The wife and I have been playing a bit of Mario Kart for the Wii since it came out, both online and off, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it so far. We’ve only completed the 50cc races, but we’ve played much of the 100cc and 150cc races and have competed against other players’ ghosts for the best times. Here is our list of things we love about the game after spending many hours playing it in no particular order:

1) The New Boost Methods - In the past, getting a boost while drifting around corners could be tough for new comers while allowing the “pros” to extend their leads even further. In Mario Kart Wii, getting your boost on requires nothing more than being able to drift around for a period of time. Drift around for a little bit, get the blue minor boost. Stick that drift for just a bit longer and get the better orange boost. It’s so easy to pull off on Mario Kart Wii yet still requires mastery of the drift, which is a technique any Mario Kart player will need to learn in order to compete on any level any how.

The other method for getting a good boost is to do a trick immediately after coming off of a ramp. From big turbo ramps to the smaller jumps you just happen to catch air on, once you’re in the air you can pull off a stunt by shaking the Wii Remote and when you land you get a good boost of speed for showing off. These boosts certainly come in handy when you’re trying to compete for the best times in Ghost races or just in general. If you can pull off the boosts at the 50cc level, you’re going to sit pretty in every race. Once you get to the big time 150cc, boosting is almost necessary to remain at the top unless you depend on item tactics.

2) 2p Online Play - The lack of 2p Grand Prix mode is sorely missed, but it’s somewhat made up for by the inclusion of 2p online gaming. The wife and I can hop online and race other players around the world split screen and it’s nothing but a blast. First or last, it’s always a fun time with folks online and even better when you share the experience with someone right there with you. Who could have imagined back in 1992 while we were playing SNES Mario Kart that one day we would be playing online against our friends with other friends or loved ones right there with us? So it’s only taken 16 years for this to happen, but trust me, the 2p online stuff is well worth the wait. Also to note, we’ve had nothing but great, lag free games while playing online which is a breath of fresh air compared to our SSBB woes. Fun times!

3) Ghost Races - Ghost racing in Mario Kart has been around for a while and this was actually a feature in the DS version of Mario Kart that we’re glad made it over to the Wii version. When you race a Time Trial race, your best time is not only recorded, but a “ghost” of you racing around on the track is recorded along with it. If you want to try to get a better time on that track than your previous effort, your best timed ghost will be loaded and you will see him as you race along. He is a ghost meaning you drive right through him and there are no items in the race you will need to get to take him down. It’s really you against the clock.

Where this gets really cool is when you go online and search for Ghost Races to compete in. You simply choose the ghost race option from the menu and the Nintendo online stuff works its magic to find you a ghost to race against. It could be a player from Japan that played the track and got a good time on it or even an employee of Nintendo if you do well enough. You can also see your friends’ best times and race their ghosts on the tracks. Once you get a great time on a track, you can then send your friend a ghost race request and they will get a notification saying you have challenged them. This works out great in situations where I want to challenge my friends to a race but for whatever reasons our schedules just don’t match up and allow for live online racing 100% of the time. As I mentioned before, ghosts are nothing new to the Mario Kart franchise, but the way they are implemented in the Wii version is perfection.

4) Limited Blue Shells - There is nothing like the frustration of being in 1st place in any Mario Kart game only to be taken out by the all powerful blue shell. Once launched by a racer, it seeks out first place and drops down on them with a big explosion that can also take out any other nearby opponents. As a side note, that can actually be used to your advantage if you know a blue shell is coming to just slow down and try to take out as many people as you can with it via proximity blast. In past MK iterations, the blue shell usage would sometimes get a bit obnoxious during a race adding nothing but frustration to the races it seemed. It’s one thing to keep things even and fun for everyone and and then there’s the frustration that is getting hit by the 4th blue shell during the race after you’ve fought and maintained first for so long.

In the Wii version of Mario Kart, there are so many other ways of gaining that 1st place via other item usage or pure skill racing with boosting opportunities that it doesn’t need to dole out 5 blue shells per race. You may run across one or two per race it seems, three is pushing it but overall I’ve never felt overwhelmed by blue shell usage as I have in past MK games. A minor thing to be happy about perhaps, but it really does improve the overall flow of the races.

5) The Maps - Nintendo really pulled out all of the stops when coming up with the maps for this version of Mario Kart. There’s a little bit of everything in there from the past games and even some new tracks that really shine. If you’ve played the SNES, GBA, N64, DS, or GC version of the games, you’ll recognize all of the favorites you’ve come to love. Moo Moo Farm, Bowsers Castle(s), Mario Circuit, Peach Beach and more favorites are packed in here. It’s alot of fun playing some of the classic maps interspersed with the newly created maps, especially against some of the same friends I had back in 1992. It definitely brings back memories and the new features and items add a bit of freshness to the old tracks.

6) Control Options - I happen to love the Wii Wheel that the game comes with and while I may not be alone there, some folks would rather play with more traditional controls and Nintendo has done well in this aspect. Instead of forcing the motion controls down your throats, they give you the option of playing with the Classic controller or even the GC controller for that good old thumbstick action. This works out really well for us as the wife just can’t come to grips with the wheel but she’s mastering the game with the GC controller, that’s for sure.

There’s plenty more to love about Mario Kart for the Wii and in no way is the game flawless. It does have it’s issues and things that you might wished had been done better, but there is no doubt the game is a top notch title for the Wii; a must own if you will. It’s great qualities definitely outweigh the detriments and the fact it’s got online play that works with little to no lag is just the icing on the cake. If you have anything you particularly enjoy about the game or perhaps you have things you just detest and need to find out if you’re all alone in that thinking, either way, post about it in our comments here and thanks for reading!