter, plus if you have one more person or more I would say this game is a 9/10. Best racing game I've played on the Wii yet, but I still want a hardcore racer, hopefully the F-Zero rumers turn out to be true and hopefully it will hit stores later this year. If not early 2009, I've just been thinking a updated F-Zero would be awesome although I still love GX.
 
I think the physics are a little screwy as well. I always turn items to Strategic when playing vs matches simply cause it makes the game actually fair. AKA you don't get hit with tons of shit simply by being in 1st.

The game however is still quite fun and I've enjoyed it quite a bit with friends and family. I love the bikes in this game and it brings a whole new element to Mario Kart.

Overall I think I'd give this game a 8/10, it definitely has some annoying flaws but it's just so damn fun that they don't matter, plus if you have one more person or more I would say this game is a 9/10. Best racing game I've played on the Wii yet, but I still want a hardcore racer, hopefully the F-Zero rumers turn out to be true and hopefully it will hit stores later this year. If not early 2009, I've just been thinking a updated F-Zero would be awesome although I still love GX.

The last thing I want is to ruin FZero by applying the Wii control scheme.
 
The last thing I want is to ruin FZero by applying the Wii control scheme.

Uh, I hope they would make it only usable with the Nunchuck, Classic or Cube controllers. I don't know how it would be possible to have enough precision with a Wii only control scheme in F-Zero although I'm sure it will most likely be an option if they are making one.
 
well i just finished playing an hour and I will say it was good times. I cant wait to have people over to get the trash talking started.
 
Whew...for anyone who's been playing a little while, beware of some of the "off-road" unlockable karts and bikes. Not only can they drive through grass/rocks/etc. at nearly top speed, they also seem to have higher top speed all the way around. Their only weakness is that they don't have a good slide boost, but with wheelies and new shortcuts...they make up for it.
My buddy unlocked the heavy offroad bike and he outran my dirt bike and zip zip bike while I had the damned cloud.
 
As Domingo has stated on his post, there are some things Nintendo shouldn't have left out. My biggest thing is the FFA on Battle Mode. A few people stated that the "tricks", if you wanna call them that, are dumb. I would agree with that if they were on a point system, but the main point for a trick jump is for extra boost...and who doesn't like that? Being able to escape specific disasters A la music notes...what happened with that too? And I for one miss the feather power up; take out the Blooper squid powerup. We can't have it all and I'm still enjoying the hell out of this game!
 
I think the tricks are great...I'm just a little peeved how they make you do them. It's clear that they just wanted to make people with the pads have a little harder time hitting the trick buttons. Still, they're essential to winning. Good luck beating other people or even the CPU on 150cc without using any.
Blooper is pretty much pointless. It's really only good for levels littered with bananas, but even then you can see enough to miss 'em.
The feather really should come back. I can't think of any areas where it would screw the game up. Why not give that out to those in 1st and second to give them a fighting chance against BS?
 
I think the tricks are great...I'm just a little peeved how they make you do them. It's clear that they just wanted to make people with the pads have a little harder time hitting the trick buttons. Still, they're essential to winning. Good luck beating other people or even the CPU on 150cc without using any.
Blooper is pretty much pointless. It's really only good for levels littered with bananas, but even then you can see enough to miss 'em.
The feather really should come back. I can't think of any areas where it would screw the game up. Why not give that out to those in 1st and second to give them a fighting chance against BS?


Really. Feather would be the only powerup against the BSOD!!!
 
I think the tricks are great...I'm just a little peeved how they make you do them. It's clear that they just wanted to make people with the pads have a little harder time hitting the trick buttons. Still, they're essential to winning. Good luck beating other people or even the CPU on 150cc without using any.
Blooper is pretty much pointless. It's really only good for levels littered with bananas, but even then you can see enough to miss 'em.
The feather really should come back. I can't think of any areas where it would screw the game up. Why not give that out to those in 1st and second to give them a fighting chance against BS?

