Trackmania Wii: Now only $7.99 U.S.! Canadians, this is in Walmart!

BTP · October 2010

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a....car?

FUCK YES IT'S A CAR! AND IT'S GOING TO BOUNCE OFF THAT HOT AIR BALLOON!

DETAILS!

- Race, Puzzle, Platform, Track Editor, Online. It's all here!

- 4-player offline splitscreen, 8-player hotseat, 6-player online.

- Create tracks and share them online (with friends only), and even race on your created tracks with your friends.

- Free DLC tracks from the developers periodically.

- Supports all controllers except Gamecube and even has sideways Wiimote D-pad steering.

- The game is now $7.99 U.S.!

- Canadians no longer entirely out of luck! Available in Walmart for $29.83! Buy the French version on Amazon.ca for $29.99!

SCREENSHOTS!

LOTS OF VIDEOS!

Official Trailers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oET34Bbc0l4&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbB88hnTexU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiaI-dFL1FU&feature=related

Some guy playing showing just how awesome, SO AWESOME, the game is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-r3d2RMBw&feature=related

A video for each environment because I'm good like that!
(Spoilers, I suppose?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlJHs2x3ROg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RROGpNT5Oes&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNQF7LLTDk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcV3P5DaSEk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWP3t_W_QY8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK8RYgVDTB8&feature=related

Reviews:
play.tm: 89%
NintendoLife: 8/10
Official Nintendo Magazine UK: 79%
Eurogamer: 7/10
Gamespot: 7/10

FRIEND CODES!
BTP: 472780 387621
The BosZ: 245195 100050

Now get out there burn up the track with some crazy shenanigans!

citizen059 · October 2010

Do want! I love me some Trackmania, my son does too - thanks for the heads-up.

BTP · April 2011

Bump because this game has finally released! Yay!

You wouldn't know it though, because the game is fairly hard to find in the U.S.. It's not in Canada at all from what I can tell, and for a game that's been out in the U.S. for two weeks now, to have no sign of it appearing in Canada is a little worrying.

As for what U.S. stores have it, I know it can be found in Walmart and EB Games/GameStop. I've also tried searching Best Buy, Blockbuster, Fry's Electronics, K-Mart, Sears, Target, and Toys R Us. Among those stores, it's either sold only through their online store, or they don't even have it listed. And if the GameStop where I bought the game didn't have the one copy they had, the next closest GameStop that did was over 60 miles away!

So it really is only through sheer luck that I have this game now.

I'm about to pop it in for a spin. I'll let you know what it's like soon enough. I've updated the OP a little though to give some more factual info.

BTP · April 2011

Initial Impressions:

(Note: The only other Trackmania experience I have is with the DS game that came out a year or so ago. That game only had Stadium, Desert, and Rally environments.)

Controls:

The only thing I've done with it so far are all the Practice tracks in each environment (except for the unlockable ones), using the Wii Wheel, Wii remote NES-style, and Wiimote+Nunchuk. That way, I got to try all of the cars with each of the control styles (Digital, Analog, Motion).

I started off using the Wii remote NES-style, and this felt completely natural to me based on all the time I spent playing the DS game. How natural? Well, I earned two Author Medals on my first three tracks, one on the first try. I'd say that's natural. However, it wasn't until I got to trying out the Island car that I wondered if D-pad really was the way to go. (Holy crap, those cars are sensitive!) It wasn't until I got to Rally that I tried the Nunchuk after a race with the D-pad, and wow, what a difference analog control makes! Shaving off a full second with your first analog controlled race after a gold medal winning D-pad race said it all for me.

Finally, I tried the Wii Wheel, and it felt disappointingly overly sensitive regardless of the car you're driving. I actually found I had difficulty in trying to straighten out from a turn, and if I counter-steered a little more, I would just fishtail into the other direction. Mario Kart Wii definitely has better motion-controlled driving.

The way I see it, if you're a Mario Kart Wii player, you probably used Wiimote+Nunchuk, and that feels right at home here in Trackmania Wii. If you are a Trackmania veteran, maybe you played using the arrow keys on your keyboard, and so a D-pad would be a natural fit for you. This suggests to me that the Classic Controller could theoretically be the best controller for the game as you can use either D-pad or analog stick at any time, and having that choice would be helpful especially for someone to try the game out for the first time.

