Generally, video game mods are the epitome of passion projects and labors of love. CTGP Revolution is the antithesis to that.

On paper, CTGP should've been a masterstroke. And in some ways, it is. Adding over 200 new fan-made tracks and reviving the online server has completely revitalized Mario Kart Wii and kept its legacy alive. And for what it's worth, I've sunk hundreds of very enjoyable hours into it as a result. However, despite its innovative and impressive concept, CTGP is shockingly less than the sum of its parts, and is an overhanging cloud of negativity in the MKWii modding community. Years of playing CTGP have caused its cracks to show, making it impossible for me to appreciate this mod to the extent that I once did. Here I'll express just a handful of my many problems with CTGP. This will be a longer review than the others I've made because this is a topic that I feel passionate about.

I'll start with a smaller problem before getting to my two big issues. While many of the new features such as 200cc are appreciated, the Countdown mode is incredibly underbaked, and does not serve as a worthwhile replacement for battle mode, which should've never been replaced in the first place. The fact that this mode affects your VR instead of your BR is just baffling. All the more reason to not play it.

Now for my biggest complaints. For starters, the selection of custom tracks is abysmal. While most of the custom tracks here are great and extremely creative (In particular, Sniki's absolutely astonishing New Moon Manor is better than any track Nintendo has created for a Mario Kart game), CTGP is also littered with unpolished, decade-old custom tracks, that bring down the overall quality of the pack, alienating newcomers and frustrating everyone else. It's utterly hilarious that they have the audacity to frequently remove tracks from the pack to make room for new ones, but keep these broken messes in on the basis of how frequently they're picked online (a statistic the CTGP team perplexingly calls "popularity"), even though that metric has absolutely nothing to do with quality. This problem is exacerbated further by the fact that many of the worst offenders, particularly Mushroom Peaks, were made by the creator of CTGP himself, MrBean35000vr, who not only refuses to remove his tracks, but refuses to even update them to acceptable standards. It makes the situation feel all the more tone deaf, as if this entire thing is nothing more than a vanity project. With these issues with the track selection, among other things, the CTGP team has made it abundantly clear that they only care about catering towards the desires of the OG members of the community who have been around since the beginning (a group that I would describe as nostalgia-blind, who will defend crappy design just because they're used to it) and absolutely no one else. A project like CTGP needs to accommodate various different types of players for it to work, and it fails massively in that regard.

Addendum to above paragraph: While CTGP has been making strides in the last couple of years to clean up its custom track lineup and remove outdated tracks, as long as it continues using this nonsensical """popularity""" system to determine removals instead of... y'know... just using an opinion poll, it will never reach its full potential. With the current system, the only tracks that get removed are the ones that the least people care about, undoubtedly in an attempt to upset the least amount of people possible. But when so many people are upset by the tracks that are actually in the pack to the point of being turned away entirely, what's the point in trying to cater to a vocal minority who really likes to pick these crappy tracks online just to farm VR? But even if a better system was implemented, it still wouldn't fix the CTGP team's nostalgia-pandering and self-pleasing ideology. Some tracks currently in CTGP, like 3DS Rainbow Road and Haunted Gardens, were recently even "updated" to be reverted back to how they were as custom tracks a decade ago, for no reason other than nostalgia. How progressive.

And the worst problem, that completely tanks the integrity of CTGP, is the lack of respect paid towards the creators of the 200+ custom tracks CTGP prides itself for. Actually, "lack of respect" is putting it lightly. I mean straight up not valuing their efforts whatsoever. Track creators aren't credited for their work. There are literally no credits in CTGP. This is absolutely mind boggling. It is madly disrespectful to both the community as a whole and the modders who generously pitched in their talents to make CTGP possible in the first place, undervaluing their hard work as if it doesn't matter. Hell, I occasionally see people who literally believe that MrBean created every single track in CTGP. It's just... depressing. Additionally, from what I've learned, there is a system in place when it comes to submitting a track to CTGP, a process that can be best described as long and arduous. The CTGP team demands that creators polish their tracks to near-perfection to have any chance of it being added to the pack at all (which is rich coming from the people who continue to make excuses to justify keeping Mushroom Peaks in the pack), without any guarantee of the track actually being added. I've seen instances where creators continuously update their tracks, bringing it through the entire lengthy testing process, just for it to be rejected at the last minute. Considering all of that, in addition to the lack of any form of credits, you may ask what's even the point? Why do creators even try to get their tracks into CTGP at all when it's a completely thankless job, especially in relation to how much work it requires? Simply put, at this point in time, being added to CTGP is the only way for specific custom tracks to gain attention from a wider audience. It is also the only way to gain a level of prestige that CTGP has built up for itself and its tracks. As such, tracks that aren't in the pack will most likely never be noticed. Because of this, several track creators feel stressed or pressured to get their tracks into the pack, regardless of the fact that they won't get anything for their work. So it's kind of an endless cycle. However, a few track creators have broken this cycle by leaving the community entirely, because they don't enjoy making custom tracks anymore. Great job, CTGP!

