Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii is a racing game for the Wii console. It is the sixth installment in the main Mario Kart series and the eighth overall. Mario Kart Wii includes new features such as new race courses along with other courses that appeared in past Mario Kart games, like its predecessor Mario Kart DS. It features both classic and new Mario Kart characters and items, as well as an increased number of players for the races. Mario Kart Wii also introduces the use of bikes that vary in capabilities along with the traditional karts. Game modes are also present such as the Grand Prix, Versus, Battle, and Time Trial, many of them made use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection before its discontinuation for worldwide online play.

A Wii Wheel is included in most Mario Kart Wii packages, though the game is still compatible with other controllers such as a regular Wii Remote held sideways, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the Nintendo GameCube controller, and the Classic Controller and Classic Controller Pro.

This game requires 23 blocks of storage on the player's Wii system to save game data. Also, the game data cannot be copied onto another Wii. The game also includes its own Wii Channel, called the Mario Kart Channel, which allows players to play in special tournaments and trade their racing profile with other players around the world. This channel uses 74 to 88 blocks (depending on the game's region), but unlike the game data, players can copy the channel onto their SD cards.

Mario Kart Wii, unlike the preceding Mario Kart games, has twelve players present in normal races instead of eight. All twelve racers head to the finish in a multi-lap race around a given circuit. Along the way, players may employ items, utilize techniques, and take shortcuts to earn first place.

With over 36 million copies of the game sold, Mario Kart Wii is the second best-selling Wii game (after Wii Sports) and the best-selling Mario game for the Wii console.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was terminated by Nintendo starting on May 20th, 2014, therefore making it no longer available to play Mario Kart Wii (as well as Mario Kart DS and other games that support WFC) online.

Items
To know the probability of obtaining each item when an Item Box is opened in the various modes, see Mario Kart Wii item probability distributions.

Mario Kart Wii includes three new items: the Mega Mushroom, the POW Block, and the Thunder Cloud. Items can be earned by driving through Item Boxes on the courses, just like in previous games. Once a player has done so, an item will be selected via the Item Roulette. Players can use items by pressing . In general, players tend to obtain a weak item such as a Banana or a Green Shell when they are in first. However, if players are in a lower place, they obtain a slightly more powerful item such as a Red Shell or Lightning is more frequent. Usually, the lower the place of the player, the rarer and more powerful the item they get. Stars, Mega Mushrooms, and Bullet Bills are examples of powerful items as they provide speed boosts and invincibility. This is the only game in the Mario Kart series where the drivers do not vocally react to getting inked by a Blooper.