Rosalina

History:

Rosalina is one of the most powerful figures of the Mushroom Galaxy. She started out as a mortal girl in the Mushroom Kingdom centuries upon centuries ago, older than even Lord Bowser. One day she was contacted by an emissary of the Lumas, supposedly looking for its mother. Unbeknownst to Young Rosalina, the Luma was lying, for its true intention was to obscond with Rosalina and make her into the new Mother Figure for the Luma people and by extension, the Galaxy.

As Rosalina began consuming the Star Bits of the Lumas her powers grew. The Star Bits linked her awareness to the cosmos and she eventually rose to become the Guardian Mother of the Universe, presiding over many galaxies and able to transport her Comet Observatory any where nearly instantaneously. For all her wisdom she has failed to realize the trickery of the Lumas, though she now accepts her role graciously.

Her first contact with Mario came when Bowser expanded his threat to the entire Universe and developed Space Travel. Since then she has become his ally, for her powers of teleportation, clairvoyance, and making bubbles are not adequate to deal with Bowser's Dominion, nor is her role to actively protect the cosmos, rather to silently watch for danger and then recruit a warrior. After Bowser was defeated she was perplexed to find that apparently in between Wars all these people do is race each other. She quickly joined the Circuit and has even begun to use her extensive abilities, contacts, and influence to design and procure her own Race Tracks.

Wii:

Rosalina is an outstanding Racer in Mario Kart Wii, though extremely difficult to unlock without a Super Mario Galaxy Save File on the same hard drive (which unlocks her automatically after 50 races). Each driver in this game is sorted into Three Separate Size Classes, each of which has access to Six Karts and Six Bikes of various stats. Additionally, each Character adds his or her own Bonuses to certain stats. It's notable that Rosalina is the first ever Large Female Character and does driver similar to a Big Daisy. She adds a moderate Speed, Handling, and Mini-Turbo Bonus, identical to Daisy, but more balanced (+3 in each instead of Daisy's +4/+2/+3). Her specific stats for each Kart are as follows:

She excels most with her signature Bike and Kart, the Shooting Star and Honeycoupe, respectively. Both are fairly balanced with favours toward Speed and Mini-Turbo. It makes Rosalina a danger in just about any circumstance although her acceleration and Off-Road may leave something to be desired. She therefore does best when she doesn't hit anything and stays on the path. She's a good character to get in front and stay there.

She has a single Staff Ghost in the game, claiming Rainbow Road as her home to go along with her mystic, cosmic origins. She first uses the Shooting Star in 03:05.895, while her Expert switches to the Jetsetter in 02:44.734. This is the longest of all the Original Tracks and Rainbow Road is arguably the hardest course in the game to Finish, let alone beat a Staff Ghost. Luckily among drivers there are options in any given style better than Rosalina so play to your strengths and style and beat her.

7:

Rosalina returns in Mario Kart 7, this time in the Cruiser Weight Class, one notch below the true Heavyweights. Is she really as big as DK or Wiggler? Sure. In 7 each Weight Class affects stats but the characters don't as much, meaning that she's essentially identical to both DK and Wiggler. Again, bizarre to think about. Each Kart adds or subtracts from these base stats but then players can additionally manipulate stats by selecting specific wheels or gliders. It's a dizzying way to customize a racing experience. For simplicity's sake we'll pair Rosalina with a Kart befitting her needs, in this case the Gold Standard. Its disadvantages in Air Speed, Acceleration, and Mini-Turbo are largely mitigated by the Roller Tires and Parasol. Just one of the many possible Rosalina combinations follows:

She also has one signature course in 7, the first explicitly Rosalina Track in the Mario Kart series, Rosalina's Ice World. It matches her frosty exterior and has a great deal of elements from the Super Mario Galaxy series, including visual references to the Cosmic Cove Galaxy and the Comet Observatory. With the combination set forth above Rosalina is above par in everything, albeit with a massive sacrifice in drift. This can be solved by using either the Slim or Wood tires as well as the Gold Glider.

