mariokart
Latest
Wii VC's Mario Kart 64 to remain ghostless
Nintendo has no plans to address players' inability to save time trial ghost data in the just released Wii Virtual Console port of Mario Kart 64 (the original game required a Controller Pak to record the data). "Due to unavoidable technical reasons unfortunately it is not possible to save ghost data," claims a Nintendo statement sent to Pro-G. Shoppers are apparently advised of the missing feature before purchasing the title from Wii Shop Channel.Unavoidable? Maybe, but we suspect Nintendo's just being lazy. Since no N64 game required any of the 'Pak' controller add-ons (including Rumble) to play (some required a Controller Pak to save), developers of VC's N64 emulator and its games aren't bothering to re-code scripts to circumvent commands meant for the Paks. Surely ghost data could be saved to Wii's flash drive; after all, the original Controller Pak contained a mere 256 KB of memory. If a more important Pak issue, for a more important N64 VC game arises, trust us, "unavoidable" will become "we're working on it."
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night (1/30/07)
We've tallied up the votes and our Game Night title has been chosen. We'll be meeting up in the same room as last week, at the same time. All of the details, including the results of the poll determining what game we'll be playing tonight, are after the break.
Handheld winter wonderlands
Is it cold outside? December just seems like it should be chilly, but no matter the weather outside, you can get cosy inside with Modojo's picks for the best winter wonderlands ever to fill a handheld screen with white stuff. Unsurprisingly, Mario Kart DS pops up on the list, with its wintry stages. They're pretty, sure, but this blogger fears taking to the ice almost as much as she does the dreaded Rainbow Road, and a pox on whoever picked it at the last Mario Kart Game Night. A pox!The full list does boast a few surprises, though The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Seasons (pictured) wasn't one of them. [Thanks, Justin!]
Mario Kart 64 headlines Jan. Wii VC lineup, in Japan
Nintendo will deal a strong hand of nostalgia to begin the New Year, as January will see Japanese Wii owners tempted by the likes of Mario Kart 64 and SNES Super Famicom's Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (the last series' title to be produced by Gunpei Yokoi). Additional classics like Ice Climber, Kid Icarus and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link will fill out the first-party offerings; and new Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 titles will ensure that the Virtual Console service always has something stirring a soft spot.Which Christmas releases did you give in to?
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night (12/19/06)
We've tallied up the votes and our Game Night title has been chosen. We'll be meeting up in the same room as last week, at the same time. All of the details, including the results of the poll determining what game we'll be playing tonight, are after the break.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night (11/28/06)
The votes are in and our Game Night game has been chosen. We'll be meeting up in the same room as last week, at the same time. All of the details, including the results of the poll determining what game we'll be playing tonight, are after the break.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night (tonight!)
Tonight's the night! We introduced this feature last week and, as we had hoped, you guys (and gals) were totally on board with the idea. We're glad because spending Tuesday nights alone, chained to the radiator and whipped mercilessly as we blog our lives, and fingertips, away just isn't our ideal night. We need the hour-long break. We need the hope. So, read on ahead for all of the details you'll need to get your Mario Kart on with the DS Fanboy staff!
Your Week in Nintendo - 11/13/06 - 11/19/06
Been buried in Wii news all week? Never fear, because we're here with the best and brightest from last week at DS Fanboy. Your Week in Nintendo recaps the week's most notable stories, based on relevance and reader support. For the week of November 13th through November 19th, don't miss: 5) The DS on British airwavesWe love us some ads, and this awesome new UK television spot is one of the best we've seen lately. From a good selection of games to a realistic portrayal of a gamer on the go, Nintendo proves that DS lovers are alike no matter where or how they play. 4) New footage from the forthcoming Naruto gameSo good, one commenter thought it was a Wii game. This is one video you won't want to miss, whether you're a fan of the anime or not. If the game lives up to the graphics, you'll be a fan soon anyway .... 3) The Final Fantasy III reviews roll inThe reviews for the redone FFIII are in, and the scores are somewhat surprising. Looks like some people think old school RPGs should remain a thing of the past. But let's try to remember that high seventies doesn't mean we should all go the seppuku route. Not everything should get a perfect score, after all .... 2) Games 4 Girls?GameStop's new Games 4 Girls display is causing a stir across the 'net. Should we be encouraging anyone to play some of these? Cooking Mama, sure, but That's So Raven? No wonder there's a dearth of female gamers. 1) DS Fanboy announces the first Game NightAnd this week's biggest news is right here! Join us on Tuesday for chatting and a few rounds of Mario Kart. Stay tuned for further details about the upcoming hour of power.
