Crazy Video Mario Kart Glitches

Very little of this video is useful, but still fun to watch if you have played much Mario Kart Wii. The Dodging blue shell stuff is kind of useful and might be a shortcut on Warios Goldmine also.

Makes you wonder how much free time this person has....

Tempted by Snowboard Riot

Usually the WiiWare releases do not interest me much, but Snowboard Riot looks like fun. After unlocking the Snowboard Balance game on my Wii Fit, which is a simple but fun game in which you turn your Wii fit board 90 degrees and slalom through a time trial course.

Wii Fit Snowboard Screen Shot

Shaun White's Snowboarding looks very cool but that is $50! Snowboard Riot is $10 (1000pts) and has an online feature which looks really fun. Here is the description of Snowboard Riot.

It's snowboarding plus weapons. Enough said.
This snowboard racing and
battle game can be enjoyed by multiple players and is compatible with the Wii
Balance Board. In an intense scramble for first place, guide your character down
the slopes while snatching up items to attack and defend against rivals on the
way! Up to four players can battle and participate in various ranking modes via
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection!

Snowboard Riot Screenshot

Stay tuned to see if I get this WiiWare title, if you have it, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Succesful Kart Sunday

I really did not race much Mario Kart this weekend as I was too busy following the live Internet coverage of the Bassmaster Classic. There was kind of a lull in action on Sunday morning, so I fired up my Wii console.

I had been trying to get a star on the Banana Mirror Cup, this time it I got a star on my first attempt with Toadette and her Magikruiser. So naturally I attempted to tackle the Leaf cup and got a star on my first attempt at that using Funky Kong and the Flame Runner. So with that win, I unlocked the Jet Bubble Bike for small characters.

Since things were going so smoothly this fine morning, I took a shot at the Lightning Cup with the Funky Kong / Flamer Runner combo. I won it, but I think I only got a B Rank. The win still unlocked the Blue Falcon Kart, which I can use with medium characters like my Mii.

The only things left to unlock are the Phantom Bike (Win Special Cup Mirror) and Rosalina (Stars still needed on Mirror Star, Special, Lightning), hopefully later this week!

Avoiding or Defending Against POW Blocks

Eluding or minimizing the effects of the POW Block is probably one of the best tricks you can master when racing WFC or Grand Prix mode, especially when you start to try to get Stars on 150cc or Mirror Mode Cups.

There are actually a few ways to defend against POW Block in Mario Kart Wii:

1. In automatic mode when using the wheel, by flicking the remote/wheel up on the third pound (or shaking it wildly after the second). You'll still spin out, but you'll keep your momentum, meaning you can stay in the race! The small blue shockwave that will appear under you will indicate that you've escaped.


2. Driving in manual mode on the 3rd pound, hit the right trigger with the game cube controller ('B' on the Wii Wheel) to hop off the ground. Note that you have to be moving to hop, otherwise your vehicle will try and reverse, because this button has two functions. What this essentially does, its make your character hop off the ground and therefore dodge the power of the POW.

The timing on the first two of these take a little while to master but it is definitely worth it!

3. You can also avoid the hit if you're in midair after launching off a ramp or other big jump. Note Anything that is off the ground when a POW hits will not be effected by it. So half pipe jumps, ramps, cannons, etc. There is not much skill to this, more luck of timing.

Learn these techniques and you will be winning many more races!

Lastly, I would like to recognize and welcome my new co-author Jacon (Jason). He will be helping me add fresh and frequent content on Mario Kart and other Wii titles.

Jacon Joins the Game

150cc - A lot harder than I thought it'd be. After boycotting Mario Kart for the past few days, (after almost throwing my wii remote at the TV for the 3rd time), I'm back in the game.
I was playing WFC on saturday night, and got my butt kicked and many of the points I had accrued stripped from my license.

I'm still in the stages of opening up characters and new karts/bikes.
When I first started playing mario kart wii, I didn't like using the bike.
However, that was until I found out how sweet it was, being able to basically power boost just about anywhere, enables you to be able to finish a race at your best. Now, all I use tends to be the bike, depending on the level of course.

Stay tuned for my Mario Kart journey...

My Mii got a new ride!

Monday night I took my Mii Outfit A with his Super Blooper and rung up a star on 150cc Flower Cup, so then I moved onto the Star cup. On the first attempt I was able to take the Gold but only got an A Rank, so I will have to take another crack at getting a Star Rank on this cup. But the win did unlock the Dolphin Dasher, which is a medium bike.

I then took it for a spin and re-raced the Star Cup, I won but actually got a D rank that time. It handled really well but was kind of slow. I think the old Dolphin Dasher could be decent bike, but it may take some getting use to.

Saturday Night Jetsetter

Friday night I was able to get stars on the 150cc Shell, Banana, and Leaf cups. I took one attempt at the Lightning Cup, failed and got tired. So Saturday night, I sat down determined to get that Star. On about my 3rd try with the combo of Funky Kong on the Flame Runner I got a 2 star score.