While CTGP was an incredible feat when it came out, it is now vastly outdated, mostly because the CTGP team (aka MrBean and his yes-men) are wildly out of touch with their audience, devaluing both players and modders. It has lost sight of its original purpose as a definitive update to Mario Kart Wii and a celebration of the game's modding scene as a result of its sheer self-indulgence and a desire to please its own echo chamber. Despite this, it remains the center of the custom track community, and it continues to be a source of stress and elitism in said community. I can only hope that a new custom track pack with a more respectful and positive outlook towards the community and a clear passion for modding (such as Mario Kart Midnight) eclipses this in popularity in the future... as many years as that may take.

Mario Kart Wii is a broken , janky , unbalanced game, karts are relegated to the bottom tier and are virtually useless in a competitive sense. Sure you may be able to beat your buddies in some local play or the cpu. The bikes are just simply better in every sense you get much tighter driving and wheelies meaning that despite the supposed no yellow sparks in an attempt to make the karts equal doesn’t even matter. What’s even worse ? Only two char/bike combos are worthwhile.

I did say you could beat the cpu I however did not say that they functioned properly. If you are winning they will be relentless and spam the hell out of you with red shells (but whenever you use red shells they’ll probably hit a wall or the out of bounds before you ever hit another player) , Greens that for whatever reason have infinite bounce, at least 3 blue shells , and though it should be impossible due the supposed spawn rate of Shocks being 45 seconds after each use and a lap is average 2 minutes in my experience you’ll most likely encounter three shocks a race.
So I bet you’ve already decided to not even bother with the cpus by now, they’re unbeatable right ? False , when you are doing bad they decide to start driving 10 mph so you can catch up. Unless you’re super far behind and the game bullies you by giving you triple mushroom or golden mushroom instead of Bullet Bill or Star Power. You should realistically be getting at least fourth every single time save for whenever you get mario karted and simply can not do anything at all to make a solid comeback.

Now we get to some more fun stuff. Every new entry into the Mario Kart series must introduce a few new mechanics and items. Mario Kart Wii is where potentially the best mechanic is introduced , tricking , whenever you go off a ramp or an elevated area you can shake the remote or press up/side on the d-pad if you are using a classic controller/gcn controller which does a trick that gives you a minor speed boost when you land. This mechanic is incredibly fun and pushes a lot of boundaries in this mod where 200cc seems like 400cc. By simply doing a trick you can occasionally cut of entire sections of a track. Tricking is such a great feature that going back and playing previous games where it isn’t present almost feels wrong.

Mario Kart Wii also added a few new items but they are all mediocre. The blooper temporarily blinds you and makes your traction noticeably worse , the pow item would be cool as it’s like a mini earthquake but since it can be evaded by tricking/wheelies or just going in the air it is almost useless, now the thundercloud is a stupid item altogether it gives you a temporary speed boost (think piranha plant in mk8) but it shocks you at the end making you extremely vulnerable , this could be an interesting risk/reward item if you had control of when it was activated. You don’t so to hell with it. Thankfully CTGP allows you to turn the thundercloud effect into a mega mushroom instead. The mega mushroom is pretty lame, it is basically just star power.

Now before I talk about the mod I want to say that the official 32 tracks for this game are great and perhaps some of the most uniquely creative tracks in the series as a whole. Plus the soundtrack for this game is always s-tier

so the mod part CTGP stands for custom tracks grand prix , adding over 200 tracks there’s bound to ups and downs. Some of the tracks are great and could even be in the actual game , others are terrible and give me headaches whilst sending me into extreme rage as I fail my seventy-ninth time trial attempt all because the design is busted and I’m too stubborn to admit the track might just be unplayable for my skill level. Than there are the tracks that don’t care at all about difficulty aiming more for something fun for funs sake like my personal favorite Canyon Run. Besides adding custom tracks CTGP also adds a few new game modes. In item rain literally every item rains from the sky making the track even more of an obstacle course, 200cc is an incredibly fast paced mode (it’s my favorite because you can do lots of stupid shit), Knockout mode is a tournament style where every race the bottom 2 are eliminated til one racer is left standing , and soon there will be a 24 player mode.

