Automatic vs. Manual - Mario Kart Wii

This is probably one of the biggest question when it comes to serious Mario Kart drivers and one beginners actually ponder about when they first start racing. So what really is the difference & which is better?

Well, first off, manual and automatic have nothing to do with shifting, it actually refers to drifting. From what I understand, drifting has always been manual on previous Mario Kart, where you hold a button into a turn to create a drift until the sparks behind your kart change colors and you let go and get a speed burst. So new to Nintendo Wii is the Automatic drift, so Karts & Bikes automaticly drift into corners. From what I have read, Automatic turns and drifts a little better and faster to compensate for the lack of speed boosts, trying to make them somewhat equal.

You drift by holding the "B" or trigger on the back of the remote or wii wheel when going into and holding during a turn. First you will get blue sparks from kart & bikes, when you let go of B out of the turn, you will get a speed burst. For Karts, if you can hold the drift longer, you will get orange sparks and get an even bigger burst of speed. I think karts get that to make up for lack of speed bursts that bikes can get from wheelies.

The purists will tell you that Automatic is for "noobs" and beginners and that its no fun to drive in automatic and some automatic users will tell you there are just as good with Automatic when racing against manual racers.

For the most part, I have done most of my racing on Automatic setting. I have managed to unlock nearly all the staff ghosts and beat a few expert ghosts so far with Automatic (not spent much time doing so) and have an online WFC rating of 6400+ which is not great but respectable.

Its my opinion for all out speed, manual is faster, thus all but one world record comes from manual racres, Moonview Highway being the one exception. So if you are trying to really nail down time trials, manual will be the way to go in the long run.

As far as Grand Prix and WFC racing, I think Automatic can work very well. There are many more variables when playing with other players that may limit the benefits of manual and automatic may have some benefits, so try them out, use what works best for you!!

Below is a video of a guy somebody using their mii character in a wild wing kart on Luigi Circuit demonstrating the drift

Fun Wii Sports Bowling Trick

Just trying to add some variety the Mario Kart info, there will be plenty more Mario Kart info to come, don't' worry ;) This is to show you how to throw your bowling backwards and get a reaction from the crowd.

This especially fun when you have some friends over to show off a bit, you can roll your bowl backwards and make all the miis in the crowd jump, kind of fun. Below is a YouTube video of it


Basically you just let go of the trigger on your back swing and it should work for you, I was able to do it on my first try. Plus, it let's you re-throw, so you can show off during a game and it will not effect your scoring!

Racing Tricks & Tips for Mario Kart

So now you are racing, having fun, but trying to get a leg up in the Grand Prixs or on the WFC, here are a few trips to help you post more wins.

Get a Quick Boost from the Starting Line

Ever wondered how some players get a boost at the start of every race in Mario Kart Wii? By pressing and holding the accelerate button ("2" on the Wii remote) right when the number "2" on the countdown is disappearing, or watch his hand when its at about 11 o'clock position as he says 2.

Get a Boost After Returning from a Fall

In some cases, falling off the edge of a course in Mario Kart Wii can quickly send a player from first to last place. In order to make falls a little less painful to their position in a race, players can press the accelerate button ("2" on the Wii remote) at the exact moment they hit the ground upon returning to the course. This provides a temporary boost.

Do a Special Trick, Get a Temporary Boost

One of the best ways to the move to the front of the pack in Mario Kart Wii -- or to cut some seconds off one's Time Trial time -- is to do a special trick after any jump or bump in the road in Mario Kart Wii. This can be done by lifting up the Wii Wheel as one is going into mid-air. Special tricks aren't just for looks - they provide a temporary boost when one hits the ground.

