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Mario Kart Wii

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Mario Kart Wii

Preparing to launch a blue shell from 10,000 miles away

Words: NGamer UK

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Oct 18, 2007

Classic circuits from every previous game… Swappable vehicles… Online tournaments with up to 12 players… A huge roster of characters… Brand new motion controls and a free steering wheel. You could knock us down with a green shell if this isn't the biggest and most ambitious Mario Kart to date - and a rival to Smash Bros as Nintendo Online Event of the Year.

While we haven't had a great deal of new info to drool over just yet, we've watched the existing video demo and pored over every screenshot until we're confident we can identify each individual pixel. The result of our investigation? Well, there's clearly a Baby Luigi in a stroller lagging behind Wario in one shot, that's for sure.

Oh, and the Wario Mines track also appears to be constructed on multiple levels, a bit like a Rainbow Road level, so the small sections without barriers are going to be prime spots for a bit of cheeky shortcut cheating. Unless the designers put in some kind of invisible "no shortcut" walls, like in Excite Truck, but that would be a bit of a disappointment in a Mario Kart game.

The karts, which are transferable between characters, are more animated than in previous games. Wario's car has exhaust pipes that swing out from beneath the body when a turbo mushroom is activated, and the flat fronts of some vehicles suggest a bit of customisation may be in order too. Bolt-on goodies, perhaps, or special weapons.