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Arcade Version of Mario Kart Coming to Japan

Posted by Zonk on from the let'sa-go! dept.

Gamespot has the story about a heads up arcade version of Gamecube favorite Mario Kart. The arcade version will apparently have several tweaks from its console brother to allow for the changes in setting. From the article: "The Mario Kart series features an item system so that players can catch up by using them when they're trailing behind, but with the new rubber-band system that Namco implemented [in Mario Kart Arcade GP], the races become a really close-pitched match..."

62 comments

  1. Catch-up Items by Huitzlopochtli · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is it just me or are methods to help you catch up (i.e., you go faster when you're last place) in racing games kinda cheap? You already get better items when you're down (like the blue shells), making you catch up by other methods ruins the fun of the game.

    1. Re:Catch-up Items by Renaissance+2K · · Score: 1

      I was thinking the same thing. It sounds too much like lazy programmers. They didn't bother to balance the game properly, so they just gave other players an unfair advantage.

      If Mario Kart were a single-player only game, the equivalent would be allowing the CPU players to cheat, i.e. giving them extra weapons, extra stats, etc.

      Not only that, but unlike the home version, you have to pay every time you climb into the driver's seat. This is like rigging a carnival game. I think it's horrible.

      How many other arcade racers use tactics like these?

    2. Re:Catch-up Items by Daetrin · · Score: 3, Insightful
      They didn't bother to balance the game properly, so they just gave other players an unfair advantage.

      That makes no sense at all. In one sense of thinking balancing is exactly what they _did_ do.

      If you want to talk in terms of more traditional balancing, to make sure that one one car/team/whatever is equal in stregnth, or has an equal balance of strengths and weaknesses, to all the others, then it doesn't address the issue we're talking about at all. More balanced play acutally makes things _tougher_ on newbies. With unbalanced play an experienced player might choose to give the newbie the stronger team or the newbie might stumble across some combination of factors that the more experienced players haven't discovered yet that gives them a big edge (unlikely, yes, but not impossible.)

      In a perfectly balanced game the newbie is going to get their ass kicked everytime until they learn the tactics and get better.

      I agree that the rubber-banding (which is _not_ a new feature) can get very annoying at times, but it is not due to lazy programmers. The programmers could have done a lot of other things to "balance" the game between newbies and experts, like _always_ giving the guy in last place a spiked shell, but the designers decided that rubber-banding was a better solution.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    3. Re:Catch-up Items by BenjyD · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Mario kart isn't really a racing game, it's more a racing-related party game.

      Sure, you can play it seriously, blue-spark the whole way round and try to shave 0.1 seconds off your time if you want, but that's not really the point.

      That said, it does annoy me that in the cube version, blue shells seem to target whoever was first when they're launched, so you can't drop back to second to avoid them. I'm sure you could do that in the N64 version.

    4. Re:Catch-up Items by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Interesting

      well, the point is that only the last quarter of the last lap matters, regardless of how anyone else drives.

      makes it kinda useless to do long racing, but then again it's more of a fighting game than anything else. it would be useful if it was labeled as such straight up.

      personally i've always hated the rubberband approach.. ever since ironmans offroad(just nitro on the last lap because if you do it earlier the ai is going to catch up anyways regardless of how well you drive). it makes long races pointless as it really is just down to how you drive the last lap(and who uses what bonuses there, in comical carting games it sometimes makes even sense to fall back on purpose so that you're not nro1 on the last lap.. until you get to use some bonus and drive to victory).

      same kind of thing is used with ai in lots of other games too though(1 on 1 fighting mostly.. in loads of fighting games the computers reflex speed depends on how good it has deemed you to be and there's even couple of games if you play them too well it becomes sharply impossible as ai will block everything.).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    5. Re:Catch-up Items by shufler · · Score: 1

      Also, don't forget that in SMK, each player has different skills. If you're playing a game like Gran Turismo, or one of the NASCAR games, you're generally playing against competetors with very similar cars. In these situations, winning is entirely dependant on skills.

      SMK is different because that's just the way they made the game. Either love it, hate it, or just accept it. The point of these help-the-player-who's-behind programming tricks is that it keeps the game competitive. I know I don't appreciate or enjoy a game if I'm walloped every single time (think SF2 and Mortal Kombat's number-o-wins-meter reaching 50 or 100). It also adds the element of "coming back from behind," which is always a great way to kick ass.