Avoid Blue Shells

This is not that practical of a tip, because you rarely have a mushroom when in first. Blue shells (which cause the person in first place, and anyone around that player, to spin out of control) are one of the most annoying items in Mario Kart Wii. Fortunately, there is a solution -- if one is lucky enough to have a mushroom in his or her arsenal, using the mushroom at the exact moment before the blue shell would normally crush the player will allow the player to avoid the "dreaded blue shell." Also, if your time is right going though the cannons on a few of the boards can escape you from the shell as well. Another thing, sometimes you can slow down and let someone pass you and they will get hit or atleast get blown up by the explosion, so you share the pain.

Dodge POW Blocks

When players launch the "POW Block" power-up, most players will both spin out of control and lose their items. Though one will still lose items he or she does, one can prevent spinning out of control and thus losing speed by lifting up one's Wii controller (as if he or she were attempting a special trick) at the exact moment before the POW Block would normally hit the player.

Alternatively, those players in the middle of a long jump or a special trick will not be affected by the POW blocks.

Block Green and Red Shells

The people near the front of the pack get progressively worse power-ups -- generally, banana peels, green shells and red shells. However, one can use these weapons to his or her advantage by pressing and holding down the left or right direction button once one receives the power-up and, thus, dragging the weapon behind the kart or bike. This way, if one sends out a green or red shell at the player, the shell will be blocked.

Warning: Fake item boxes and bob-ombs can be dragged behind the player, but they do not block weapons. Instead, if the player is hit by a weapon, the player will then hit his own fake item box, or be blown up by her own bob-omb. You can also use the up or down button to throw most items forward or backwards.

Wipe out the Blooper's Ink

The blooper, one of the most annoying weapons originally introduced in Mario Kart DS and brought back in Mario Kart Wii, sprays ink on each player's vehicle, thus making it harder to see the screen. However, by activating a mushroom or hitting a boost in the road, one can wipe the ink off his or her screen.

Utilize these tips to dominate your friends!!!

Mario Kart Unlockables

So once you start playing you start winning a few Grand Prix tracks and the next thing you know you start getting new characters, new karts and new bikes to race with. Then you start seeing your friends or other people online with more & more characters and vehicles that you don't have and you wonder how get them..... Hmmmm...... Well, here is a map to unlock everything below.

Unlock all the Characters

14 characters in all can be unlocked in Mario Kart Wii, in addition to the 12 characters already available at the start of the game. The following characters can be unlocked by completing certain tasks:

• King Boo - Win the 50cc Star Cup


• Diddy Kong - Win the 50cc Retro Cups


• Mii (Outfit A) - Win the 100cc Special Cup


• Dry Bones - Win the 100cc Leaf Cup


• Daisy - Win the 150cc Special Cup


• Baby Daisy - Get 1 star in all 50cc Wii Cups


• Bowser Jr. - Get 1 star in all 100cc Retro Cups


• Dry Bowser - Get 1 star in all 150cc Wii Cups


• Rosalina - Get 1 star in all Mirror Mode Wii & Retro Cups (or, have a Super Mario Galaxy save file and complete 50 races)


• Birdo - Play 16 Time Trial Mode courses (or, win 250 WiFi matches)


• Toadette - Play 32 Time Trial Mode courses (or, win 1000 WiFi matches)


• Funky Kong - Unlock 4 Expert Staff Times in Time Trial Mode


• Baby Luigi - Unlock 8 Expert Staff Times in Time Trial Mode


• Mii (Outfit B) - Unlock 32 Expert Staff Times in Time Trial Mode

Unlock all the Karts

Nine unlockable karts are also hidden within Mario Kart Wii:

• Piranha Prowler (large kart) - Win 50cc Special Cup


• Turbo Blooper (medium kart) - Win 50cc Leaf Cup


• Royal Racer (medium kart) - Win 150cc Leaf Cup


• Honeycoupe (large kart) - Win 150cc Lightning Cup


• Blue Falcon (small kart) - Win Mirror Mode Lightning Cup


• Cheep Charger (small kart) - Get 1 star in all 50cc Retro Cups


• Jetsetter (large kart) - Get 1 star in all 150cc Retro Cups


• Tiny Titan (small kart) - Unlock 1 Expert Staff Time in Time Trial Mode (or, win 50 WiFi matches)


