Preview: Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart fans, start your engines! As April 27th approaches, my spacebar on my keyboard has stiffened because of all the saliva dripping from my mouth from anticipation. 16 brand new tracks, extensive online support, a packaged (yes, that means free) Wii Wheel, and the ability to race using your Mii Avatar marks a few of the upgrades we’ll see in the famed Nintendo franchise. To pick one of these new features that most excites me is as confusing as choosing between soup or salad, Kobe or Shaq, Laverne or Shirley, Brett Favre or Aaron Rodge… wait, nevermind.




Like most others, I was skeptical about the possibility of a Wii Wheel. Even Nintendo admitted that it "took a little while to get used to.” I’m relieved that Nintendo has offered multiple gameplay options a la Super Smash Bros Brawl. Mario Kart Wii will also support more traditional controls by a GameCube pad, a remote/Nunchuk combo, or the Wii's Classic Controller. These other play styles were reportedly "quite responsive and instantly familiar,” however it might be an "awkwardly [reach] for the directional pad," while trying to perform the game’s new mid-air tricks. It’s basically a pick your poison type of decision.

While Nintendo has revealed that Mario Kart Wii would support twelve player online races, a brand new Mario Kart Wii channel can be run independently of the disc. The channel lets players view global rankings, share and download ghost data, and download daily missions. If only there were a downloadable mission where Barrack and Hillary hunt each other with red shells. I’ve said too much.