One thing to note about controls: In the options menu, it gives you a choice on whether you want the Wii remote alone to work with the D-pad or with motion. I'm not sure how this will work in multiplayer modes if you were to only have Wii remotes with you, and someone wanted D-pad and another wanted tilt.

Playing the game:

This game is so much fun! All I've done are the Practice tracks and I can tell it's going to be hard to go back to Mario Kart Wii for single-player gaming. I might even be having a better first impression with Trackmania than I did with F-Zero GX. The sense of speed and trying to keep your car in control is done really well in this game. If there was ever any slowdown, it's so brief it's not worth mentioning or paying any attention. Certain environments, or just sections, may not look great when you're standing still, but when you're racing, it all looks great.

Any time you complete a race and immediately retry it, it adds your previous race as another ghost on the track, which is really helpful in knowing you're shaving off those precious milliseconds, and adds to the feeling of more cars to beat. I've even had a strange enjoyment from restraining myself from hitting the (-) button whenever I screw up and just going around exploring a track for all the little nooks and crannies I can fit the car through and what I can drive over and jump. See that mountain way out in the distance? You can drive up that. (That's probably from all the time I spent playing San Francisco Rush.) If the platform and puzzle modes are just like how it was done in the DS game, then there is a lot to do and a LOT of fun to be had in this game. And then the track editor must be the icing on the cake with its endless possibilities.

Online:

I did try going online to get an online race, but I couldn't spend a lot of time sitting around waiting at 2 AM, so I don't know what this is like yet. Hopefully soon enough I'll get to try that out. Leaderboards are quick to load though, so you'll be able to see how you stack up to everyone in no time. You can also download the ghosts of the Top 10 racers of any track by just pointing with your remote on their name and pressing A. There are eight DLC tracks available from what I saw (and for some reason I just haven't downloaded them yet). These are probably the same eight tracks mentioned in the NintendoLife review linked in the OP, and that was written in October. Perhaps that's a sign saying to not expect more DLC.

Initial Verdict:

Even though all I've done is one part of the single player stuff, from what I know of the rest of the game based on the DS game, Trackmania for Wii is a solid game and well worth the effort to find. There's over 120 tracks in just the Race part of the game, and the tracks are short enough that you can almost think of getting all the gold medals like you're getting 120 stars in a Mario game but you're in a car.

...But then there's an actual part of the game called "Platform". So I guess that's like the secret levels in a Mario game.

...But then there's "Puzzle" mode, where you create your own track/level, and then see if you can get to the other end with what you created.

....And then you can create all the tracks that you want with the Track Editor.

...And if you have friends who also have the game, you can share your custom tracks with each other online.

...And then you can race each other online on those custom tracks, or race anyone else on the provided 120+ tracks.

...And it's $29.99.

Start your engines, people. I want to see you and your friend codes at the starting line.

citizen059 · April 2011

Nice, I need to look for this.

maximumzero · April 2011

$30? Best value since You Don't Know Jack.

Wasn't this released in Europe in like 2008? About goddamn time.

BTP · April 2011

No, EU got it last September, but the game was first announced to be coming out in Q1 2010, so you're still right to say it's about time this got released.

Some IGN article you can google suggest there was some kind of licensing issues holding back this game. That's clearly no longer an issue for the U.S., but since I really don't know WTF the problem was really about, it leaves me to wonder if that problem was solved for Canada (and then there's the dual language on the covers/manuals that delays games even further). Hence, my "Canada seems SOL" in the thread title.

Either way, I really do hope lots more people get a chance to try this game. I remember gushing plenty about Pinball Hall of Fame a couple of years back, and that's probably a more niche game than this. Yet PHOF is easier to find than this game. How does that happen?

BTP · April 2011

Updated Impressions:

Online:

I got to have a few matches against random people tonight, but only 1 on 1. It feels like a mix of how Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii works when it comes to matchmaking and race progression. You start off waiting for up to 5 others to connect, similar to how Mario Kart DS works. If another person appears, you can either continue to wait for more players, or just press A to signal that you are ready to race to try to end the matchmaking.