    6. Re:Catch-up Items by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You must be new to arcade games.....

    7. Re:Catch-up Items by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      imo that's what makes playing Mario Kart with my buddies so fun, it's awesome how I can spend all of the race in first place then get hit by a blue shell and end up 4th

    8. Re:Catch-up Items by cgenman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The point of Mario Kart is to be fun competition for groups of people. And where are you going to find larger groups of people than in the arcade?

      It needs to be fast. It needs to be fun. It needs to work better if everyone is drunk. Ranking the players on skill is kind of irrelevant.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
    9. Re:Catch-up Items by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think there were blue shells in the N64 version.

    10. Re:Catch-up Items by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's also worth doing this in some types of actual racing - if you're in front you can't be drafting. Thus, you burn more fuel, and need more fuel, and need to carry more fuel, and/or pit stop more often. So maybe it's not all that unrealistic anyway :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Catch-up Items by mink · · Score: 1

      I know burnout 1 and 2 use it, I dont know about 3.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    12. Re:Catch-up Items by MilenCent · · Score: 1

      The recent Gamecube Mario Kart has a setting in the options screen that allows you to tone down (or up) the items in the game in versus races, making this less (or more) of a factor.

  2. Its typical Mario Kart gamplay... by LordZardoz · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Mario Kart was play balanced for console type multi-player. The mechanic is cheap and dirty. And it results in newbie players having a chance against moderate types. It does not, however, result in newbies completely obliterating experienced players. The only loser in this mechanic is CPU racers.

    Then again, there is really no shortage of racing games out there, both Console and Arcade. By all means, if this play mechanic bothers you, feel free to play something else. I hear Gran Turismo has very realistic gamplay.

    END COMMUNICATION

    1. Re:Its typical Mario Kart gamplay... by shufler · · Score: 1

      This was also implemented in the original SMK for SNES. When playing with two players, the second player could acheive a higher top speed, though it was minor (this was more apparent it seems, in SMK64 for the N64, and would result in very close races).

      Helping players that are behind has it's pros and cons. As you mentioned, it's an arcade-style game, and definately not made for realism.

    2. Re:Its typical Mario Kart gamplay... by maxume · · Score: 1

      mechanic -> mechanism

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  3. Blue Sparks by Nifrith · · Score: 1

    I bring those blue sparks! - Jesus, Penny Arcade

    1. Re:Blue Sparks by lexarius · · Score: 1

      In my day, we got Es, and we were happy with that!

    2. Re:Blue Sparks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      And in my day you didn't get boosts from sliding! And we didn't need any fancy-schmancy polygons either. Mode 7 all the way!

  4. This just in by Kizzle · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Mario Kart to cause mass extinction on earth! News at 11.

    --
    Hacker Media
  5. I think... by game+kid · · Score: 0

    the Mario Karts were targeted to the younger ones who wouldn't like the idea of losing the race with a mere touch of a bumper (certainly you've seen an actual race), thus the "Revenge is t3h M1NE!!1!"-type items. It is cheap, yes, but is hardly meant for purists.

    That aside, I always loved the SNES original.

    --
    You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    1. Re:I think... by shufler · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The item system makes SMK different from realistic driving games, because you're not driving for hours only to never catch up to the leader.

      It's very satisfying to shoot a shell at a player in front of you to take the lead and the win. You prepared that shell just for them, they should have prepared a defence (I would run entire races in the SNES original with a banana peel or shell hanging out behind me while in 1st). It's not like you can't just look at the other person's screen and realise they're coming to get you.

      It adds another element into the mix.

  6. New Rubber Band system? by PktLoss · · Score: 1

    I don't really feel that the implied mechanics of a rubber band system qualify as anything new. Many (if not most) arcade based racers have been doing this for a long time. Back when Rush 2020 was big in the arcades I can clearly recall turning off 'Catch Up' before a big grudge match.

    Terminology != Innovation

    --
    paul reinheimer
    1. Re:New Rubber Band system? by Nifrith · · Score: 1

      I also remember Micro Machines being somewhat familiar in the term 'Rubber Band'. When one player had fallen behind the lead players, play would stop and the lagging player would be dropped just behind the pack.

    2. Re:New Rubber Band system? by drxray · · Score: 1
      "I also remember Micro Machines being somewhat familiar in the term 'Rubber Band'. When one player had fallen behind the lead players, play would stop and the lagging player would be dropped just behind the pack."

