There are five official ways to control "Mario Kart Wii." But what if you wanted to explore some other options?
Gaming blog Joystiq has done a wonderful job putting each of the five official control schemes through a very scientific round of tests.
But they missed two additional controllers.
With the help of the RetroPort connectors from RetroZone "Mario Kart" fans (sort of) have the option of using their old NES and SNES controllers. Unfortunately, much like "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," the game is virtually unplayable with both of them.
While both feel significantly better in your hands than the Wii Wheel, they only offer the ability to give your cart gas and reverse. Since the controllers plug in via the Gamecube ports, they are treated as Gamecube controllers. Because of that, the steering is mapped to the non-existent analog sticks, while the tricks are mapped to the directional pad.
You can drive straight back and forth, but that's it. Sadly, there's no drag racing in "Mario Kart."
With the help of the SNES controller I was at least able to look behind me.
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Just got a copy of "Mario Kart Wii" in the office. Too bad my Wii is at home.
So what can I share with you fine blog readers about a game I can hold but not play?
A few things I learned from unboxing the game:
If I like "Mario Kart Wii," I should also check out "Wii Fit." I do love the pamphlets in game boxes that hype other games. It helps you determine who the publisher thinks their game is really for. In this case, the three games recommended are "Wii Fit," "Mario Strikers Charged" and "Super Mario Galaxy." Two of these games have Mario on the cover. The third has a woman doing yoga. The "Wii Fit" description emphasizes exercise. It does not mention or show that you can use the game to ski.
The Wii Wheel comes with its own instruction manual, which really must be the result of some law. Why else would I need three pages of operating instructions?
Once I take this game online I will immediately have 5000-point skill rating. The manual indicates that the number will diminish if I start losing; will increase if I ever win a match. Interesting idea for online rankings to not start a player off at zero.
You can register people as "Mario Kart" friends without exchanging friend codes -- sometimes. According to the manual's section about the game's online lobbies: "If there are players in the room who are not registered to your friend roster, the Register icon will appear. Select it and press "A" to ask them to register you as a friend. If the other player accepts, you can register each other without exchanging friend codes." That's progress, though I believe this only works in lobbies where you're already playing with registered friends. It's the non-friends who get into those matches who you can befriend, not total strangers who you encounter in the general worldwide match play.
That's all I can figure out without playing this final copy of the game. Hope that's useful! Did I mention the game is rated E and has comic mischief?
OK. OK. I've got nothing left.
(Want to see the Wii Wheel in action? Check out some "Mario Kart Wii" videos we posted a few weeks back.)
Last week I interviewed Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto about "Wii Fit." The interview will be used for an upcoming MTV News piece on the game.
But we can't fit everything on air and I wanted to give Nintendo fans and all Wii owners access to the full conversation before the game comes out on May 19.
Miyamoto talked to me about everything "Wii Fit" -- the Balance Board, the challenge of making an exercise game in a world of un-fit people, the connections between this game and things like "Brain Age," "Donkey Kong" and the Power Pad...
He even addressed how this game relates to "Smash Bros." designer Masahiro Sakurai's recent comment that it's become hard to make new character-based games.
And he took, head-on, the challenge from hardcore gamers who say "Wii Fit" is a bad thing.
An excerpt about Super Mario's connection to this game, or lack thereof:
MTV News: Would it have been going too far to put Mario in it and make it "Mario Fit"? Would that have ruined the feel you were trying to evoke with the game?
Miyamoto: We wanted to create it so that people of all ages could look at it and feel it was for them. I think doing that might have limited its ability.
Part One of this interview appears at MTV News.com. Part Two appears below. You can read them in either order.
Enjoy.
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Last month, we got to see "Speed Racer" on the Wii in action and learned that it's a cross between "F-Zero" and "WipEout." Even though no Wii Wheel was present, we did get some answers about how it works with the third-party title. But forget about us -- take a look at "Speed Racer" yourself and see what you think of the very first gameplay video.
"Speed Racer" on the Wii hits stores May 6.
(Below is part of my latest GameFile column about my recent hands-on and feet-on with "Mario Kart" and "Wii Fit". For the full thing, check out MTVNews.com.)
Game demonstration events run by Microsoft and Sony still consistently feature much more macho Xbox 360 and PS3 entertainment than the kind of stuff at Nintendo's showing last week. The centerpieces of their lineups are usually first-person shooters or action-combat games. Instead, a visit with new Wii games has me asking questions like: "What's this penguin mode here?" (It was a "Wii Fit" balance game that dresses a Wii owner's Mii avatar as a penguin; requiring the player to tilt the penguin's ice floe so he or she can catch fish.) Only at a Nintendo event am I wondering if the female characters parking cars in the middle of the track in the "Mario Kart Wii" Coconut Mall race course can also be based on Miis of friends and relatives. This is console gaming at its sunniest.
Nintendo isn't shy about this kinder, gentler lineup of games. This is the style of Wii game showcased at last year's E3. It's the style of Wii game set for the spring, games designed more to make you laugh or improve your digestive health than to grit your teeth.
Check out the rest of this column at MTVNews.com.
What's the
Wii Wheel good for? I played "
Mario Kart Wii" with it this morning. Watch the video and see how it works and (in the second clip) how it compares to remote-only "Kart" controls. Watch
the second video after the jump to see which method I preferred."Mario Kart Wii" comes out in in North America on April 27, bundled with a Wii wheel...
As with all MTV.com videos, it is not available to anyone using computers with IP addresses in Japan, the U.K. and Canada (sorry, Mr. Iwata!).
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What happens when the speed of "F-Zero" meets the crashes of "Burnout" and is wrapped in the eye-popping colors of "WipEout?" You get the latest movie based spin-off game "Speed Racer."
The Wachowski Brothers-produced movie hits theaters this May. "Speed Racer" the game will hit Wiis and DSs right around the same time, courtesy of WB Games. (The PS2 version will coincide with the DVD release later this year). The game is also the first third-party title to be compatible with the Wii Wheel.
After spending a little time with the game, it's hard not to compare it to some of the more classic racing franchises.
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This morning, Nintendo announced that "Mario Kart Wii," packed-in with the Wii Wheel, will be out on April 27 in the U.S.
What's the wheel good for?
You might be curious how "Speed Racer," the first third-party title to use the Wii Wheel, worked with the new peripheral. We found out.
Just yesterday, I got a quick look at "Speed Racer," but unfortunately, the Wii Wheel wasn't present at our demo. So I asked WB Games producer Jeff Nachbaur how the Wii Wheel affected gameplay and development. When the Wii Wheel was announced at last year's E3 in July, the New Zealand-based development studio for the "Speed Racer" game, Sidhe, had been working on the title for about four months.
Nachbaur shot me some answers back via e-mail and even told me when the Wii Wheel makes the game better, and when it doesn't...
Multiplayer: After the Wii Wheel was announced, how did you decide to pursue making it work for "Speed Racer"? Did you approach Nintendo or did they approach you?
Nachbaur: We approached Nintendo. We asked them for a prototype of the wheel and they supplied us with one. We then began to rework our controls to adapt them so that the Wii Wheel worked well. Read more...