You are then given a menu of what and how you want to race. You can choose from Time Attack (set the fastest lap within a time limit to win) or Rounds (race on the track multiple times until a point total is reached. You get points by finishing the race.) You then select the difficulty of the track, with only those you have unlocked being available to you. Then you pick either a specific track or go with random track select.

After everyone has made their selection, you see who has picked what. One at a time, you will do these selections, giving everyone a fair chance to win under their own rules. In case I'm not being clear, whatever track and rules you start with, you will stay on that track and ruleset until a winner is declared, and then you move on to the next person's track and ruleset, and you stay on this new track and new ruleset until another winner is declared, and so on until everyone's choices have been done. That means no more wasting time in between races having everyone select a track and then wait for one of them to be randomly selected the way Mario Kart does.

After that, besides the added wait to get through the "Match will begin in 5..." when it appears, racing online is just as fast as single player with regard to loading a track and actually driving. This was 1 on 1, though. I wish I knew how well a 6 player online race would work.

When done racing and you see the scoreboard, you can click on your opponents to try to make them your rivals. When you look back on the main menu and are able to view your friends/rivals list, you'll be able to see who on your list is online.

Verdict:

I'm not expecting this game to get anywhere close to the 21 million and growing userbase of Mario Kart Wii, but if Trackmania Wii can get a fairly reliable online community like Mario Kart Wii has, then it easily stands as its equal as the "Must have racer on Wii". After that, it all depends on what kind of racing you want to do. There is such a world of difference between getting hit by a blue shell on the last lap and hoping you can recover by getting the right chance item compared to going off the track on a one lap 30 second long course, forcing you to start over from the beginning, and still manage to whip around the track so fast you end up winning the race by inches.

Trackmania Wii is constantly exhilarating. It's constantly forcing you to find ways to improve your ability, your speed, your timing, and all while driving the same car that all other racers on the track are given. It's never about what your opponents are doing to you, it's only about what you are NOT doing, because as much as you are up against three ghosts in Race Mode, you're also taking on the track trying to figure out how to best navigate it. As long as you can keep improving, the fun will never stop. And when you've mastered every track and beaten every ghost, the online game will be there to challenge you. And when no one is playing online, the track editor will give your imagination the chance it needs to find a way to challenge yourself.

TL;DR: You want this game.

BTP · April 2011

Another update:

I was able to play local multiplayer a week or two ago. Did some 3-player and 4-player. All of the 3-player races were smooth, but the 4-player games had some noticeable lag like Mario Kart. It is especially bad on tracks that have a ton of objects like on some Stadium levels. You might want to avoid putting on a ton of blimps with TV screens on their sides with your custom Stadium tracks, as that's where I noticed the problems were consistent when they were on the screen. All of the other environments worked well enough that you're not going to complain. It also might only be bad during the start when all players are showing the same part of the track 4 times. When you get more separated and different parts of the track are being shown, it wasn't as bad.

It's still plenty of fun!

Now why aren't there any more friend codes posted here? You guys really need to find this game!

BTP · May 2011

Um.....so....is anyone else out there playing this game?

Just a word of warning that there is a problem with the track editor in the Rally environment. From my experience, it's very susceptible to making the Wii lock up when you're trying to add Castle parts with at height of at least 3, sometimes even at 2. The game locks up where the only remedy is to turn off the Wii. I've even had the game lock up when, while having the castle "road" part on my cursor, and then use the D-pad to increase the height I wish to set the "road" from 2 to 3. It was okay to take off the castle part from my cursor by pressing B, then changing the height, then getting the part back on my cursor. It's just finnicky, so take care and save often if you're wanting to create castle walls. It's okay to use the castle part that makes ordinary roads when at a height of 0.

I went through all of that trouble and multiple locks to make a rally track that's approximately 2:30 long. It even has a bit of a fork in the road so you can choose which way you want to go. The longer but easier track, or the shorter but harder track? Mess up once and it's pretty much game over as there are no checkpoints on the track.

