Mario Kart stunt system revealed

By Ellie Gibson Published 17 March, 2008

No more snaking, do tricks instead.

It's been confirmed you won't be able to snake to earn speed boosts in Mario Kart Wii - but there's a new stunt system to make up for it.

That's according to the review of the game in Official Nintendo Magazine UK, scans of which have appeared on the Internet. Apparently the power of boosts is now determined by how long you are able to maintain powerslides, not by how good you are at jiggling away to the left and right.

You can also give yourself a boost by pulling off tricks when your kart is airborne. This doesn't sound very difficult - it's just a matter of flicking the Wii Wheel upwards at the right moment. There's no mention of how this works if you're playing with a traditional controller.

Mario Kart Wii is out in Europe on April 11th. Check back later this week for Eurogamer's review.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (34) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 4 years ago

    wth!?

  • RedPanda #2 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • ruttyboy #3 4 years ago

    Erm, you do know the Wii Wheel is just a clip for the traditional controller don't you? So it would work exactly the same.

  • Killerbee #4 4 years ago

    Sounds good. I'm very much looking forward to this and the removal of any kind of snaking is a definite step forwards. As long as the tricks are easy enough to pull off, it should be fun.

  • RandolphScott #5 4 years ago

    internet appears to have been deleted

  • GreasyWeasel #6 4 years ago

    I think by traditional controller they meant the classic controller or GC controller since you are supposed to be able to use either of those.

  • jonsaan #7 4 years ago

    Mario Kart already has perfect controls that have been honed with each release. I fear the wiimote.

  • Cloudane #8 4 years ago

    This Mario Kart is somehow going to be worse than Double Dash, which I didn't think would be possible.

  • jonsaan #9 4 years ago

    I thought Double Dash was fabulous! A real grower.

  • xAx #10 4 years ago

    I thought double dash was wank

  • britscott #11 4 years ago

    I thought double dash was crap.(at first)
    However I still find myself firing it up for a bit of multiplayer even now.
    It's still a great multiplayer game, the stadium track is genius.

  • Killerbee #12 4 years ago

    I thought Double Dash was good, but that was mainly because the Mario Kart formula itself is good, rather than anything specific about that game. The tracks were generally decent, but I didn't really find that the two-characters-in-a-kart thing really added much.

    This Wii version though - given how great Excite Truck is, I think putting something similar to those controls onto the Mario Kart template shoud produce a brilliantly fun game. Plus Miis, plus online play, plus "retro" controls for the nay-sayers - it seems as though Nintendo really have put a lot of thought into making this the definitive Mario Kart experience.

  • JeroenZM #13 4 years ago

    Looks like Mario Kart Wii will have a more 'mainstream' appeal, it's such a shame because snaking made things so much more exciting, particularly in Mario Kart DS. I wish they'd got rid of those gamebreaking blue shells instead, there's no strategy involved with that. For anyone saying that Mario Kart was never a serious 'racer' in the first place; I think it's a mistake to alienate such a large part of the online community, or at the very least make things less appealing.

  • Lemming81 #14 4 years ago

    Are you naysayers kidding? Did you never play Unirally (uniracers in the US)?

    This could be the new 'hook' that the MK franchise needs to grow if done right.

  • JeroenZM #15 4 years ago

    Oh and one more thing: 11 people throwing red shells and lightning bolts at you, sounds really balanced to me. Forget about performing tricks, try to avoid the hundreds of bananas littered on the tracks. You won't get a chance to maintain your boost. This is what makes Mario Kart so frustrating because those trickbased controls sound awesome on paper and could revitalize the series.

  • kincaide #16 4 years ago

    Great news - snaking was sh!t and made it pointless to play online with the DS

  • Vin #17 4 years ago

    Stop FUCKING with the formula, Nintendo.

  • snick #18 4 years ago

    Just give us mariokart snes with online multiplayer. Could've knocked that out in a month, saved a lot of effort.

  • Muddtallica #19 4 years ago

    Fair enough...well, I did snaking on the other games, but that's because that was the best way to maximise speed; if tricks and wheelies are the new status quo (yes, they are set the D-pad on the GCN controller, IGN's playtest confirmed it) of doing it this time round, then cool, I'll do that instead.

