Of the Mario Kart games I had played prior to this whole marathon I'm doing, Mario Kart Wii was the one I played the absolute least. I think the main reason for that is I got my wii in the latter half of 2010 and got this game for Christmas that year. However, next Christmas I got a 3DS and Mario Kart 7 and just never really went back to this one because the only time I was Mario Karting was on the school bus. Eventually 8 came out and that gave me even less of a reason to come back to this one. So it's been around 12 years since I last touched this game. As such, I gave this a 6 and thought it was just an average Mario Kart purely because I barely played it. Coming back to it in 2024 though, not only is it really great, it's my favorite Mario Kart I've played thus far in this marathon. I always thought I liked DS more overall since I had fonder memories with it but Wii is just more fun overall due to a couple things it did incredibly well.
The biggest and best thing Wii excelled at I think, is its new track selection. I honest to god don't think there's a single track I dislike. Maybe there's a couple tracks I think are just decent like Luigi Circuit or Mario Circuit but the track list is absolutely chock full of bangers. Mushroom Gorge, Toad's Factory, Coconut Mall, DK Summit, Wario's Gold Mine, Koopa Cape, Maple Treeway and this game's Rainbow Road. Those are just some of my absolute favorites but the rest are really good too. I know 7 and 8's original tracks already, and I've played through most of Double Dash's through other games in the series and also have seen the tracks that have not appeared in other games. With that said, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, Mario Kart Wii has the best selection of original courses out of every game in the series. The ratio of amazing/good courses is just too high for me not to claim that to be true. Either way, certainly a big reason this game is still a ton of fun to this day.
Something else this game did well was it's retro track selection. It may not be as good as 8's or even 7's for that matter, but it's leagues better than DS's I think. A big reason for that is half of the courses aren't from SNES or Super Circuit. And the ones that were, are a lot better this time around. Same with the Double Dash picks, Peach Beach is meh but Waluigi Stadium and DK mountain are awesome picks. The N64 picks are pretty solid too. Only one I think this game did dirty was DS. Peach Gardens and Delfino Square, while not my favorites from DS, were both pretty good. However, the other two courses are Yoshi Falls and Desert Hills which were some of my least favorites from DS. They could've picked some fan favorites like Waluigi Pinball or Airship Fortress but no, they picked some of the lamest courses. Hey, 7 actually had those two courses in its retro selection so I'll definitely be looking forward to them when I get to that game. Anyways, the retro selection could've been better but it's a big improvement from DS's selection.
The other big addition this game added was the trick system. Every Mario Kart after this one also has it too and there's a good reason why they've kept it ever since. It makes ramps that much more fun to drive off of, it's just super satisfying to shake the controller and see your kart do the most sick tricks in the air. Same with the half-pipe ramps which are an amazing addition as well. Honestly, they're usually slower than just driving if they're optional ones but courses like DK Pass or Bowser's Castle where they're pretty much mandatory (unless you have a mushroom) make those levels that much more fun to play and gives the game it's own identity since 8 did away with them (they are actually back in the Booster Courses but I haven't played those).
All this stuff is great and makes me enjoy this game a ton, but I do have a couple issues with this game that makes me like it less than 8 still. One of the biggest issues is the game's balancing. Another thing the game added was bikes which was huge. The developers must've had a huge hard on for them though as they're WAY better than any of the karts. The inside drift bikes especially are just too broken. So basically, there's two types of bikes. Outward drift and inward drift. Outward drift asks like a kart basically while inward drift makes it so as soon as you start to drift you can only drift sharply into the direction. Kinda hard to explain but if you've played the game you know. I remember hating inward drifting when I played this game all the way back in the day. Now though, I find inward drifting bikes to be a really fun and not nearly as annoying to use. However, like I said they're just too broken since you can cut corners insanely fast and also instead of getting a two stage mini turbo, you only get the one stage blue sparks but in turn you can perform a wheelie at any time by shaking the wiimote and that gives you a small speed boost. Because of all this, once I got the Mach Bike or Flame Runner, I just never used a kart or outside drift bike again just cuz there's no need to. 8 definitely fixed this cuz the balancing between the two is much better in that game.
