Mario Kart Wii... what's with the graphics? (56k warning)

These are the latest screens from Mario Kart Wii coming in April (note: I did not pick the worst screens, I actually picked pretty good ones):

Here's a link to the IGN video page if you don't believe that I picked good screens: Link.

This is a screen from Double Dash on the Gamecube...last gen:

Is anyone else completely unimpressed with Nintendo's effort for the Wii version of MK? I'm not a graphics whore by any means, but come on, there's barely an improvement over the last gen version!

I'd like to think they're gonna make it up in the gameplay department but what if it's more casualised now and it just ends up being bad graphics and same old gameplay?

Come on Nintendo... SSBB looks great and looks to improve a lot from the past entry... why didn't you put the same amount of effort into MK Wii? What do you guys think? Is this being unreasonable? Are the graphics fine? Did you expect more?

its a wii game, thats exactly what i expectVendettaRed07

Wii's not that bad. And the graphics shouldn't be that bad, especially from a Nintendo game. Look at SSBB. That looks pretty good compared to the last gen version.

Looks like a very bright PS2 game. That Conker racing game for the original XBox looked better.

That being said, it's the Wii man. You're surprised, how?

Neat, teh tracks look a lot more livly this time around :D

Ugh.. that looks horrible.

How can they get Brawl to look so awesome compared to Melee but this looks so mediocre?

Looks like a very bright PS2 game. That Conker racing game for the original XBox looked better.

That being said, it's the Wii man. You're surprised, how?

KingOfKonging

It looks like it can be done on the GC. :?

I just expected more. It's not a 3rd party game. It's Nintendo. And I don't get why SSBB looks so great and MK Wii barely improved on DD.

I actually think that mario kart double dash looks better in some ways than the new wii version

and yes I think they should have put the same amount of effort into graphics as smash bros. and SMG becuase it shows what the wii is capable of.

Neat, teh tracks look a lot more livly this time around :D
kittykatz5k

The tracks were pretty awesome in DD too though.

Ugh.. that looks horrible.

How can they get Brawl to look so awesome compared to Melee but this looks so mediocre?

asdasd

That's exactly what I'm saying... I feel like they dropped the ball on this one, which is disappointing since MK is a great MP series imo.

[QUOTE="VendettaRed07"]its a wii game, thats exactly what i expectthe-very-best

Wii's not that bad. And the graphics shouldn't be that bad, especially from a Nintendo game. Look at SSBB. That looks pretty good compared to the last gen version.

the only thing i can think of why it doesnt look as good as i could is that they did it so the online would be able to have 12 players with minimal lag they didnt have to really worry as much for ssbb cause there are at most 4 people playing

its freaking mario kart, who cares...zh666

Agreed. Mario Kart was never about great graphics.

Kind of sad, I'll still love it but it just seems overly lazy on Nintendo's part.

Oh and one side note: Can we stop with the whole "it looks better in motion". Yes, thanks for the obvious. Most games on any system look better in motion. Captures usually bring out the bad in most games' visual prowess, or lack there of, across the board. We all know most games look better in motion than they do in stills, we don't need that said in each on of these threads. :|

I think it looks quite good actually (for a Wii game). I've seen much worse. However, I must agree that it hasn't improved much over double dash, and for a Nintendo game, it doesn't look quite as good as the others (especially SSBB)pretzelmeister

Look again. All these screenshots are of very high velocity events. I was actually fairly impressed by how crisp the backgrounds looked.

I really don't care....It looks better than the GC but even if it did not I still would not careHarlockJC

Why not?

Shouldn't we expect an improvement anymore?

I think that it will look good in motion - but I don't play Mario Kart for the graphics.NAPK1NS

Pretty mcuh what I was going to say.

1.) Who cares.

2.) Looks better in video form.

3.) I can't wait for this game because of all the featuers it comes with. :D

My eyes must be broken... It looks like it's an improvment over Double Dash to me.

The graphics are Cleaner... which is why it prob look so bad, because you can actually tell that the textures arn't that great. Where as Double Dash was muddy enough that you didn't care.

[QUOTE="HarlockJC"]I really don't care....It looks better than the GC but even if it did not I still would not carethe-very-best

Why not?

