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Mario Kart DS Info
Retro tracks announced, cup titles announced. Why are you reading this!?
From NoE:
"Mario Kart is the undisputed king of kart racing games. Throughout 13 years and four games (soon to be five), wee been blessed with some of the finest four-wheeled action you could ever wish for.
With the arrival of Mario Kart DS on November 25, the series enters a new era - but it hasn forgotten its illustrious past. Today we take a test drive around some of the classic circuits that make a welcome retro-themed reappearance in Mario Kart DS.
Out of the 32 tracks on offer, 16 are classic courses picked from the cream of Mario Kart history. As Mario Kart DSproducer Hideki Konno revealed during our Games Convention interview: “We identified 16 of the best courses that people really enjoyed playing in the past…I believe that the players who used to play these courses are going to have a very nostalgic feeling.â€
And indeed we had a nostalgic tear in our eye when we touched tarmac on tracks we hadn seen in years. Boy, was it good to be back!
History repeating
Collected together as the Retro Grand Prix, the 16 classic circuits are split into four Cups - Shell, Banana, Leaf and Lightning - each containing four tracks taken from each of the previous Mario Kart games.
Fittingly, the first classic track youl come across in Mario Kart DS is also the first track from the first game - Mario Circuit 1 from the original Super Mario Kart on Super Nintendo.
If (like us) youe old enough to remember the track layout from all those years ago, youl be pleased to know that nothing has changed except the graphics, which are now rendered in proper 3D rather than the flat ‘Mode 7style of the SNES era. In fact, all of the graphics for the classic tracks have been rebuilt from scratch for this DS version.
After storming through the Super Mario Kart circuit in first place, next up was one of our favourite Mario Kart 64 circuits: Moo Moo Farm. The bumpy barnyard track was perfectly recreated - right down to the pesky moles that send your kart into a spin. Even the music has been brought over to DS intact, in all its banjo-twanging glory.
Super sounds
The sound effects have also been given a boost too. Thanks to the DS superb surround sound you can hear the other characters racing around you - from Peach giggling as she overtakes, to Donkey Kong disgruntled grunting as you drop a banana in his path.
The next track we tried, in the Banana Cup, was from Mario Kart: Super Circuit on GBA. Fans will remember Bowser Castle 2 for its flame-spitting lava pits, Thwomps that hover menacingly above, and lanes littered with strategically placed speed boosters. Thankfully, the classic time-shaving tricks still remain, so if you get pasted by another player over Wi-Fi in November, theye probably an old Mario Kart master.
For our final look at the classic circuits, we sampled one of the top tracks from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on Nintendo GameCube - Mushroom Bridge. Centred around a giant iron bridge, the race takes place on a regular road packed with traffic - making an eight-player race a frantic vehicle-dodging affair.
The addition of 16 classic tracks - on top of 16 new tracks - not only gives the DS version more courses than any Mario Kart game before it, but it also allows newcomers to experience some of the best kart racing around. And Mario Kart fans needn worry that their time-honoured tracks have been messed with, as these retro racetracks play as perfectly as ever. In fact, with the addition of new items (plus all the old favourites like red shells and bananas) theye better than ever.
Sadly, that all we can divulge for now about Mario Kart DSRetro Grand Prix, but wel be back soon with info on the Nitro Grand Prix - featuring the brand new circuits created for the game - and many more details about the best Mario Kart ever!"
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Buy. Now.
How. Do. I. Buy. Now? Its. Not. Out. Yet. LOL :D. All of that is great news! Bowser Castle 2 and Mushroom Bridge are announced! I just LOVE Mushroom Bridge! And I am REALLY looking forward to tommorow (Subsribers get it 2 days earlier than the shops so). NOM UK is revealing EVERYTHING to do with MKDS! Their very words were "Every Track, Weapon, Kart, Character and more REVEALED!" I am REALLY excited.
I love NOM UK, i've had every issue since the N64 days. Wonder what the next free gift is?
I was hoping it can be done in Double Dash style
Subscribers get it 2 days before?! DAMMIT! GRR, I'm going to subscribe soon for my chrsitmas present!!
I'm still blown away by the fact that there are <b>32 TRACKS</b>! That's twice as many as DD! I'm so excited!
november 25th?i thought it was sopuse to come out on november 14th.thats what it says at nintendo.com
FG-54: This is a Europe site, hence the Europe date.
MUST BUY!!!
skarmarchild:so does this mean that mario kart DOES come out on november 14th?
America: November 14th Europe: Nov 25th. So yes.
Ooooh, here's some nostalgia that doesn't even have to do with Mario Kart: I remember when the DS's prototype name was leaked on the Wario Ware site. The prototype name was Nitro. The thing with the NEW courses exclusive to the DS version is called the Nitro Cup; coincidence? I think not!
Wait a sec... What's "time-shaving"? =P
"skarmachild: Subscribers get it 2 days before?! DAMMIT! GRR, I'm going to subscribe soon for my chrsitmas present!!" Yep. 2 days before. Once or twice (And I MEAN once or twice) its come a WEEK before official release. :O 99.99% of the time it comes 2 days earlier 0.00001% of the time it comes 1 day earlier, and 0.00000000001% of the time it comes a week earlier. Not ONCE, while I have been subscribed to NOM, has it come on its official release, not ONCE. I ALWAYS get it early. So yeah, if I were you I would subscribe A.S.A.P. Not only is it CHEAPER than in the shops, but you get it early! Double bonus!
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