She has two ghosts in the Time Trials of the game, as does every character. Her first, Music Park is kind of random, but it's a girly enough track. The Normal Ghost uses the Royal Ribbon, Roller Wheels, and Super Glider in 02:19.336, the Expert uses the Soda Jet, Slim Wheels, and Parafoil in 02:07.551. Her other Ghost is on her eponymous Ice World. The Normal goes 02:25.784 using the Standard, Sponge Wheels, and Parafoil while the Expert pulls a 02:13.091 using the Gherkin, Red Monster Wheels, and Super Glider.

Airship Fortress

History:

While for years Bowser had been cautious with allowing his enemies into the Dark Land, in recent years after seeing the success and positive public relations that courses in the Grand Prix can provide, he has opened up more and more of his turf to new courses. In his most savvy move he convered a dying crumbling fortress in the southwestern corner of his land into a race track. The fortress was centuries old and may have once housed a great ruler of the Dark Land but its non-lava filled location caused it to fall into disfavor among the Koopa King's settlements.

His son, Bowser, Jr., incorporated one of his many Airships of his vast fleet into portions of the track as well, although not bereft of danger. Indeed one of the Bowsers' goals was to make a track dangerous enough and full of his own henchmen such as Rocky Wrenches, Bullet Bills, and even some lasers to hinder as many Drivers as he can. Eventually though, he was bested for the rights of the course by Metal Mario, who made the Fortress the centerpiece of his own small dominion.

DS:

Airship Fortress concludes the Star Cup in DS and it's a difficult course. Besides the Bullet Bills fired directly at Drivers there are wrench-throwing moles to deal with, a series of sharp turns that require near-constant drifting and obstacles in the interior of the Airship including boxes and lasers. There's also a massive cannon reminiscent of DK Mountain, Waluigi Pinball or later, DK Summit and Maple Treeway for Wii, that blasts Drivers across the course.

The Staff Ghost here is Bowser himself in the Hurricane at 2:07:748. With his very high speed and drift this is a tough combination to beat on this level. DK's Wildfire, Peach's Light Tripper or particularly Daisy's Light Dancer all have the capabilites to win over the Hurricane's abysmall acceleration and handling, though.

This course returned in Mario Kart 7 where it is somehow noticeably more difficult. The Bullet Bills have been replaced by bigger, faster, bitchier Banzai Bills off the start. More significantly though, the cannon has been replaced by a Booster Strip with the intention of using 7's new Air Travel Gliding method to reach the broken tower. It not only adds an element of needing a Vehicle with proper Air Speed, but it also makes Drivers much more vulnerable to shells and lightning, which the Cannon had prevented. The Ghost here is Metal Mario, who goes a 02:23.323 using the Gherkin, Slick Tires, and Super Glider, giving him plenty of accessory advantages but the Gherkin base can be improved. Metal Mario is an interesting pick, Airship Fortress is a foreboding and lonely course though, and with his villainous twinge ever since Super Smash Bros, Metal Mario is a good fit. The Expert goes 02:07.704 using the Standard, Monster Tires, and Super Glider, which gives him a good speed advantage but the Off-Road use of the Monsters are inapplicable here. This is a good drifting course, a lighter character in the Soda Jet and Slick Wheels ought to do the job.

Mario Kart Wii Vehicle Chart

The following is an extensive chart containing every vehicle in Mario Kart Wii, ranked in all seven categories from 1 to 36 by their statistical values. Red Highlights are Small Vehicles (Red for Karts, Pink for Bikes), Blue Highlights are Middle Vehicles (Blue for Karts, Light Blue for Bikes), and Green Highlights are Large Vehicles (Green for Karts, Light Green for Bikes). Click to enlarge (suggested):

Superlatives:

With added Driver Bonuses we can compile the best stats in the game:

Speed: 
Large/Overall: Funky Kong in the Jetsetter (73)
Middle: Daisy in the Sprinter (68)
Small: Baby Luigi or Baby Daisy in the Blue Falcon (65)

