Mario Kart Wii (マリオカートWii Mario Kāto Wī) is a 2008 kart racing game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. It is the sixth installment in the Mario Kart series and the second Mario Kart title to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game was released worldwide throughout April 2008, but one year later in South Korea. Every copy of the game is packaged with the Wii Wheel accessory, which is designed to house the Wii Remote to allow more intuitive and conventional steering.
Changes from its predecessor, Mario Kart DS, include bikes and support for up to twelve racers online. Like other games in the Mario Kart series, it involves various characters from several Mario games racing each other on tracks themed from locations in the Mario series. Support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection allows racing against other players from around the world, and online competitions and results are available by installing the Mario Kart Channel to the Wii Menu.
Mario Kart Wii was first shown at E3 2007. Critics have positively received it; The online capability and the large number of tracks, characters and karts have been praised. The game had a commercially successful launch in every region, and sold over a million copies in both Japan and the United States in less than a month. Overall, it is the second best-selling game for Wii at 34.26 million copies sold, after Wii Sports as of March 31, 2013. Mario Kart Wii is also the best-selling racing game of all time.
Mario Kart Wii is a racing video game where the player races in each of the 32 different tracks, including sixteen new tracks, and sixteen "retro" tracks from previous Mario Kart games; four each from Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS, and two each from Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and up to twelve characters can participate in a race instead of the traditional eight. Game modes include "Grand Prix", in which the player races against eleven computer-controlled players on four pre-determined tracks, "Time Trials", in which the player races alone or against a "ghost" (which can be either Nintendo's pre-recorded staff ghosts, ghosts from other players on the same Wii console, the player's own ghost data, or ghosts downloaded from other players on the Mario Kart Channel) in order to finish in the fastest possible time, "VS", which is similar to Grand Prix in that the player races against eleven CPU players, but they are allowed to choose any course they have unlocked and can customize extra options for the race, and "Battle", which consists of 2 different modes, Balloon Battle or Coin Runners. In Battle, the objective is to obtain items that are scattered across the stage and hit the opposing team with them within the time allotted. Battle mode contains ten stages (5 new stages, and 5 stages from previous Mario Kart games) which are separate from the 32 standard racing tracks, and are more open-ended than the race tracks. In addition to the single-player modes, the game allows 2-4 players to play offline in VS or Battle mode, either with or without the CPU players. Players obtain items by driving through item boxes placed at certain intervals throughout the courses, which can be used for either defense, offense, or for benefiting themselves, such as getting a speed boost from using a Mushroom. The game utilizes new items from Mario platform games not found in past Mario Kart games, including the "Mega Mushroom" from New Super Mario Bros., which allows the character to grow enormous in size and flatten opposing characters, and the "POW Block" from Mario Bros., which allows the character to send a shockwave to all the characters in front of them, spinning them out of control and causing them to drop any items they may be carrying (there is no effect, however, on those who are airborne) One additional item new to the series is the "Lightning Cloud", which raises the user's top speed briefly, but shrinks the user if it is not passed on to an opponent by colliding with their vehicle within a certain amount of time.
There are other characters that may hurt or help the racer in-game. Some of them included in the game are Lakitu, Piantas, Shy Guys, Monty Moles, and many others.
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Mario Kart Wii allows players to race against each other through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which features online racing and battle modes, supporting up to twelve simultaneous competitors. One or two players per Wii console can connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. There are 3 options that allow players to choose who they would like to play with: "Worldwide", "Regional" (called "Continental" in European versions), and "Friends". It features a rating system in which players will gain or lose VR (VS rating) or BR (Battle rating) based on how well they perform in matches. The game also includes the "Mario Kart Channel" (its features can be installed to the Wii Menu and requires, depending on region and content, between 74 and 86 blocks), which presents the current regional and worldwide rankings for Time Trials, and the option of sending or downloading Time Trial ghost data using WiiConnect24.Mario Kart Channel also offers worldwide tournaments from Nintendo, which are modified courses that will sometimes have special objectives, such as destroying all the Goombas on a course as fast as possible. There are 2 tournaments hosted every month. The channel enables users to check if any members of their Friend roster are currently online, and to participate in a race or battle with themThe Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection features a friend roster. In order for someone to add players to their friend roster, they must exchange a 12-digit "friend code" with the person they would like to add. This feature is present in all Nintendo Wi-Fi games for Wii. It is not possible to add players seen in a Worldwide or Regional match, as there is no text or voice chat in these modes. There are also players who have hacked the Wii console using the Homebrew Channel, and play the game online using cheat codes. These players are typically able to get an infinite amount of any item they wish, and they usually aim to unfairly win every race and/or constantly bombard all the other players with many powerful items. These kinds of hackers are typically frowned upon by most players, although there are other hackers who may give players various boosts and allow everyone to gain large amounts of VR. Nintendo has taken measures to ban hackers from Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, by blacklisting them and causing them to receive error code 20102 upon trying to connect. However, hackers quickly found ways to circumvent the error code and continue playing online. A number of glitches have also arisen on many of the courses, most notably the Grumble Volcano glitch, in which a player can jump onto a rock on the course Grumble Volcano and circle it to finish the race very quickly.Most players choose to only use the glitch in Time Trials, although some players will attempt it in online play. There are also many shortcuts in the game that involve the use of glitches, such as one in Bowser's Castle that allows the player to save roughly seven seconds, by using a boost panel to go through a wall in different courses.
I think this is the best Wii game EVER. I have been playing mariokart since the SNES and I was disapointed with the weak N64 version of the game. I have to say that they have created another masterpiece with this installment. My 2 year old son sits and cheers (literally) while I play. I would not normally promote playing video games instead of parenting, but he LOVES it. I have been playing the game for a year or more and I am still "unlocking" new features. This game is very, very replayable. It's worth every penny and more.
I give it five stars and two thumbs up.
Buy now
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