Yeah, Nintendo should have given us the option to configure our controls however we wanted. I just use the Nunchuck+Wiimote though as I find it controls perfectly and I can do tricks effortlessly and everything else is super easy.
 
Well I just Completed everything in the 50cc and 100cc classes, got 2Golds in 150cc mode and will get the rest later. Pretty fun so far.
 
I have found that manual mode is pointless, yeah you get to drift but holy crap the cars suddenly handle like led weights and they seem to drive a lot slower as a result.

In automatic mode if you drive well and dont mess up you can actually pull ahead and stay there if you keep at it.

What I wish is the weapondry was more random, people in front get utter crap and the people in back get all the good stuff. I loved it on the N64 being in first and getting shell shields and other things which can save you if you get multi shrunk and run over some banana's or something. While the people in the rear get a lot of really good stuff, I think if the spread it out a little and gave people up front not as much of a chance as the people in the back but at least a chance to get some good stuff it would really even out.

Aside from that I think its great and online mode is actually usefull and fun unlike on SSBB.
 
I just ordered it, can't wait to get it!
A couple friends and I are gonna play Mario Kart 64 in honor of the new game till we get it! :p
 
My last final is tomorrow, so I'll be getting it sometime tomorrow.

I primarily care about Battle Mode, how is it? I liked DD's battlemode, really good controls. Maps were a little small, but I liked them more than the large maps on 64. We've tried pulling out the 64 one, but the crappy controls and large maps (last two people alive each round can take awhile) made us go right back to DD.
 
Battle mode is fun, some maps are large for small groups and others are just about the right size. Had some good fun online with friends in it :)
 
Just bought it, but only two controllers. If I have more controllers plugged in, can I still do balloon battle as FFA and not teams? Is there a way to turn off the time limit? I want play this classically.
 
I have found that manual mode is pointless, yeah you get to drift but holy crap the cars suddenly handle like led weights and they seem to drive a lot slower as a result.

In automatic mode if you drive well and dont mess up you can actually pull ahead and stay there if you keep at it.

Depends on if you're playing the CPU or other players. The CPU will pretty much keep up with you no matter what you do. That's pretty much been the case since MK64. However against other players this is suicide. You simply can't keep up with other players who can slide without doing one yourself. Controls might be easier, but you're still the same speed. Yes, you might luck into a power-up fueled win here and there, but it won't happen often enough.
Automatic is pretty much only for the CPU or for the bikes/karts that have really strange tight slides. They're all but useless for actualy play, but with automatic tweaking their turn radius, they're a lot more useful.
 
Speaking of turning radius, I was using DK on a Flame (something) Bike - holy smokes. It was rated horribly for Handling, so I was a bit confused. Whenever I drifted, I found I could literally turn on a dime - e.g. N64 Mario Speedway, I was ending up in the grass all the time from drifting too early.

Eventually, when I finally got it down, I was definitely seeing myself drifting far later in turns compared to other karts, even Luigi's Bike (my reference). Maybe I need to play more, but it was definitely strange to see. Consider that while both DK and Bowser were ludicrously fast in MK (SNES), they had a horridly wide power slide. Compared to MK:Wii, otoh, and DK is drifting sharply around corners like nobody's business. Let's just say that it was really strange to get used to.
 
With this game, they pretty much have all of the characters divided into light, medium, and heavy. There really doesn't seem to be a difference between then individually.
For each category, they have some karts/bikes that'll turn on a dime while others require a big radius to get a turn/boost. For the one you chose, you can likely get a slide boost REALLY easy, but I personally am so used to the older games that I suck with them. I'd guess that once you get good with them, they might be among the best, though.
So far I think the ones with the crazy offroad ratings are good, especially with heavy characters. The final bike you unlock with the havy characters is insane. Pretty much any ramp that normally sits in grass (and should require a mushroom) is fair game if you're at top speed. It actually totally unbalances 1/2 the courses in the game as a result. Game-breaking short-cuts can be taken at will without any mushrooms.
 
