Mario Kart for Nintendo Wii has to be the best Wii game released this year! It has everything you can imagine in terms of characters, ammunition against rivals and wild racing tracks with clever secret shortcuts.

Starting with Mario Kart, you can choose between 8 characters like the lovable Mario, Peach or the evil Waluigi. As you play more and complete trophy races, you’ll receive additional characters like the speedy Daisy and Dry Bowser (a skeleton pirate version of Bowser himself). These characters are faster and more powerful than the originals, so run like crazy!

The best part of this game is the fact that you can connect your Wii Remote to the Wii Wheel. The Wii Remote’s motion sensitivity is excellent when attached to the steering wheel, and you get more of a feeling of driving rather than just pressing a few buttons on a boring remote! I have a lot of fun trying to knock my opponents off the track and into the lava or deep sea.

However, to help those of you who aren’t as brutal as I am, there are a ton of cool items you can collect along the way to use against your opponents or to speed up. You collect the items by driving towards the question mark boxes that you will easily find along each track.

If you pick up the ‘Bullet Bill’, you will temporarily transform into a Bullet that will travel the course at high speed knocking down everything in its path.

If you collect ‘Banana Skins’, you can leave them behind you or throw them in front of you to make the other drivers slip! this is so much fun to watch!

The worst (or best) item is the ‘Spiny Shell’ or known to us as the Blue Shell of death! It locks onto and chases the lead vehicle, then explodes when it reaches its target. Any vehicles caught in the blast will flip or spin! There’s no defense for it, but luckily they don’t show up too often.

I’ll let you know a little secret. When you’re at the starting line, press the acceleration button down when the number 2 starts to fade and you’ll be sure to start the race strong.

And watch out for those shortcuts. The best way to find them is to drive along a track and explore. You never know what you may find! But for now, try this. At the end of the Maple Treeway, go up the ramp on the side of the tree (either the left or right tree) and get a speed boost up the ramp to the finish line.

Enjoy!