Everything we know about Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii is only a couple of months away, so details have now started pumping out of Nintendo like fat out of a sumo on liposuction. The Krakatoan info burst has caught a lot of people by surprise given how long we were expecting to wait for the game (April? Seriously?), so we decided it's time to round everything up into a manageable chunk for you.

We've collected together everything we already know and tirelessly trawled through the newest screenshots, analysing them with our bulbous minds and squeezing out every last detail we can decipher. Everything we have is arranged delicately over the next few expertly-crafted pages, so hold down A at the end of that second light and boost your way in.

Tracks

We know that Mario Kart Wii will contain at least 32 tracks, and like in Mario Kart DS, half of them will be remade courses from throughoutMK history. Some might call this laziness on Nintendo's part, but not us. We still maintain that Mario Circuit 1 from Super Mario Kartis as good as any track out there, and the series as a whole is packed with classics that we'd cry if we couldn't play again, so we'll happily take another fat wedge of retro. And besides, 32 people. 32!

So which tracks can we confirm for the game so far? Well...

Returning tracks

Waluigi Stadium (Double Dash, GC)
Delfino Square (Mario Kart DS, DS)
Mario Circuit 3 (Super Mario Kart, SNES)
Ghost Valley 2 (Super Mario Kart, SNES)
Peach Beach (Double Dash, GC)
Yoshi Falls (Mario Kart DS, DS)
Sherbet Land (Mario Kart 64, N64)
Shy Guy Beach (Mario Kart Super Circuit, GBA)
Mario Raceway (Mario Kart 64, N64)

New Tracks

So far it looks to be a good mix of brand new environments and updates to traditional MK staples. The new Luigi circuit is the usual simple training course, identified by its gentle, banking curves and gratuitious dispensing of zipper plates. MKW's Mario Circuit seems to take its cue from its GC predecessor, being situated once again around Peach's castle.It seems more densely populated this time, by what may be Toad houses, and that'spossibly a reference to the new village design at the beginning of Super Mario Galaxy. And we've finally got a new Moo Moo level, this time called Moo Moo Meadow, which looks noticeably bigger than its agricultural originator on the N64. This makes us happy. We've missed those pudgy bovine.

Wario Goldmine seems to follow the rollercoaster template of Wario Colosseum and Wario Pinball, but does it in a beautiful-looking, sunset mountain environment. Coconut Mall is an indoor/outdoor track which has visual similarities toDaisy Cruiser from Double Dash and apparently incorporates a car park full of Miis to swerve around

And probably most interesting of all right now is the snowy mountain area of DK Summit, which appears to be the follow-up to Mario Kart DS' sublime DK Pass. Not only does it make heavy use of half pipes for mid-air stunting, but a look at the mini-map indicates some very interesting track structure. The road itself is set down the side of a ski slope, but much like Double Dash's DK Mountain, doesn't connect into a full circuit. If you remember, the Double Dash track used a cannon to fire you back up to the top when you got to the bottom, and those snowboarding Sky Guys on the chair lift make us think something similar is going on here.

Ski lifts wereput to brilliant useat the end of each lap inSnowboard Kids on the N64, and if Nintendo can incorporate the same sort of frantic, dirty fights for lift queue position as we enjoyed in that game, this will be one of the best multiplayer tracks yet.