With Nintendo having squeezed out a Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and even a Smash Bros, all the Wii seems to have left in its limited library is Mario Kart Wii. It’s finally here only weeks after the release of Smash Bros Brawl, a successful sequel to Melee with gameplay nearly untouched by Nintendo. Only tweaked and upgraded, Brawl was an instant classic in our books. While Brawl grasps onto the foundation that made Smash Bros so frantic and enjoyable, Mario Kart Wii strays from its tight controls in favor for a brand new control scheme. Nintendo assuredly loves its franchises, but have they finally turned their heads to allow such drastic changes?
Sixteen years ago, Super Mario Kart for the SNES was released and surprisingly, the general gameplay has evaded any revolutionary changes – probably for the better. We have gotten used to the homing red shells, the invincibility of the star, and the diabolically insane tracks. It became a tried and true formula that Nintendo could literally reproduce for decades. And now, sixteen years later, the Mario Kart series faces a control makeover that could make or break the series.
Utilizing the Wii motion-sensing controls, the Wii remote is flipped on its side as a steering wheel. Nintendo has included one wheel attachment, but it barely adds any functionality and only aims to replicate the feeling of holding a steering wheel. The plastic feels great and fits well into your hands, but you have to remember it’s a piece of plastic. There are no extra buttons or added uses. It’s just a wheel. I’ll admit that the controls give Mario Kart Wii an added layer of wackiness, making sure that each race is as unpredictable as the one before. It’s definitely fun, but often infuriating for Mario Kart enthusiasts when the inaccurate controls create dubious results. It’s obvious that the new control scheme is catered towards a more mainstream audience with Nintendo’s new gaming approach towards casual gamers. It works, giving everyone the same handicap and making special moves easier to pull off, but it’s far too simplified now.
Everyone’s favorite power-sliding mechanic has been reduced to merely holding down button. Players can maneuver around during the power-slide, but unlike the predecessors, it does not charge up the boost. What charges the boost is how long the button is held down. It takes two to three seconds for the first boost to charge up, and another few seconds for a stronger boost. It eliminates the dreaded snaking that everyone complains about – for the record, I’m a snaker – but the thrill of constantly boosting is gone. Did I mention it is infinitely harder while using the Wii remote? Often when sliding, players will slide in the opposite direction with Nintendo’s imprecise motion sensing. The lack of an accurate power-slide becomes much more apparent in later levels where railings are absent from catching racers from falling. Nintendo has given Wii remote players an advantage by using the remote for special tricks in the air, giving an extra boost when landing. But the advantage is slim to none, especially when the Wii remote controls are a mess. After dealing with the torturous control scheme for an hour or so, I plugged in a Gamecube controller. Do yourself a favor and use the Gamecube controller. You won’t look back.
The races themselves seem to blend the best of every previous Mario Kart game. No longer are races limited to eight racers. Similar to the Super Nintendo original, the game accommodates twelve racers at once, boasting the largest roster of Nintendo characters. Never will there be a dull race with the hectic rush for first place with eleven other opponents. Again, the customary Cup races return with sixteen new tracks, as well as sixteen classic tracks. The design of the new courses is wacky and it vibrantly emanates the Nintendo aesthetic, traversing throughout the universes of all the characters. Many of the tracks seem familiar, but are never too similar to look like direct copies. The classic tracks have selected some of our best memories in Mario Kart history – not including Koopa Troopa Beach from the N64 still bothers me though. You’ll be playing through all the cups for hours and hours not only just to unlock new characters, but rather because they are simply fun.
A new feature that Nintendo has been overzealously boasting is the addition of bikes. While they handle a bit differently, they are essentially the same as the karts. They have some benefits over the karts at times. When pressing up on the d-pad, players will begin a wheelie that increases their top speed. It hinders the amount of turning control, but is useful on a straightaway. In return though, the bikes only have one level of drifting speed boosts (as opposed to the two levels that the karts have).
Items have always been one of the most important icons of the Mario Kart series, and Mario Kart Wii is no exception to this. The player’s arsenal is larger than ever, including favorites such as the star, thunderbolt, and the dreaded blue shell. Nintendo has added some power-ups for your disposal. The mega mushroom from New Super Mario Bros makes its debut appearance in the series, which turns the racer into an enormous road hog that bumps anyone out of the way. Remember the infamous POW-block from the Mario Bros arcade game, Smash Bros, and other famous Mario games? It’s finally in the kart racer, and is by far one of the most annoying weapons. Upon using it, all the racers ahead of player are pounded, forcing them to swerve haphazardly into obstacles and even off stages. Despite the items being plenty, Nintendo has truly overdone the balance of items. Some of the items have the ability to drop a player from first place to dead last, making Mario Kart Wii more about items – essentially then it’s about luck – than about racing skill. The lack of emphasis on mastering tracks and techniques makes Mario Kart Wii by far the most accessible, but simplistic racer in the series.
And this is easily the biggest reason my score for Mario Kart Wii is kicked back a few points. I understand Nintendo’s current gaming philosophy in breaching the mainstream casual audience, but the series has been dumbed down enough for anyone to win. When perfect track memorization, drift boosting, and shortcuts can’t even win a race, then we definitely have a problem.
Unfortunately, the multiplayer aspect of the game takes a slight hit, destroying some crucial mechanics of the modes. Returning to Mario Kart is both Versus Mode and Battle Mode. However, Nintendo leads us to believe that we all want to play with CPU characters. While it’s great for Versus Mode, battling against friends and CPU characters, the Battle Mode is absolutely broken. The free-for-all aspect has been left out in favor of a team based balloon battle mode: red balloons versus blue balloons. Every hit a player makes adds to the total team score. Despite having three balloons, once you lose them all, you respawn once again only to lose a single point. Battle Mode has been severely modified to the point that it does not encompass the nostalgic rush we grew to love.
Multiplayer is great, but for the first time, we can finally take Mario Kart online on a home console. Lag is always a big problem in racing games online, but never did I feel a hint of lag in my races with real opponents throughout the world. The controls feel responsive and feel identical to a local multiplayer match. For something Nintendo has barely ventured into, I’m impressed with their Mario Kart Wii online setup. It’s easy and intuitive, which is always a plus with an online matchmaking system.
Mario Kart Wii has not evolved visually from Double Dash, but it maintains its cartoony style. It’s hard to imagine the Mario Kart series getting any better looking, but there’s obviously room for improvement. There are no dips in the framerate and has eliminated any encounters with glitches. In the end though, Mario Kart Wii still looks like Mario Kart Double Dash.
As stated before, Mario Kart Wii is the blending of the best aspects of all the previous Mario Karts, and the music benefits greatly from that. Many of our favorite tracks from the classic versions have been remixed for our current generation expectations. Just like Smash Bros Brawl, where the music nostalgically kicks us back to the past, Mario Kart Wii does the same. The goofy, but fitting music works great, spanning from epic musical scores to outlandish groovy tunes.
In the end, what’s most important is that the game plays like a Mario Kart game. And it does. At its core, Mario Kart Wii is fun and a blast to play with friends. But the game is most likely to turn off the hardcore crowd with its limitations catered for the casual gamer and overly gimmicky control scheme. Don’t expect anything revolutionary from this Wii version because it’s essentially the more of the same, but with an option to play with a Wii remote.
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8.0