all: if you aren't very good, or just like using automatic, use funky (or bowser if you dont have funky) with the flame runner.

re: the ink
pretty sure it goes away instantly if you hit a boost or a mushroom

Although Funky Kong has +2 speed, I don't really notice a difference with him. Just to get him, you need to unlock several (either 4 or 8) staff ghosts, so you have to be a halfway decent player to open him.

BTW, the Medium +2 speed player is Peach, who is unlocked from the start.

And thanks for the ink tip. Didn't realize that until I read it in this thread.

Re: my earlier comment about the game being too hard for my daughter--I had the difficulty set on Medium. With the difficulty on Easy, she can get 2nd place on many tracks. But she loves Rainbow Road precisely because she keeps falling off the track.

Another random tidbit--just found out that you can blue shell yourself. I was in 4th place, had a blue shell and saw the POW block coming. So I decided to launch my blue shell before I lost it. In the time for me to decide to launch the blue shell and me actually launching it, I went from 4th to 1st, resulting in me launching the blue shell straight up and hitting me.

Is it possible to unlock many of these using automatic, since I suck? I unlocked Luigi cup (but at 1:24:796, which is slower that what was listed), but haven't come close in the others.

Also, is there a way to see your top 5 scores from time trial without having to do the race and see it at the end?

edit: how old is your daughter? Mine is 9 and loves playing, but gets mad when her dad (and mom sometimes) can beat her at it.

She's 6 (and a half, she would add). She can't normally beat me in Kart. But she can do well against the computer. On the simpler tracks, she can finish second pretty consistently (on Easy/50cc). She has trouble with tracks with edges you can fall off of.

She did beat me a few times though. Once, I let her win. Another, I got blue shelled twice in the last lap. But there were a couple times where she legitimately finished ahead of me.

She's actually really happy with second in Kart. But she got pissed when I beat her at Mario Party.

And I agree with you that those unlockable times are off.

i've unlocked any of the tracks i attempted using automatic (abou 15 tracks).
you'll need to use wheelies and perform tricks on jumps to get extra boosts on most tracks.

Is there a way to see your friends' stats? I finally got a friend with MK and all I can really see so far are his time trial times. When I click on his name on friends in MK channel, it really only let's me join him. Can I see his license or any other stats anywhere?

i've switched to funky kong in the offroader for online races and got my rating up to 7100

i'm also getting better at the courses

I really like this game.

BTW since I use automatic is it pretty much a given that I should be using bikes (since the double drift for cars only works for manual)?

Why auto > manual?

I'm just not good enough yet to use manual (I've only got gold on half of the 150's with auto). My question was if you use auto I'm guessing you pretty much should be using a bike since cars get more out of skids?

I haven't even gotten gold on all of 100 cc yet (two golds and one silver), and I'm using manual. In fact, I've never played any Mario Kart games before, and I've used manual since the day I bought Kart. Of course you're good enough to use manual.

(I don't know the answer to your other question. But since most of the record times are by bike, I believe bikes are usually faster. The fact that Karts can't double boost would make that difference even bigger.)

Is this game sold out? I went to 2 different Targets and a GameStop with no luck.

Same here. I was at a Target, Gamestop, and Best Buy this weekend. None have Kart or Fit. (Luckily, I already have it.)

Can you explain what a double boost is? I've been playing for a few weeks now and have gold + A, * or ** on all the 50cc (yeah, big deal I know) and about 1\2 of the 100cc.

Double boost--when you drift with a kart, blue flames eventually come from the tires. This is a boost. Karts and bikes do this. But on karts only, if you hold the drift, the flames turn orange. This is a longer boost (I called it a double boost, but I don't know the technical name for it.)

I think my point was that, on automatic, you lose the ability to double boost, which may make selecting a kart worse than a bike. (Because you can still wheelie with the bike, I assume).

I really don't know. I recommend Manual for all but little kids. It's not that difficult.

I always recommend automatic for my friends who come over and want to use the wheel, because it seems really hard or impossible to hold off on your drifts with the wheel

Maybe this is standard advice, but I figured I'd throw it in there

yup; still sold out which means i still don't have it

regarding double boosting

i read somewhere that it is better to do two blue boosts than one orange boost where possible. i guess you could test this by racing your ghost in time trials.

there are some curves where you can't get two blue boosts but can get an orange boost.

That makes sense. I originally read your post as, karts cannot double boost (not that karts + automatic cannot double boost)

Manual is much easier for me, for some reason I cant turn as well using automatic.

I've wondered if you get more of a boost by holding the orange sparks for a longer period of time. On some turns I could get the orange boot then pop a wheelie as opposed to keeping the orange as long as possible.

Wheelie? You can't orange boost with a bike. You can't wheelie with a kart.

Yeah, Im an idiot. I thought I could post with a 2 yr old climbing up my legs and a 5 yr old doing cannon balls off the ottoman and I combined two thoughts into one.

I meant to say something to the effect of I wonder if holding the sparks for a longer period of time is better than boosting as soon as they turn blue then popping a wheelie.

I also have wondered if an orange boost is better than a blue boost + a wheelie. Even if orange >> blue +wheelie I guess bikes are still faster overall since I can wheelie just about anywhere I cant blue boost.

I picked mine up on newegg.com. It was $47 + $3 shipping + $3-4 tax. Ordered it Monday night and it was at my door Wednesday afternoon (though I'm in LA which is where it shipped from).

I won't be able to play it until Friday though. Weak.

I read somewhere that once I get at least 1 * on each circuit I unlock a character.

Is there a way to see what my rating was for a particlar circuit after I've already completed it? I have a few As or Bs but don't remember which circuits.

How do I know when I have unlocked a fast ghost (other than the message on the bottom) There has been some times when I have beat the expert ghost by 3 seconds or so but may not have necessary unlocked the fast ghost.

Select Grand Prix and go to the class you're interested in. At the bottom right of the screen, it'll show your cup (gold, silver, bronze) and your ranking (A,B, etc., or stars).

AFAIK, there's no way of telling on the screen. You have to go to gamefaqs and find a listing of times to see if the ghost is the regular ghost or the fast ghost.