CTGP also has its own online service called wiimmifi that is super active and somehow runs way better than Nintendo’s Switch online. There is also an online leaderboard for the time trials so if you want to see how good you really are that’s an option. (200cc time trialing is my absolute favorite thing to do). I’m extremely proud to say I am top ten on a few tracks.

CTGP is great and fun not because it fixes the issues that are bothersome but because it uses those problems to its advantage turns them around and makes the game even more compelling. A super easy install as well so for any MKWII fans please give this ago.

Saying that this game is Mario Kart Wii but better is doing Mr. Bean's work a huge disservice. This took one of my favorite childhood games and hopped it up on speed. 216 additional tracks, restored online play, incredible customization, allows for easy modding, and has an unbelievable number of modes that shake up the game more than I could have imagined. 200cc that is better than Nintendo's, Item Rain, Countdown, and revamped Time Trials are all wondrous. This hack of a game over a decade old still gets updated, seven years after the initial release. That's more love than Nintendo has ever put into their games, and it shines like no other. We need more games like this, I cannot stop coming back.

The track pack I'm sure most of us have known about for years, but very few have actually played. I was one of those people until around December of last year when I finally looked into playing these tracks for myself... and yeah it's about what you expect from them, which is both a good and bad thing.

First off, I'd say your opinion playing this will likely be influenced by what you think of base Mario Kart Wii to begin with. If you're a fan of the chaotic shenanigans the title offers then you'll probably be down for more tracks and options that add to the messiness, whilst I don't see those who aren't much a MKWii enjoyer getting a lot out of this. That by itself isn't a negative thing to be held against the mod though, as you'd definitely expect (and probably want) a Mario Kart Wii mod to play like... Mario Kart Wii, funnily enough. It's not like the abundance of Brawl mods that just make it into inferior Ultimate or Melee on Wii, so I appreciate very much the dedication to the game's original style.

Of course, you'll be playing this for the custom tracks. Imagine playing a mod pack with 200+ new tracks and still picking junk like Moo Moo Meadows, couldn't be me. Anyways, the custom tracks. Boy there sure are a fuckton of them, and that itself is another positive/negative splice for the mod; the positive of course being you've got a LOT of variety to pick from here. The negative being how much of that variety you'll actually like or even give half of a shit about, which itself depends upon a lot of factors. Are you here for fully original tracks? Would you prefer retro tracks recreated in Wii's style and engine? Do you play full anarchy and not give a shit about what comes from where? Well of the 200+ tracks, 56 are retro courses (bump it up to 58 if you count the CTR tracks, but I personally don't) which doesn't look like a lot and honestly did surprise me as playing the game it felt like there were so many more retro tracks that counting them all out to not even be a half of the total pack gave me a "wait what" moment. Whilst I'll admit I'm open to just about anything the game can throw at me, I have mainly been enticed by the original courses; retro tracks are cool to see but just about all of them have re-appeared in the official games at this point (not even counting Tour) so to see them come back is nice but not as interesting as seeing the abominations people make.

Actually, that is where much of the negative track designs lies. The fully original tracks, ironic given I'll admit to preferring these and wanting more of them. Whilst you get some really fun tracks like Dawn Township, Unfinished Mario Circuit, Dragonite's Island, Desktop Dash, and Sea Stadium... there are also tracks with "git gud"-esque designs (typically sudden sharp turns all over the place) such as Rush City Run, or whatever the fuck Undiscovered Offlimit is meant to be. Good gods, Undiscovered Offlimit may as well be the posterchild for how not to make a Mario Kart custom tracks with how it mashes every set piece together without a second thought and left us (though mainly me) saying "what the fuck is this" and "where the fuck am I" when we'd picked it for the first time not knowing what to expect of such a unique name. At this point it's a track we pick for the 'meme' of it, or the track I have a horrified scream at when the random selection picks it and leaves my friends laughing at my terror. ASDF_Course was similarly the very first custom track we picked, and was not a good introduction to the world of Mario Kart mods for my friends who were in the dark apart from me promising "guys this'll be worth it". Though in fairness, the retro tracks have been the most consistently high-quality part of the pack thus far regardless of none of us really liking the few SNES Mario Circuits they included among other retro offerings. But honestly, the bad/underwhelming tracks just stick with me more it appears, and on the whole the mixed bag of track quality is still... mainly positive, considering the quantity as well. It's just more fun to remember and riff on the bad ones, though that's not to say they aren't very much present.

