Mario Kart Arcade GP

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Mario Kart Arcade GP is an arcade-only sequel to Nintendo's Mario Kart series. It is developed by Namco and Nintendo, which makes it the first Mario Kart game not developed exclusively by Nintendo. In this version, designed for the Triforce arcade board, players can race as one of eleven characters in twenty-four tracks. On certain machines a player's data can be saved on a memory card, which can be inserted into the machine again later to retain unlocked items and records. It was released on Saturday November 19 2005 [link].

This game's arcade cabinet also houses a camera that will take a photograph of the player's face. The photo can be customized and then will be displayed above the player's character during multiplayer races.

The game is noted for being the first Mario Kart to feature playable crossover characters: Namco's Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Blinky (R.O.B. would then follow suit in Mario Kart DS).

Contents

1 Playable characters
2 Stages
3 Items
4 External links

Playable characters

Pac-Man is one of the first non-Nintendo characters to be playable in a Mario Kart game.

Stages

Mario performing a powerslide maneuver.

There are 6 stages in Mario Kart Arcade GP, each with a different theme, from the beach theme in the Mario stage to the jungle theme in the DK stage. Each stage has four tracks; the first two are in normal mode, and the final two are backwards, similar to mirror mode in past Mario Kart games. The player can earn the backwards tracks by beating the two normal tracks. Also, there are coins scattered around the tracks. Picking up coins makes a player's kart go slighty faster, like in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. Like any other Mario Kart game, the last course is Rainbow Road.

Mario Stage
Donkey Kong Stage
Wario Stage
Pac-Man Stage
Bowser Stage
Rainbow Stage

After finishing all 4 races from each stage, it will be followed by a Challenge Game. Each Challenge Game is different and the Stage is not count as “completed” if player failed the Challenge Game. Each driver’s characteristic item will be rewarded if the player wins the Challenge Game (Notably an invincible-endowing item for the Mario Stage).

Completing all 6 Stages will open up “Special Stages”. These 6 Special Stages are identical to the previous ones except that all Stages are of “Master” level. As a result, the computer racers will be much more skillful and the difficulty of the game is thus increased.

When all the 6 Special Stages (including the Challenge Games that has increased difficulty) are completed, all races in 50cc are cleared. Players will be entitled to play the Grand Prix mode now in 150cc. The color of the chassis of the karts will turn to gold. Karts in 150cc have a much higher speed than in 50cc, and therefore requires much better handling skills.

Items

When a player hits an item box, the player is given one of three items. Mario Kart Arcade GP features items new and old.

Green Shell: A normal shell, it can be thrown in a straight line to knock over other karts.
Black Shell: A shell that explodes on impact.
Boo: Causes whoever is hit by it to slow down for a brief period.
Square tires: Makes whoever hits it slow down and lose control.
Lighting rod: A rod used for close combat, it does not shrink other drivers like in other Mario Kart games.
Bomb: a time bomb, It goes off in a few seconds. Hit other drivers to transfer the bomb to them.
Driver Virus: A virus that causes whoever is hit to slow down. The virus can be transferred to other drivers. Looks like the blue virus from the NES game Dr. Mario.
Pie tin: A normal pie tin; it locks on to another racer and bashes them in the head.
Cream Pie: A pie, tossed backwards. The screen of the target is covered in whipped cream, obscuring vision. Similar to the Blooper in Mario Kart DS.
Banana Peel: Mario Kart's classic item, it is left on the track for other racers to slip on.
Rain Cloud: This cloud locks onto another racer, raining on the track and making it harder for the driver to steer. It looks somewhat like Mallow from Super Mario RPG.
Snow Cloud: This cloud freezes the unfortunate racer.
Thunder cloud: Stronger than the rain cloud, it causes a massive thunder storm.
Mushroom: Gives your kart a small boost.

Winning the Challenge Game will reward a user with a special item. The special item is specifically related (and only available) to the driver that the player chooses. For example, Pac-Man has special items of Invincible Pill, Rally-X, Pooka, and Galaga Boss. All the them related to popular classical games of Namco.

The six special items rewarded are somewhat having similar nature among different characters. E.g. completing the challenge game in Mario Stage will be rewarded with an invincible-endowing item.

Mario Stage: Invincible-endowing item.
Donkey Kong Stage: Hammer-like weapon (similar to a Lightning Bolt).
Wario Stage: Back-dropping item.
Pac-Man Stage: “All Bad Condition Vanishes” item.
Bowser Stage: Item that could shoot forward or backward.

However, the Special item rewarded for Rainbow Stage does not necessarily shares similarity across different characters. For example, Chain Chomp for Mario and Luigi is “lock-on shot”, while Thwomp for Bowser which is back-dropping, or Galaga Boss which is forward shooting but without lock-on for Pac-Man, or Conga for Donkey Kong which is radial in nature.

In the course of Special Stages, items rewarded from the races will be labelled with a “+” sign, signifying that is a “plus item”. “Plus items” are the same as the items that players can acquired from normal stages, but plus items usually have longer time spans and increased power.

“Triple items” will be rewarded if player completed a stage in the 150cc Grand Prix races. Triple items are selected items from the normal ones, but they can be fired, dropped or used three times with one hit to the item box. For example “Triple Pie” means player can drop a pie three times instead of one time.

External links

[Gamespot preview of Mario Kart Arcade GP]
[Mario Kart Central] - Mario Kart Central's page dedicated to Mario Kart Arcade GP
[Mario Kart Arcade GP] at GameFAQs

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