Mario Kart Wii - everything you want to know

Nintendo has confirmed that highly anticipated Mario Kart Wii will reach European shores on April 11.

The game is bundled with the Wii Wheel, but provides five different control options for players: Wii Wheel, Wii Remote turned on its side, Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, Classic Controller and Nintendo GameCube controller.

Sixteen new tracks will be included, in addition to sixteen other tracks from previous Mario Kart games. We're praying one of those isn't Baby Park.

In the typical Grand Prix mode, 50CC is comprised of kart-only races, 100CC is bikes only, and 150CC lets both lose together. There'll also be the option for a Mario Kart Channel on your Wii hub, which serves up both your own record lap times and a worldwide rankings board. For the old skool, there'll also be a four-player split-screen mode. You can even choose to race as a Mii.

Multiplayer mode includes four-player local racing and eleven-player support using Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service. Ten battle arenas will also be available.

Also, a new Wii Channel will be launched alongside the game - the Mario Kart Channel. Players will be able to monitor their ranking against other players, as well as access and share Ghost Data with each other. The Channel will also allow players to jump into friend's races, even if they're in progress, or simply be a spectator. Even better, Nintendo has hinted that it will run special events through the service.

Courtesy of CVG.

Feb 20, 2008