Mario Kart Wii

[-Brett-]

Just picked it up today and played it for a while. I might have to play it a little more to decide if I like it, but my first impression is that it's fun. Nothing extraordinary, but fun. I can see what people are saying about the luck. You do get bombarded sometimes. I've only played 50cc, but so far the bombardment doesn't seem to be much worse than the DS version. Maybe that'll change with the 100 or 150 though.

 

[MyCylon]

^
I found it to be most noticeable with 150cc so I'm curious if you'll see it in the same way.

I just recently noticed that you can change the number of items or the number of very powerful items in the game for the two player mode, at least. I really find it much more fun that way since actually racing well makes a noticeable difference. You also get the chance to be a bit more strategic e.g. by keeping a particular item for the last round since you don't keep losing them all the time due to lightning and the likes.

 

[Corran Horn]

Anybody know how to make it so both players in 2-player get to record their stats on their licenses? I only seem to be able to choose 1 license and that's for the first player. Am I missing something?

 

[Akiraprise]

I forgot to add my thoughts about this game in this thread when I bought it.

If I could sum up the game play experience in one word it would have to be: cheap.
The AI is cheap. The blue shell is cheap. (I hate the blue shell.) The items are cheap. The big guns like lightning, bullet bill, and stars are way too common now.

Those gripes aside, I still like the game. I wouldn't be at 7300 points online racing if I didn't.
It's just frustrating, racing awesome, and then getting screwed over in the last lap by three blue shells just before you're about to win. I wish there was a way to disable some of the big gun items, or at least make them uncommon. I shouldn't have to sandbag the first two laps just to win. That's not fun. You shouldn't be rewarded for sucking, get a bullet bill in the last lap, and then winning second place. Mario Kart 64 remains my favorite of the games.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

What I want to know, is how you get 12s in the latest competition. I can't get any lower than around 58s.

 

[unimatrix7]

^ Meh. I usually give up after 2 minutes

Yeah, I suck that much

 

[rType]

If I could sum up the game play experience in one word it would have to be: cheap.
The AI is cheap. The blue shell is cheap. (I hate the blue shell.) The items are cheap. The big guns like lightning, bullet bill, and stars are way too common now.

I think it's simply a function of having more racers on the track this time around. It's endlessly annoying in singleplayer, but in multiplayer I find it more amusing than anything else. Nobody should be playing Mario Kart under the illusion that it directly rewards driving skill.

Those gripes aside, I still like the game. I wouldn't be at 7300 points online racing if I didn't.

6500 here. Is it my imagination or does the frequency of mirror mode tracks increase as your rating increases?

Mario Kart 64 remains my favorite of the games.

MK64 definitely had the best Battle Mode system, MKWii falls flat on its face in that regard. I can't believe Nintendo changed the Balloon Battle ruleset so that players don't actually die when they run out of balloons, it takes all tension and excitement out of the match. It's especially sad considering that MKWii finally includes some decent Battle Mode maps (Skyscraper ) for the first time since MK64.

Battle Mode aside, most of MKWii's flaws fall into the realm of not pushing things as far as they could've, for example I would've loved to have seen full Grand Prix events between 2-4 player teams. I do think MKWii offers the best overall package of any MK game to date, though.

What I want to know, is how you get 12s in the latest competition. I can't get any lower than around 58s.

My best time is 31 seconds to drop all four. The fastest way I've found to dispense with the initial spinning top is, at the start of the event, to collect the item box ahead and to the left of your starting position, and then maintain a left turn until you're facing the edge immediately behind where you started. The spinning top should be directly in front of you, close to the edge, and a single shroom boost will knock it off. If all goes well you can dispense with the first top in this manner in 4-5 seconds.

 

[Akiraprise]

I think it's simply a function of having more racers on the track this time around. It's endlessly annoying in singleplayer, but in multiplayer I find it more amusing than anything else. Nobody should be playing Mario Kart under the illusion that it directly rewards driving skill.

I've always understood that MK has never been all about the racing. But I like the old games where if you got a good item, like lightning or star, you considered yourself very fortunate. Now they pop those babies out like candy. A lot of that does have to do with more players on the map, you're right. Twelve can get to be a bit much.

Those gripes aside, I still like the game. I wouldn't be at 7300 points online racing if I didn't.

6500 here. Is it my imagination or does the frequency of mirror mode tracks increase as your rating increases?

I haven't noticed that. I don't normally get a lot of mirror mode tracks.

MK64 definitely had the best Battle Mode system, MKWii falls flat on its face in that regard. I can't believe Nintendo changed the Balloon Battle ruleset so that players don't actually die when they run out of balloons, it takes all tension and excitement out of the match. It's especially sad considering that MKWii finally includes some decent Battle Mode maps (Skyscraper ) for the first time since MK64.

I agree once again. I liked becoming a Bobomb when I ran out of balloons in MK64. Once you run out of balloons you should be done for that round. I initially wasn't that fond of the coin running either, but that has grown on me.

What I want to know, is how you get 12s in the latest competition. I can't get any lower than around 58s.

I haven't been playing the challenges. I've tried each one once, seen the top score, and just said the hell with it.