A couple other issues I had was the item frequency and the battle mode being poor. The items can be super obnoxious in this game at times. I really don't know why but it's just super easy to get spammed with blue shells when in first. There were a couple games where I'd be hit by a blue shell like 7 times in one game. And plenty of times where I'd be hit by one and then hit by lightning, this game is just insane when it comes to it's items and sometimes it's just not fun. The battle mode I also remember not being that great back in the day. The courses were solid and all but the issue was you're forced to be on teams and cannot ever have it be a free for all. This is just lame and while it's not as bad as base 8's battle mode, it certainly isn't that far off. Also I was gonna say the bloom can really make the game look ugly or weird at times but honestly I got used to it pretty quickly and don't have much of an issue with it like I once thought. Still think Double Dash looks better than this game especially since some of the character models still aren't that great looking (not nearly as mad as DS tho).
I was also gonna say how it stinks to unlock every character because a couple of them require you to get a star or more on every cup(or just play and absurd amount of races) and the way to get star rank is a little weird in this game but I was actually able to do it in the end. Got one star or higher in 50, 100 and 150cc as well as unlocking every expert ghost time trial so I was able to unlock every character. Didn't feel like doing mirror mode though so I didn't get every kart but I feel pretty satisfied with what I did. Never unlocked a lot of stuff in this game back then when I played so it felt good to finally do so.
Overall, while I had some minor issues, this was easily the best Mario Kart game I've played thus far in this marathon. I'm super happy I redeemed myself with this game because a ton of my friends love it and I can finally see why they do. Really wish I played this more with my buds back in the day haha, ah well. Next up is Mario Kart 7 so look forward to that soon!
The biggest and best thing Wii excelled at I think, is its new track selection. I honest to god don't think there's a single track I dislike. Maybe there's a couple tracks I think are just decent like Luigi Circuit or Mario Circuit but the track list is absolutely chock full of bangers. Mushroom Gorge, Toad's Factory, Coconut Mall, DK Summit, Wario's Gold Mine, Koopa Cape, Maple Treeway and this game's Rainbow Road. Those are just some of my absolute favorites but the rest are really good too. I know 7 and 8's original tracks already, and I've played through most of Double Dash's through other games in the series and also have seen the tracks that have not appeared in other games. With that said, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, Mario Kart Wii has the best selection of original courses out of every game in the series. The ratio of amazing/good courses is just too high for me not to claim that to be true. Either way, certainly a big reason this game is still a ton of fun to this day.
Something else this game did well was it's retro track selection. It may not be as good as 8's or even 7's for that matter, but it's leagues better than DS's I think. A big reason for that is half of the courses aren't from SNES or Super Circuit. And the ones that were, are a lot better this time around. Same with the Double Dash picks, Peach Beach is meh but Waluigi Stadium and DK mountain are awesome picks. The N64 picks are pretty solid too. Only one I think this game did dirty was DS. Peach Gardens and Delfino Square, while not my favorites from DS, were both pretty good. However, the other two courses are Yoshi Falls and Desert Hills which were some of my least favorites from DS. They could've picked some fan favorites like Waluigi Pinball or Airship Fortress but no, they picked some of the lamest courses. Hey, 7 actually had those two courses in its retro selection so I'll definitely be looking forward to them when I get to that game. Anyways, the retro selection could've been better but it's a big improvement from DS's selection.
The other big addition this game added was the trick system. Every Mario Kart after this one also has it too and there's a good reason why they've kept it ever since. It makes ramps that much more fun to drive off of, it's just super satisfying to shake the controller and see your kart do the most sick tricks in the air. Same with the half-pipe ramps which are an amazing addition as well. Honestly, they're usually slower than just driving if they're optional ones but courses like DK Pass or Bowser's Castle where they're pretty much mandatory (unless you have a mushroom) make those levels that much more fun to play and gives the game it's own identity since 8 did away with them (they are actually back in the Booster Courses but I haven't played those).
