NGamer: Mario Kart Wii as “nippy as can be”
Sunday, November 11th, 2007 at 5:15am by Derek
The British magazine NGamer posted an updated set of Mario Kart impressions on Thursday, complementing their extensive August preview. Collectively, NGamer has provided some of the most comprehensive Mario Kart Wii coverage available and has revealed some interesting tidbits that seem to have slipped under the radar.
One of the more interesting revelations from their recent preview, Mario Kart Wii will offer a variety of courses taken from past Mario Kart games, dating back to the SNES original, Super Mario Kart. While this may have been an expected move, NGamer suggests it is the presentation of the older courses in Mario Kart Wii that is noteworthy.
Other highlights from their collective impressions include:
- It boasts impressive graphics with a “general visual bounciness.”
- The classic hopping-and-boosting mechanic has returned.
- Races include 12 drivers, four more than usual.
- Tricks and stunts can be performed in mid-air.
- The racing action is substantially faster than in past versions.
- Vehicles include karts, motorcycles and more, each with distinct nuances.
Nintendo seems to be taking note of what made Mario Kart DS a universal success, what prevented GameCube’s Double Dash from garnering similar accolades and implementing their findings accordingly for the Wii version.
November 11th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I’m a true Kart Racer, been beating friends for years…can even race and win Mario Kart 64 with my feet….that being said, I have so problems with changes….bikes…tricks…I thought Nintendo Lived on ‘if it ain’t broke…’
So why all the new inclusions…is it just to make a flashy so more people will be interested?
November 11th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Of course they’re trying to make it more flashy so more people would be interested. It’s called expanding the market through innovation. The Wii is the obvious example of that. Nobody thought the standard control scheme used on gamecube, xbox, or ps2 were broken but Nintendo changed that. They gave us a more “flashy” controller that can be more fun the the basic controller.
November 11th, 2007 at 10:02 am
I am absolutely excited about the inclusion of motorcycles and tricks, especially the tricks. It’ll add something fresh, which is a feeling the series has been lacking. And those tricks look like an absolute blast to pull off. Who doesn’t love Tony Hawk?
The whole double team concept on the Gamecube was dumb. I am more excited about this than I have ever been for any Mario Kart game. The only troubling thing is that they’re including old tracks. I don’t want to play an old game. I want a new game with new tracks. And I don’t want boring figure eights and Nascar looking tracks. I want fun tracks like Luigi’s Mansion, Koopa’s Castle, and that Donkey Kong mountain. I hope they have some new tracks like that. I want to feel like I’m racing through an actual level of Super Mario Bros.
November 11th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Yeah I love Tony Hawk….I’m sure this air trick inclusion will be great but it still sounds kinda strange
November 11th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I haven’t really been into the Mario Kart games since Double Dash. This one looks like it just might bring me back.
November 11th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Another great game for the Wii !
November 11th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Double Dash was a fantastic game, I really loved that experience and I felt it was a lot more lively than Mario Kart DS… Although I must admit I play a lot more of Mario Kart DS, the control mechanics are a lot better. I hope this version retains the exuberance of Double Dash with the precision of DS, then I’ll be in heaven!
November 11th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Double Dash is the best console version of Mario Kart. It it WAY better than MK64. The ability to hold multiple items made it great for multiplayer races. DD has the best boost mechanism of all the games too.
I like the inclusion of motorcycles in MKWii. Remember MKDS had a other vehicles besides karts.
November 11th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
as long as they include the real Wario Stadium course from the N64 version, I’ll buy bthis without any complaints.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:19 am
I’m kind of worried by the ’substantially faster’ thing. They made Melee ’substantially faster’ than SSB64 and I thought they kind of ruined it by doing that. It’s good to hear Brawl feels more like 64, but I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to Mario Kart.
I’m also not sure what the point of the tricks system is. If it’s just there for the Hell of it, I say get rid of it. If it turns out they’re just adding things like that to make it feel newish, they probably shouldn’t be doing it in the first place, I think.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
It’ll be good to have the game go faster. 50cc is honestly bore and needs to switched for 200cc. But if they made all of the engine types faster, then that’ll be just as good. I have been wanting something faster than 1500cc for a while now.