Mario Kart Wii Wiki
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Wii

A Wii with a Wii Remote leaning next to it.

The Wii is the fifth gaming station (not counting portable ones) created by Nintendo. The many features it had was unprecedented- wireless motion-sensing controllers, a multitude of programs and apps, crisp graphics, and of course, the lineup of amazing games.

Released in 2006, the Wii is the best-selling gaming console of all time, with 10.9 million sold in the U.S. only. Part of its success comes from its gameplay incorporating the motion-detecting Wii Remote, which lets players literally jump in and feel the action.

Of course, the top-selling Wii game has to be Wii Sports, because it's bundled with the system. But, coming in second, with 36.38 million copies sold worldwide is the sixth game of the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart Wii.

Description[]

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A black edition of the Wii.

The console itself is shaped like a thin trapezoidal prism. The side facing the front bears the power and eject buttons, as well as a small chamber to fit SD cards in (the Wii is capable of importing pictures [a lot of consoles nowadays can do this, but the Wii was one of the first]) and link up controllers. Another important feature on the front is the disc slot, which accepts both Wii and GameCube games (the Nintendo GameCube preceded the Wii). The sides are blank, but the back of the system is lined with ports: one for the power cord, the motion-sensor bar, and then the AC Adaptor. A few other outlets are also back there, but they don't really matter too much... you just gotta have those three to play. On the tiptop of the console is a large panel that opens up to reveal 4 outlets used for plugging in GameCube Controllers (Obviously for GameCube games, and even a few Wii games, including Mario Kart Wii.). The whole system is a pure white color.

The motion-sensing bar is not to complex, it is just about a foot long silverfish bar with a black motion detector attached to a cord. This is needed to detect the Wii Remotes.

Finally, an optional stand comes with the Wii... it consist of a silver angled rectangle that you just place your Wii in between and a translucent stabilizing plate. However, some people prefer to save space and just lay it on one of its faces, which is perfectly fine, so long as you don't put the game in the wrong way.

Back to the color- although they are characterized as usually being white, it was also later released in black, and then even in red (when New Super Mario Bros. Wii was packaged with it). Green and silver versions have also been released.

Variants[]

Wii Mini

A Wii Mini

Notice that Mario Kart Wii is bundled along with it. A cheaper counterpart of the classic Wii was produced in 2012, the Wii Mini. Although it was more compact, came with Mario Kart Wii, was compatible with all Wii games, and was $30 cheaper, it lacked online gameplay, was not as sturdy, had no SD card slot, and could not accept GameCube games. Also, with the release of the Wii U shortly before, it just didn't prove that popular among buyers. Wii Minis were primarily red.

Nintendo's next major console would be the Wii U... its not really a variant of the Wii, as it has its own unique features and characteristics, as well as its own Mario Kart game, Mario Kart 8. Still it adopted a lot from the Wii, including Miis, a similar Home Menu, and other features. Some of the new additions include a new type of controller, the Gamepad, Miiverse, updated graphics, and a number of new programs. However, it has not surpassed the Wii in sales yet.

Features[]

Programs and Applications[]

Mii Channel[]

Mii Channel

The starting menu for the Mii Channel.

This widely popular feature of the Wii let players create an person in the likeness of themselves, cleverly called a "Mii". They could be exchanged through Remotes, and some games even allowed players to use them as characters; Mario Kart Wii was one of these, as you could unlock the Mii and use him/her as a driver. Miis were so popular that they are also an important edition to Nintendo's newest consoles, the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

Photo Channel[]

If an SD Card was inside the slot, players could open up their images they took on other devices on the Wii. The Photo Channel let them draw on pictures, watch slideshows, and even make them into puzzles.

Game Channel[]

Obviously, a widely used program- inserting a Wii or GameCube game would bring up the start menu for the game, unless you screwed up the disk or something.

  • There's a lot more apps on the Wii, but these are the top 3 most important.

Controllers[]

Aside from the Wii Remote, there are a few ways to play Wii games. Not all games accept all control methods (in fact, only a select few do, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii. The methods of playing are:

*must be plugged into Wii Remote.

Other[]

Home Menu[]

Players can press the Home Button on their controller to bring up the Home Menu, which allows the to link controllers, look at Remote settings, or just simply pause the game.

Mario Kart Wii Trivia[]

  • The price at the release date was $250, so it has severely dropped.
  • The slogan was Wii would like to play., a pun on "We" and "Wii". The commercials were a big deal when it was first released.
  • The Wii's project codename was "Revolution", which was very fitting.
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