First Mario Kart competition opens, disappoints

by Chris Greenhough { May 1st 2008 at 10:30AM }

Those of you who booted up the Wii this morning and checked out the Mario Kart Channel may have noticed that the first competition has finally been opened for entry! The process is simple: complete three laps of Mario Circuit as quickly as possible, upload your time to Nintendo's big list 'o times, wait until the deadline (May 9th or May 10th, depending on your timezone), and get ready to bask in internet glory. Hurray, right?

Wrong.

When we think of Mario Kart time trials, we think of gradually shaving milliseconds off of our best times, of taking every corner as finely as possible, of finding the best way to utilize our three mushrooms, of locating the perfect racing line, and of keeping our noses just ahead of the time trial ghosts. Yet this first Mario Kart Wii competition totally misses the point.

For instance, it's not a time trial at all, but a fully fledged race, complete with eleven opponents and all the usual items. In other words, you can take every corner as flawlessly as possible, only to get blue-shelled on the final straight. Which doesn't strike us as a terribly fair contest. We guess this is meant to level the playing field for newer players, but shouldn't more skillful players be justly rewarded?

Anyway, if you do want to try your hand at being robbed of a deserved victory, this blogger's best time so far is a quite appalling 2:03.325.

Tags: competition, mario-kart, mario-kart-wii, online, racing, time-trial, wifi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Justin @ May 1st 2008 10:40AM

I will check it out, but I am calling BS on the whole Nintendo WiFi thing now! I was online racing last night and somebody named Adrian from the Northeast part of the nation was in my race. I was in first place the suddenly he appeared in front of me? Out of the blue, free space then he was there. The only thing I can think of is someones internet connection being messed up and the game lost him, but who knows.

Chris Greenhough @ May 1st 2008 10:43AM

In defense of the game, I've actually had a pretty much flawless online experience so far, so it kind of sucks to hear that!

Justin @ May 1st 2008 11:11AM

Other than this, I too have had nothing, but flawless experiences. Especially after the whole SSBB online stuff. I was just blowing off steam, I actually was going to win, which doesn't happen often.

mikebee @ May 1st 2008 1:53PM

i have the same problems - playing with a friend who was just across town last night, i rarely saw him in the game. he would appear and disappear at random, and the map would often show him being a half-lap behind only for him to just materialize 100 feet in front of me. LAME!

josh @ May 1st 2008 10:48AM

personally i think Nintendo is doing the right thing, Competitions like this are not about how well you do by yourselves its about beating the competition plain & simple, Hell I would go so far as to go a step further and make Nintendo make a new track no one has played on and used that.

rosdj @ May 1st 2008 11:01AM

I'm looking forward to trying out the first tournament. I'm fine with the fact that it's a real race and not a time trial, but I don't care for being able to submit as many times as you want. I don't have nearly as much time to dedicate to running the race dozens of times to get the absolute best time I can, so I probably won't have a chance at all of doing well.

Go1denchi1d @ May 1st 2008 11:03AM

So far my best is 1:54.something something and I don't know how the leading person is 1:35. That person must of had ridiculous luck!

John Stout @ May 1st 2008 11:04AM

I've had a great online experience so far. And I think the tourny looks fun. It's not the same old ghost track that we expect to run in a tourney.

IanC @ May 1st 2008 11:14AM

I like it, its a nicely tweaked version of the existing course. Champ Chomp on the loose!

My best time so far is in the 1:57 region.

IanC @ May 1st 2008 11:15AM

Thats Chain Chomp of course. Have no idea where Champ Chomp came from....

Prof_Chaos @ May 1st 2008 11:31AM

Haven't checked it out yet, but I will. My online experience has been good and bad. I've only had one race in progress get ended prematurely, but I was leading and was awarded 1st place, so no problem. I have had some issues connecting with races. I spent a half hour logging on getting hooked up with racers, watching the race in progress, then getting an error message about being disconnected from other racers. I wasn't disconnected from NWFC, just the race. Pissed me off to no end.

amz @ May 3rd 2008 7:15AM

I think it bit weird that you get awarded points when you get cut off, what is to stop people from getting to number one then yanking their phone line out of a wall. Also not so happy when happen to be doing quite badly (about to start caning everyone, am sure) and lose points just cus cut off. Points should not be awarded in cut off games - i can never breach the 5600 level due to this kind of stuff!

K C Hagemann @ May 1st 2008 11:34AM

I prefer it this way, because rather than having something only the hardcore can possibly win at, I can have a lucky shot!

Jumbo @ May 1st 2008 11:47AM

your complaint is stupid.

its mario kart.

there's racers.
there's items.
if you dont like it, get another racing game.

Will Heineman @ May 1st 2008 11:54AM

If it wasn't like this, then the competition would simply be beating the world's fastest ghost...which already exists!

Shadow31 @ May 1st 2008 11:54AM

Um, it seems much more boring without other racers and items. It's Mario Kart, it's meant to be like that. I hope I get a chance to be in the tournament, though. I mean, I'm stuck at school for the next 7 or 8 hours...

jbrun85 @ May 1st 2008 12:31PM

I can understand your issues, but cmon, it is how the game is played. isnt that why you bought it? Mariokart isnt about flawlessy competing time trials. its hectic and there is always the danger of the people behind you. I'm sure in the future they will have both types of tournaments.

