Does anyone own the strategy guide?

Yep, but only because Toys 'R' Us had it 50% off when you bought Mario Kart. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even bothered.

It's nice, though.
Really only worth it for the full page track layouts. Everything else you can find online for free.

pow block defence with any cart: just shake the wiimote on the third "POW"

more to come

Can we make this thread sticky? Lots of useful info here.

They really need to make me a moderator around here

Whats this do? Does it work with the wheel?

Yeah, this worked for me! Just shake the wheel on the third POW and you avoid the damage...

well since you seemed to beat me to a guide to the game, i'll put some of my notes in:

The best way to get a "star" ranking(or higher) in the Grand Prix mode is to follow some basic rules. But don't expect(you can still get them unexpectly) to get stars until you've done some of 150cc; that way you can flog the npc's in 50cc as if they were 150cc npcs.

Things that raise your ranking: 1st in three of 4 or all 4 races(that's nessessery)
able to stay in first most of the race (you can practice this by turn items off in vs mode)
^^^the thing that goes to the above note is that you can rebound to items;such as blue shell, red shell, banana skins, green shells (always keep a spare shell/banana with you when in first placel; don't just drop them)

Things that can lower your ranking:
mostly the opposite of what keeps your ranking high:

Relying on wepons to stay in first place (when i say that i mean bullet bill/lighting ect. not banana skins and green shells)
Crashing into things; your not gonna get a drivers licence if your crashing into pipes
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Because of all that i have to say that just because the computers are rigged with unbievable amounts of wepons (i got 5 blue shells in 1 race, but still maintained 1st place most of the race) doesn't mean that they lower your score, it's how you react to them.
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Another thing about time trails. Watching the world/continal champian in each course can help you find the best routes to take in time trials(or Grand Prix) therfore meaning you have better chance at unlocking expert ghost data.

How do you "hold onto" an item. I am new to this game and each time I acquire an item, I can not get another until I use it.

I believe with the Wiimote you hold left on the dpad, for everything else just hold down the fire button.

On DK Summit, right after you get blasted through the cannon, make a hard left to jump up on the blue strip with white arrows to shave off a few seconds. It will keep you in the air around that whole turn, then you get a boost when you come back down.

Go on Wi-Fi time trail rankings and watch the continal/world champian for the best techniques in Grand Prix and Time trails.

Note: some are EXTREMLY hard.(ie. the world champians shortcut on luigi's circut-takes alot of practice+ nintendo's ghost is rigged)

After you have done all the grand prix's(including mirror mode) the ending credit picture will have ALL the charactors in the game. Also the frount cover of game(before you pick your licence) will have one of the charactors(i have seen mario/luigi/peach/bowser) that have sound effects.

One last thing. Don't stress out on the 150cc/Mirror mode prixes when trying to get a star. Sometimes you will have luck and the computers won't be smart/ or low amounts of wepons will come.----If you lose(3rd downwards) more than once, restart the cup.-if you lose 2 times in 2nd(and maybe 3rd) place you can still get 1 star if your really good.

More tips coming, maybe. Think this thread has said them all.

Sorry for double post....

your wrong and right at the same time. Your right to the fact that you hold onto items but your wrong to the fact of not picking up items in a certain place...

ALL the items in the game are completly random. ALWAYS pick up an item if your see the box. The chances of getting a thunder cloud are the same from the place 2-5/6(i've never seen one in 1st place) and if you do get a thunder cloud just brake(if your get into first+infrount of everyone) or zoom up to ram into someone.

It's always good to hold onto a green shell, both a sheild and with good aim, a wepon. In 2nd/3rd place race as fast as possible and pay attention to the track(incase of squid) if you get a red shell, shoot has soon as you get. If you get banana's while on a set of curves, keep them till you find the next set of items boxes or when your on a straight road. If your already on a straight road, it's up to you.

First place gets them, the game loves doing it to me, I can almost hear it laughing


First place will never get the blue spiked shell, so not everything is random. 1st is just as unlikely to see a gold mushroom, lightning bolt, bullet bill, or star. Rarely will you get a mushroom or POW block, and almost never a triple mushroom.

The items are definitely skewed towards 6th and below, like it always has been.

That's pretty sad dude...