Aside from the custom tracks, CTGP also offers some extra tid-bits in the form of 200cc and Item Rain options. You can also enable every item to be droppable when racers are toppled, which we've kept on since the beginning and haven't looked back. It feels like a natural addition to the game and honestly a lot of fun for something that seems so minor. But what about 200cc and Item Rain? Starting with the former, it's an incredibly mixed bag... so many of these tracks were not designed for 200cc gameplay and even as someone who loves the format in MK8DX it takes much more adjusting to here considering the unorthodox track designs and the fact there's 200+ of the damn things. We ended up quitting the mode after an occurrence on the aforementioned Unfinished Mario Circuit however, where one of us ended up clipped out of bounds and unable to get back in (not even Lakitu would help due to the location) because he went fast enough to get over an invisible boundary wall. If we grinded the hell out of 200cc it would probably be enjoyable, but we ended up sticking to 150cc after that happened. It was funny but also understandably annoying after we realized the only way out was waiting for the DNF. As for Item Rain, it's a funny little side-mode to turn on from time to time. Nothing too serious so it's good for adding to the fun mood if that's your cup of tea, though also not a mode we'd want to keep permanently on. Just something to mess with for a few rounds.

Wow I typed a fuckton of words (too bad I'm not reading them amirite), certainly more than I was expecting to for this thing. Honestly despite my harshness at points this is a really fun time... if you've got the people to play it with of course. Whilst a big benefit to this pack is the inclusion of Wiimmfi so you can play the game online again, including the custom tracks, I've found the most fun I've had to be playing it as a 'couch multiplayer' activity with local friends. It's none too serious, you can have a pizza and some soda/alcohol whilst you laugh together, it's a very chill vibe and brings back the enjoyment of playing Mario Kart as dumb little kiddy winks. Though... as stated near the start of this, your mileage will heavily balance on how much you enjoy Mario Kart Wii as it is. It's the most popular entry by far but it definitely has a fair share of detractors/un-enjoyers, and I severely doubt Undiscovered Offlimit will be changing their minds anytime soon. But to finally close this stupidly long post out: Overall, CTGP Revolution is fun with the right people despite its flaws in not having the best quality tracks at all corner, fun as it may be to have a laugh when these bad tracks do pop-up. I'll be playing this for ages to come, so if my thoughts change I'll make a follow-up. But for now, 3.5/5 feels right. It's a mess of the most beautiful kind and I love it for what it is.

10/10 (Masterpiece for me)

Yeah this definitely has its flaws like some of the levels (from the 216 custom levels) that people make are not great (Mushroom Peaks is god awful and I don’t see why that course hasn’t been removed or updated in 13 years) or the glitches and handling that’s mainly from the main game but I honestly have so much fun with this game and it’s probably one of the most replayable games of all time for me especially since I still play it daily after 6 years. Most of the courses made by the modders are extremely well done, fun to race on, and have interesting paths or ways like changing the lap numbers or stuff like that. I love playing online against other people since I love competition, additions like 200cc and Item Rain just create a ton of fun, and overall yeah for right now this is my favorite game of all time.

Mario Kart Wii 2 takes the exhilarating kart racing formula of its predecessor and cranks it up a notch, leaving players in awe of the unexpected twists and turns it introduces. The initial skepticism about another installment quickly dissipates as players are met with a surprising array of new tracks. Peach Circuit and Star Road, though not the most anticipated additions, manage to inject a fresh vibe into the Mario Kart experience, proving that innovation can sometimes come from unexpected quarters.

The modding community's audacity to go beyond the ordinary and bring forth tracks like Adv_shovelware_v1 and Jb_Freddy210hell_v12 showcases the creativity and humor that sets this mod apart. The courage to deviate from the expected norms is commendable, adding an element of surprise and unpredictability to the familiar Mario Kart formula. However, the inclusion of tracks that cater to a more niche audience might leave some players yearning for more universally beloved additions.

Mario Kart Wii 2 successfully navigates the tricky terrain of modding by balancing the introduction of novel elements with a nod to the desires of its player base. While it might not be the sequel everyone expected, it manages to carve a unique identity in the vibrant world of Mario Kart mods. Score: 8/10.