Mario Kart Wii is the sixth entry into the established Mario Kart series. Releasing in 2008, Mario Kart Wii was a massive system-seller, totalling in at over 37 million copies sold. But just what made this game the killer app of that year?
Mario Kart Wii introduces two new gimmicks to this game; the Tricks system and Bikes. With the flick of the Wii Remote (pressing a certain button on the controller), your character will perform a trick and gain an extra boost from doing this. These can be performed via ramps found on certain courses. This function became popular to the point where it re-appears in various other Mario Kart games and even the recent Sonic racing games have picked up on this formula.
The other feature is Bikes. Racers can now play on whatever bike they choose. Bikes are somewhat faster than karts, and they can let the user perform wheelies at the sacrifice of the lack of Super Turbo. Personally, I'm not a fan of bikes in Mario Kart. Don't like how they play at all. Nothing wrong with them in terms of function, I just am not a fan of them in general.
Like MKDS, there are 8 cups. 4 Nitro and 4 Retro. The Retro courses are much better than ever now that there is the addition of tricks. It provides a fresh take on the classic courses, even making some of them better in my opinion.
Battle Mode returns to Mario Kart Wii and adds courses from the past games too. There is Coin Mode, where its a fight to collect the most coins and Balloon Mode, where you rack up points for popping the enemy's balloons in a set time.
Wi-Fi makes a return to MK Wii, with up to 12 players being able to either race each other for points or duke it out in Battle mode. You can also get a 2nd player to join you as a guest in that mode, though the guest can't obtain points like the main player can to my knowledge.
One criticism I do have to raise with this game is the balancing of items. You can get easily bombarded with multiple items if you're not careful. This can be especially aggravating if you're in 1st place and you're about to win a race when suddenly... BAM! A Blue shell hits you, then a red shell, lightning followed by even more red shells. It's not nearly as bad as how Mario Kart 8 handled its items but it can get pretty annoying at times.
On the subject of criticisms, I will say that the AI on higher CC classes can also suffer the rubber-banding issues that plagued Mario Kart 64, though it isn't to the degree that MK64 was.
Another thing is the fact that the courses for Battle mode are a little too large, leaving some battles where there is little going on unless you are in a certain part of the battlefield. This can make battles either fun and frenetic or a boring slog, especially if there are fewer players on the field.
Otherwise, Mario Kart Wii, while with its shortcomings is a fun title. Not the best in the Mario Kart series, but a must-have for all Wii owners. Speaking of which, the game even still lives on via a popular mod called Mario Kart Wii Custom Tracks by MrBean35000VR, which adds a lot of new tracks to the game. It also brings back the usage of wi-fi servers via their own server called Wiimfi and has a healthy community of players. I recommend checking it out.