Acceleration:
Small/Overall:Toad in the Quacker (73)
Middle: Peach in the Classic Dragster (64)
Large: Waluigi in the Wario Bike (57)

Handling:
Small/Overall: Baby Mario in the Nanobike (73)
Middle: (tie) Mario or Daisy in the Sugarscoot (64)
Large: King Boo in the Wario Bike (61)

Drift:
Small/Overall: Toad in the Bullet Bike (73)
Middle: Peach in the Mach Bike (67)
Large: Waluigi in the Shooting Star (64)

Mini-Turbo:
Small/Overall: (tie) Koopa or Dry Bones in the Bullet Bike (73)
Middle: (tie) Birdo or Diddy Kong in the Mach Bike (67)
Large: (tie) Wario or Dry Bowser in the Shooting Star (65)

Weight:
Large/Overall: Bowser in the Piranha Prowler (72)
Middle: (tie) Mario or Luigi in the Wild Wing (57)
Small: (tie) Baby Mario or Baby Luigi in the Tiny Titan (43)

Offroad:
Small/Overall: Toadette in the Magikruiser (73)
Middle: Yoshi in the Zip Zip (68)
Large: Dry Bowser in the Phantom (62)

From a glance you can see that there are Vehicles to fit any playing style and there are also Karts that do not act like their normal weight class, such as the Blue Falcon, the Wario Bike, the Sprinter or Daytripper. Mix and match and find the best option.

Baby Daisy

History:

When they were children, Luigi and Daisy were known to hang out on occasion. From far off Sarasaland, Daisy would often visit the friendlier Mushroom Kingdom, but as things turned darker, the Baby Versions of Mario, Luigi, and even Peach found themselves transported to a calmer future where games reigned rather than battles with the likes of Baby Bowser, Kamek, and Princess Shroob. Baby Daisy was furious that Baby Luigi had left her, although he was admittedly fretful of her driving. She was eventually able to contact Prof. E. Gadd and get herself transported into the future as well.

Wii:

Mario Kart Wii is the first of only two appearances of this desperately unnecessary character. The game makes up for this however, but making Baby Daisy both one of the better Small Drivers and incessantly cute. Every racer in Wii has access to Six Karts and Six Bikes of his or her specific Size Class, all of varying stats to suit different playing styles. Additionally each character adds his or her own bonuses to various stats. Baby Daisy is the fastest Small Driver in the game, tied with Luigi, and the second-heaviest, tied with Baby Peach. She also has a small Mini-Turbo Bonus, the only Baby to do so. Her Vehicle-Specific Stats are as follows:

She really takes best advantage of the Blue Falcon's blistering speed, which is very un-Small-like in nature, but her natural boosts help to counter the usual weaknesses of any Small Character. The Tiny Titan or Jet Bubble are probably going to be better options. Her one Staff Ghost is on Moo Moo Meadows where she uses the Booster Seat in 01:37.856. The Expert Staff Ghost on the same track pulls a 01:25.909 in the Bullet Bike, which is another great Vehicle for her. Baby Daisy is just one of the best Small Drivers around.

Tick Tock Clock

History:

Within Princess Peach's Castle, on the third floor there is a Mystical Clock. The records of its existence go back as far as the construction of the castle itself and it's possible that the structure was built around its time-warping energies rather than the other way around. The Clock is actually a portal to an infinite dimension where time is as manipulable as paint on a brush. It is an extremely dangerous place to explore, but after Mario was able to use the Star Power to conquer its perils he pressured Peach to turn it into a racecourse for profit. Peach never felt great about doing so however, and eventually turned the rights over to Daisy. It remains a dangerous locale for explorers and racers alike, not only because of the deep mysteries surrounding its power and origins.