The DS brings home a few Golden Joysticks
When gamers choose, the DS wins! A few awards, at least. And oh, shall we ever covet them. At the Golden Joystick awards, wherein most winners are chosen by the gaming public, Nintendogs took home Family Game of the Year and Girl's Choice, and New Super Mario Bros. snagged Nintendo Game of the Year. Poor Mario Kart DS was the bridesmaid of the day -- nominated for several awards and winning naught but a big goose egg. Oh well. It still reigns in our hearts.
All your (German) questions answered
A reader dropped us an interesting tip today -- German online gaming hub Nintendo-LAN.de took reader questions to Leipzig as part of a feature. Google mangles the translation ('hi' becomes 'rear ones' -- how's that for a neat trick?), but as James tipped us off, one of the questioners posted a partial translation to the IGN boards. It's not all hot news, as it seems the questions were e-mailed to the online mag rather before the Games Convention (as one fan asks about using the GCN controller for Twilight Princess), but some of it is interesting. Red Steel is reported to have no load times and movements with the Wiimote are no longer predetermined, but are converted directly from player input. Sounds like we better brush up on our swordplay. What else is there? Well, Nintendo's not confirming a Mario Kart for the Wii yet, but if there is one (wink, wink), it's very likely going to feature full online play. [Thanks, James B.!]
Mario Kart teaser site?! Or not....
An observant -- and hopeful -- Mario Kart fan tipped us off to the most exciting news of the day: a possible teaser site for a new game! With bated breath, we loaded the site. The cool, crisp image of Mario brought a collective sigh fluttering from our lips. Yes, friends, readers ... we wanted to eat Mario, we wanted that game so badly. We could taste him. But a quick check of the registered owner of the site dashed all our hopes into a tiny pile of shattered dreams salted with the tears of disappointment. Looks like someone grabbed a domain early, just to beat the rush. Sigh. It's-a not Mario. [Thanks, Marc!]
Wii marketing ideas
Making the best of a bad situation, the British Gaming Blog has posted an animation and some images relating to how they think the name "Wii" should be marketed to Nintendo fans. I especially like the Mario Kart pitch, with the letters in the logo breaking apart to form two racers battling it out at a deadly velocity (just don't ask where the four extra dots came from). Read - Weeeeee.Read - Nunchaku.Read - Mario Kart.
Overclocking the Nintendo DS
Here we have a video of a guy passing his DS through an external circuit board and adjusting the system's internal clock speed. Assuming that this isn't an elaborate fake, it's interesting to see how Mario Kart DS behaves at different clock speeds. At the overclocked rate, it practically transforms into F-Zero. Anyone that's tried to run old DOS games on a newer PC may have encountered similar speedy results. All this begs the question:Where the heck is F-Zero DS?
Nintendo Wi-Fi hits one million users
And they're all playing Mario Kart DS. Shortly after a dramatic website countdown hit six digits, Nintendo has officially announced that their Wi-Fi service has managed to ensnare over 1 million hapless users. According to Reggie Fils-Aime, all those users represent more than 27 million game sessions. That's certainly an impressive number, but we expect it to grow even further once Metroid Prime: Hunters finds its way into the hands of eager online gamers. The total number of hours that will be lost to Nintendo's Wi-Fi nexus in the next few months is nigh incalculable. Are you one of those 1,000,000 online players?[Via British Gaming Blog. Thanks JonathanEx!]
DS Meet introduces online tournament system
A while back we asked you to tell us how good you really were at Mario Kart DS. Now we might ask you to prove it. You see, the guys over at DS Meet, one of a few sites that allows users to share their friend codes and meet new players online, have implemented a cool new online tournament system. It allows you to join up with existing tournaments or create your own, all via a reasonably easy to use interface.Once you've created a tournament, the site will automatically take care of rostering (though you can manually alter this as well) and keeping track of the friend codes of those competing. You also have the option of having a forum to discuss and coordinate matches with your fellow DS players. The onus is on the tournament operator to keep track of everybody's scores though, so a level of honesty may be required if you're going to take charge of a tournament. Being the best Mario Kart DS players in the known universe, we're all about the honesty.Mind you, it's not all about the snaking. With support for Animal Crossing's various competitive activities and the upcoming Metroid Prime: Hunters, it's about fishing and shooting too. It's also about competing with people from all over the world. How about a DS Fanboy reader Mario Kart tournament? Can we have a show of hands from those who would be interested? [Thanks echelon! Keep up the good work.]