All this stuff is great and makes me enjoy this game a ton, but I do have a couple issues with this game that makes me like it less than 8 still. One of the biggest issues is the game's balancing. Another thing the game added was bikes which was huge. The developers must've had a huge hard on for them though as they're WAY better than any of the karts. The inside drift bikes especially are just too broken. So basically, there's two types of bikes. Outward drift and inward drift. Outward drift asks like a kart basically while inward drift makes it so as soon as you start to drift you can only drift sharply into the direction. Kinda hard to explain but if you've played the game you know. I remember hating inward drifting when I played this game all the way back in the day. Now though, I find inward drifting bikes to be a really fun and not nearly as annoying to use. However, like I said they're just too broken since you can cut corners insanely fast and also instead of getting a two stage mini turbo, you only get the one stage blue sparks but in turn you can perform a wheelie at any time by shaking the wiimote and that gives you a small speed boost. Because of all this, once I got the Mach Bike or Flame Runner, I just never used a kart or outside drift bike again just cuz there's no need to. 8 definitely fixed this cuz the balancing between the two is much better in that game.
A couple other issues I had was the item frequency and the battle mode being poor. The items can be super obnoxious in this game at times. I really don't know why but it's just super easy to get spammed with blue shells when in first. There were a couple games where I'd be hit by a blue shell like 7 times in one game. And plenty of times where I'd be hit by one and then hit by lightning, this game is just insane when it comes to it's items and sometimes it's just not fun. The battle mode I also remember not being that great back in the day. The courses were solid and all but the issue was you're forced to be on teams and cannot ever have it be a free for all. This is just lame and while it's not as bad as base 8's battle mode, it certainly isn't that far off. Also I was gonna say the bloom can really make the game look ugly or weird at times but honestly I got used to it pretty quickly and don't have much of an issue with it like I once thought. Still think Double Dash looks better than this game especially since some of the character models still aren't that great looking (not nearly as mad as DS tho).
I was also gonna say how it stinks to unlock every character because a couple of them require you to get a star or more on every cup(or just play and absurd amount of races) and the way to get star rank is a little weird in this game but I was actually able to do it in the end. Got one star or higher in 50, 100 and 150cc as well as unlocking every expert ghost time trial so I was able to unlock every character. Didn't feel like doing mirror mode though so I didn't get every kart but I feel pretty satisfied with what I did. Never unlocked a lot of stuff in this game back then when I played so it felt good to finally do so.
Overall, while I had some minor issues, this was easily the best Mario Kart game I've played thus far in this marathon. I'm super happy I redeemed myself with this game because a ton of my friends love it and I can finally see why they do. Really wish I played this more with my buds back in the day haha, ah well. Next up is Mario Kart 7 so look forward to that soon!
On Christmas Day 2008, young me rushed down the stairs in anticipation for what would be under the tree this year, little did I know that it would change the course of my life. Of course there were the usual things, clothes, books, other boring stuff, but there was a group of presents addressed to me and my siblings that were seemingly being saved for last and the wait was killing me. Finally, this group of presents were the only thing left under the tree and my parents let us ravenous kids go at them. Inside the wrapping paper was a Nintendo Wii alongside the games Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Toy Story Mania, and of course, Mario Kart Wii. Even though I had never played a video game up to that point, something about Mario Kart captured my attention and I wanted to play it right away, so after my dad set the Wii up on the TV, me and my older brother (I guess nobody else was interested in this $250 Christmas gift we just got) started the game up. Despite all this buildup I only remember two things from the first time I played Mario Kart Wii, I remember me and my brother laughing our asses off at the opening movie (I mean they're driving invisible cars and pretending to spin out, that shit's hilarious!) and I remember sucking like nobody's business when it came to actually playing the game. While not being good at the game I still had a blast with it that first time and wanted to come back to it as much as possible and over the course of my childhood that's exactly what I did.
