This week we have the Amusement Expo 2014 trade show in Las Vegas, where Bandai Namco will be showcasing their latest driving game Mario Kart Arcade GP DX right before it hits the wide market. The game is already available to play at the many Dave & Busters locations across the US but in April it will be available for purchase by other venues out there worldwide. I received some new details about the game that are worth sharing here, in particular in regards to the online features.
First off the info I received, that I received via way of a distributor (screenshots in this thread are courtesy of Bandai Namco however), mentions the default features for the game :
Mario Kart STARTS with TEN courses, TWELVE characters, 22 different cars, and THREE different ways of playing the game.
For those three different ways of racing, we’ve heard of those before but I don’t recall reading this much detail about them:
1. Grand Prix Mode- 1 player mode. Playing against the computer in 5 different “Cups” and 4 courses in each cup for a total of 20 different levels. In ONLY single player mode will there be 20 different courses. In VS. Mode and CO-OP Mode there are 10 courses to choose from.
2. VS Mode- 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 players can play against each other with the individual cabinets being linked.
3. CO-OP Mode- Players can team up together against their friends or the computer. Throughout the race the two players’ carts will come together as one. When this happens, one player is driving the car, and one player Is shooting opponents. The player shooting opponents can use the steering wheel to turn 360 degrees to fire upon other drivers with green shells. VERY COOL!
Another piece of documentation that came with what I was sent also mentions “10 completely redesigned courses with new aerial and underwater sections!” It also mentions that in CO-OP mode when a Kart is fused you have unlimited green shells to fire. With the first version of the game there will be 90 different items you can pickup by driving over the ? icons on the track, what items being available are randomized at the beginning of each race. More items will be added with the online updates mentioned below, with it reaching a total of 150 planned items after 5 years (the version releasing now still has quite a bit – 90 items). I’m not aware of any home version of MK having that many items to choose from.
Now for some of the details about the online part. This is Bandai Namco’s first major push for online features in an arcade game outside of Asia. They have tested the waters with the idea when they released the kit version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited but that was nowhere near as big a release as MKAGPDX. If you are an operator, then you have to purchase a pair of specialized router devices to connect the machines to the internet but other than that the online portion will be free (no revenue sharing or anything like that which has occurred on some of Namco’s overseas online titles like Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4). No Banapassport card system is mentioned in any of the documentation.
… once a year the entire game will get a makeover by adding more courses, more characters, more karts, and more items. So if you think about it, every year the operator is getting a “new game” that is new and refreshed which keeps revenue high. This will happen 5 times because there is one major update per year. The cost of these updates are included in the price of the game.
UPDATES:
The game begins with 10 Courses(in VS. MODE) and at the end of the 5 years the game will have a total of 30 Unique Courses, 60 Total when including reverse courses.
The game begins with 12 Characters and at the end of the 5 years it will have a total of 20 characters.
The game begins with 22 Karts and at the end will have 120 different karts.
Throughout the year the game will change with certain themes during holidays and seasons. For example, the frames that are around the pictures of the players will be a Santa Clause hat for Christmas.
Some of those new characters will include Metal Mario, Rosalina and Daisy as shown below. They also may add a 2vs2 Team mode with these updates although with a planned 5 year lifespan they could do that and more. At the moment cross-site play is not mentioned at all; I imagine that it could be in the cards if enough units were connected out there although I am sure that the main focus is local connected play, which it tends to be with Namco’s other driving games.
A lot of people have been asking about the price and I’m not sure of that yet although I imagine it will be close to Mario Kart GP1 and GP2 (which were around $9000). Perhaps that info will finally be made available at the Expo. I do like that there is a lot of content in this – it’s quite a bit more than with their Dead Heat or Dead Heat Riders games and its also about time that we had more online capabilities coming along from more than a couple of manufacturers. That said, the email mentions that operators need to purchase some extra hardware to connect to Namco’s servers, thus increasing the cost of any package further. But like the unit price, the price of these specialized items is not mentioned, only hinted at as being much higher than a typical router you might find on Newegg.com. I’m not sure what to think about that yet as all of the other online arcade games I have bought have been ready from the get-go and can use the existing wired/wireless connection hardware. It is probably best to wait for more details on that, which I will ask about at Amusement Expo tomorrow.
Also the documentation notes that this is the “International Version” so all of this should apply to the US or Europe. As mentioned, this game will be available for wide release in April June 2014 and it is an arcade exclusive title, like Mario Kart Arcade GP1 & GP2 before it.
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If the operator is forced to purchase an additional router will they also need to have a separate network connection? Or will the head end router need to have certain ports or IP’s forwarded to the second router?
It seems like this has the potential to be killed by complexity if they are not careful. Buf it its at least moderately successful this could be the kick in the pants for internet arcading by companies that are not Incredible Technologies.
A great initial buy in would be to get D&B onboard with network enabled games PDQ.
Why isn’t the router being sold as part of the standard package? If the machine costs $9000+ it’s a bit much to expect operators to open their wallets again!
One thing worth noting is that Mario Kart 8 will be released on Wii U in a couple of months. It will be interesting to compare the two and see how this version holds up.
Arcadehero, how does the one player game work if the Bananapass facilty is missing? Will we have to pay 2/3 credits to play the next tracks and find when we stop playing all progress is lost? Is there a pin or save system of some kind? Thanks.
There’s no banapassport, no pincode system nor any other save feature. All tracks are unlocked from the get go.
This is disappointing that they are only doing it halfway. No player save of any kind basic pin or through the internet connectivity.
Unless they are using it to get the kinks out then future games will be full blow with saves records ect.
Thanks for the reply Nomax. Good that all courses are unlocked but bad if the 150cc class can’t be selected. It seems players like me are no longer considered by Namco Europe/US as the audience for this game. I’ll try it out if I see it in an arcade but I feel my money would be better spent on a Wii U & Mario Kart 8 🙁
Good questions not answered in the docs I received. I will find out and update.
It’s very strange indeed that the special router isn’t included as part of the standard package, especially since they refuse to sell the game to offline locations. Still no word if the player can (at last) choose his kart class as in the Japanese version?
Nope, the kart is randomly selected, along with the potential items. There are three items each match, it does a “roulette” wheel sort of thing to pick the kart and items
So they haven’t changed that since the previous build. It’s a bummer. Not selecting his karts and class weakens the game a lot. The 150cc class makes the game much more thrilling.
The router isn’t sold as part of the package because only one router is needed per location. Whether a location has two units or four, only one router is needed.
I can’t see many operators forking out more money for stuff that should be included anyway unless it’s especially catered to specific gamers, but then if they know about online features like new tracks, characters etc they could possibly use the internet connection. instead of banapass port they should use smartphone function like scan codes, Facebook integration. It seems unlikely but it would be very interesting as to what mariokart arcade would be like if rawthrills did their version.
I actually do not like the QR code/FB integration. Most things that use FB have you looked at they pull, most FB apps poll your friend list, or try to auto post. The QR code piece feels half assed and underused. It needs to be simple. Let me do everything to save my game and scores/unlocks whatever right at the game.
What happens after 5 years or they decide to take the down the online system (say in 10 years). Will the machine be operable? I’m wondering because they are not offering an offline version.
I saw the game running offline at a trade show. So it works (it shows a small “disconnected” icon on the screen). The question is: is there a time limit to the “offline mode”?
New topic:
“Can Mario Kart GP DX survive in a post MK8 era?”
Everyone knows the new game is out, so it’s a real question if kids are going to find enough features worthwhile to play this. Also $2.50 per play (win or lose) could factor in scaring folks off.