      Yes, but that was how the point system worked, at least in the versions I've played. Drop outside the camera's view (which followed the lead player), and you lost a point, whilst the leader gained one. They took a rubber-band mechanism and made it into an AFAIK unique gameplay.

      Anyway, this whole discussion is pretty moot. Unless this game gets released for the Cube I'm not likely to play it so I can't exactly comment.
      --
      Slashdot - Mutual Assured Discussion
  7. So um... by PKFC · · Score: 1

    Where did F-Zero AX go? I thought Nintendo was working with Namco to make that show up...

    1. Re:So um... by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 4, Informative
      It came...and went.

      From what I've heard online, the machine is somewhat rare. I've never seen one, and most of the people who have have seen it in one location only.

      Arcades seem to be almost completely dead in America. If the market wasn't so small now, it would be easier to find. As it is, though, how many arcades exist where the investment that would be needed for a giant and relatively complex machine that may or may not result in a profit?

      Short version: it's out there, but good luck finding it.

      --
      Goo goo g'joob.
    2. Re:So um... by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

      There's one at an arcade in Toronto that I'm real close to. It lets you import custom vehicles, and the machine tilts when you turn... it's all right. It's no Bishi Bashi or DDR though.

      --
      "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
    3. Re:So um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're comparing FZAX to other games that are nothing like it. Of course it's no Bishi Bashi or DDR, it's about ten times more fun than the former and three times more fun than the latter.

    4. Re:So um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It saw wide release in Japan and extremely limited release elsewhere. If you have an arcade with F-Zero AX, you are a lucky person indeed. In the same vein, good luck ever seeing Mario Kart GP anywhere within 100 miles of where you are, wherever you are, if you live anywhere in the U.S. Just don't think Nintendo (or Namco, or Sega, or Konami, or SNK) wouldn't like your quarters - it's all the result of Americans not seeing arcades as viable social spots now that consoles can more or less provide the same level of impressive game technology. In Japan, and other Asian and European countries, arcades are still seen as places to go to have fun, and the populace is willing to pay to experience such things instead of holing up at one person's house with only people you know.

      Were you expecting things to be any different, considering the shitty, 99%-dead state of American arcades? If multi-player consoles didn't kill them here completely, online gaming will finish the job. And that's the story of how the newbies win and the embittered old-timers lose (at least, those of us who miss the arcades and live in the U.S.)!

    5. Re:So um... by SetupWeasel · · Score: 2, Informative

      First, get a load of this site that has catalogued F-Zero AX sites in the US that they can find. They haven't found many.

      Second, F-Zero GX/AX was made by Sega's Amusement Vision.

      Third, you may be thinking of the arcade hardware itself. Namco, Nintendo, and Sega teamed up to develop the "Triforce" arcade hardware which is used in F-Zero AX and the Mario Kart arcade game.

    6. Re:So um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF does DDR have to do with F-Zero? A comparison like that tells me you don't have a clue when it comes to video games. Hey guys, the new F-Zero is great but it's no Zelda! WTF? What a dumbass.

    7. Re:So um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Space Harrier is another example, a sequel has come and gone in the arcade...if it's not a DDR game or a hunting game, it seems hard to find in america...

    8. Re:So um... by redpawn · · Score: 1

      If all you want is the AX tracks you can unlock all the of them in FZero GX by completing all the cups on the master difficulty. I've had GX since the day it came out. I STILL find it hard to beat the master difficulties.

    9. Re:So um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it's very hard. the trick is to discover which courses are easy to kill people on. Kill the fuck out of them so they don't get any points and then race your balls off on the other courses.

      Tough, but not impossible. Just play for about 1 to 3 days straight and you should get it.

      What's hard are those god damn ghost races. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.

  8. Of course it's coming to Japan by ZephyrXero · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, if you don't live in Japan, don't bother giving this game a second thought.... arcades are dead in just about every other country, especially the US :(

    --
    "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    1. Re:Of course it's coming to Japan by MagicDude · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Seriously. Not only are they diminishing, but arcades are made up of only three types of games: fighting games (Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom, etc), gun games (Time Crisis), and racing games, with a ratio of about 50:30:20, and all of them cost a buck to play, so much so that machines have dollar bill acceptors built into them. WTF is that? Gone are the good old quarter plunkers which I wasted my allowance on back in the day. Games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Alien vs. Predator, Golden Axe, Gauntlet (Oh man, so many quarters went into Gauntlet). Plus pinball, pinball is so hard to find these days. Every arcade will have maybe 1 token pinball machine, and it will be something lame like "Roller Coaster Tycoon Pinball". Not that I don't appreciate a good franchise pinball machine, "Star Trek: The Next Generation Pinball" kicks ass :-) Basically, there aren't any games out there that make me want to compulsively drop quarters in to the machine. Maybe I'll play a game at the movie theater before a movie, but I almost never feel like dropping more money in to continue. The last game I really liked was probably the Star Wars Trillogy game. And even that hasn't been popular in arcades since the late 90's.

