Mario Kart Has Control Issues

Written by Ryan Hewson

Thursday, 03 April 2008 04:04

And not just with letting go. I hear Luigi is on his 2-week chip. Anyways.

As let slip by Nintendo PR yesterday, and quickly spotted by rabbid fans everywhere â€“ more details regarding Mario Kart Wii surfaced (due April 27). However there's a disconcerting bit of text at the bottom of the usual PR blather:

Classic Controller: Mario Kart veterans can let their thumbs do the driving with the Classic Controller. However, players cannot perform certain moves with this control scheme.

Nintendo GameCubeâ„¢ Controller: Experienced Mario Kart fans may also enjoy this familiar scheme, although some maneuvers cannot be performed.

Oh god, what does that mean? What moves, what maneuvers? If it's just popping wheelies and crap like that, I'm sure people will deal with it. But if it means anything substantial.. this is not a good sign.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl and other 1st-party Wii games have been quite good about offering a gamut of controllers to choose from. While this is a little bit like admitting the Wii Remote+nunchuk isn't ideal for every kind of game, options are almost always a good thing when it comes to control schemes. Let's hope this "partial support" doesn't form a trend.

Comments (4) Add Comment

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written by Xerxes3rd, April 03, 2008

It looks like the MoteChuk controller scheme will be the way to go with this one. I'm still cautiously optimistic that the game will be good, though I have a soft spot for arcade racers.

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written by boon, April 03, 2008

I think this has been blown way out of proportion. It's a shame that they phrased it in such a way that it sounds lacking, but all of the control schemes have already been verified to have full functionality.

I believe the excluded maneuvers that are mentioned for the Classic and GCN controllers are the motion controls that induce trickery/boost. These controllers obviously do not have any motion sensing capabilities, but the in-game actions are still perfectly accessible by using the D-Pad.

Have a little bit of faith. It hurts to see so many sites report on this, and everyone worked up over nothing.

Oh yes, Kart is spelled with a "K". Like Kombat, or K-Mart.

Love you!

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, April 03, 2008

I really hope you're right boon, since I'm looking forward to the game personally.

And the first thing I plan to do when I get the game home is to throw away that plastic wheel attachment, what a POS

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written by Snakes & Patriots, April 03, 2008

What is Nintendo thinking here? Just make all the different controllers work just fine. This fractioning of settings is going to be a pain and i see it really hindering the appeal and enjoyment of mario wii-kart. Epic Fail here!