Mario Kart GP Impressions
[4cr Reader Contribution]
The Nintendo/Namco collaboration, Mario Kart GP looks great. So far though, all indications are that the game will not be ported to the Cube. I guess if you want to play you have to hunt down an arcade.
Anyway, LSK got some hands on time with the game at a local arcade and sent us some impressions. Check it out:
Okay. I went to the arcade today (Wednesday). I scoured the area for high-ticket-payout games, but one thing stood out, and it didn’t even dispense tickets: Mario Kart! I immediately yelled a friend over and we played 5 rounds total. There certainly were some features that caught my eye (no pun intended). When you start the game, it asks you if you have a Mario Card. This is basically a cheap, paper memory card costing 75 cents. After selecting whether or not you have one, you get to choose whether to play Grand Prix, Time Trial (I think), or multiplayer. These should be self-explanatory. The next choice is characters. All the basic Mario Karters are there, plus Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky (the red ghost from Pac-Man, as well as my new
favorite Mario Kart character). Next comes the camera. This gives you about 8 seconds to do something weird for the camera and press the item button. The Item button is comveniently located on the middle of the steering wheel. Next we get to the courses. There are 3 cups selectable from the start. I’m not too sure about the level names…
Mario Cup(Easy) – Mario Raceway, Mario Beach, Mario Raceway Reverse, Mario Beach Reverse
DK Cup(Normal) – DK Jungle, Banana Ruins, and the reverses of those 2
Bowser Cup(Expert) – Bowser’s Castle, something else, and the reverses.
When you and a friend agree upon a level, 3 items are selected of this game’s over 100 items. This is actually a shortcoming in my mind, as you can’t really get used to some items, and the ones you get usually suck.
Ones I remember are:
Boo – Homing, steals items. makes opponent’s wheels harder to control
Lightning cloud – Homing, makes opponent’s wheels harder to control.
Puffer Fish – Homing, they spin out of control.
(Pan?) – Homing, they spin out of control.
Spikes – Drop behind, they spin out of control.
Now we get to the actual gameplay. This game has a steering wheel and a pedal instead of the usual Control Stick and A buttons. There is no way to jump.The level design is good, but I felt that the levels weren’t interesting enough. There was a noticable lack of shortcuts. There are 4 speakers on each game, 2 on your seat behing you and 2 in front. This makes the game extremely loud, but this can be good. One feature I LOVE about this game is the rumbling sterring wheel(it rumbles when you go over rough terrain.) This seems to add realism to the game. The last major feature I remember is the ability to see who’s behind you. This makes the game a whole lot easier.
All in all, the game is awesome. It has a number of features that seperate it from other racing games, and is definitely worth the 75 cents a play.
Contributed by: LSK
Nick - May 19th, 2005 - 
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