Wii Moonview Highway
Moonview Highway is a race track appearing in Mario Kart Wii. It is the second racecourse of the Special Cup within the game. The course takes place in and around a lit up city, most likely being Mushroom City, at night with a full moon overhead.
Description
The course takes place in a city at night. Since it is so dark, a light appears around the player while he or she is driving. The highway first runs through a forested area with several cliffs that the player can drive on and go on top of. After the forested area is a bridge and then a road that leads into a city. After the city area, the place will then curve and return into the forested area, thus beginning another lap.
Cars, trucks, and Bob-omb Cars roam around in the city, driving in a set pattern. If the player happens to drive in front of them, he or she will get squashed, as if the player got run over by another player with a Mega Mushroom or crushed by Thwomp and they will lose any items. The only car not to squash the player is the Bob-omb Car; it will simply blow up the player instead. If the player runs into the vehicles that are not bob-omb cars, the player will simply get knocked over, as if they were hit with a shell, and will not lose any items. Unlike the courses with traffic in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, there are no Mushroom Cars that provide the player mushrooms when hit.
Like in Shroom Ridge, the traffic follows the Japanese, Australian and British systems of driving, in which vehicles drive on the left side of the road. In Mirror Mode, the cars go on the right side of the road, as in most other countries in the world, including the United States.
Players who have the Mega Mushroom in effect may smash cars and bob-ombs with no ill-effect, but cannot move trucks at all. The Mega Mushroom player will simply bump into the truck as if it's a wall. However, a player with a star in effect will knock away any car. Any car caught in the blast of a Bob-omb, including a bob-omb car, will flip in the air, as if a player ran into the car with a star.
Course Layout
The track begins in an area where there are cliffs and a few trees. The player can mainly drive on the road of the highway, but may go up cliffs as well and drive on top of the cliffs. If the player decides to go on the road, they will see cars and trucks as obstacles in the way. In the cliff area, there is a ramp that can boost the player and allows him or her to do a stunt and receive item boxes, but the player has a danger of falling into the forest below.
After a wide curve after the ramp and there is a bridge that leads to a city. Past the bridge, there is a toll booth that the player's Miis control and open the gate that leads into the city. The road widens from two to four lanes, and there are a lot of boosts. It is impossible to drive off-road in the city because of the walls on either side of the road. The player can choose to drive on the right side of the road, but due to it being the Japanese system of driving, the player has a danger of running straight into cars going the opposite direction. The cars seemingly try to avoid the boosts and also let the player know when they are changing lanes through orange blinking lights.
After the city area, there is a tunnel that has several more boosts. Cars may be present here, as well. No item boxes are present if one does not count the item boxes that move along with the traffic. The path is relatively straight and the only thing the player needs to watch out for is the pillars that hang in the middle and cars. After the tunnel, there is another toll booth, with another set of Miis opening the gates for the player that lead out of the city. The path merges again and thus begins another cycle around the city at the finish line, which starts another lap.
Competitions
April 2010's 2nd Competition required players to race through Moonview Highway, with all the vehicles going the opposing direction. Players started the race with a set of Triple Mushrooms. The competition was later repeated as the first competition of November 2011.
Gallery
Screenshots
- Moonviewhighway3.PNG
One of the first turns of the track.
- MoonviewHighway5.PNG
The bridge that leads to the city section.
- Moonviewhighway2.PNG
The tunnel filled with cars and boost panels.
The 2nd competition of April 2010.
- MKWii-MoonviewHighway1.png
After the first two turns, an alternate route exists, which involves going uphill.
- MKWii-MoonviewHighway2.png
The sharp turn before reaching the bridge.
- MKWii-MoonviewHighway3.png
Reaching the tollbooth to the city.
- MKWii-MoonviewHighway4.png
The city area features some dash panels and moving Item Blocks.
- MKWii-MoonviewHighway5.png
The tollbooth, leading back to the finish line.
- MKWii-MoonviewHighway6.png
The alternate route has a jump ramp, along with some Item Blocks.
Billboards Found in Moonview Highway
- Moonview Highway Flower Poster.PNG
- Tropical Mart Billboard.PNG
- Mushroom Moon Billboard.PNG
- Moon bank Billboard.PNG
- Gallery Billboard.PNG
- Bullet Oil Billboard.PNG
Trivia
- Part of the track's theme bares similarity to the boss music from Kirby's Adventure.
- Some of the trucks read "Toad Factory", "Moo Moo Dairy", and "Coconut Mall". The license plates[1] on these trucks are as follows:
- The license plates on all of the cars (besides trucks) reads "POW", possibly a reference to the POW Block.
- In "The Mushroom Moon" billboard, Petey Piranha is seen climbing a skyscraper, which may be a reference to the movie King Kong.
- The track bears similarities to many of the past Mario Kart traffic courses:
- It has toll booths operated by Miis. Turnpikes usually have toll booths (despite the fact that Toad's Turnpike didn't).
- Right before one enters the "city" section, there is a small bridge similar to the bridge featured in Mushroom Bridge.
- There is a large turn set atop a cliff above a forest with no railings similar to Shroom Ridge.
- In the Mirror version, an 8 bit-verison of Mario from Super Mario Bros. can be seen on the top left.
- The vehicles seem to follow the traffic laws that are utilized in Japan; vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road. In Great Britain and Australia, vehicles also drive on the left-hand side of the road.
- In Mirror Mode, however, the vehicles follow the North American and mainland Europe traffic laws; vehicles drive on the right-hand side of the road.
