Thanks to some dedicated translators we have honest to goodness details on Mario Kart Wii from the latest issue of Famitsu. Super Smash Bros Brawl is making waves with gamers, we in the west are drooling with anticipation and yet we still yearn for the next thing. So it’s with great pleasure that I pass on to you the knowledge of Mario Kart Wii.

The newest game in the series will feature 32 courses, with 16 brand new and 16 remade classics. New courses are Mario Circuit, Momo Country, Kinopio Factory, DK Snowboard Cross, Coconuts Mall, Kinoko Canyon and Luigi Circuit. And if you add in Mirror Mode then there are 64 courses. Yeah, it’s a cheap way to double the course list but any self-respecting Mario Kart game should have a Mirror Mode anyways.

From the early screenshots we knew performing tricks would play some role in the game. Now we know that doing a “mid-air trick” and landing it will earn players a dash upon landing. Of course Mario Kart Wii will have online play, with up to 12 players competing against one another. And there’s something about a Mario Kart Channel that sounds like an interesting concept I’ll never use. You somehow set it up on your Wii Main Menu to view leaderboards, a system that I barely use on Xbox 360 because I don’t like seeing the “Rank: 4,387” next to my name all the time.

The best part – for those of us with families who are addicted to Mario Kart at least – is the game supports 4-player splitscreen offline play as well. It’s nice that while many genres are removing splitscreen, Nintendo still knows how to keep their fans happy.