Retro A look at the 'Mario Kart Arcade GP' series, 2005 - 2017.

[Ninjadom]

Hi guys,

Here we have a whole series of Mario Kart games that many people never played or even know about, Mario Kart Arcade GP.

The Mario Kart Arcade GP games are a series of Mario Kart games released by Namco (later Bandai-Namco) in the arcades. The first game was announced in 2004 and released into arcades in 2005 and ran on the TRIFORCE ARCADE BOARD, which was an arcade board developed by Nintendo, Sega & Namco that was based on the Nintendo Gamecube hardware.

2005: Mario Kart Arcade GP

Wikipedia:
There are a total of six cups, with four tracks in each, totalling twenty-four. The cups are Mario Cup, Wario Cup, Pac-Man Cup, DK Cup, Bowser Cup, and the unlockable Rainbow Cup. After a track is completed, the player must insert additional credits to continue the game, even if first place is achieved. After finishing all four races from each stage, a "challenge game" comes up, in which the player is required to complete a certain task; each of them requires the player to drive to a goal under a certain amount of time while under a certain condition, such as driving backwards through a field of banana peels.

When a player hits one of the item boxes scattered throughout the tracks, the player is given one of the three selected items chosen at the start of a race. Mario Kart Arcade GP features items new and old. Unique to this game is a lock-on feature for the items.

Also unique to this game is a temporary shield that is produced while powersliding which protects players from items thrown at them by the other racers.

The game features all eight playable characters from Mario Kart 64, as well as guest characters Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky for a total of eleven. Most of the game's sound effects came from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! including the pre-race countdown timer to commence racing.

2007: Mario Kart Arcade GP 2

Wikipedia:
Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 is the second game in the Mario Kart Arcade GP arcade game series released in 2007.The game was the first in the series to be developed and published by Bandai Namco Games. The game used the Triforce arcade system board.

The game features the "Nam Cam" camera features of its predecessor, and 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc difficulty modes, as well as new items. During the races, there is color commentary, which can be toggled on or off at any time prior to starting the race. In the Japanese version of the game, this is done by the prominent Japanese voice actor and on-screen personality Kōichi Yamadera. In the English version, this is done by Justin Berti. All eleven characters from Mario Kart Arcade GP return, alongside new characters Waluigi from the Mario series and Mametchi from the Tamagotchi series. All cups from the first game also appear, with the addition of two new cups, Yoshi Cup and Waluigi Cup.

2013: Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

Wikipedia:
Mario Kart Arcade GP DX is the third Mario Kart Arcade GP title, which was released in Japanese arcades on July 25, 2013, and in North American and European arcades in 2014 (previously announced for end of 2013, but the game was available in all Dave & Buster's restaurants from February 16, 2014 until April 2014.

The game features ten redesigned courses, as well as features introduced in Mario Kart 7 such as gliders and underwater racing. Along with Grand Prix and Battle mode, the game introduces two new modes; Alter-Ego and Team. Alter-Ego mode uses online functionality to allow players to race against ghosts records previously set by other players. Team mode allows two players to face against two computer-controlled opponents. The two players can combine their karts to form a more powerful kart, with one player driving and the other serving as the gunner, similar to Mario Kart Double Dash!!.

The racing commentary returns in this game and this time, it is voiced in Japanese by Rica Matsumoto, who also voices Ash Ketchum in the Japanese version of the Pokémon anime, and in English by Jack Merluzzi, who played in the in-game announcer in Fast Racing Neo.

2017: Mario Kart Arcade GP VR

Wikipedia: Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is the fourth Mario Kart Arcade GP title, which was released in Japanese arcades on July 14, 2017. Unlike the previous games, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR was only released in VR Zone arcades in Japan, Korea, the UK, the Philippines, the US, and France. Unlike prior Mario Kart games, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is played through use of a virtual reality headset and in first person. The game was developed on a HTC Vive Microsoft Windowsarcade system. Similar to the prior arcade Mario Kart games, the game is controlled via a steering wheel and acceleration and brake pedals. In addition, items are thrown by making hand movements, which the game registers by an attachment to the player's wrist. For example, to throw a Green Shell, one must make a throwing motion with their open palm. Also, instead of using Item Boxes, the game uses red, yellow, and green balloons to store items. Gliders are also present, and are used similarly to Mario Kart Arcade GP DX.

Nice!! So what's everyones experience with the Mario Kart Arcade GP series been? I've played the first three but not the VR one. And even then I've only played a few games of each.

