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Official Mario Kart DS topic!

E

elostyle

Never forget! I'm Dumb!
:Motorbass said:
Wuot? No. It's delayed to 25. Nov. At least in Germany and I thought in whole Europe. That's known for some weeks...
Click to expand...
Don't you lie to me!

Owned cant wait for him to wake up tommorow run to the store and the clerks to laugh at him..
Click to expand...
I like you too. It's actually not friday yet anyways ;)
 
R

Rlan

Member
I mentioned it, but didn't link it. Surprising how they only decided to go online just a little before E3 this year.

Here is a good question: Once you've unlocked Secret Characters, do the regular GP's just randomly choose a set of players for the whole GP? I know it's not like Sonic R, where if you played as an unlocked character, you'd play against other unlocked characters.

Is there any System involved? Can you get a GP without Mario for instance? A GP with more Heavy characters than light? Are cars randomized for them too? If I play as Mario, am I more likely to get CPU players as enemy characters or more friends, or is there pretty much nothing in it?

What about rivalry? In MKSC, you tend to notice sort of a rivalry system. If you play as Peach, Bowser and Luigi tend to have a better chance of beating you, yet Wario will never win, etc etc.
 
HeadsUpSevenUp

HeadsUpSevenUp

Member
I made this GAF stripe that you can add to your Mario Kart avatar:

GAFclan.gif


I hope that you guys will wear it with pride!

I'm still working on more stripes for my avatar to represent other places like 4colorrebellion.com and dsdev.org

Any ideas?
 
K

krypt0nian

Banned
CRAIG-IGN's positives/negatives of ONLINE play with MK

Positives:

# Mario Kart DS enables two, three, or four player races in 20 of the available 32 race tracks. The match-ups don't feature computer opponent drones, and the more active tracks with tons of environmental hazards (like giant rolling balls) have been taken out of the equation. Battle Mode is not an option.

# Mario Kart DS has the ability to keep a log of people you consider friends. These "friends" are obtained two ways. 1) Playing people in local wireless multiplayer (i.e. in the same room, connected system to system via the standard wireless protocol and NOT the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection) will automatically transmit that person's ID into your Friend's List. 2) Each player's game has a unique 12 digit "Friend's Code." You can give that code to your friends, who can enter it into their own game with a temporary name. When logging onto the Wi-Fi Connection with the DS, when the DS sees that person online, it will automatically pull the appropriate user name and his icon. The temporary user name that you entered will be overwritten in favor of the data that the other user has already registered. And Friends can be removed from your list easily.

# Mario Kart DS automatically links players together in the match-up. By choosing "Friends", Nintendo's server will go out and pull players on your Friends List also sitting on the Connect screen waiting for a match-up. "Rivals," in theory, pairs up players with like-skills, most likely comparing the wins/loss record ratio. Regional matches up people in the same territory, and Worldwide connects anyone on the planet together. Worldwide runs the most risk of lag, since you could theoretically be playing people from Japan, US, Europe all at the same time.

# Mario Kart DS keeps track of the win-loss record against members in your Friend's List. If you want to see how many times you beat that Friend, that data is recorded to cartridge so you can take that data with you to gloat (or hide). Unfortunately, it doesn't keep track of your wins/loss records against players that aren't listed as Friends on your cartridge...and currently, the website doesn't offer this data, either.

# Mario Kart DS will alert you when a Friend is logged on and waiting to play a match. Right above the Wireless strength bar, a blue "Friend" icon will pop up and blink when he logs onto the Wi-Fi Connection with Mario Kart DS. This icon pops up anywhere: menu selections or in-game during a race. Unfortunately, players can't see which friend it is, nor can they interact with them in any way. It's just an alert, nothing more.

And now, for the negatives:

# Mario Kart DS online racing is a little more limited. Certain elements have been tweaked or removed to make the game run as seamlessly as possible. The "Three Banana" power-up has been taken out of the equation, and players can't hold a banana peel or turtle shell behind their kart for protection.


# Mario Kart DS does not allow for specific match-ups. Let's say I want to play my friend MrKori and only MrKori in a one-on-one race. The only way I can do that is if I make sure that he's the ONLY person on my Friend's List (meaning, I've physically deleted everyone else), and he's logged on and searching at the same time under the "Friends" search setting. You also can't force a two or three player race. The server will automatically give up and let two or three players race if it can't find a third or fourth player to match up, but players don't have the option to go ahead without the additional racers.

# Mario Kart DS does not allow players to "Friend" online racers. If I play a Regional or Worldwide race, I'll be playing against people I've never met. If I had a great time playing against, say, ShellBoy, there's no way I can add ShellBoy to my Friend's List because the game never gives me that option. And without any sort of contact information transmitted, there's no way to get in touch with ShellBoy to send him my Friend Code. In theory players will be able to search for names on the NintendoWiFi.com website, but at this time there's no contact info attached to them.

# Mario Kart DS does not penalize players who disconnect in the middle of the match. I've had certain instances where players will power off their system in the middle of a circuit, on the last race simply because they didn't have enough points to push them over the edge for the first place win. If it's a three or four player race, the dropped player will just disappear and let the other two or three players race, but if it's a one-on-one race, that dropped player will sever the connection and all that racing progress will be lost without any sort of mark on your win-loss record.

# Mario Kart DS doesn't pull up the opposing players' overall Win-Loss record unless you're actually racing against them. Your Friends' List shows what your win-loss record is against each player, but you can't see what his or her global Win-Loss ranking is in-game. This may be something that will pop up on the NintendoWiFi.com website, but so far, it's not an option.