Shouldn't we expect an improvement anymore?

We are getting improvements...More tracks, Motorcycles, New trick mode and Online battle mode. That is enough for me. Graphics have always been second to me I still play games from 15 years ago.

My eyes must be broken... It looks like it's an improvment over Double Dash to me.

The graphics are Cleaner... which is why it prob look so bad, because you can actually tell that the textures arn't that great. Where as Double Dash was muddy enough that you didn't care.

GundamGuy0

And I quote from the OT - "there's barely an improvement over the last gen version"

Meaning that there is some improvement, but it's minimal.

Well... Nintendo poured their heart and soul into Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Brothers Brawl, making it the very best it can be. I wouldn't say Mario Kart Wii is as big. On top of that, it doesn't look horrible. It does look like a GameCube game, but the artistic design looks top notch.

I'm honestly not too excited about another Mario Kart, anyway. Brawl will hold me over for awhile. :)

[QUOTE="GundamGuy0"]

My eyes must be broken... It looks like it's an improvment over Double Dash to me.

The graphics are Cleaner... which is why it prob look so bad, because you can actually tell that the textures arn't that great. Where as Double Dash was muddy enough that you didn't care.

-RPGamer-

And I quote from the OT - "there's barely an improvement over the last gen version"

Meaning that there is some improvement, but it's minimal.

It looks night and day to me, but then again maybe Im just broken... I mean look at the textures of the ground, and how muddy everything looks and then look at the Wii game... and how much brigher and cleaner everything is... the groundtextures are much much better.

I still say that these are the best screenshots of a racing game I've ever seen. Racing games always look blurry in screenshots, but the environments in this look really crisp.Tylendal

Blur effects often are an added layer of work done to give the sense of high velocities.

Nintnedo knows they dont have to hit a graphical home run anymore, why bother?Darthmatt

Especially with Mario Kart. If this was something like Starfox where I expect the space environments to be really pretty, then I would be right with the TC, but Mario Kart is not about graphics at all, and they aren't terrible, they just aren't a showcase for the system or anything.

I will still love it and play the hell out of it.

We are getting improvements...More tracks, Motorcycles, New trick mode and Online battle mode. That is enough for me. Graphics have always been second to me I still play games from 15 years ago.

HarlockJC

All those improvements are expected though. It doesn't give them the right to just disregard the visual aspect of the game.

Look at SMG and SSBB. We got the expected improvements and great graphics. Nintendo shouldn't be lazy with MK. It's a big franchise still.

Honestly, I think that Mario Kart DS was the first Mario Kart game that Nintendo actually cared about....

Though, the latest trailer for the game looks better than all of those screens. It is nice and clean and definitely an improvement form the GC version... and honestly, I don't expect much visually from any Mario Kart game. >_>

[QUOTE="-RPGamer-"][QUOTE="GundamGuy0"]

My eyes must be broken... It looks like it's an improvment over Double Dash to me.

The graphics are Cleaner... which is why it prob look so bad, because you can actually tell that the textures arn't that great. Where as Double Dash was muddy enough that you didn't care.

GundamGuy0

And I quote from the OT - "there's barely an improvement over the last gen version"

Meaning that there is some improvement, but it's minimal.

It looks night and day to me, but then again maybe Im just broken... I mean look at the textures of the ground, and how muddy everything looks and then look at the Wii game... and how much brigher and cleaner everything is... the groundtextures are much much better.

SSBB and SSBM are night vs day in visual prowess (especially in terms of the Wii). I would honestly call MK Wii verse MKDD a late morning vs early afternoon in difference.

[QUOTE="HarlockJC"]

We are getting improvements...More tracks, Motorcycles, New trick mode and Online battle mode. That is enough for me. Graphics have always been second to me I still play games from 15 years ago.

the-very-best

All those improvements are expected though. It doesn't give them the right to just disregard the visual aspect of the game.

Look at SMG and SSBB. We got the expected improvements and great graphics. Nintendo shouldn't be lazy with MK. It's a big franchise still.

The graphics got a big jump from DD... you just don't notice that much because after all it's an artisy arcade racer... the textures are much better...