DS:

This course is actually a relatively simple Figure 8, although there are a good amount of moving parts and gears to throw riders off. Beware of the massive pendulum as well as the spinning clock hands. If you travel in the correct direction of the gears racers can get a bit of a boost but they are hindered by traveling in the opposite direction. It's actually a course more suited for fast Drivers who can haul ass on straightaways with minimal correction (and luck) needed to avoid the pendulum and other hazards. Someone in the ROB-BLS would do nicely here.

The Ghost here is Daisy for some reason who does a 1:54:903 in the Light Dancer. This track has only appeared in DS although it's popular enough to be a likely candidate for a remake someday.

Baby Peach

History:

Like Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, Baby Peach currently exists displaced from her original time period. After the events of their battle with Princess Shroob, it was decided that even in the past, Princess Toadstool's life was in constant danger. Her major adviser of the time, Toadsworth has placed the infant Peach into the safer, future time period until he deems it proper for her to return and live out her life in accordance with proper fate.

Wii:

Mario Kart Wii really went overboard with the Baby Characters in an effort to boost the amount of Small Class Drivers. Within each Class in Wii, each character has access to six bikes and six karts of various stats. In addition, each character adds his or her own bonuses to each of these stats. Baby Peach actually has a ridiculous amount of bonuses, the best in the game. That said, while she is awesome amidst the other Small Characters, she may still be knocked around by the bigger racers. Her specific stats for each Kart are as follows:

She gets a decent Speed, Acceleration, and Handling boost as well as a Weight boost identical to Baby Daisy but lower than either Baby Mario or Baby Luigi. There are other Small Characters with better bonuses in each of these areas but Baby Peach is the only one with all four categories getting a prop.

Baby Peach appears as a Staff Ghost only on the retro Peach Gardens track. She pulls a 02:34.894 in the Magikruiser while the Expert version does a 02:16.777 in the Mini-Beast. The Mini-Beast is one of her best Kart options, although the Jet Bubble may be her best option at a Bike, depending on your play style.

Waluigi Pinball

History:

Waluigi always attempted to push the danger in new tracks. His massive Waluigi Pinball course treated Drivers as the balls in a Pinball Machine, based off a successful venture in Arcade games. Although dangerous, it has remained one of the more popular later tracks and Waluigi has gladly added it to his growing empire. It is both a testament to his ego and his continual push for technology ahead of the homelier values of most of the Mushroom Kingdom.

DS:

Waluigi Pinball is the longest course in DS, strangely inappropriate for the Flower Cup. It has plenty of turns although most of them are curved gently on a wide track, meaning that there is less of a need for precise handling than would appear. It has plenty of hazards though and it's generally not the greatest track for a Heavyweight who may be slow on the stick. Its length and metallic structure echo Double Dash's Wario Colosseum although its track structure is actually much less complex. The Ghost here is Waluigi driving the Gold Mantis in 2:23:288. Something like Mario's Shooting Star may do well here.

The course reappears in Mario Kart 7 where there is an increased number of jumps and some more added dangers, including a big Air Jump where the initial pinball boost used to be. Since Waluigi is not in the game, Wario takes over as the Staff Ghost. He goes 02:44.372 using the Standard Kart, Slick Wheels, and Swoop Glider. This smartly caters to Land Speed and drift at the expense of Off-Road, which is the key here, but a Kart more like the Growlster will play to his strengths better, although the Koopa Clown or Cloud 9 might be a better choice for handling. The Expert goes 02:27.574 with the badass combo of Growlster, Slim Wheels, and Ghastly Glider. It's a tough combo, but again, using Slick Wheels instead with a Kart that makes up for handling will prevail.