    Sounds like this Mario Kart is going to play a little different from other entries in the series; so much the better, as far as I'm concerned. I appreciate the fact that Nintendo seem a lot more willing to experiment with the Mario Kart series than other franchises, as it makes each new entry in what might otherwise have been a samey series distinct and idiosyncratic. After all, if I want the traditional MK experience, I still have MKDS...

  • LazyDan #20 4 years ago

    It's weird, not since the SNES Mario Kart came out when I was about 9 have I ever looked forward to a Mario Kart game coming out, but I know it'll end up being one of the most played, if not the most played game on my Wii. It'll always be a multiplayer classic, but I do find I get bored of the tracks quite quickly, I hope there's shitloads in this version. I also hope the good DS tracks make it in, but I know toss like Peach's Garden and Delfino Square will make it in over Waluigi Pinball and DK Pass.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #21 4 years ago

    But the whole point of Mario Kart is game-ending blue shells. They're games where even the hardcore can get taken down by someone who's never played it before. Bit like Smash Bros, too, or Wii Sports. That's why I love 'em. Great to play when you've got non-geeks around.

  • gingerlink #22 4 years ago

    @britscott
    For some reason, Waluigi stadium was the only track that threw the usual, same people finish high up, system out of the window and all of the computers finished in completely random places foronce, good thing it's coming back :D

    @Vin
    Tell the reviewers and therefore gamers to stop telling them to do so then

    @JeroenZM
    You're moaning about bananas? XD Oh dear....
    Even red shells are easy enough to dodge, it's only blue shells you need to worry about because people need to be quite far back to get lightnings...

  • MBar #23 4 years ago

    Are you naysayers kidding? Did you never play Unirally (uniracers in the US)?

    That game was one of my utterly favourites games ever. If this is anything like that, it will rock, but I severely doubt the trick system will be anywhere near as complex as for the unicycles.

    /Tabletop Z-Flips

  • varsas #24 4 years ago

    Can someone clarify what is the problem with the newer MKs? I've enjoyed them all.

  • Agent_Llama #25 4 years ago

    Unirally was amazing. Absolutely loved it. \o/

    Had a quick play on MK64 last night, god it's awful on single player. Double Dash!! was great on single player and mighty in multiplayer.

    Am fairly excited by this latest incarnation but I'm still a little sceptical about the whole thing.

  • Wyrm #26 4 years ago

    Red shells are easy to dodge?? :/

  • pikemon #27 4 years ago

    I like their fix for snaking. It really doesn't take anything essential away, because you can still do a mini-turbo. And a more powerful mini-turbo too, than was previously possible.

    I was playing 4p MK:DD on a projector last friday. I'll take the GC version over N64 or SNES version any day. DS version is even cooler but multiplayer match on DS is a rare opportunity because a lot of my friends still don't own a DS. :o

    The biggest question mark are indeed controls for the actual steering.

  • gingerlink #28 4 years ago

    the only thing that ruined double dash is you didn't do a little hop before going into a powerslide...

  • sport #29 4 years ago

    good riddance to that snaking shit. One of the main reasons I stopped playing MK:DS online - just pissed me off when I know my racing line is solid, know how to use power ups, only for some wiseguy with stallone thumbs to jiggle his way to winning by a country mile grrrr

  • Muddtallica #30 4 years ago

    lavalant: Hmmm. Maybe the Freeloader might be worth the investment.

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #31 4 years ago

    Hey you losers complaing about snaking, I bet you complain when someone pulls of a combo in a fighter too.

    /lols at 'gamers' who can't master l33t skills

  • pikemon #32 4 years ago

    If you want a fighting game analogy, snaking is more like cancels (often glitch-based) than combos (often intentionally programmed to the game).

    While exploiting glitches can be fun (wavedashing anyone?), snaking looks more like a chore than a fun exploit.



    OMG@review incoming later this week!

  • smelly #33 4 years ago

    ign already confirmed that stunts on a traditional controller are pulled off on the dpad.

  • Davemanz #34 4 years ago

    Great news! Snaking has broken the DS game and online is a huge draw for me in this game, so it's good to know I won't be too frustrated every time I play it.

    @LazyDan:
    I agree, unfortunately. Nintendo always ports the shittiest tracks. I swear to God they're just lazy and they don't want to go through the trouble of making the exciting, interesting ones.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/08 @ 07:47