Mario Kart Wii

Kriticisms

There are, in fact, so many little things that could have been done better that we felt it necessary to make a list. Had Nintendo taken the minimal time and energy to do just a couple things differently and better, Mario Kart Wii would have appealed to many more people than it currently does. We have touched on some of these issues throughout the article, but we felt it necessary to really collect all the problems in one place to demonstrate just how much of an issue this is.

In versus matches, we are unable to choose kart class or mirrored courses. In addition, this is assigned randomly per match online. When my friends and I play kart, we prefer to always play 150cc races rather than a combination of 100cc, 150cc, and mirrored races. For those who are inclined, there is no way to play 50cc races with more than one player, and being forced to play mirrored races can be frustrating for some while enjoyable for others.

While it is possible to suggest a random course online, when playing a local versus match it is not possible to choose a random course. Local versus matches also always fill in computer AI to make up 12 drivers (in previous games players could choose to race only each other). Also, the game tracks sets of four races and declares a winner after each set of four, which can be annoying for people who just want to play. Finally, it is not possible to play a real Grand Prix with more than one player (meaning everything must be unlocked via single player mode).

Only two people can play online on one console, and the score is only tracked for the first player. The other guest player does not get scored, and if the guest beats the first player the online versus score can go down because of it. Players are supposed to be matched up via this score, but this seems not to work very well as we often end up in races with 11 people with half our score so that we get plus 5 or 10 points a race but loose 200 or 300 if we don't win. If you're playing to increase score, the guest essentially must play as a side kick rather than another competitor. Scoring using a combination of the guest and player one positions would encourage more "real" racing online.

Characters affect how karts perform, but the effects are not documented or even mentioned anywhere. There is a lack of control as to how quickly a mini-turbo can happen, which removes some of the skill in getting mini-turbos from drifting in older kart games. The interface is clunky, ugly, and is not easy to use and navigate (especially when trying to communicate and play with friends in rooms online), and the rain cloud is just a stupidly horrible item.

Battles can only be played with two teams of six, and playing one on one fairly is not possible as the outcome of two player battles is completely dependent on computer AI players. There could easily have been more courses, as there are 32 tracks on the DS version as well. (Additional older courses would have been very welcome.)

The quality of the item you get or the duration of the effect of an item depends on your position in the race when you hit a question block or are affected by an item. This tends to keep racers squished together as much as possible by helping drivers in the back more than those in front or hurting drivers more when they are close to the front. This compresses the field quite a bit, and there is little reward for gaining skill beyond a certain point.

The Wii Wheel is novel and can be fun to play with but very hard and frustrating to truly master. Those who want to use a GameCube controller will find the button layout changed, and it is not possible to change what buttons do in the game. This wouldn't be as bad if the button layout had improved, but it is functionally harder to use than on the GC kart.

Yes, some of the items apply more to long time fans of the series than those new to Mario Kart, but even if new karters don't complain, they could be getting a better experience if these issues were addressed. Mario Kart Wii seems to be a dumbed-down version of the game, but in the process Nintendo did some really stupid things that take away from the potential of this game to appeal to long time gamers in addition to grandma and grandpa. Sacrifices on this level do not have to be made, as everyone could have been satisfied with just a little more effort and polish.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader wchall01 for pointing out an error in our article. In the upper right corner of the screen when choosing solo or team play under 2, 3 or 4 player it is possible to change the “rules” setting to only 50cc, 100cc, 150cc or mirror. If a player wants to change the difficulty of CPU players or disable them altogether, there is an option for it. Course selection can be set to choose, random, or in order (though we’d still like to see random as an option when choose is enabled). The number of races in a match can be set as well, so the four-race limitation goes away (but it can’t be set to unlimited).

Many apologies for the error and any confusion it caused.