Mario Kart Dashes Into Arcades
First screens for latest Namco/Nintendo hook-up.
During the '80s and '90s, videogames often started out in arcades before appearing on consoles later on, but that trend has been turned on its ear in recent years. Nintendo demonstrated this reversal today by announcing an arcade version of its popular Mario Kart series at the Amusement Machine Operators' Union (AOU) 2005 arcade show in Japan.
Mario Kart: Arcade GP is being created by Namco, who also worked with Nintendo on F-Zero AX, the arcade counterpart of Nintendo's GameCube racer F-Zero GX.
The biggest change between the new arcade game and Mario Kart Double Dash!! on GameCube is that Namco has done away with the two-driver set-up of the home game, but the series' core gameplay features, including the jump and the Mario-themed weapons, are all there.
An interesting new feature is a camera mounted on each cabinet, which allows you to take a picture and overlay your face over your character's face. Long-time Namco fans will be pleased to hear that Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man join the Nintendo characters as playable characters in the game too.
Mario Kart Arcade GP will hit Japanese arcades later this year, with a Western release likely to follow after that.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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