Wii-U thoughts so far

[Flake]

Mario Kart Wii was ambitious but it felt so slow and anti-climatic. Mario Kart 7 restored the sense of speed but didn't do anything that justified it's existence. Other than the graphical upgrade, it didn't do much that Mario Kart DS didn't already have down.

[Tanooki]

Ehh no MK7 did have one edge, the harder difficulties didn't cheat. MKDS on 150cc would put you in 2nd, and breaking the 'rules' of the game 1P and 3 to last would all work together just to attack the player. That's just wrong and drove me nuts. The abuse should be spread out and focused on the leader, not just the living player. The 3DS game wasn't cowardly like that. MK fell off the cliff for me after the GC game though, detest the DS and Wii entries, the 3DS one was fine though.

[casterofdreams]

I disliked the Wii entry solely for the rapid fire (practically) item usage. It was a constant barrage of nonsense. The wii game was the first time it had 12 player grids right?

[Cronozilla]

Since I've done everything I can do in Mario Kart 8, I decided to try Mario Kart Wii out again. It's been several years. And, all I can really say is fuck that game. It feels much less complex (and more boring) and on top of that it's just not fair. One race on 50cc, I got hit with 5 blue shells. Also, if you use a Classic controller the game doesn't allow you to manually do tricks. It will automatically do them. So, you're forced to use a Wii remote and nunchuck, which is what I used to use, but it feels weird when playing any kind of driving game.

I found the game severely frustrating and entirely unfair. I still like Mario Kart 7, it feels much more fun. And 8 has a lot of feedback in it that I like. The kart performance is a little more technical.

But, yeah, fuck Mario Kart Wii. I didn't really like it at the time, and I really don't like it now.

[alienjesus]

Also, if you use a Classic controller the game doesn't allow you to manually do tricks. It will automatically do them. So, you're forced to use a Wii remote and nunchuck, which is what I used to use, but it feels weird when playing any kind of driving game.

Whilst I agree with most of your points and I'm not a fan of MK Wii myself, this just isn't true. You use the d-pad to do tricks. This is the same on the Gamecube controller too.

[RCBH928]

Since I've done everything I can do in Mario Kart 8, I decided to try Mario Kart Wii out again. It's been several years. And, all I can really say is fuck that game. It feels much less complex (and more boring) and on top of that it's just not fair. One race on 50cc, I got hit with 5 blue shells.
But, yeah, fuck Mario Kart Wii. I didn't really like it at the time, and I really don't like it now.

yet somehow it sold something like 34m units. Thats on par with GTA V, and that game was sold on like 3 platforms over 2 generations.

If you follow the Mario Kart series numbers, it usually sells around 6-8m units. This might mean that 26m people first experience with Mario Kart series was the MK Wii.

[irixith]

Since I've done everything I can do in Mario Kart 8, I decided to try Mario Kart Wii out again. It's been several years. And, all I can really say is fuck that game. It feels much less complex (and more boring) and on top of that it's just not fair. One race on 50cc, I got hit with 5 blue shells.
But, yeah, fuck Mario Kart Wii. I didn't really like it at the time, and I really don't like it now.

yet somehow it sold something like 34m units. Thats on par with GTA V, and that game was sold on like 3 platforms over 2 generations.

If you follow the Mario Kart series numbers, it usually sells around 6-8m units. This might mean that 26m people first experience with Mario Kart series was the MK Wii.

Mario Kart Wii became a system pack-in, which skews the numbers somewhat.

[Cronozilla]

Also, if you use a Classic controller the game doesn't allow you to manually do tricks. It will automatically do them. So, you're forced to use a Wii remote and nunchuck, which is what I used to use, but it feels weird when playing any kind of driving game.

Whilst I agree with most of your points and I'm not a fan of MK Wii myself, this just isn't true. You use the d-pad to do tricks. This is the same on the Gamecube controller too.

Ah, sorry, I meant boosts from doing tricks, not the performing the tricks themselves.

Ah so there is a way to do it manually as well. It definitely boosted automatically on most jumps when I was playing it, though. It was very strange. I thought I tried all the buttons :\

yet somehow it sold something like 34m units. Thats on par with GTA V, and that game was sold on like 3 platforms over 2 generations.

If you follow the Mario Kart series numbers, it usually sells around 6-8m units. This might mean that 26m people first experience with Mario Kart series was the MK Wii.

You often allude to some connection between sales figures and how good a game is, as if one influences the other definitively. There is absolutely no tremendous correlation between how good a game is and how well it sells. irixith brings up a good point, also. It was a pack in title for many years. The point is, there's many reasons why something does or doesn't sell, it usually doesn't have a lot to do with the "quality".

I would assume a lot of people's first experience with Mario Kart was on the Wii, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I just don't personally enjoy that particular Mario Kart.

To note, GTA5 will be on 5 platforms as of January.

[alienjesus]

Also, if you use a Classic controller the game doesn't allow you to manually do tricks. It will automatically do them. So, you're forced to use a Wii remote and nunchuck, which is what I used to use, but it feels weird when playing any kind of driving game.

Whilst I agree with most of your points and I'm not a fan of MK Wii myself, this just isn't true. You use the d-pad to do tricks. This is the same on the Gamecube controller too.

Ah, sorry, I meant boosts from doing tricks, not the performing the tricks themselves.

Ah so there is a way to do it manually as well. It definitely boosted automatically on most jumps when I was playing it, though. It was very strange. I thought I tried all the buttons :\

Did you choose automatic mode at the start? That mode cuts out a lot of the manual boosting mechanics (like power slide boosts) in return for generally higher speed.

[Cronozilla]

No, I chose manual. I am controlling the drifting, but going off some ramps or jumps would result in automatic boosts without boost-pads being present. It was very strange.

I really don't care that much about figuring it out, to be honest. I don't particularly care to play that game again.