Iwata Asks: Mario Kart Wii

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata hops into the question-seat once more to quiz the team behind Mario Kart Wii.

Miyamoto and co reveal how the original Super Mario Kart on the SNES was developed, from the initial prototypes with a chap in overalls to an instant classic and inspiration for racing games to come.

They go onto discuss the problems with taking the winning formula into 3D, where modeling characters required the use of billboarding to create a semi-3D look and feel, whilst allowing the game to run at decent levels of speed.

From there came the need for Wi-Fi, with local wireless play ready and running, it was time for Mario Kart to go global with the WFC connection for DS. The model used for the portable outing was used as inspiration for the Wii version, and with more time and technology to hand it was time to take points from the team's wish list and bring them to life.

So came the Wii Wheel - the team wanted something simple, easy to understand and to produce. After various similar prototypes came the final model that'll be packaged with the game later next week.

This time, Miis appear as players, so we hired four male and four female voice actors. One of the female actors said that, while she does have a driver's license, she doesn't drive very much because she isn't very good at it. She said this game was no problem, though. That was when I knew the game was going to be a success.

The team explored ways of making online competition fun but still challenging, and by matching players skill levels and times with like-minded folk, it becomes less frustrating when going up against others. They also wanted to make racing varied by using motorbikes, stunts etc - with different vehicles being suited for different courses.

That's difficult to answer, but the motorbike is pretty good. For some courses a kart may be better, and for others the motorbike may be better. One advantage of the motorbike is that when you do a wheelie, you speed up, but wheel movement doesn't work during a wheelie, so it's only good on a straight course. On a course with lots of corners, it might be better to choose a kart so you could drift. We made the game so that each player can decide what works best after trying lots of different things.

Thanks to C3 reader Marzy for the tip. Mario Kart hits stores in Europe on Friday 11th April 2008.