Mario Kart Wii guide

Mario Kart Wii
(Image credit: Nintendo)

A Mario Kart Wii guide can help you unlock all of the secrets in courses, as well as steering you towards the best track times.

Mario Kart Wii Tips

Unlockable Modes

50cc karts and bikes: Beat all cups in 50cc
100cc karts and bikes: Beat all cups in 100cc
Mirror mode: Beat all cups in 150cc

How To Avoid POW Block

When you see the POW block pop up start shaking your wii wheel and you will only spin once instead of three times.

Getting Rosalina Without Super Mario Galaxy

I just found this myself. All you have to do to get Rosalina is get all Star Ratings on Mirror Mode in grand prix.

Time Trial Tips

Mario Raceway - Choose a good offroad car with high mini turbo. Just before the huge bend were the plants are boost in between them whilst drifting then let go of drift and do a trick up the ramp.
Ghost Valley - On the final straight hit the yellow arrow but don't touch the line it takes about 3 secs of your time.

Maple Treeway Shortcut

First go to Time Trial to find this because it could ruin your race in a cup. Don't get a speed boost at the start or you will miss it. Turn right at the start and you will see an opening in a fence. Use a mushroom and follow a path and hit the boost pads and you will end up right next the cannon way ahead of everybody.(choose a good off-roader like the Magikruiser in case you don't have any mushrooms.

Mushroom Gorge Short Cut

At the start stay to the left and go off the edge (mushroom boost required not starting boost) and you will bounce on two mushrooms and jump over a wooden fence and continue on your race.
P.S. It took me a long time to master this, so don't get frustrated your first time.

Blue Shell Escape Trick

If you are racing with a big group of characters, you are in first, and you hear the shell warning coming. Just slam on your brakes, don't worry about losing position, because when that blue shell hits that group, you can pass them.

Rainbow Road Shortcut

As you approach the figure of 8 in Rainbow Road, keep heading forward towards the large hole in the track. Boost as you near it and as you fly over the hole, do a trick. You will (hopefully) land without problem on the other side. If you have multiple mushrooms then you could attempt this again on the next hole.

Maple Treeway Shortcut

When you're about to exit the windy bridge, look to the left and you'll see a second way that will lead you to a speed burst.

Another Way To Unlock Rosalina

When you have a saved game of Super Mario Galaxy on your Wii, select any character and play 50 courses on time trial. This will not work if you don't have a saved file of Super Mario Galaxy. Good luck and have fun!

Daisy Circuit Shortcut

Before you enter the figure 8, look to the right and you'll see a pink building with a staircase. At the end of the staircase is a boost where you can do a trick.

Tips For Beating Ghost Data

These are a few ways to help you beat that ghost:
1. Watch the Video first. It might have a few secrets.
2. Use your mushrooms wisely. I like to use one per lap, and sometimes the track will be all curvy, but if you use a schroom, you can zoom through the grass.
3. Use bikes instead of karts, that way you can get a boost from wheelies when you can.

Stop A Blue Shell On Rainbow Road

If you are about to be hit by a blue shell on Rainbow Road, when you go into the Star Cannon the blue shell goes away. In other levels with cannons this is not so.

Avoiding Red Shells

When you are about to get hit by a red shell, throw a banana, green shell or a red shell backwards to stop it.

Coconut Mall Shortcut

From the start of coconut mall go up the escalator. There will be a little opening on the right, and you'll need a mushroom.

Wario's Gold Mine Shortcut

On the level Wario's Gold Mine, when you see the karts carrying gold, follow them off the ramp and you'll get to the shortcut.

Block A Shell

If there is a shell (not blue) about to hit you and you have a banana, throw it behind you and the shell will stop

Escape A Blue Shell

Getting away from blue shell's is tricky. If you have a mushroom, use it just as the shell is hitting you. It's hard to time exactly right, so practice.

POW Block Avoidance

When someone is hitting a POW block, get some air and do a trick and you won't spin out.

Boost On Ramps

When you are on a ramp or bump tilt the wheel up and you will do flips and tricks. When you land you'll get a boost.