I actually used the Funky/Flame combo on all 150cc Retro cups except for the Banana, for that I raced Toadette on the Magikruiser bike. That combo seems to be best on off road, so it seems to good for that set of 4 tracks.


So at this point, I have at least one star on all the tracks I had raced, so I went on the WFC to see if I had a star next to my name. Nope!!! Guess I need to get stars on the Mirror cups as well. I got a single star on the Mushroom cup with Peach in the Super Blooper before I raced some friends in Regional WFC. Got my score up to around 6600 before bed.

Dry Bowser is Mine!!!!

Last night I finished getting stars on the 150cc Wii Cups, so last night I got the Star Cup in a single try and it took about a half dozen attempts at the Special Cup.

So my formula was the following for each Wii Cup Circuit:

Mushroom Cup - Diddy Kong with Mach Bike

Flower Cup - Peach with with Super Blooper

Star Cup - Mii with Super Blooper

Special Cup - Mii with Super Blooper

All this was with Automatic drift. Overall the bikes seem to be faster and I like to wheelie, but I was just getting pushed off the tracks too much with the bike, going with a quick kart seem to help with that respect. You can win and get stars with just about any character, this just worked for me.

So here is Dry Bowser, he is very bad ass looking and makes cool noises when you drive him. Now I just need to dig into the Retro 150CC cups, which I think are a little easier and open the Jetsetter. Then also I should have stars on all tracks that I have raced, so I then should have a star next to my name online. I have unlocked Mirror Mode but have not raced. I am resisting the temptation so that I can get the star rating and then just get one star at a time in Mirror Mode to preserve that ranking.

Over the weekend

I did not play much Mario Kart this weekend. Too much fishing and not much Wii, wait, there is never too much fishing. I did also play some Wii Sport and Wii Fit along with a little Mario Kart. I did get a Star Rank on my 150cc Mushroom cup on Saturday night and did a little time trialing. I also played some 50cc and turned some single stars into double stars, man 50cc seems slow after you have played 150cc

We had some friends over and played some 3 player Kart, which is a lot of fun, but I need a bigger TV for that. Hope to get more wheel time this week.

I just bagged Rapala Fishing Frenzy

I just picked up a new bass fishing game for the Nintendo Wii. Its the new Rapala Fishing Frenzy game. I thought this would help me get through another long winter. Check out the trailer for the game....


Also, I got a few screen shots for you to look at....





I have not had time to actually play it, but I did open the box, its nice that it comes with an adapter to fit the existing Wii controller, so you do not have to actually buy a specific controller for this game, a big plus in my book.

As soon as things slow down and cool off outside, I will fire it up and give a full review!!!!

Rich

Getting back into it & Star Ranking Info

Last night I sat down for a quick hour of Mario Kart. I as able to take my Mii character and the sneakster bike and breeze through the 100cc Retro cups (Shell, Banana, Leaf & Lightning Cups) and get 2 stars on the first three circuits and one star on the Lightning Cup. That unlocked Bowser Jr. I then spent a few minutes playing GBA Shy Guy Beach time trial and shaved about 3 secs off in two attempts. So I believe I am right around 1:33, which said it was an A rank, pretty close to beating the fast staff ghost.

This is the commemorative picture you can send to your message board after you complete and win all the cups!

More on Star Rankings and how to get them:

The following are requirements to get a "One Star", "Two Star", or "Three Star" rank:

Get a final score of 53 or better.
Lead most of the laps.
Stay in first place for a good period of time.
Do a lot of tricks on ramps and other jumps.
Avoid having to use Bullet Bills to catch up. (I have recieved a single star & used a single bullet)

Have overall fast completion time & avoid walls and other obstacles.
Use lots of techniques such as wheelies, avoiding POW Blocks, etc.
Do not fall off edges too much (one or two times is acceptable). If you get hit by a few Blue Shells and still win, this indicates that you are resistant and will probably have a high rank.
A perfect 60 is required for a "Three Star" rank. A "Two Star" rank ranges from 55 to 60. A "One Star" rank is 53 to 60 with most or all of these requirements.

Trying to decide if I want to work on my time trial times or start getting stars on the 150cc cups....

What do you think?

My own Mario Kart progress

On Friday night, I finally unlocked all the expert staff ghosts and unlocked my 2nd Mii outfit, I must say my Mii looks very good in overalls.

Time to go back and finish getting at least one star in all the 100cc Retro Cups to unlock Bowser Jr. Hopefully tomorrow night I will have some time to get into a Kart groove. Then onto getting stars on the 150cc.

I think it would be really cool to have a star or two next to my name during online WFC matches! If one gets one star in every Grand Prix cup, he or she will have one star by his or her name during online play. Similarly, if one gets two stars in every Grand Prix cup, he will have two stars by his name, and so on.

The Quest continues....