Backstory aside, Mario Kart Wii is a revolutionary game for the Mario Kart series and introduces so much gameplay wise that it's hard to go back to prior entries, at least for me. The first major new addition of bikes which has forever changed the series meta. Bikes handle much smoother than karts and are able to pop wheelies to get a slight speed boost on straightaways the only downside being that they don't get much speed off of drifts but that's hardly a problem considering how fast they can chain drifts together. The game also introduces the trick system, allowing players to shake the Wii remote (or press a button if using a proper controller) when going off of ramps or inclines to do a trick midair that gives a slight speed boost and does a lot to speed up gameplay. Retro tacks make a return and are far more realized in this game than they were in DS, including a good mix of fan favorites and wild cards from the series past games. The main draw here though, are the new tracks that this game introduced. Wii's nitro tracks are some of the undisputed best in the series, tracks like Maple Treeway, Koopa Cape, Coconut Mall, Mushroom Gorge, Wario's Gold Mine and many more are classics and a big part of why this game is remembered so fondly.
All that being said, even my heavily rose-tinted goggles can't save me from this game's flaws. To start the motion-controlled steering is absolutely abysmal. As a kid who didn't know any better it was the only way to play the game but as an adult it was physically impossible to play without plugging in a nunchuck. Then there's the game's item balance, there is none. The lack of restrictions on what anyone outside like the top three positions in a race can get as an item is insane and can often lead to getting hit by chains of items that feel like they never let up you or infuriating occurrences like three blue shells in a race all in the last lap.
Mario Kart Wii's unlockables and progression is unlike any other Mario Kart games and that is both a blessing and a curse. Mario Kart Wii has several unlockables in the form of characters and weight class specific karts and bikes. You unlock all of these by playing through and mastering both the grand prix and time trials modes in single player. The grand prix mode requires you to play through and win every grand prix and get a star ranking on each one, the problem with that however is that you have to do it for each of the game's CC settings including mirror mode, so you'll have to complete the game's 8 grand prix 4 times each, which as you can imagine, gets really tedious. To get all the unlockables from time trial mode is much simpler but still time consuming. In order to master time trials, you must race against every base level ghost on all 32 tracks and beat them by a good margin of time to unlock an expert ghost, thankfully you don't have to beat these expert ghosts to unlock anything, but they can prove a good challenge if you're looking for more. This unlockable method is typically everything I have been looking for in these games, forcing you to dive into all the game's singleplayer content and not locking things behind something as simple as just beating the main tournament mode, the problem though, like I've already stated, is that it's too repetitive and just feels like padding in an otherwise really great game.
Despite it's flaws, I can't help but enjoy every second of playing Mario Kart Wii, it was the first game I ever played and one I will never be able to hate therefore. I remember so many times playing the battle mode with my friends, screaming about how the item balance screws me over yet not really being mad about it all, and countless times of going hard in versus mode against my brother as we grew up, trying to prove who was truly superior (me, it's me, he just won't admit it). I love Mario Kart Wii and it will always be both my favorite Mario Kart and one of my favorite games of all time.
Backstory aside, Mario Kart Wii is a revolutionary game for the Mario Kart series and introduces so much gameplay wise that it's hard to go back to prior entries, at least for me. The first major new addition of bikes which has forever changed the series meta. Bikes handle much smoother than karts and are able to pop wheelies to get a slight speed boost on straightaways the only downside being that they don't get much speed off of drifts but that's hardly a problem considering how fast they can chain drifts together. The game also introduces the trick system, allowing players to shake the Wii remote (or press a button if using a proper controller) when going off of ramps or inclines to do a trick midair that gives a slight speed boost and does a lot to speed up gameplay. Retro tacks make a return and are far more realized in this game than they were in DS, including a good mix of fan favorites and wild cards from the series past games. The main draw here though, are the new tracks that this game introduced. Wii's nitro tracks are some of the undisputed best in the series, tracks like Maple Treeway, Koopa Cape, Coconut Mall, Mushroom Gorge, Wario's Gold Mine and many more are classics and a big part of why this game is remembered so fondly.
