Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii is the latest addition of the Mario Kart series. Designed with the Wii in mind you could say it was designed for the Wii, So what do you get with Mario Kart Wii, well you get a Wii Wheel thrown in the package, giving you a more realistic driving experience. It is, however, compatible with other controllers as well. Mario Kart Wii still has its classic Mario Kart characters as well as additional characters.

Mario Kart Wii requires you to have 23 blocks on the player's Wii system so you can save game data. The game data can't be copied so don't bother waste your time trying. This feature prevents players from transfering game data from one wii to another. The Mario Kart Channel uses 78 blocks, but unlike the game data, players can actually copy the channel onto their SD cards.

The great thing about Mario Kart Wii is that up to 12 players can race against each other to the finish in multi-lap race around a given circuit, you can employ all sorts of tricks, shortcuts, horseplay to earn yourself first place. You can also select twelve types of vehicles, six karts, and six bikes, to compete in each of the three classes available. Your selected Vehicles will vary depending on your characters weight, as will your colour scheme, depending on which character is shown.

Tournaments

If you fancy your chances against other opponents online there is a list of tournaments available, there is a new mode in Mario Kart Wii called "Tournament Mode", the PAL version of this is called the "Competition Mode".
You can play the Tournaments on the Mario Kart Channel, but make sure the Mario Kart Wii disc is in the Wii. You will of course need an internet connection, and Wii Connect 24 to be turned on before they can be played. After a while, a tournament is archived to make room for a new one. However, you can still view the rankings of older tournaments on the ranking table.

Types of Tournaments available

• VS. Race - A standard VS. race; however you will find the race courses are somewhat altered.


• Time Trial - A standard Time Trial; race courses are somewhat altered.


• Numbered Gates - You must drive through the gates in order, as fast as you possible can.


• Coin Collecting - Here you must collect the coins on the stage as fast as you can.


• Boss Battle - You must fight against a boss from Super Mario Galaxy or New Super Mario Bro.- These Tournaments are played on special stages.

There is a new feature called "Tricks" or "Stunts" and it is now a part of gameplay. When a player performs a trick, the player is able to gain a momentary boost of speed, which allows characters to do a few different things, such as grabbing an Item Box out of midair. One example of trick is pulling off acrobatics in air, which can be performed by shaking the Wii Wheel upward, but try not to shake your arms off, while doing this, ha ha ha!

Guess what, Mario Kart Wii also features a text chat in online multi-player Mode. You can send pre-written phrases to other players before the series of races starts. Unfortunately you cannot type your own message, because this facility is not available, however you can text when racing or battling against your friends or other competitors.

You can grab yourself a copy of Mario Kart Wii plus many more wii games for a one off membership.