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On April 27, 2008, A new addition to the ever so popular  Mario Kart series was released. Mario Kart  Wii uses the Wii Remote for steering /jumping/tricks/ect. “But why would I want another one?” You might ask. Well, as with all the Mario Kart games so far, this one brings in something we’ve never seen before. Now, instead  of using karts, you now have the option to use dirt bikes and motorcycles (except in 50cc races where you are required to use a kart). “Oh well, its got a few extra vehicles, so what?” You might say. If your not interested  in the  bikes, maybe the online compatibilities will hook you. On Mario Kart Wii you are able to play up to 12 players globally. Have a match with your friends or  try your luck in a regional tournament. 

In addition to the bikes, there are a whole new set of cars for the players, heavy, medium, and light weight karts. Each one has advantages and disadvantages, which you can adapt to according to whether  or not you would prefer speed or attack power on your kart.

“I don’t really like the new stages.” You might say.  Mario Kart Wii has four cups with four tracks in each dedicated to retro courses. There are also retro battle courses including the DS Twilight House and the N64 Skyscraper.

“I just don’t like the fact that you actually turn the Wii Remote, mine is very sensitive.” Well, if this is your argument then you should know that you can change the remotes sensitivity in the main menu. If you  just don’t like the wheel, you have the option of using  the Remote and Nun chuck (for those of you who want a new way to play), a Game Cube controller (for you who loved Double Dash), or a classic controller (for everyone who loved the NES and Snes Mario Karts). There are many different ways to play, but the wheel (included in package) is by far the favored style.

Are you convinced now? Lets get onto the review then.

Tracks. The new tacks in the game are some of the best yet. Although some of the Mushroom Cup tracks can be somewhat boring, the Flower Cup will definitely show you what you’ve been missing. And if that’s not enough, try out the Star Cup and this will have you hooked. But if you’re looking for a tough challenge, 150cc Special Cup is for you. The Rainbow Road in this game is the most imaginative course I’ve seen on any game.

Characters. Mario Kart Wii bring a unique group of characters to you. You automatically start with Baby Mario, Baby Peach, Toad, Koopa Troopa, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, Waluigi, and of coarse, Donkey Kong, but it doesn’t stop there, there are also characters that you can unlock, but I’m not going to spoil it for you.

Game Play. There are a few different ways to play in Mario Kart Wii, all with a unique twist to them unlike any other racing game before.

The first way to play is the classic Grand Prix. Racing in the Grand Prix (and winning, that is) will unlock characters, karts, bikes, and even  the  challenging Mirror Tracks.

In Time Trial, players try to finish a course in as short a time as possible. Like in previous games, the fastest time will be saved as a ghost, a copy of the player's performance which can be raced against. By beating staff ghosts, "expert staff ghosts" are made available. Beating them, in turn, makes certain vehicles and characters available.  Versus mode entails one to four local players racing head-to-head in a single race on any course either with or without AI players. 

The game also features Battle mode, consisting of Balloon Battle and Coin Runner. The players are split into two teams randomly, and start on one of the ten battle courses.In Balloon Battle, each player has three balloons attached to their kart. Every time a player is hit by an opposing player, a balloon is lost, and the score for each team is altered accordingly. If a player loses all three balloons, they are given three new balloons and are restarted on the course. When the time limit is reached, the team that popped the most balloons wins.

In Coin Runner, coins are scattered over the battle course. If a player drives over a coin he or she will pick it up, but being hit by an opposing player will cause him or her to lose coins. The winning team is the team that is holding the most coins when the time limit is reached. Both of these modes support one to twelve players; any slots unfilled by players may be filled by AI players, however this option can be disabled. 

Both battle modes are automatically set to three minutes and the time cannot be changed.

Wifi Play: Mario Kart Wii allows players to race against each other through the Nintendo Wifi Connection with  either one or two players. This features online racing and battle modes, supporting up to twelve simultaneous competitors. There are three options: worldwide, regional and friends. The first two options match the player against those of a similar rank, either from around the world or their surrounding geographical region, and the third option lets the player race against listed friends. The maps are decided by a voting system where the map is randomly selected from the maps voted for by the players, where each vote increases the probability of the map being chosen. When playing online for the first time players are given a skill rating of '5000' and based on wins and losses, this increases or decreases to rank the player's skill level. The game features online text chat between players where users are able to select from a set of predetermined phrases when playing with friends.

The game also has the option of installing the Mario Kart Channel to the Wii Menu, which presents the current regional and worldwide rankings, as well as the option of sending or downloading saved time trials (ghosts) using WiiConnect24. The Kart Channel also offers worldwide tournaments from Nintendo. The channel, which can be run independently of the game, enables a user to see if any members of their Friend roster are currently online, and to participate in a race with them. When waiting for an online race to start, the player will watch the current race if there is one running.

With Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo has opened up a whole new way to play their game, and a whole new way to experience the system it’s on. Whether it’s the Wii Wheel or that we can race bikes – both take a backseat to the foundation that Nintendo has laid out ahead for the series online. Yeah you might say Smash Bros Brawl did it first, even Mario Kart DS, but the Wii’s version does it so much better. We realize this is just a baby step of many for truly realizing Nintendo’s online potential, but it’s one in the right direction. And because of this, Mario Kart is fresher than it’s been in the past 10 years. We can’t wait to see what comes next.