All that being said, even my heavily rose-tinted goggles can't save me from this game's flaws. To start the motion-controlled steering is absolutely abysmal. As a kid who didn't know any better it was the only way to play the game but as an adult it was physically impossible to play without plugging in a nunchuck. Then there's the game's item balance, there is none. The lack of restrictions on what anyone outside like the top three positions in a race can get as an item is insane and can often lead to getting hit by chains of items that feel like they never let up you or infuriating occurrences like three blue shells in a race all in the last lap.
Mario Kart Wii's unlockables and progression is unlike any other Mario Kart games and that is both a blessing and a curse. Mario Kart Wii has several unlockables in the form of characters and weight class specific karts and bikes. You unlock all of these by playing through and mastering both the grand prix and time trials modes in single player. The grand prix mode requires you to play through and win every grand prix and get a star ranking on each one, the problem with that however is that you have to do it for each of the game's CC settings including mirror mode, so you'll have to complete the game's 8 grand prix 4 times each, which as you can imagine, gets really tedious. To get all the unlockables from time trial mode is much simpler but still time consuming. In order to master time trials, you must race against every base level ghost on all 32 tracks and beat them by a good margin of time to unlock an expert ghost, thankfully you don't have to beat these expert ghosts to unlock anything, but they can prove a good challenge if you're looking for more. This unlockable method is typically everything I have been looking for in these games, forcing you to dive into all the game's singleplayer content and not locking things behind something as simple as just beating the main tournament mode, the problem though, like I've already stated, is that it's too repetitive and just feels like padding in an otherwise really great game.
Despite it's flaws, I can't help but enjoy every second of playing Mario Kart Wii, it was the first game I ever played and one I will never be able to hate therefore. I remember so many times playing the battle mode with my friends, screaming about how the item balance screws me over yet not really being mad about it all, and countless times of going hard in versus mode against my brother as we grew up, trying to prove who was truly superior (me, it's me, he just won't admit it). I love Mario Kart Wii and it will always be both my favorite Mario Kart and one of my favorite games of all time.
the objective peak of the racing genre, truly the melee of mario kart
The worst console Mario Kart game. Whether you're steering with motion controls or with a nunchuk, the controls are floaty and leave a lot to chance. There is somehow NO co-op Grand Prix mode, something MK8 thankfully fixed. Mario Kart games are fun for multiplayer, but the most fun for me was always playing through the Grand Prix mode with a friend and unlocking everything.
The biggest shame is how much there is to unlock. There's a ton of it! It's fantastic! And you have to unlock characters like Funky Kong by doing genuinely difficult things! MK8 went too far to the opposite end of the unlocking spectrum and practically gave you everything, which I really don't like. It's a shame that there's so much cool stuff to unlock in such a lackluster Mario Kart game that makes you do it all alone.
The biggest shame is how much there is to unlock. There's a ton of it! It's fantastic! And you have to unlock characters like Funky Kong by doing genuinely difficult things! MK8 went too far to the opposite end of the unlocking spectrum and practically gave you everything, which I really don't like. It's a shame that there's so much cool stuff to unlock in such a lackluster Mario Kart game that makes you do it all alone.
Friendships perished with this game.
funky kong
É ruim como um jogo de Kart, como um jogo de corrida tradicional de pistas livres e variadas, e é simplesmente chato.
7 year old me was DUMBFOUNDED when he accidentally unlocked Baby Luigi without knowing how. That felt better than losing my virginity that same week.
Perfect stupid fun with one of the best modding communities to ever grace gaming. There is this weird misconception that the only good mod pack is basically just CTGP but there are plenty of other ones with more tracks and actually work on dolphin.
You can play with a wii steering wheel
Too bad Mario Kart Wii isn't available to play online anymore (the main attraction of Mario Kart) but man, I remember loving this game back then. Me and my sister played this for hours and had lots of fun, especially when cheaters would invade the matches with unlimited items.