Retro Shortcuts

DS Delfino Square- Before bridge (mushroom needed)
SNES MC3 - gaps through walls (mushrooms needed)
N64 M raceway- Cut over hill (mushroom needed)
GCN Peach Beach- left at water

Lessing Effect Of POW Blocks

If you look at the picture of a Pow block on your screen when you are about to get hit by one: it goes normal, gets squashed a bit, then you spin round. If you do a wheelie just before you spin, it won't slow you down as much. (You will still use your items, though)

Boost After A Fall

If you run into something, like water or falling out of the track, if you hit 2 the moment you're placed back on the ground, you'll receive a quick boost.

Boost Start

When the countdown starts wait till the 2 starts to disappear and then press and hold the 2 button to get a short boost at the beginning of the race.

Mushrooms From Goombas

If you hit a Goomba with a shell or any attacking item, it will disappear and produce a mushroom.

Mario Kart Wii Unlockables

B-Dasher Kart

To unlock the medium Kart B-Dasher, you have to unlock all twenty-four expert staff ghost data entries. Below are the times needed to unlock them:

Bowser's Castle - 03:04.836 - 02.55.017 - 02.42.098

Coconut Mall - 02:30.764 - 02.24.788 - 02.13.333

Daisy Circuit - 01:56.822 - 01.48.791 - 01.41.362

DK's Snowboard Cross - 02:34.693 - 02.24.725 - 02.17.546

Dry Dry Ruins - 02:30.949 - 02.21.681 - 02.14.286

DS Delfino Square - 02:41.807 - 02.33.107 - 02.24.169

DS Desert Hills - 02:10.233 - 02.01.141 - 01.52.686

DS Peach Gardens - 02:34.894 - 02.29.006 - 02.16.777

DS Yoshi Falls - 01:16.461 - 01.12.901 - 01.09.175

GBA Bowser Castle 3 - 02:58.304 - 02.50.637 - 02.39.391

GBA Shy Guy Beach - 01:45.568 - 01.39.255 - 01.32.867

GCN DK Mountain - 02:57.744 - 02.50.248 - 02.38.130

GCN Mario Circuit - 01:59.771 - 01.55.267 - 01.49.939

GCN Peach Beach - 01:34.233 - 01.30.698 - 01.23.140

GCN Waluigi Stadium - 02:32.882 - 02.24.645 - 02.12.367

Grumble Volcano - 02:28.237 - 02.19.524 - 02.11.852

Koopa Cap - 03:03.022 - 02.54.897 - 02.41.370

Luigi Circuit - 01:29.670 - 01:24.957 - 01:19.419

Maple Treeway - 02:58.633 - 02.50.229 - 02.37.812

Mario Circuit - 01:44.777 - 01.39.183 - 01.33.702

Moo Moo Meadows - 01:37.856 - 01.33.571 - 01.25.909

Moonview Highway - 02:16.802 - 02.07.016 - 02.04.163

Mushroom Gorge - 02:16.110 - 02.05.494 - 02.01.011

N64 Bowser's Castle - 03:19.323 - 03.06.723 - 02.55.933

N64 DK's Jungle Parkway - 02:58.264 - 02.49.028 - 02.37.782

N64 Mario Raceway - 02:14.799 - 02.07.915 - 01.59.053

N64 Sherbet Land - 02:48.651 - 02.37.784 - 02.28.356

Rainbow Road - 03:05.895 - 02.59.293 - 02.44.734

SNES Ghost Valley 2 - 01:06.595 - 01.03.752 - 00.58.907

SNES Mario Circuit 3 - 01:38.880 - 01.34.828 - 01.26.659

Toad's Factory - 02:22.480 - 02.12.784 - 02.05.593

Wario's Gold Mine - 02:19.583 - 02.14.932 - 02.04.800

Baby Daisy

To unlock Daisy, every cheat or hint says to get a 1+ star ranking on every 50cc Grand Prix. It's not entirely true. I got a 3 star ranking a 2 star ranking and three 1 star rankings. That adds up to a total of 8 stars, there are 8 Grand Prixs to play, and I unlocked Baby Daisy without having to get a 1+ star ranking on 3 of the 8 Grand Prixs (this doesn't work for Bowser Jr. not sure about Dry Bowser).

