All you need to know about Mario Kart battles

by Candace Savino { Apr 20th 2008 at 8:00PM }

While those of you in Europe and Japan are enjoying Mario Kart, the rest of us are trying to wait as patiently as we can, not knowing what to expect. Sure, we've seen and heard many racing-related things when it comes to Nintendo's upcoming title, but there's been one aspect of the game that hasn't been talked about much -- Battle Mode.

Thankfully, our friend Josh from Wii Folder put together this in-depth video, which shows all the ins and outs of the underrepresented mode. We're not sure we like the sound of team-based battles, though -- what do you folks who've tried it think?

Tags: battle-mode, mario-kart, mario-kart-wii, racing

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

PoisonedV @ Apr 20th 2008 8:50PM

I always hated these battle types in any car games but the original CTR and Vigilante 8. But this looks good.

Ultima @ Apr 20th 2008 8:53PM

I think this looks better than any other kart's battle. Sure, I guess the balloon battle respawns take the "need to survive" element, but I like playing for points too. I never have been able to understand why so many reviewers don't like battle mode...

PoisonedV @ Apr 20th 2008 9:27PM

I know this isn't really related, but my Wii is giving me disc read errors on every one of my games. Is there any easy fix for this?

MRB1G @ Apr 21st 2008 5:34AM

you might want to check on your local nintendo site for information on that to be safe.

Genome4824 @ Apr 20th 2008 10:00PM

great voice for hands-on previews!!

and a great video

Ultima @ Apr 20th 2008 10:51PM

Plus, I'm totally psyched that Skyscraper is back. I love that place... :)

rainer @ Apr 21st 2008 12:30AM

In the preview window for balloon battle at about 42 seconds into the video, it shows Mario gain balloons of a different color. This isn't explained in the video, what is it?

Don Day @ Apr 21st 2008 9:52AM

If you manage to collide with another kart after using a mushroom you not only make them lose a balloon, but if you have less than three balloons, you steal their balloon for yourself. You can also do this with a star. It's been like this since MK64 I believe.

Mrblonde @ Apr 21st 2008 1:17AM

You could have put spoiler alert in the description. Thankfully, I saw only one new character.

MRB1G @ Apr 21st 2008 5:34AM

personally I think the battle in this one sucks which is a shame because normally I like the battle and with online I thought it would be awesome. still to be the best battle mode was the n64 version all those years ago...

XSlicer @ Apr 21st 2008 7:11AM

Sucks compared to older Mario Karts.
Why?
Because its time-limited.
I dont want any point-based balloon battles with a 3 minute timer.
Should be balloons gone = lose instead of this crappy point system.

Brento @ Apr 21st 2008 7:11AM

NIntendo is getting to be as bad as George Lucas. We're going to buy the damn game. We don't need every single feature, surprise and idea ruined by hearing about it in advance. Lucas did it every time with his Star Wars movies-let everyone in California and half the world watch it before the official release. And he's doing it again with the Indy Jones movie. Nintendo-just put the game out there and be assured we'll play the damn thing.

Brandon @ Apr 21st 2008 10:11PM

Dude, the game is out already in other markets. (notice the Japanese writing?) This video is called a review. It is from an independent source that has already played the game, not Nintendo marketing. I'm really not sure how anything in that video could ruin anything for for the game.