It's interesting that the arcade team behind these games helped with Mario Kart 8 & 8DX. I think they helped with 7 as well. And Mario Kart Arcade GP VR gives hints at how we managed to get ourselves Mario Kart Home Circuit on the Switch.

 

[kimbo99]

This shit was the most fun I had on a date. The girl I was on the date with didn't enjoy the fact I was mopping the floor with her and the 2 other players. Man good times.

 

[7threst]

Somehow I remember a MArio GP cabinet with a Gamecube memorycard feature, or does my mind plays tricks on me and was that only a thing in F-Zero cabinets?

 

[ILikeFeet]

2013: Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

remember when people said this is was Mario Kart 8 would have looked like? fun times

finally, Mario in Unreal Engine

 

[Ninjadom]

Somehow I remember a MArio GP cabinet with a Gamecube memorycard feature, or does my mind plays tricks on me and was that only a thing in F-Zero cabinets?

No, I don't think there was a Gamecube memory card feature, but Mario Kart Arcade GP did use smart cards for save data...

 

[totofogo]

If there were 6 years between GP 2 and DX, and we're only 4 years out from VR, then I wouldn't say this series is dead yet.

Not that year gaps mean anything much (glares at Mario Kart 8)

 

[7threst]

No, I don't think there was a Gamecube memory card feature, but Mario Kart Arcade GP did use smart cards for save data...

I probably confuse it with that, thanks!

 

[Ninjadom]

If there were 6 years between GP 2 and DX, and we're only 4 years out from VR, then I wouldn't say this series is dead yet.

Not that year gaps mean anything much (glares at Mario Kart 8)

Well, DX allowed for arcade units to connect to the internet and receive updates.

So although the game released in 2013, various updates extended the life of the game for arcade operators...

Daisy & Gold Mario got added as a playable character in one update, and the updates extend to events as recently as October 2021.

Triple Gold Shell event:

 

[totofogo]

Well, DX allowed for arcade units to connect to the internet and receive updates.

So although the game released in 2013, various updates extended the life of the game for arcade operators...

Peach got added as a playable character in one update, and the updates extend to events as recently as October 2021.

Triple Gold Shell event:

Huh, TIL!

I'ld love to get out to an arcade this holiday season to revisit this and Luigis Mansion.

 

[Ninjadom]

 

[Amadeus]

Never had the chance to play these unfortunately and I don't think that Nintendo will ever release them for the Switch or Dane.
But for what I saw, it seems like really really good arcade games.

 

[Ninjadom]

Huh, TIL!

I'ld love to get out to an arcade this holiday season to revisit this and Luigis Mansion.

You've given me an idea on doing a thread on Luigi Mansion Arcade next!!

 

[ILikeFeet]

I'm surprised there aren't more Nintendo arcade games. Raw Thrills should make an ARMS or Excite Truck cabinet

 

[Ninjadom]

I'm surprised there aren't more Nintendo arcade games. Raw Thrills should make an ARMS or Excite Truck cabinet

There used to be a good 30-40 Nintendo arcade games in the good old 80's.

Today? I think it's only Mario Kart Arcade GP DX & VR by Namco, Cruis'n Blast by Raw Thrills and Luigi Mansion Arcade by Capcom.

 

[The Giant]

Wish this gets ported at some point.

 

[Boyfriend]

Wish this gets ported at some point.

kind of a monkey's paw wish there

outside of the initial novelty, they'd be really bad outside of a typical arcade setting. the tracks are extremely flat and short and have almost no hazards and it's really more about arcade racing repeatedly to unlock better items to guarantee victory

might make for a decent small downloadable title, but it's probably not worth the effort it would take

 

[MondoMega]

I've played the first two in arcades (but anyone can experience these at home via emulation or a homebrewed Wii ); fairly fun times.

There's a relatively local place that has DX (and Luigi's Mansion Arcade, haven't played either), so i'll have to try it out sometime.

 

[E.Gadd]

The two things that stuck with me the most from playing this game in the arcades was that there are a hundred items I have never heard of, and also that even when you win the race you have to keep paying to continue to the next round.

I had fun though.

Also, this series actual introduces a brand new Mario character to the canon:

Spoiler: Exclusive New Mario Character

Robo Mario.

Not to be confused with Metal Mario.

