Gamertell

Last week (February 7, 2008), Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu exposed the first details of the new Mario Kart game currently in development for the Wii.

First is that the game will offer a choice between the regular go-karts and bikes, each of which handle differently.  Both types can now do midair techniques which can grant speed boosts if done correctly.

The Wii Mario Kart will have 32 regular tracks, half of them new and the other half taken from previous entries.  Also, there will be ten multiplayer tracks for Battle Mode.

Advancements for multiplayer, though, make up the juiciest news.  Though offline can traditionally handle up to four players, Nintendo’s WiFi network will allow a maximum of 12 players in a single race or battle.

Apparently, the double character setup of the Gamecube iteration, Mario Kart: Double Dash has been removed, not that that’s a particularly major loss.

Previously, 1UP mentioned the game will come with a steering wheel, which is basically a Wii Remote encased in a plastic wheel.  According to GoNintendo the control is most similar to Excite Truck.

With that, the red flags are flying at full mast.  Excite Truck‘s control was great in theory but quickly fell apart due to its oversensitive Wiimote controls.  If they can somehow overcome that hurdle, though, the results will indeed be very epic, as easy, accessible online play made Mario Kart DS the first entry of the series I actually became interested in.

Read [1UP]  Also Read [GoNintendo]