3-star ranking on mario kart for wii

April 16, 2009 2:20 PM

So how on earth do you get a three-star ranking on Mario Kart for Wii?

I am a pretty good racer on all of the grand prix courses. I routinely get 1st place in all four races, often by wide margins (yesterday I won Rainbow Road with a 32 second lead over the person in 2nd place), but I can't get more than a 2-star ranking! This drives me nuts because I've read that you can unlock certain things by getting 3-star rankings.

What are the main things I should try to do better, or avoid doing, to increase the probability of a 3-star ranking on any course?

posted by crapples to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 answers total)

Almost every video game has a wiki these days.
posted by Stylus Happenstance at 2:32 PM on April 16, 2009

You have to do more tricks and use more items. As many as possible! Take every opportunity to do a trick off of a ramp, use every item you get. That's really the only way I've found that's effective. If you look at your stats, it shows you your rankings based on a number of categories, not just speed. You basically want to max out all of those categories.
posted by ailouros08 at 2:34 PM on April 16, 2009

I tended to get 3-star ratings more often when I was really aggressive with hitting other players with items, in addition to the criteria you're already meeting.

My lower rankings were usually earned when I'd drive 3 laps with a shell or banana grafted to my butt to protect me against incoming shells. Defense does not win you points.
posted by Ziggy Zaga at 2:35 PM on April 16, 2009

Gamefaqs is another good source of video-game information.
posted by box at 3:08 PM on April 16, 2009

You can cut to the chase if you search the applicable Mario Kart Wii track + "three star". There are plenty of video runs up.
posted by greenland at 5:32 PM on April 16, 2009

Read Slic's Triple Star Guide.
posted by argybarg at 9:59 PM on April 16, 2009

By the way, at least according to this chart, a three-star ranking doesn't unlock anything. It just feels good.
posted by argybarg at 10:05 PM on April 16, 2009

It does unlock having stars next to your name when you play online. Whether or not such a thing is desirable is up for debate.
posted by danb at 7:08 PM on April 18, 2009