With this game, they pretty much have all of the characters divided into light, medium, and heavy. There really doesn't seem to be a difference between then individually.
For each category, they have some karts/bikes that'll turn on a dime while others require a big radius to get a turn/boost. For the one you chose, you can likely get a slide boost REALLY easy, but I personally am so used to the older games that I suck with them. I'd guess that once you get good with them, they might be among the best, though.
So far I think the ones with the crazy offroad ratings are good, especially with heavy characters. The final bike you unlock with the havy characters is insane. Pretty much any ramp that normally sits in grass (and should require a mushroom) is fair game if you're at top speed. It actually totally unbalances 1/2 the courses in the game as a result. Game-breaking short-cuts can be taken at will without any mushrooms.

OoOo. I'm gonna have to look into that :D
 
I'm pretty good at the game and I have a friend who's probably equally as good if not a little worse...but he has been kicking my ass all over the place now that he has that bike. I actually don't have it yet, but per him - it's an offroading monster with high top speed, but I guess it doesn't benefit form mini-turbo slides very much. Still, the wheelie makes it scary.
I'm not 100% sure how to get it, but he thought that he got it from winning the mirror cup. I still have 2-3 races left, so I can't verify that yet. I'm sure GameFAQs probably has all of the unlocks and how to get them, though.
 
I'm enjoying the game, but there are some aspect I do not like. For example .. all the weapon spam .. I have only played 2 player (the girl and I) but geez its too much. It feels like you wining the race has little to do with driver skill, and more to do with being lucky and not to getting nailed at the wrong time. There has been many a time where I am in first and I get inked, lightning bolted, and pow'd which drops me back to 12th .. very frustrating.

The girl and I have just been using two wii wheels, and the controls are ok. Without using drifting its near impossible to make sharp corners, and sometimes it feels like drifting makes you turn too much.
 
It's fun. I like the wheel. It's Mario Kart. Which was always fun. Nothing really new, just like an expansion pack or something with new tracks and cars... But, still fun as hell, like always!

I'm loving it!
 
My friend has a Wii, and picked up this game. I've played it a few times, being a die-hard fan of every previous version.

I think they totally ruined it. Unless there's something I'm missing, they've gimped every fun aspect of the game. More so than any previous version the powerups are absolutely ridiculous; it seems every other race ends with the person in first getting hit with a blue shell 10 feet before the finish line and then finishing 6th.

Am I mistaken when I say they completely gimped the slides? If so, that kills the game for me. Alright, so they have to eliminate the "snaking" problem...was the best way to do that to make it so power boosts can only be obtained depending on how long you're in a slide for, not how many times you wiggle the joystick? In my opinion, not at all. At the risk of sounding like an elitist, it's a total noob game now...luck plays more of a part in it than skill, so what's the point?
 
It seems kind of noobish at first, but I've still been beating the pants off of people using the slides chained with the motorcycle wheelies.
The group that really gained something with this one are the people who could nail the slide turbo, but hadn't really mastered snaking or nailing 2-3 with each turn. My wife's a good racer and has all of the fundamentals, but she was never much for snaking. In this one, she's been doing pretty well thus far as a result. Still, out of our matches I still win about 75% of them. Ditto for online. I dunno what it is, but I'm still apparently doing something that's working better than what the other players are. I think the new slide and knowing how to maximize the slides/tricks plays a bigger part than you might think.
In some ways, with MK:DS we saw driving skill go out the window in favor of snaking. I've played people who couldn't drive for shit, but they could rip off slide after slide in a row and it made up for their bad angles. This one brings driving back a bit.
The "last place power-up" prior to the finish is HORRIBLE in this one, though. It's not really in effect for multi-layer online, but against the CPU it's horrendous. Whenever I'm on the last 1/4 of the race I can pretty much just start a countdown for me getting nailed by some BS.
 
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