POW: I know, but a simple jump is not enough to avoid it, you need a ramp; that's what I mean.

I know that there's players that still win any race, I've seen them online. I consider myself an above average player, but I'm not one of the greatest, of course. And I feel that my driving skills often get neutralized by the items.

How to solve the problem:

Red Shells: Simply save a banana/green shell (or something else) and hold it behind you. Problem solved! These shells are IMO way too easy to get rid off. I lead most races, but I can't remember last time I was hit by a Red Shell.

Pow Block: Affects everyone at about the same rank as you (if you're first, 2-5 also get hit) and the only thing it does is make people HAVE to use their items, making them unable to save the bullet bill untill you've driven up a couple of places. It's easy to only get one turn, which makes you lose minimum time, so it makes you have to be "skilled" enough to dodge it.

Blue Shell: Frankly, it's a lot better in this game, as you mainly get it from 4th-7th place. Sometimes on third and second, sometimes on 8-12th, but those are rare. This means that the person who uses it actually benefits from it.

Bullet Bill: What's the big deal? Only the 10th place and such gets it. It makes the low level people feel OK. They did at least make the goal within the 30 seconds.

Mega Mushroom: Cool addition, it is a lower-level Starman really.

Thunder Cloud: Awesome! Makes 4 player races insanely funny!

Squid: Honestly, I hate it.

^ Bolded. Only if you have a bike, right?

Wow, my family has played this game a lot now. My sisters have played about 20 hours, my dad 10, and my mom 10 on their "accounts". That's when they have played it without me (which is pretty rare that they do, or at least I think so :P)

Rol, it (your online score) can't max out at 9999 points, I saw a guy with over 11000 (but somehow, he also managed to drive over lava)

hey question (now that i have the game)

where can i find my mario kart wii friendcode??? is it the same as my wii console friendcode???

ohhh thanks found it now! Thanks Rol.

So, i Just bought Mariokart wii today, and being a huge mariokart 64 fan, i was pretty excited. Me and my housemates still play battle and versus on the VC version of MK64 reguarly, and in my opinion, its the best game in the series.

After the faliure that was double dash (in my opinion), i was hoping the wii version would be nothing like it.

 While the single player is a lot better than double dash, the multiplayer is a complete mess. Whats with team only battles? and no way to play just against your friends, instead of having all the computer players throw around a mess of items. It couldn't be more frustrating. It is also really hard to see anything in multiplayer split screen, as the characters are so small, and everything gets really blurry, even on our big tv. I was really hoping this game would be more like the old ones, i dont really like the childish cart designs, and the motor bikes are completely un-fair to race against.

So while it's not a completely bad game, single player and online are fun, its not taking over MK64 anytime soon. I also think this is going to be the first nintendo game i will return, as i have a hard time trying to have fun with it. :(

Now the long wait til Brawl, i know that one won't be a let down. 

You can play against just your friends... Go to rules and change bots to off. How are the MBs unfair to race against? They have a not-that good boost, and the wheelie isn't that great.

I just got MKWii like 20 mins ago. I started it up with the wheel, started 50cc gp played like 30secs and went straight to the GC controller. Screw getting used to new controls.

Wow, I wish there was a Midnight launch for MKwii where I Live...
I might pick up my copy tomorrow though, If I can find one