Really, Mario Kart has been hitting at a 50% strike rate up to now. Super Mario Kart on SNES was amazing, the handheld Nintendo DS Mario Kart was also brilliant, but the Nintendo 64 and GameCube versions were good, but nowhere near the legendary standard of the other two.

Mario Kart Wii is, thankfully. Unlike everyone and their dog out there on the internet, we’re not going to cry into our beer and whinge how Mario Kart on Wii suffers greatly due to being too friendly to casual gamers at the expense of the dedicated few. Bollocks to that. Mario Kart is not a cakewalk by any means. By the time you’ve got a gold trophy in all championships – 50cc, 100cc and 150 cc – you’ll be certain to have earned them. And unlocking the more choice elements in the game will take both time, skill and dedication – stuff that will only be available to seasoned gamers or casuals willing to put in a lot of hard yards.

It’s helped by a control system that’s masterful. There’s a good reason why Nintendo’s rankings tables show who has used a wheel to get their scores, as it’s more fun – as well as more difficult – to attain if you play Mario Kart the “right” way. It’s not the most efficient – using the nunchuk attachment or even worse – a bog standard gamepad – will result in faster times, guaranteed. But if nothing else the smooth response of the wheel attachment or playing with the Wii-mote horizontally will be a useful handicap if you wish to show off.

That said, this is a game that will stretch any gamer’s patience quite frequently – and often to the very limit. And it’s instantly gone to the top of our list for “game most likely to be loved one second and hated the next”. More than any game we can remember, Mario Kart on Wii stretches our definition of “fair” fun in a game.

Imagine player skill at Kart split into three grades. C grade – for the casual to average player. B grade for the good to advanced player –most of us after playing the game for more than a couple of hours. A grade – the domain of the more freakish amongst us – people who blend natural talent with experience.

If you’re a B grade player – and it’s likely you are – best start reading up on anger management techniques now and save yourself a few broken controllers. Think of how we typically approach racing games. Get to the front, try and build a lead, win the race, right? Well, Mario Kart in the past has employed tactics to try and keep first and last place within striking distance, but on the Wii these tactics have never been stronger.

If you’re a A grade player, you’ll quickly learn how to buffer in enough of a lead through superior driving that you can afford to dominate the race from start to finish. As a frontrunner, you’ll need every metre of distance possible and need to master a deep array of item management and speed boosting techniques, especially in the 150cc racing classes.

If you’re a B grade player, you’ll get to the front easily enough. You’ll likely be able to stay in front and even build up a reasonable lead. Then the assault will begin, courtesy of Mario Kart Wii’s array of powerups and a system that allocates the best stuff to the bottom half of the field, and the more mundane items to the leaders.

Page 2 of 5: Powerups