Shy Guy

History:

The Shy Guys are an interesting race. They inherently do not interact with many other races in the Mushroom Kingdom but do find employment in a wide variety of locales, both for good and evil. They are a cultish, secret people and as such their origins are foggy. They're first documented encounter with Mushroom People was in Dinosaurland in the mid-16th Century although it's possible they originated from Subcon. Their secret society has gone back for Millennia although it seems to be fairly loosely structured. There isn't much evidence of personality or a history of the Shy Guys who have raced in the Grand Prix a handful of times and it's even possible they aren't all the same one. For the 2011 Grand Prix the Mushroom Kingdom received some possible insight into their world with the unveiling of the Shy Guy Bazaar track, located in the reaches of Dinosaurland, although the Koopas previously intruded on Shy Guy Beach against the wishes of the Pirate Faction of Shy Guys. Unlike the lone Koopa Troopa who has entered himself in the Cup alongside Bowser, no single Shy Guy races and it is known that even in between races different members of the race substitute for each other.

DS:

There is a lot to explain here. Shy Guys have appeared in some way in almost every Mario Kart game, whether by simple crowd appearances in 64, to aggressors in Super Circuit to simple ice skaters and snowboarder obstacles in Double Dash and Wii. Shy Guy appears as a playable racer in DS, though only in Download Play. DS had the option to do multiplayer with another person who had a Nintendo DS but not th e Mario Kart game through temporarily downloading portions of the game. In this case and this case only, the gamer without the Mario Kart game cartridge would race as a randomly coloured Shy Guy.

Shy Guy's stats have been contentious. While many sources acknowledge that he is in the Light Weight Class, it is less clear what his actual Kart Stats are. Some sources place all of his stats at 6/10, meaning he is slightly above average in every way which gives neither a real advantage or disadvantage, making him a neutral character. Others say he is even more neutral, at 5/10. The Super Mario Wiki, which is one of the more reputable Mario Information Sources, however, claims that his stats are identical to Yoshi's Standard YS, giving it the following:

This is also backed up by some Angry YouTube users as well as other compilation sites. Needless to say, Shy Guy doesn't appear as a Ghost in any way. His weight is 0.5, also the same as Yoshi. He is basically just Yoshi.

7:

Shy Guy returns in Mario Kart 7 as an unlockable character, available to play anywhere. 7 has a staggering number of combinations with the amount of Characters, Karts, Wheels, and Gliders to mix and match. Shy Guy is part of the Feather Weight Class, the lightest in the game. His signature Kart is the Cact-X, which is generally pretty awful Feather Weights have a ton of advantages, including Acceleration, Handling, Offroad, Mini-Turbo, and Drift. The Cact-X negates the Acceleration and Mini-Turbo advantages while lowering the already low speed (especially underwater), although it makes its Handling and Offroad Top-notch. We can note that 7 is so complex that Shy Guy can use certain wheels to resolve the disadvantages of the Cact-X. For courses with more land travel the Slick Tires would be a good combination, otherwise the Wood Tires can help out its low Sea Speed and Acceleration. It doesn't have any tremendous disadvantages in the Air but the Swoop Glider can add some nice boosts.Here are Shy Guy's stats both with the Standard and Cact-X and just some of these combinations.

Needless to say, when every Kart is available there are many more that may fit Shy Guy's unique racing style, or the style of play of any casual gamer. This intense level of customization makes 7 a difficult game to claim a best combination. Shy Guy does have a signature track here as well, the Shy Guy Bazaar that closes out the Mushroom Cup.

Shy Guy has two Time Trial Staff Ghosts, as do all drivers. In his Bazaar he does a 02:31.167 using the Standard, Roller Wheels, and Super Glider, which is a fairly basic combination. The Expert on the same track uses the Pipe Frame, Monster Wheels, and Parafoil in 02:14.714, none of which really takes advantage of each other's bonuses. His second ghost is on the Retro Kalimari Desert. The Normal Ghost uses a good combo of his signature Cact-X, Wood Wheels, and Swoop Glider in 02:01.932 while the Expert does a 01:48.707 using the Bolt Buggy, Red Monster Wheels, and Ghastly Glider. There are better styles out there though, anything with fast land speed will take him down.