Mii (Outfit B)

Unlock all 32 Expert time trials (you don't have to beat them), and you will unlock your Mii in Mario/Luigi overalls (depending on your Mii's preferred color).

Golden Stars

If you get a 1 star rank on all races in all cups, you'll get a star next to your name when playing online. If u have 2 star rank in every race on every cup, you'll have 2 stars next to your name and you'll get a third star with 3.

Unlockable Characters

Baby Daisy - 1 Star in all 50cc Wii-Cups

Baby Luigi - Unlock 8 Expert Staff Ghost Data in Time Trials

Birdo - Play Time Trials on 16 different courses

Bowser Jr. - 1 Star in all 100cc Retro-Cups

Daisy - Win 150cc Special Cup

Diddy Kong - Complete all 50cc Cups

Dry Bones - Win 100cc Leaf Cup

Dry Bowser - 1 Star in all 150cc Wii-Cups

Funky Kong - Unlock 4 Expert Staff Ghost Data in Time Trials

King Boo - Win 50cc Star Cup

Mii (Outfit A) - Win 100cc Special Cup

Rosalina - Have a Super Mario Galaxy savefile and she will be unlocked after some GPs

Toadette - Play Time Trials on all 32 different courses

Unlockable Races

Leaf Cup - Win at least 3rd place in Banana Cup

Lightning Cup - Win at least 3rd place in Leaf Cup

Special Cup - Win at least 3rd place in Star Cup

Star Cup - Win at least 3rd place in Flower Cup

Mirror Mode - Win all Cups at 150cc

Unlockable Vehicles

Bubble Bike (small bike) - Win Mirror Leaf Cup

Dolphin Dasher (medium bike) - Win Mirror Star Cup

Magikruiser (small bike) - Play Time Trials on 8 different courses

Nitrocycle (medium bike) - Attain at least 1 Star Rank for all 100cc Wii Grand Prix Cups

Phantom (large bike) - Win Mirror Special Cup

Quacker (small bike) - Win 150cc Star Cup

Rapide (medium bike) - Win 100cc Lightning Cup

Torpedo (large bike) - Unlock 12 Expert Staff Ghost Data in Time Trials

Twinkle Star (large bike) - Win 100cc Star Cup

Blue Falcon (small kart) - Win Mirror Lightning Cup

Cheep Charger (small kart) - Attain at least 1 Star Rank for all 50cc Retro Grand Prix Cups

Dragonetti (large kart) - Win 150cc Lightning Cup

Piranha Prowler (large kart) - Win 50cc Special Cup

Rally Romper (small kart) - Unlock 1 Expert Staff Ghost Data in Time Trials

Royal Racer (medium kart) - Win 150cc Leaf Cup

Turbo Blooper (medium kart) - Win 50cc Leaf Cup

Mario Kart Wii Glitches

Grumble Volcano: Major Shortcut

As soon as you start Grumble Volcano, don't speed boost. Reverse until you fall. DON'T take the ramp you get put at just yet! Look left, you'll see a big rock. Jump closest to the rock and keep going in circles counter clockwise (Left). Keep repeating it until you get to the third lap ,then go around the rock but go to the finish line at the end.

Play As The Same Character

Have Player 1 choose the character that both players want to be. Then unselect that character and have player 2 choose him, her or it. Then back out of the character selection menu. When you go back into the selection screen you will both have the same character selected. Have both players pick that character and play the race as you normally would.

Mario Kart Wii Easter Eggs

Golden Wii Wheel

Use the Wii Wheel a whole bunch in all modes, and when you go online a golden Wii Wheel will be next to your name.

Iain Wilson
Guides Editor

Iain originally joined Future in 2012 to write guides for CVG, PSM3, and Xbox World, before moving on to join GamesRadar in 2013 as Guides Editor. His words have also appeared in OPM, OXM, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, and SFX. He is better known to many as ‘Mr Trophy’, due to his slightly unhealthy obsession with amassing intangible PlayStation silverware, and he now has over 600 Platinum pots weighing down the shelves of his virtual award cabinet. He does not care for Xbox Achievements.