I'd love to share it with you all, but I need some friend codes first in order to do that! Where are your friend codes?!

Also, if anyone was ever curious what a 6-player online match looked like in this game, someone was fortunate enough to make a Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc-WAP0OnlQ&feature=fvsr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0IkwKIk0g&feature=related

BTP · May 2011

Hey guys. Guess what?

The game is now $20!

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! This game is TOTALLY worth it!

Use that store availability check and go find it at your nearest store!

Mr_Grinch · May 2011

What the hell? This game looks awesome, and it's been out in my part of the world since September? How did I miss this?

Might be time to boot the wife off her Karaoke games, dust off the nunchuck and give it a go.

Mr_Grinch · May 2011

I picked it up at lunch yesterday and gave it a quick go last night. Very very fun. Reminds me an awful lot of Stunts/Sports 4D driving on the PC. Which devoured my childhood.

BTP · May 2011

And the amount of content in this will devour you for at least a month as you try to get as many gold and author medals as you can.

Do you have a friend code yet? I've got some tracks I want to share!

And don't be afraid to race online, even though you just got the game. Of the few times I've raced online, perhaps 10 at the most, I've only had one experience of someone being flat out better than me and not sticking to the practice level tracks. And even if you get repeated playlists, they'll catch on and notice you stick to practice tracks and will alter their choice so that you don't completely get blown away. It's a small but happy community.

BTP · July 2011

Hey everyone.

Remember when this game first came out, and it was being sold for $29.99? Maybe you thought that was too much for this game.

So I let you know when it was $19.99. And there was much rejoicing. And by "much rejoicing", I mean only one other person has posted since. Maybe you thought even that lowered price was still too much.

Well, guess what?

Trackmania Wii is now $9.99! There are meals that cost more than this game.

There are too many people out there going "There's nothing left for my Wii except for Skyward Sword" and do not know this game exists, and may even have the misconception that this game sucks due to its new low price. Buy this game, show this to their faces, and get them to snap out of their lull.

What other racer can you get for $10?...F-Zero X? That game has 20 tracks and a random track generator. Trackmania Wii has about 200 tracks and a track editor, and you can share those tracks with others. Sounds like a lot more bang for your buck with Trackmania. Even at $30, Trackmania would be the better buy.

Speaking of $30, Canadians can now buy the French version of this game off Amazon.ca. Woo-hoo!

So what are you going to do?

BTP · February 2012

One more bump to hopefully get people interested in this again.

To all Americans, EBGames has this game for $7.99 NEW! The DS counterpart (that I've never tried), "Trackmania Turbo", is $9.99 NEW! Can you still say no to a great game like this with a price like that?

To all Canadians, while I have no idea when it came out, I just saw both aforementioned Trackmania games at a local Walmart for $29.83. These games are finally available at retail. However, you won't find them in their online store.

If you're worried about the online, it is still a little sparse but when you do get a match going, it's totally smooth. So if you do buy this game, swap friend codes with me and we'll race sometime so you can get to experience it and see for yourself just how great this game is. It's worth it.

redfield85 · February 2012

Is the DS game online multiplayer-able? I am kind of interested. What about the Wii version?

If this was talked about in the OP, well, who reads those?

BTP · February 2012

The original one that came out a couple of years ago is not online.

The one that came out with the Wii version (and shares the same cover art) is online.

And yes, the Wii version is online as well. I didn't post a random friend code in the OP for nothing, even if you're not going to read it. Nor did I talk about an online that doesn't exist in my last post. :P

TheBosZ · February 2012

Man! I want both versions! Gamestop says it's unavailable and it's $25 on Amazon. Any better deals anywhere?

I love the computer version and I'd like my son to be able to play with me. I had the original DS one a while ago, but I didn't think it captured the feel very well.

The fact that the Wii version has 4 player splitscreen is awesome!

BTP · February 2012

TheBosZ wrote: »

Man! I want both versions! Gamestop says it's unavailable and it's $25 on Amazon. Any better deals anywhere?

Did you check Gamestop's in-store availability?

TheBosZ · February 2012

BTP wrote: »

Did you check Gamestop's in-store availability?