Delfino Square

History:

After the intrusion of Princess Peach and Daisy on the Isle of Delfino the popularity of Kart Racing soared with the Piantas. Through the guidance of Peach the Piantas built the Delfino Square track around Delfino Plaza. It has managed to be a popular track, mostly because the experienced Driver Peach was able to manage its construction. It is now operated independently of the Royal Family, making it one of the few publicly-owned courses.

DS:

Delfino Square is a moderately simple course in the Flower Cup of DS. It is basically a contiguous loop although it does have some alternate paths as well as a massive drawbridge which is either a huge jump or a great straightaway, depending on whether or not it is lifted. It's not a very forgiving course, either. There are plenty of right-angle turns boxed in by buildings, meaning that high handling and acceleration are a necessity. Because of this it's a course that tends to give Heavyweights some trouble. Other than that there are some patches with Offroad possibilities, but nothing to give up a huge shortcut.

The DS Staff Ghost here is Peach in the Royale with a time of 1:54:601. This track returned in Wii where the Staff Ghost is Wario for some reason. The Normal Ghost turns in 2:41.807 using the Wario Bike while the Expert Staff Ghost switches to the Honeycoupe in 2:24.169.

R.O.B.

History:

R.O.B. the robot is an interesting case. Scholars in the Mushroom Kingdom are unsure of where exactly he came from but sources indicate that it is possible that he is a temporarily displaced in his own space-time, similar to how Master Hand is able to assemble fighters for the Super Smash Tournaments. R.O.B. does not originate from the Mushroom Dimension and so has no real ties or relationships to anyone else. He exists only to race, although he had some kind of natural connection to Rainbow Road, perhaps using his temporal displacement to help construct the similarly otherwordly track.

DS:

R.O.B. appears only as an unlockable character in DS for some reason. He really has no purpose being here but nevertheless he provides another good heavyweight character. The system in DS provides three unlockable signature Karts for each character, although every character may use any Kart. These include a standard, one with better stats but a weak Item rating and one with worse stats but a high Item rating. R.O.B. generally has excellent Speed, along with the best Acceleration and Handling of any Heavyweight. He is also tied with Bowser as the Heaviest driver, adding 3.5 to the weight of each Vehicle. This all comes at the expense, however, of his Drift, which is the worst in the game. Take a look:

There are also Staff Ghosts in DS. R.O.B. owns the Desert Hills track for some reason, with a time of 1:31:262 using the ROB.-LGS along with Rainbow Road in the ROB-BLS in 2:16:246. The Rainbow Road here makes sense, R.O.B. is a weird character for that weird track, but the Desert Hills is awfully random. Needless to say, R.O.B. did not make a comeback after this game.

Wario Colosseum

History: 

The construction and use of Wario Colosseum in the Grand Prix has been controversial. In the days of Ancient Mushroom Kingdom, the Colosseum was the site of grand games surveyed over by the King, but in the centuries since its popularity it has feel into ruin and disrepair. Wario was able to use his cash and influence to outfit the Ruins to fit a contemporary sport - Kart Racing. Similar to his insistence on Stadium Tracks where he can sell more tickets for a bigger profit, his Colosseum was meant to house a great number of spectators. This has come as an ire to preservationists in the Kingdom who did not want to see their heralded ruins damaged. Wario also built a track so long and complex that it was decreed by the Grand Prix organizers to be set at two laps rather than three. This is the only track in Mario Kart History to be so adjusted, which Wario always viewed as a slight to his entrepreneurship. This track has not appeared again due to this handful of issues.

Double Dash:

There is a lot to this course. It's similar in theme to Wario Stadium in that it has many twists and turns and curves and is also extremely long. It could actually be interpreted as a three-dimensional version of that course. There are many straightaways, boost pads and a wide collection of 90° turns. It's a jumbled mess and a difficult track to come back on if you fall behind. Someone maneuverable is vital but it is also a pain to lose a close photo finish on that final straightaway.


There are also Secret Staff Ghosts on every track in Double Dash. For Wario Colosseum the Staff Ghost is Wario with Waluigi in tow cruising around in the Wario Car. They finish with a time of 2:21:106.