I'm not sure why but... I trust them.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I'm not sure why but... I trust them.

if Metal Sonic taught me anything, always trust robots

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

Wish this gets ported at some point.

That actually exists in a unofficial form. Nintendon't, which is a tool that lets you run Gamecube games on your Wii off the SD card or USB slot. Has support for the Triforce Arcade board the first two games ran on.


The actual arcade board had a bit of extra RAM compared to a stock Gamecube, so that's why using a Wii is necessary.

 

[Niraj]

I played the first one back in 2006 with a couple friends in a mall. I remember having fun at the time.

 

[Dcubed]

Honestly? None of these games are particularily good. The track designs are incredibly boring, and the item choice is about as stock as it gets.

These are very average games, underneath the Mario Kart coat of paint.

They're also REALLY money grubbing. You're looking at £1 PER RACE, not even per GP!

 

[xghost777]

There’s a neat novelty to these games in an arcade context. I must have played the third one since it had the Taiko drum as one of the racers at a Round One arcade. Part of me wants them ported just so we could experience them easier, but I agree with others they aren’t as good as a real Mario Kart game.

 

[CyberWolfBia]

The two things that stuck with me the most from playing this game in the arcades was that there are a hundred items I have never heard of, and also that even when you win the race you have to keep paying to continue to the next round.

I had fun though.

Also, this series actual introduces a brand new Mario character to the canon:

Spoiler: Exclusive New Mario Character

Robo Mario.

Not to be confused with Metal Mario.

I'm not sure why but... I trust them.

Robo Mario is the coolest thing! I wish we had him in the main Mario Kart games replacing Metal Mario, which is so lame;

I also love they made him as a E.Gadd invention, so it's all fitting within the context of the series!


Speaking of which, here's me once again bringing some trivia... The Thundercloud item which was in Mario Kart Wii, was first introduced to the series in one of the Arcade GP games!

Which makes me even more frustrated that elements like Robo Mario never transitioned over

remember when people said this is was Mario Kart 8 would have looked like? fun times

Honestly? I still think I prefer the art direction on DX over 8. They got much more vibrant colors going on and are more faithful to the main Mario platformers, unlike MK8 which tries to go overly detailed/realistic and feel so disconcted to Mario games in certain tracks (like Thwomp Ruins)

This is what I like to see, a Mario level turning into a racing track, much like the original Super Mario Kart on SNES had a whole SMW theme going on! Closest we can get of this in the main Mario Kart games these days are Piranha Plant Slide

 

[ILikeFeet]

DX looks garish with flat lighting and no sense of direction. Throwing over-saturated colors with no sense of material properties doesn't make for an authentic look, IMO. Mario Odyssey goes for realistic material properties and comes out fine. I don't think MK8 doesn't fit. If anything, if feels like the direction a hypothetical HD Square Enix Mario RPG would have gone

 

[CyberWolfBia]

DX looks garish with flat lighting and no sense of direction. Throwing over-saturated colors with no sense of material properties doesn't make for an authentic look, IMO. Mario Odyssey goes for realistic material properties and comes out fine. I don't think MK8 doesn't fit. If anything, if feels like the direction a hypothetical HD Square Enix Mario RPG would have gone

Well, I'm also not a fan of Odyssey's art direction lol; I'm a 3D World/3D Land kind of guy, so that's why I'd gravitate more for how Mario Kart Arcade GP DX looks

 

[Ninjadom]

Tanooki Mario made his Mario Kart appearance in Arcade GP DX before his recent addition to Mario Kart Tour.
Arcade GP DX

Tour

Character line up for Arcade GP DX

 

[CyberWolfBia]

Character line up for Arcade GP DX

Beyond those (and color variants of same characters), they also added King Boo, Lakitu, Daisy and Dry Bowser;

Also, some got their feathers hussled for Ghostly Adventures Pac-Man there, but I liked they gave it a chance to shine, since it was relevant at the time.

 

[GamerJM]

I used to play the first one in between Pump it Up sets at a local arcade in 2008. I remember it being kinda easy and janky, but fun.

 

[ShadowFox08]

GP DX and GP AR look amazing. Anyone know what hardware config they ran on (CPU, GPU, ram etc)?

 

[ILikeFeet]

GP DX and GP AR look amazing. Anyone know what hardware config they ran on (CPU, GPU, ram etc)?