That aside better graphics or run smooth as silk, Im sure they could up the graphics and do more, but It seem they focused more on getting this game to run like a hot knife threw butter and and less on pushing the graphics to the absolute max.

[QUOTE="HarlockJC"]

We are getting improvements...More tracks, Motorcycles, New trick mode and Online battle mode. That is enough for me. Graphics have always been second to me I still play games from 15 years ago.

the-very-best

All those improvements are expected though. It doesn't give them the right to just disregard the visual aspect of the game.

Look at SMG and SSBB. We got the expected improvements and great graphics. Nintendo shouldn't be lazy with MK. It's a big franchise still.

Your right but then again it still may look better when not in motion. Don't forget the game is not even done. But my point I am trying to make, is when I play the game I will not notice the graphics. So what you say is to be expected well expected it still makes me happy to see all these add ons. I am hoping we will get even more news.

[QUOTE="GundamGuy0"][QUOTE="-RPGamer-"][QUOTE="GundamGuy0"]

My eyes must be broken... It looks like it's an improvment over Double Dash to me.

The graphics are Cleaner... which is why it prob look so bad, because you can actually tell that the textures arn't that great. Where as Double Dash was muddy enough that you didn't care.

-RPGamer-

And I quote from the OT - "there's barely an improvement over the last gen version"

Meaning that there is some improvement, but it's minimal.

It looks night and day to me, but then again maybe Im just broken... I mean look at the textures of the ground, and how muddy everything looks and then look at the Wii game... and how much brigher and cleaner everything is... the groundtextures are much much better.

SSBB and SSBM are night vs day in visual prowess (especially in terms of the Wii). I would honestly call MK Wii verse MKDD a late morning vs early afternoon in difference.

SSBB isn't that impressive to me actually. The charcters have better moddels and the arrenas are cleaner, but over it seems they just upgraded the assets...

SSBB isn't that impressive to me actually. The charcters have better moddels and the arrenas are cleaner, but over it seems they just upgraded the assets...

GundamGuy0

Wait so you're telling me this is "night and day" to you but SSBB is not? What?

I'm much more impressed by cleaner models (with better textures) than I am by slightly better (key word slightly) textures.

Your right but then again it still may look better when not in motion. Don't forget the game is not even done. But my point I am trying to make, is when I play the game I will not notice the graphics. So what you say is to be expected well expected it still makes me happy to see all these add ons. I am hoping we will get even more news.

HarlockJC

I would assume the game is very close to being completed as it's being released in April so the graphics probably won't be improved much, if at all.

I don't play MK for the graphics either, but when I play MK Wii I don't want to feel like I'm playing DD again. It's a new gen, a bigger improvement in all aspects of the game (ie. including graphics) is needed imo.

[QUOTE="HarlockJC"]

We are getting improvements...More tracks, Motorcycles, New trick mode and Online battle mode. That is enough for me. Graphics have always been second to me I still play games from 15 years ago.

the-very-best

All those improvements are expected though. It doesn't give them the right to just disregard the visual aspect of the game.

Look at SMG and SSBB. We got the expected improvements and great graphics. Nintendo shouldn't be lazy with MK. It's a big franchise still.

I think youre being a bit too quick to say they were lazy. The more I compare the two the greater amount of differences and improvements I seen in MK Wii over DD. I think its hard to reckognize them at first glance since MK has such a minimalist style. But MK Wii just looks better, I dont really know what more you or others want given the very simple style of the game.

[QUOTE="HarlockJC"]

Your right but then again it still may look better when not in motion. Don't forget the game is not even done. But my point I am trying to make, is when I play the game I will not notice the graphics. So what you say is to be expected well expected it still makes me happy to see all these add ons. I am hoping we will get even more news.

the-very-best

I would assume the game is very close to being completed as it's being released in April so the graphics probably won't be improved much, if at all.

I don't play MK for the graphics either, but when I play MK Wii I don't want to feel like I'm playing DD again. It's a new gen, a bigger improvement in all aspects of the game (ie. including graphics) is needed imo.

But what do you do? Not buy the game not much of an choice. I will give and say it would be nice to have better graphics. If there nothing you can do about it, then all you can do is look forward to the extras.