Topic: I never heard of THIS...(new Nintendo arcade game)

[JonLeung]

I come to Planet GameCube every day and never even HEARD of this Mario Kart arcade game.  Apparently it just came out.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20050218/aou04.jpg

It's got Pac-Man in it, too.  o_0

Probably won't get a release any better than F-Zero AX, though.  :/

[Bill Aurion]

Namco's work...Pac-man is for humor but he ruins games...

[Nephilim]

In game pic with facescanning

Mario Kart Arcade Grand Prix

- Release: Fall 2005 (arcade)
- Hardware: Triforce
- 1-4 players
- Playable at Makuhari Messe (Feb. 18-19)
- Uses "NamCam 2" camera to take the player's pic and see it during races
- Features "Rubberband System" which adjusts the performance of the kart on the fly according to your skill during races, to keep things exciting and competitive
- Features "Rewritable Card" system to keep track of progress, items, etc.  

[Ian Sane]

Where did this come from?  You figure we would have heard more about this.  But then anything to do with arcades is pretty much useless information in North America these days unfortunately.  Is this thing a port of some sort or is it original?  I only see one racer in the karts in those shots so it doesn't look like it's Double Dash.  I don't think we really need for another Cube Mario Kart but if this is something new and it's already been made it would be nice to make a home version.  There's no point putting effort into a new game only to leave it in Japanese arcades.

"Features 'Rubberband System' which adjusts the performance of the kart on the fly according to your skill during races, to keep things exciting and competitive"

WTF?  They're actually acknowledging that sort of lazy bullsh!t racing game design as a FEATURE?  I think "no rubberbanding" would be a better selling point with racing fans.

Edit: It figures.  Two seconds after I post this PGC has info on it.  Looks like we're hearing about it the same time as everyone else.

[Ian Sane]

I just thought of a neat idea.  Why not make this a Revolution launch title?  We already have a Cube Mario Kart so we don't really need another one.  The Revolution however needs some killer games at launch and Mario Kart is always a top seller.  If this is new and already done then it would be an easy title to add to whatever other launch titles Nintendo is working on.  Or they can just time it to fill in any post-launch release date gaps.  It's win-win really.  We get a home port of the arcade game and a Mario Kart near the Rev's launch and Nintendo has a very high profile Rev title that requires merely a port job to make and can be thrown into the release schedule at pretty much any time.

Of course this assumes that the Revolution can play a Mario Kart game which we're all hoping it can.  Maybe the face mapping feature relates to the Revolution in some way since Nintendo seems to really like the Eye Toy.

[Nephilim]

The graphics do look beyond gamecube, and thank god its not baised on sunshine!
This would be a good game for revolution and I have a feeling this might be a game for E3, since it would be in devolopment at the same time.

Arcades are pretty much dead in south australia. There is 1 GX here and that has monitor problems *sigh*
but u should expect that when we has a ultra bassed out hacked ddr extreme (r3 sounds awsome) and a hacked kof 2004 with glitched problems

[JonLeung]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

Edit: It figures.  Two seconds after I post this PGC has info on it.  Looks like we're hearing about it the same time as everyone else.

Yeah, my bad.  My friend linked me to that pic and I figured I'd stumbled upon something that was already out.  I guess by "out" he meant revealed to the public, not "out" as in already in arcades.  Though what are the chances of seeing this?  I never saw an F-Zero AX game in the city.  I'm not a huge arcade person (I used to work at Playdium Edmonton, though) but my friends who are bigger arcade fans have never seen any around here.

[Ian Sane]

"Though what are the chances of seeing this? I never saw an F-Zero AX game in the city. I'm not a huge arcade person (I used to work at Playdium Edmonton, though) but my friends who are bigger arcade fans have never seen any around here."

I have seen only two, both were in Casinos in Vegas.  One was a Japanese machine and I think the other was American.  So I imagine that Mario Kart's distribution in North America will be similar where you might see one in major American cities but nowhere else.

[KnowsNothing]

Hmm......remember Stage Debut?  I think Bill's prediction on that (or a variation) coming out for the Rev is pretty accurate, and I wouldn't be surprised if Mario Kart Revolution will be able to stick your face in the game.