GP DX is on a Core i5 3550 and a 650Ti or a 680 and 8 or 16GB of DDDR3

The VR game is no doubt significantly newer, probably a 1070 or 1080

 

[ShadowFox08]

GP DX is on a Core i5 3550 and a 650Ti or a 680 and 8 or 16GB of DDDR3

The VR game is no doubt significantly newer, probably a 1070 or 1080

Wow. 1.4 and 6 Ttflops GPU. Honestly didn't think they were that much ahead. Mk8D looks really good and sometimes better than DX in some areas.

 

[Ninjadom]

GP DX and GP AR look amazing. Anyone know what hardware config they ran on (CPU, GPU, ram etc)?

GP DX is on a Core i5 3550 and a 650Ti or a 680 and 8 or 16GB of DDDR3

The VR game is no doubt significantly newer, probably a 1070 or 1080

The official name of the arcade hardware is the 'Namco System ES3'.

Namco System ES3 (used in games from 2013 to 2020)​

• CPU: Intel Core i5-3550S at 3.00 GHz
• RAM: 8 GB DDR3 2400 MHz (Revision B) / 16 GB DDR3 2400 MHz (Revision X)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti (Revision B) / GTX 680 (Revision X) PCIe 3.0 x16
• Output: 1 DVI-I port, 1 DVI-D port, 1 HDMI port
• Storage: HGST 250 GB 5400 RPM (HTS545025A7E680) SATA III HDD
• Operating System: Windows Embedded Standard 7
• Sound: Integrated HD Audio
• Protection: HASP HL Max USB dongle, Windows BitLocker

 

[ILikeFeet]

Wow. 1.4 and 6 Ttflops GPU. Honestly didn't think they were that much ahead. Mk8D looks really good and sometimes better than DX in some areas.

arcade hardware are just PCs now. there's no point in bespoke hardware like Triforce anymore. for example, Cruis'n Blast runs on a GTX 1050 Ti in the arcade

 

[Cantaim]

Played a few of thee in arcades over the years. Always a bit surreal to play them lol. It also catches me off guard that Nintendo never includes the stuff from these games in any of their home releases. Feels like it’s a no brained.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Played a few of thee in arcades over the years. Always a bit surreal to play them lol. It also catches me off guard that Nintendo never includes the stuff from these games in any of their home releases. Feels like it’s a no brained.

probably because stuff designed for arcade is quite different in design language

 

[lanmanna]

kind of a monkey's paw wish there

outside of the initial novelty, they'd be really bad outside of a typical arcade setting. the tracks are extremely flat and short and have almost no hazards and it's really more about arcade racing repeatedly to unlock better items to guarantee victory

might make for a decent small downloadable title, but it's probably not worth the effort it would take

I think it would be cool as a Switch Online title tbh.

 

[linkwashere]

Probably they have some contract clauses that specify some (timed?) exclusivity to the arcades. I guess part of the attractive of these is not being able to play those tracks anywhere else.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Probably they have some contract clauses that specify some (timed?) exclusivity to the arcades. I guess part of the attractive of these is not being able to play those tracks anywhere else.

Nintendo doesn't give a shit about this game at all. If there was an ability to bring this to console, it would have happened already given the age of these games

 

[P.Scoop]

The Arcade titles were and still are only meant to be played at an arcade. The cabinets also features additional hardware setups that wouldn't be easily ported.

I'm not sure about the first game, but the second game have a camera to take photo of you to use as an icon for example, how the announcer's voice were sent to the speakers on the seat and not from the TV, or how some item effects make your wheel moving on its own. All are something that was lost when using emulation.

There's also no such thing as "timed" exclusivity considering how none of the titles were ported to Nintendo systems.

---

Back to the games a bit, while I never got to play the first arcade game or VR. I played quite a bit of the second game and a few rounds of DX. It's still Mario Kart, but there are a lot more nuances when turning, for the second game especially it can be pretty hard to turn the right amount to even get decent rank at 100cc. And drifting is definitely not like your usual Mario Kart and take quite a bit getting used to. Still it's fun for a quick round or two.

 

[Famicrono]

I always wanted to play these games, think it would be nice if they released it on eShop with maybe some tweaks to be more console-like and let the arcades keep a sense of exclusivity.

 

[Reinhard Schneider]

I always wanted to play these, but never got on it, despite having the means to do so.

My strongest memories of the Arcade series is reading people on forums speculating that Mario Kart 8 would look like a souped up GP2. Man, those post-reveal gifs made rounds shutting up mouths left and right. Particularly this one.