  9. more images from AOU arcade exhibition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    AOU2005 968 KiB
    Neo-Arcadia.com: Toutes les dernieres news 10,4 MiB
    MSN-Mainichi INTERACTIVE [2005] 308 KiB

    Now mod me up, shitnipples. :)

    1. Re:more images from AOU arcade exhibition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Melty Blood Act Cadenza

      Version arcade du hit PC

      Funniest thing I've read all day...

  10. Er, the rubber-band system doesn't actually work. by OmgTEHMATRICKS · · Score: 0

    You see, the rubber-bands snapped and broke before they could be put to good use.

  11. The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by Jagasian · · Score: 1

    The original Super Mario Kart for the SNES was the best of the series. It was down hill after that. The entire game became newbiefied. The graphics and sound improved, sure, but the gameplay got allot worse.

    1. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 1

      You forgot the AI. All the karts used to follow the exact same route in the original... Double dash sucked but the rest arn't bad.

      --
      I like muppets.
    2. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by Nifrith · · Score: 1

      "The original Super Mario Kart for the SNES was the best of the series. It was down hill after that. The entire game became newbiefied. The graphics and sound improved, sure, but the gameplay got allot worse." Newbified? I wouldn't say that, as I just picked up a copy of the game for my SNES. Beat the Star Cup on 100cc on my first try. I think all the games in the series are tailored to be plug-and-play.

    3. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by Jagasian · · Score: 1

      I guess I am mostly refering to battle mode. The sequals made it far too easy to get combo hits on your opponents because they let you pick up multiple attack weapons at a time. The original battle mode required you to attack your opponent when you had the ability to quickly pick up an item (or two if the one you pickup sucks) and then attack with that.

      The items you get in racing was greatly influenced in the sequal games by your position in the race. So even in match races, little racing was done, and it was more about staying a very close second so that you could get a good item and use it at the last second. The problem is your opponent will try to do the same thing... and the entire race degenerates into nothing.

    4. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by metroid+composite · · Score: 1
      "newbified"? You say that as if there was some element of complexity present in SMK that was removed by a later version. The only thing I can think of is that SMK doesn't let you hold a power slide indefinitely (though doing so is still stupid in later games). On the other hand, all of the later game introduce new elements.

      Or perhaps by newbified you mean how they actually kept the same control scheme between 100cc and 150cc in later games--having different control styles wasn't some kind of godly SMK feature you know; it was a bad flaw.

      Or perhaps by newbified you mean that they made more than two characters useful, so that newbies wouldn't get screwed over by simply choosing whichever character they liked. Oooh, yeah, damn newfangled kart games with actual character balance!!1!

      Don't get me wrong, I still play SMK from time to time (largely for the battle mode) but if anything the series has been generally improving (battle mode asside due to arena-size concerns).

    5. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by MatW · · Score: 1

      Agreed the Snes version had it all...great graphics, homing red shells, speed bumps that accelerate you to infinity, LR shoulder button drifts, cool shortcuts and wonderful level design...man I miss that game :(

      --
      http://www.iWebmasters.com -your offshore staff leasing services!
    6. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by Jagasian · · Score: 1

      The characters were balanced. In time trial Kong and Bowser are the best. In match and GP, the Mario bros are the best. In battle it is a toss up between the Mario Bros and the little guys: koopa and toad... though I have seen really good battle players use the princess/yoshi... but I am not convinced.

    7. Re:The original Super Mario Kart was the best. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      play online. http://chozo.hopto.org:8080/eriq/smk/march05.htm

      aim: quantumteleport

  12. Go Speed Racer by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

    Well, if it plays anything like Namco's "Speed Racer" game (which was actually a lot like Mario Kart), then it will be a really playable game.

    --
    READY.
    PRINT ""+-0
  13. It's on, bitches! by b00m3rang · · Score: 1

    DK Mountain or Bowser's Castle, you and me... let's do this!

