Mario Kart Wii
| Mario Kart Wii | |
|---|---|
Box art depicting Luigi (left) and Mario (right) using the Wii Wheel | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Yasuyuki Oyagi |
| Producer(s) | Hideki Konno |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) |
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| Artist(s) | Daisuke Kageyama |
| Composer(s) |
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| Series | Mario Kart |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Kart racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Mario Kart Wii is a 2008 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the sixth installment in the Mario Kart series, and was released in April 2008. In Mario Kart Wii, the player takes control of one of 24 Mario series characters, who participate in races on 32 different race tracks using specialized items to hinder opponents or gain advantages.
Mario Kart Wii features multiple single-player and multiplayer game modes including two- to four-person split screen. Online multiplayer was supported until the discontinuation of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in May 2014. Mario Kart Wii features a returning multiplayer mode: Battle Mode. The aim is to defeat the other players by attacking them with power-ups, destroying balloons that surround each kart. Mario Kart Wii uses the Wii Remote's motion-controls to provide intuitive and conventional steering controls. Each copy of the game was bundled with the Wii Wheel accessory to augment this feature and mimic a steering wheel.
Development of Mario Kart Wii began shortly after the release of 2005's Mario Kart DS. Hideki Konno, who originally served as producer of the previous two games of the Mario Kart series, returned to produce the title. In his Nintendo composer debut, Ryō Nagamatsu joined Asuka Hayazaki (who composed 2005's Yoshi Touch & Go) as Mario Kart Wii's main composers. Both used new interpretations of the familiar melodies from earlier games alongside original material to create Mario Kart Wii's soundtrack.
Mario Kart Wii was received positively by critics and general audiences. Praise focused on the online mode, characters, innovative gameplay, tracks, and karts, whereas criticism was directed at its item balancing and rubber-band difficulty adjustment. It was a commercial success, selling more than five million copies in 2008 to become the best selling game of the year. In total, Mario Kart Wii sold over 37 million copies, making it the second best-selling Mario Kart game after Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and one of the best-selling video games of all time.