Just how good are you at Mario Kart?
Wait, don't answer that. An answer from you will obviously be biased, completely influenced by that sad devotion to your ego and utterly worthless in a court of law. No, to get an accurate answer, we must turn to the more objective nature of this Mario Kart DS Skill Calculator. Just enter your number of wins and losses, time trial results and the number of stars you have for each GP, and it'll spit out a cold and calculated set of numbers that signify your skill. Or l33t skillz, if you preferz0rz.Depending in which skill bracket you fall, you'll also be assigned a rank, ranging from the lowly banana peel ("Try playing the game more") to the much more fearsome Bullet Bill ("You're a true expert. People are right to fear you."). Which ranking are you? And don't even think about lying, because we'll know. [Thanks Nushio!]
Europeans obsessed with DS
It's true. People in Europe simply can't restrain themselves from buying Nintendo's portable wonder. More than 3.5 million units have been sold, almost all of them to people with exceedingly cool accents. The top-selling game since October has been the infinitely lovable Nintendogs, followed closely by the shell-spinning Mario Kart DS which saw release in November. The games have sold 1.6 million and 800,000 copies respectively and respectfully.Of course, it's also noted that Animal Crossing: Wild World has yet to release over there, so one should expect another rise in sales and a fall in productivity to occur very soon indeed.
Exchanging friend codes made easier
How long before the act of exchanging friend codes becomes geeky sexual innuendo? Probably not long at all, now that the full power of the internet can be used to spread your unique set of DS numbers to the world. We now know of two websites that can ease the pain of reciting a bunch of numbers into your friend's ear, a process which has to be repeated for each different game you play. Oh, if only someone could have thought up a centralized network populated with universal "Gamertags"...oh well, maybe someday.First up, we have a site called DS-Play. They allow you to sign on and create a little virtual business card for yourself, proudly displaying your screen identity and your frighteningly complex friend code. It's a place where you can log on "any time of day or night and always find REAL people to play against or trade items and facts with." Good, because I just hate losing to those damn synthetic humans all the time. Them and their mad nanoskillz.Another site that does more or less the same thing but promises to keep account info more private (though this protects the identities of filthy synthetic humans), is DSconnect. It'll send you an e-mail whenever your friends are going online with a specific game and the site's creator was even nice enough to add a team page for Joystiq readers, accessible after you sign in. So, which site should you use? We'd tell you, but our feelings towards synthetic humans would cloud our judgment and so we'll just wait for you guys to try both out and deliver a shocking verdict. [Via Joystiq. Thanks Kyle!]
The Reggie event is over
In case you didn't make it all the way to Bellevue, Washington for the legendary Reggie Mario Kart DS meeting, you might be interested in checking out coverage of the event over at the Nintendo forums. Though most of the forum posters seemed to have gotten a kick out of openly worshipping their ass-kicking, name-taking god and running into each other in "real life", not many have given feedback regarding the one question that truly deserves asking.Just how good is Reggie at Mario Kart? If you were there, let us know what you thought of the event and whether or not it altered your outlook on life in any way. Use the tips form to speak to us (about this or any of our other posts), since our comments system is still wallowing in self-despair in her room and says she hates us. [Via Joystiq]
When Japanese chart numbers attack!
Okay, now this is just getting ridiculous. It seems that I spend at least half of my time each day writing paragraphs that poignantly explain the results of another sales chart (where do they all come from?) that involves the DS. They all go something like this:This week in Japan, the DS sold a million pentatillion gazillion* units, crushing all competition and laughing maniacally before tossing their twisted bodies onto a pile of humiliated silicone chips and deceased pixels. The immense display of strength can largely be attributed to the addictive properties of Mario Kart DS, which sold a trillion** units, and a steady diet of the fofofillion*** unit selling Animal Crossing: Wild World. Though the top-selling game (with 10 omomillion**** sold) in Japan was the PS2's Rogue Galaxy (a delectable cel-shaded RPG romp), the DS was the ultimate hardware victor.* Actual figure: 299,000** Actual figure: 219,000*** Actual figure: 121,000**** Actual figure