    The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent playing Mario Kart.

    1. Re:It's on, bitches! by mausmalone · · Score: 1

      Um.... take a look at the screenshots. This isn't a version of the GCN game brought to the arcade. It's a totally new game separte from it. (Back to the 1-player karts... w00t) In time, though, we may see this ported to home consoles.

      --
      -=-=-=-=-=
      I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
  14. The system isn't even new in the Mario Kart series by DeadScreenSky · · Score: 1

    Hell, the original Super Mario Kart itself had this rubber band system. It was especially strong in Mario Kart 64. I have no idea why some commentators are spinning this as new.

    --
    There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
  15. "rubberband" system? by DavidD_CA · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...but with the new rubber-band system ... the races become a really close-pitched match..."

    Yes, shooting a rubber-band into your opponent's eye is a sure-fire way to get back into the race!

    --
    -David
  16. Large groups of Arcade people by fwitness · · Score: 1

    Have you been to an arcade lately? It's not like the 70s any more man. Arcades now just have a few gun games, some DDR machines, and coin changer. Besides kids who are sick of the mall, there's no actual humans in arcades anymore. Unfortunately the arcade died years ago.

    Wish there was an alternative, but there doesn't seem to be.

    --
    -- I have fans? Wow.
    1. Re:Large groups of Arcade people by koi88 · · Score: 1


      Unfortunately the arcade died years ago.

      That's true about the US, but it's certainly not true about Japan where arcades enjoy a huge popularity.
      Maybe that's going to change now that Nintendo DS and Sony PSP make high-quality multi-user gaming evreywhere possible.
      Another country I've seen where arcades still are very popular is Spain. I don't know why, might be because there are so many tourists or because many people don't have a video game console or a PC at home.

      --

      I don't need a signature.
    2. Re:Large groups of Arcade people by pnice · · Score: 1

      The arcade isn't dead, it's just taking on a new shape. An arcade in a mall isn't going to do very well since you can just as easily go down to the GameStop and buy a game for your home console that looks better than some of the stuff in the arcade. You will find more and more people...and older people at that, hanging out at entertainment centers that sell alcohol. Dave and Busters and Main Event are two that seem to do really well in the Texas area. Main Even has bowling, billiards, shuffleboard, Blackjack and Poker tables (for fun..no cash exchanged) laser tag, and one of the best arcades in the area. Games like Initial D, DDR, Beatmania, (at least 150+ games total I'd guess) all set in an environment geared more towards adults (they have two bars inside the establishment and a smoking room for those that choose to do so) They kick the under 18 kids out after midnight and you'd be surprised to see how many drinking/drunk adults are having fun playing ticket games/skeeball and hanging out in the arcades. Just about the same amount you'll see playing pool or just chilling at the bar. The arcade isn't dead...you're just looking in the wrong place.

      --
      My Xbox Live Gamer Card
  17. Oranges are sourer than apples by tepples · · Score: 1

    WTF does DDR have to do with F-Zero?

    Sometimes, a fellow can justify comparing apples and oranges; oranges are more sour than apples in general. Likewise, F-Zero AX and Dance Dance Revolution Extreme can still be compared on the basis of potential for filling the machine's coin bucket enough times to pay off the purchase of the machine.

  18. Trust Namco? by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure if I'd trust Namco with any more Nintendo property after what they did to Star Fox with Star Fox Assault. Who'd have thought the crappy tech demos for Assault that Namco were showing 2 years ago would end up being just like the final game?

  19. Mario Kart Impressions by Kamalot · · Score: 1

    http://www.4colorrebellion.com/index.php?p=294#mor e-294

    "The game, happily, plays closest to the original Mario Kart on the Snes of any in the series that have been released since."

    Also. GameSpot has movies...
    http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/02/18 /news_61188 68.html

  20. Choice is good by Webapprentice · · Score: 1

    I prefer the ability to toggle such effects on or off.

    In the Initial D arcade games, both players (it was 1 on 1) had to hit their brake pedals before the start of the race to turn off giving the trailing person additional speed. In this manner, veteran players can play on skill.

    While Mario Kart's design is for party/group environments, I would feel that giving the ability to turn off such handicaps would give players of skill something to do as well.

  21. Rubber Band System by EvilGoodGuy · · Score: 1

    Hurray for giving the losers a boost! Nothings better than dusting them, only to have them right back behind you shortly after. :\ And thus I prefer realistic racing games.