Loved 😍
Loved 😍
I'm using tilt controls!
Inside drifting bikes are better than sex
This game was my whole childhood, not a perfect game by any means but a damn fun one.
this game has funky kong who is the greatest Nintendo character ever created and somehow ended up unironically being the best character in the game so Nintendo definitely know funky kongs a sexy gorilla who deserves everything and more.
I want Funky Kong to be my dad.
I'm playing with motion controls!
Thank you nintendo for your awful checkpoint system. An unbelievable game with precise tech that boosts the quality immensely. And the hardware it is on being so easy to mod has kept this wonderful game alive for over a decade, as ctgp takes mkwii into a new league
Funky Kong racer
Funky Kong is immersion-breaking. He is too funky for the Mario canon.
I would consider this to be the definitive Mario Kart experience. While a game like MK8DX has incredible graphics and many characters, karts and tracks to play on, I feel like it misses on probably my favourite aspect of the series as a whole: stupid dumb fun. Mario Kart Wii holds no prisoners, this game is fucked up stupidly unfair. The item balance in this game makes no sense whatsoever, you could get a star at third place meanwhile the guy in last just got a banana peel. I love it. I think its a great addition to the gameplay as it adds to that competitive atmosphere when playing with friends, the dread that at any moment any one of you will get some bullshit item and screw everybody over. Other than that, the game knows how much is enough with it’s main content. While I love having a massive roster of characters in a game (my favourite game ever is smash ultimate ffs) I feel like MKWii has the perfect amount of playable characters, striking that good balance of mainstays in the series and newcomers. The track selection in this on the other hand is a bit more of a mixed bag. The original courses in this game are some of my favourites of the entire series being so much more creative than any else we had seen in the series at that point. My main issues with this game is the retro courses and how you would be able to instantly guess that these are old tracks from their presentation. They’re not bad by any means, I think the selection is good for the most part but visually they’re not on par with the visuals of the new tracks. Overall this is my favourite Mario Kart game of all time and I doubt anything will top it for me.
Big Mario Kart Wii apologist over here. I loved the addition of the bikes and I loved the wheelie on straightaways. Yes, it made bikes way too OP in this game it's for the best they reigned it in with future titles, but I really loved the additional strategy they had to them. It felt so good to time drift, into a wheelie, into another drift once you have the courses down. I was unstoppable in this game. Also there are some banger tracks in here and battle mode ruled.
Amazing racing game and the peak of Mario spin offs. Great roster with little filler and fun karts, with a great track selection to boot. Loses a point to it being a bit too chaotic at times and feeling like there's little control. Still a must play for racing game fans
One of the best in the mariokart series, the character selection, tracks, and game-play is rivalled only by mariokart 8 deluxe with its dlc. motion controls are also a blast.
if you used the mii character online you have no personality
Might be nostalgia talking but this game is incredible. Somehow feels much better to play than 8 Deluxe despite 8's booster course pass bringing in most of this games best tracks and the few missing characters. This game also has the best music in the franchise, not even the options menu was left without it's own banger.
If the game had more options for battlemode like timer setting and scoring, balance with it's characters so they all felt more like the top tier's, and buffed karts so they could compete against bikes this game would be straight up perfect.
If the game had more options for battlemode like timer setting and scoring, balance with it's characters so they all felt more like the top tier's, and buffed karts so they could compete against bikes this game would be straight up perfect.
i was so bad at this game is not even funny.
for me, the best tracks and soundtrack of the entire series.
for me, the best tracks and soundtrack of the entire series.
Best Mario Kart. Everyone played this game and loved it. This and Wii Sports united so many gamers across generations. Mario Kart is at its finest when it’s just you, some friends, and about a million stupid ass item. Oh and some of the best tracks in the series! Grumble Volcano, DK Summit, Toad Factory, Mushroom Gorge, and Coconut Mall are all iconic tracks and some of my favorites in the series. This game has Funky Kong!