Yeah, it said "Low availability" for a store that's 50 miles away. Not cool.

The next best price I can find is $25 on Amazon! Dang it, I got so excited!

EDIT: Wait! It's showing one at the one in Portland. And I'm going there tomorrow! Awesome!

maximumzero · February 2012

I

BTP wrote: »

One more bump to hopefully get people interested in this again.

To all Americans, EBGames has this game for $7.99 NEW! The DS counterpart (that I've never tried), "Trackmania Turbo", is $9.99 NEW! Can you still say no to a great game like this with a price like that?

To all Canadians, while I have no idea when it came out, I just saw both aforementioned Trackmania games at a local Walmart for $29.83. These games are finally available at retail. However, you won't find them in their online store.

If you're worried about the online, it is still a little sparse but when you do get a match going, it's totally smooth. So if you do buy this game, swap friend codes with me and we'll race sometime so you can get to experience it and see for yourself just how great this game is. It's worth it.

The only store I've seen this in lately is Target, and every time I pass it I'm like "I'm coming back to get you someday."

Unfortunately the closest Gamestop to me that has a copy is 40 minutes away...not worth the drive.

Still, I'm looking for a quality arcade racer...and I WILL have this someday.

BTP · February 2012

TheBosZ wrote: »

BTP wrote: »

Did you check Gamestop's in-store availability?

Yeah, it said "Low availability" for a store that's 50 miles away. Not cool.

The next best price I can find is $25 on Amazon! Dang it, I got so excited!

EDIT: Wait! It's showing one at the one in Portland. And I'm going there tomorrow! Awesome!

Yay! Be sure to share your friend code when you get it!

maximumzero wrote: »

The only store I've seen this in lately is Target, and every time I pass it I'm like "I'm coming back to get you someday."

Unfortunately the closest Gamestop to me that has a copy is 40 minutes away...not worth the drive.

Still, I'm looking for a quality arcade racer...and I WILL have this someday.

You might want to hurry up before the stores do the inevitable "Get all the Wii stuff out of here!" sales. It's already priced low enough.

TheBosZ · February 2012

I've bookmarked the thread and will report back.

TheBosZ · March 2012

Alright! I got it! It's just as awesome as on the PC!

FC: 245195100050

BTP · March 2012

Awesome! Added you to my list.

BTP · March 2012

Almost a month later and not a word back since? Did you end up getting just as absorbed into the game as I did?

maximumzero · March 2012

Checked one of my local Targets...none to be seen. Might check the other one sometime this week.

TheBosZ · March 2012

BTP wrote: »

Almost a month later and not a word back since? Did you end up getting just as absorbed into the game as I did?

Yeah, I'm loving it! I got my 7 year old involved as well. He like making stages in Smash Bros. so I'm hoping to hook him into creating stages for TM.

I tried the track you have for download and it's hard!

I haven't played too much online (since there doesn't seem to be anyone), but I'm addicted to getting author's medals on the courses.

BTP · March 2012

TheBosZ wrote: »

I tried the track you have for download and it's hard!

LMAO! I honestly can't even remember which one I put up! Which one is it? If you can't remember the name, at least tell me the environment. I'm going to guess it's either Island or Snow. (I've pretty much only made one per environment.) I should get around to adding on the others I've made.

Also, easy way to make/get new tracks is to go through a toy catalog which has race track sets and then build those tracks.

Like these, but more diabolical:

I'll see if I can arrange myself to be online Tuesday night to give you a chance to try out the online.

TheBosZ · March 2012

Awesome idea with the tracks!

It was a snow track that had a wicked tube section right at the beginning.

I'll try to be online on Tuesday night (I've got school so I'll try, but no promises!).

BTP · March 2012

Actually, I'll go online in it right now. Until about 5pm EDT.

Edit: Uploaded three more tracks.

"Blimp Ride" and "Loops One" are the closest remakes of tracks I made in the original Trackmania DS that I can do. Stadium and Desert tracks, respectively.
"HelpyBoost" is the Island track that is just as hard, if not harder, than the Snow track you have called "TempleTown".

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