There's no point in having different characters in Mario Kart at all because they have no differences like they did in Double Dash. Oh, and X-play is garbage for videogame reviews. Their score isn't different from others (on Mario Kart, anyway), but their commentary is usually retarded.

 Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Anyone who (like IGN) dismisses the Wii Wheel as "unnecessary", because it doesn't make playing easier, completely misses the point. I've had three people (ok, all of them were girls) play MK Wii using the Wheel, and they all loved it. They are no gamers, but the Wheel feels much more natural to them, so it enables them to have fun with MK as well. What could be wrong with that?

I am sorry you suck so badly at the series that you can't overcome one simple item. It is in no way catering to the casuals, and in every way making the game more about wacky bombastics than pure racing. That has always been one of the big draws about the series, and always will. You can still easily overcome items through sheer skill though. I got hit with 3 blue turtle shells in one lap and never lost first place. This was on lap 2 or 3 of course, so I had a ridiculous lead over everyone else. The game is unbelievably hard when you stop trying to suck out with only items and try to gain some actual skill.

Here is the catch to that which most people don't seem to get. If you are just barely infront of someone then they are probably just as good as you are. Your lead should be constantly increasing until second place is so far behind you that you have time to get up and make a sandwich while the race finishes. If you drop 3 places due to any item at the finish line then you were just barely squeeking out a victory. Relatively small differences in skill in Mario Kart tends to create a large gap in times for a race. Being ahead of the competition by one second is nothing at all.

Nothing. I am all for games that get girls to play. Most people I played against online used the wheel, too. Btw, anyone know the button for tricks on the gamecube controller? I need it for 4 players...I apologize if I missed the answer in another thread.

The d-pad is used I am pretty sure. It is definatly stated in the manual under the control options, or on the pause menu when playing with the GC controller.

Well that's that.. They gave brawl a nice score. Other than that I'm not surprised if they give low score since I don't care about what they say.

hum...so no steering while hitting a trick. anyway, thanks. I didn't think to look in the manual. I just got that from gamefly, actually. I had the game before I had the manual. I originally though you couldn't do it because someone, and it actually might have been Morgan Webb on X-play, said you couldn't do tricks with the GC controller.

I have much more of a problem with Chris Kohler of Wired giving it 6/10 because he was p-o-ed that single player battle mode is gone.

In my playing of the game, the 4/5 is about right from X-play. If you know their system, that is equivalent to an 85-90 in other's grades.

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- And yes, rubber band AI sucks. Item distribution appears to be determined by place in the race.