The news about the next installment of Mario Kart for arcades is nothing new, something that has been on the wire since February. The game was announced for a summer release in Japan and as the release approachesarrives so does the marketing push for it there.
UPDATE: I had not realized at first that the game is officially available in Japan as of today. I have moved it into the release section of our New Releases 2013 page.
A new website has been launched just for the game, but only in Japanese. This is standard practice with Japanese developers who like to give games special attention as opposed to throwing all games onto one parent website. We aren’t sure yet when the game might show up out West although with some upcoming trade shows we will probably find out for sure by November. There is also a trailer, which might have been out there before but not in this quality so here you go.
HT- ECM for this extra video
The game is different than the upcoming Mario Kart 8 for the WiiU so it will likely remain arcade exclusive so as to not compete directly with that title. As an operator that certainly is a preferable pattern – while a new Mario Kart will be available for both arcades and consoles, the arcade version has some features that help it stand out so that people will still want to go out and play it. Of course the extra hardware dimension is always a bonus and in the case of a racing game the arcade cabinet is much different from a joystick/button combo.
Mario kart series is just one of those games that perform great in both home consoles and the arcade market especially no matter after how many years the arcade seat with wheel and pedals will always do better despite some home conversions which do work out expensive and lack of space for most people.
I really hope it comes out as normally I’d known this would be coming out but with this namco server banapass used on maximum tune 4 I’m doubtful unless the server is a success but then they could always make the game so that it doesn’t require the Internet but namco are cutting their noses off to spite their face really especially as the arcade industry is not as big competition like the home games counterparts.
Is it me or is the namcam hooked and bent on the left hand side of the cabinet screen? Strange since the first 2 had the namcam positioned in the middle on top of the monitor
That angled camera you see was installed for the tradeshow. It was a camera that showed the players’ faces live on an overhead monitor. The NAMCAM is still centered over the screen. It is that red plastic housing between the marquee and the screen.
Ah I see so namcam is the same as the previous 2. Wondered why there were cameras on side of monitor
Nice!
Mario Kart in the arcades isn’t half as fun as the home version. The problem is that most people only play one course. In the home version you play “cups” which has 4 or 5 courses. The home version is longer so you have access to all the power-up items. In the arcade you’re limited to only 3 power-ups that are randomly picked. I understand they had to do this to keep the game balanced since some of the power-ups can practically move you from last to first place. It would be great if there was a buy in option to play a full cup and have access to all power-ups in the arcade.
Well we’ll have to wait and see if that will be the same or if they will have made changes to that particular gameplay path. They could also modify the International version too, fitting in with what they feel the market would handle.