Orion @ May 1st 2008 12:55PM

I'll have to check this out when i get home. I'm happy they did it this way, or else I wouldn't even bother to try to out class some of the hundred of thousands of better racers than me...

Scotty @ May 1st 2008 1:07PM

The whole thing makes perfect sense to me. With the Mario Kart channel and rankings, the time trials are basically an ongoing tournament, you know?

So I actually really like that they switched it up with a changed course and other racers, because overcoming the freakin blue shell and trying not to be humiliated by Baby Peach are what Mario Kart is all about.

UTWarden @ May 1st 2008 1:17PM

well my best is about 2:11 if you can't beat that errr and I SUCK.

SonicZoot @ May 1st 2008 1:50PM

Actually, this tournament began yesterday in California around 7:00pm. I am sure I won't win. The only one's who do win use Motorcycles, which are hard to control, but very fast!

CoolMaster @ May 1st 2008 2:01PM

Well, my best time is 1.43.7 :] I believe than i can do better but you're right, it's hard to compete this way! I wish that future challenges are time trials... this is a mainstream approach which i don't care...

Chom @ May 1st 2008 3:43PM

whahahahaha, I complete in 1:57.

philly @ May 1st 2008 4:21PM

"only to get blue-shelled on the final straight."

so very true... happened to me as i watched my time of sub 1:55 dissappear into a measley 2:01... GRRR

TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 1st 2008 4:26PM

Best time: 2:01
World Champ: 1:33

Trying my hardest to beat Fernando's 1:50 xD

It is unfair though...If the Champion was saved from a barrage of items, but you always get hit...you can't justify the AI.
Though if you want straight racing, you have TT's forever.
I just wish it was bracket orientated and not VS. Race 100cc, then send in your times.

Darksyntax @ May 1st 2008 4:29PM

i came in at 2:07 not the best score, but i think respectable. They should list everyone's rank i was curious as to how i placed percentile wise(i would like a concrete number vs a scale/time line).

Tom @ May 1st 2008 5:27PM

1:55.81 - It's a shame too. Pow Blocks and Blue Shells shouldn't be allowed as items for this. I have no problem with red shells and whatnot but things you can't even avoid (though there are videos of people negating Pow Blocks) makes it a little tough to swallow.

Like a perfect round would be 3 mushrooms as your first item, using one per lap to get to the boost off the right side and then zooming away. I'm never lucky enough to keep the 3 mushrooms due to POW's or blue shells.

Back to trying again.

phenylketonurics @ May 1st 2008 6:20PM

Yeah, I know that if you're on a motorcycle, getting the nose up in a solid wheelie helps you avoid the nasty Pow Blocks. A blue ring will appear beneath your bike and you'll spin a bit without losing much acceleration.

No clue how the cart system works, though.

Scotty @ May 2nd 2008 2:18AM

Pow Blocks: All you have to do is shake the wii remote on the third bounce of the block. A little blue shockwave will come out from under you. You'll spin, but you won't lose speed. Try it :)

milan @ May 1st 2008 7:04PM

as much as i was expecting it in MK Wii, I haven't been robbed of a win by a blue shell very often at all. Reading this makes it seem like that happens every race.

Pipe @ May 2nd 2008 12:17AM

I don't agree with your point of view Chris. What you are proposing is exactly what is already offered in the Rankings for Time Trials. What is the difference? There you can select any track you want and do what you were saying. You can even download the current best time in the world and compete against that ghost! Disappointing would be that competitions are the same as Time Trials.
Now, you said it correctly: "it's not a time trial at all, but a fully fledged race, complete with eleven opponents and all the usual items" and, I have to add, with some extra hazards in the way.
What I would love to see is a replay of the times achieved by the winners in a competition.
As someone commented here already, it would be great if they release new tracks for competitions.
Also, how can you say that skillful players are not rewarded? I am sure that a skillful player would get a better time than someone not so skillful. Is not just about knowing your raceline to the millimetre, it is also about knowing how to use your items and defend from attacks.
I am loving this competition!

magiclava @ May 2nd 2008 8:03AM

I got 1:48ish, which is pretty near the limit for me. I did learn one thing though, you can use mushrooms to out run blue shells. Dunno if this is common knowledge, but if you use a mushroom just as the blue shell hovers over you, you can out-run the explosion. My best time is pretty much based on luck, i think i had a gold mushroom and didn't get attacked by the rest of the pack.

gorecki @ May 2nd 2008 9:58AM

I'm sure they'll do a time trial competition at some point. Patience.

ECG @ May 2nd 2008 11:11AM

My best time is 1.47.170. I know there are thousands if not tens of thousands of people ahead of me but it feels good seeing the mountain of Mii's behind me. My only gripe about the Mario Kart Channel is that if you access it from the Wii menu and start a tournament you have to back out to the Mario Kart starting screen to use the GC controller.

B-ZaR @ May 3rd 2008 6:54AM

My best time so far is 1:52. I think I could shave off a few seconds.

B-ZaR @ May 3rd 2008 8:03AM

Correction: 1:50 :)

Majkiboy @ May 3rd 2008 4:00PM

It's totaly fair, everyone is racing with the same conditions!

But I hope that upcomming events will have more imagination behind them.

and... I DO NOT WANT REGULAR TT-RACES! We already have that..

A good start, we'll see what ninty can cook up in the future

btw I just got 1.39.483 :)

How the hell do you get 1.33??? Crazy...