• Sprinter (medium kart) - Unlock 24 Expert Staff Times in Time Trial Mode

Unlock all the Bikes

Similarly, nine bikes can also be unlocked upon meeting certain requirements in Mario Kart Wii:

• Shooting Star (large bike) - Win 100cc Star Cup


• Zip Zip (medium bike) - Win 100cc Lightning Cup


• Quacker (small bike) - Win 150cc Star Cup


• Dolphin Dasher (medium bike) - Win Mirror Mode Star Cup


• Phantom (large bike) - Win Mirror Mode Special Cup


• Jet Bubble (small bike) - Win Mirror Mode Leaf Cup


• Sneakster (medium bike) - Get 1 star in all 100cc Wii cups


• Magikruiser (small bike) - Play 8 Time Trial Mode courses


• Spear (large bike) - Unlock 12 Expert Staff Times in Time Trial Mode

Unlock Mirror Mode

In addition to unlockable characters, karts and bikes, Nintendo also included an unlockable Grand Prix mode in Mario Kart Wii: Mirror Mode. To unlock Mirror Mode, one must place 1st in all races in the 150cc mode.

There are a few other ways to unlock some of these characters, for instance if just play online enough some of these characters can be unlocked as well. For instance you can unlock Rosaline by winning about 5000 races, or get Diddy Kong for a great value of 450 races. If you get all these done, you have put some serious time into the game. Also, you only unlock them for your license that you are playing.

Getting Started on Mario Kart

Mario Kart is pretty much plug & play fun for single or multiple players. For starters, check out this nice short Game Review.

One cool feature, you are allowed 4 licenses to store info and keep records, so that means 4 different players. You can link your license to your Mii that you have created on your console. So I would try to limit your licenses for your primary players and maybe tag one for guests. Your license is important for unlocking tracks and characters as you achieve certain goals.
Some basic things about the characters, first of all, none are created equal, they all have their unique characteristics when it comes to weight, handling, speed, acceleration, turbo boosts, etc. They are lumped into three size categories (small, Medium, Large). That mainly sets the karts and bikes that they can utilize, also larger characters tend to push smaller characters around the track a little more. You start out with 12 Characters and they each have 3 Karts & 3 Bikes to use. Black font Characters are standard, Red characters need to be unlocked through play.

LIGHT CHARACTERS

Baby Daisy
Baby Luigi
Baby Mario

Baby Peach
Dry Bones
Koopa Troopa
Toad
Toadette

MEDIUM CHARACTERS

Birdo

Bowser Jr.

Daisy

Diddy Kong

Luigi

Mario

Peach
Yoshi

HEAVY CHARACTERS

Bowser

Donkey Kong

Dry Bowser

Funky Kong

King Boo

Rosalina

Waluigi

Wario

There are also two Mii outfits that you can unlock, that let you race as your Mii, which is a lot of fun. As far as size of Mii, it used the height of your Mii character to decided if you are a small, medium or large Kart driver.

I would suggest firing up the Grand Prix series to get started and try win the Gold on those in the 50CC to unlock additional boards and characters. The speed and computer's (AI) artificial intelligence are very manageable in 50CC, pretty easy to get started and have success. 50cc sets a strong base for moving up as well as online play, plus once you drive 100cc and 150cc, going back to 50cc will be very boring and if you do not play them, you will not get all characters and bikes unlocked.

More entries on how to unlock all characters, chracter performance, online play, and Time Trial info to come....

Welcome & Intro

I have my Wii about 2 months now. Something I am interested in and I decided to do a little blogging to share the things I have learned and the games I have. To start, this Blog will be Mario Kart intensive for three reasons.

1. Its a very popular game
2. I am slightly obsessed with it right now
3. Its actually a pretty deep game, with lots of unlockables, short cuts & much more

Check back often for more, I plan to have vidoes and all sorts of content!

Rich
myLot User Profile