At the very least, Mario Kart DS's online interface is extremely elegant in its simplicity, but that simplicity comes at the cost of limitations. Keep in mind that Mario Kart DS isn't an indication of the direction that Nintendo's taking with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. As the company works on additional online games, the teams will most likely add features and functionality to the DS side of the link.
Click to expand...
 
HeadsUpSevenUp

HeadsUpSevenUp

Member
As for the Negative about friending strangers, if you see someone with the GAF clan stripe, you could come on here and ask for the DS username of the person you raced. For example if I raced "DrinkyCrow" and I saw the GAF stripe, I would post here asking for his friend code.
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
HeadsUpSevenUp said:
As for the Negative about friending strangers, if you see someone with the GAF clan stripe, you could come on here and ask for the DS username of the person you raced. For example if I raced "DrinkyCrow" and I saw the GAF stripe, I would post here asking for his friend code.
Click to expand...

Somehow I dont think we'll every see DrinkyCrow playing MKDS
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Yeah Craigs article from IGN confirms it your'll either have to down it to WEP or get the dongle.
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
The only slowdown/lag I heard of if when there was lots of journalists in the one room trying to connect. I think the Dongle would slow down if more the say 3 DS's were connected but there should be enough bandwidth on it for at least too. Maybe some more techie people have a definite answer.
 
M

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
I'm sure this isn't a problem, but I'll just check. I bought my DS in Canada, but live in the UK. Now there's no problem buying games from anywhere on the DS normally, but how about now it's online? Will the Canadian DS play the UK game online fine? What if I was to import the game from non-PAL territories, would I then be able to play it online in the UK?
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
marsomega said:
Circuit CIty has a holiday buyers uide magazine and with it is a 5 bux off Mario Kart DS coupon. Just a heads up.
Click to expand...


Good catch.

Do you need the coupon, or is it just one of those "we're letting you know its on sale" deals?
 
L

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
not being able to hold your items behind your kart online is a pretty huge negative.
 
G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
Rlan said:
I mentioned it, but didn't link it. Surprising how they only decided to go online just a little before E3 this year.

Here is a good question: Once you've unlocked Secret Characters, do the regular GP's just randomly choose a set of players for the whole GP? I know it's not like Sonic R, where if you played as an unlocked character, you'd play against other unlocked characters.

Is there any System involved? Can you get a GP without Mario for instance? A GP with more Heavy characters than light? Are cars randomized for them too? If I play as Mario, am I more likely to get CPU players as enemy characters or more friends, or is there pretty much nothing in it?

What about rivalry? In MKSC, you tend to notice sort of a rivalry system. If you play as Peach, Bowser and Luigi tend to have a better chance of beating you, yet Wario will never win, etc etc.
Click to expand...

Once you start unlocking characters who competes against you in a GP is randomized. I didn't notice any kind of system for who would give you the most pressure, though. I went through almost the entire GP as Yoshi and it was never the same characters coming in 2nd. I think the AI just decided who was going to pressure me, so those karts were the good racers...
 
L

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
unless maybe a well timed hop would work for defense? That combined with the overhead map might make it ok.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Teddman said:
Yeah, first-place runner beware. Would it really have slowed the game down that much?
Click to expand...
I suspect most of what they took out had more to do with potential issues from latency (not as in causing lag but as in not registering on everyone's system at the same time) than because of slowing the game down or causing lag or anything.
 
S

Swordian

Member
levious said:
not being able to hold your items behind your kart online is a pretty huge negative.
Click to expand...

Why? I thought it was neat when it was added in MK64, but by no means was I wishing for it when I played SMK. You just have to time your drops.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
lappy4711 said:
First post on GAF...be gentle with me...sorry if discussed, but how is the battery life affected by MK online?
Click to expand...
the same as any multiplayer game on DS, being as online and local both use the same wireless chip. as for exact numbers, don't know.
 
M

:Motorbass

Member
lappy4711 said:
First post on GAF...be gentle with me...sorry if discussed, but how is the battery life affected by MK online?
Click to expand...

Not more as with other Multiplayergames I guess...

edit: whoops, too late:

nine words: I read, that mirror is not available online.
 
Nester

Nester

Member
levious said:
not being able to hold your items behind your kart online is a pretty huge negative.
Click to expand...

I'm used to it now from not being able to hold items behind me in Double Dash. Just have to time your throws right behind you to protect yourself.

The only time I'm holding items behind me is when I'm in first place anyways (so I guess that means all the time, har har) so I don't really need to store one item behind me just so I can have one in reserve.
 
F

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
SpeedRazor said:
I'm used to it now from not being able to hold items behind me in Double Dash. Just have to time your throws right behind you to protect yourself.

The only time I'm holding items behind me is when I'm in first place anyways (so I guess that means all the time, har har) so I don't really need to store one item behind me just so I can have one in reserve.
Click to expand...
But now imagine being able to do it offline but not online and you'll realize how stupid it is.
 
Nester

Nester

Member
Fuzzy said:
But now imagine being able to do it offline but not online and you'll realize how stupid it is.
Click to expand...

I agree, it's stupid and should be one or the other for both online and offline but at least I have my timing down on throwing shells behind me when I'm being attacked.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Fuzzy said:
But now imagine being able to do it offline but not online and you'll realize how stupid it is.
Click to expand...
my guess is iwata demanding online at the last minute really hurt the devs. we will probably see another mario kart game on the DS by next christmas.
 
M

:Motorbass

Member
borghe said:
my guess is iwata demanding online at the last minute really hurt the devs. we will probably see another mario kart game on the DS by next christmas.
Click to expand...

That would be okay. But it really has to be killer then. Map/ Kart Editor, downloadable Content etc.

And to those who say: Nah, tradition says, only 1 MK game per generation;
3 F-Zero games on GBA.
 
M

marsomega

Member
suaveric said:
Hmm.. where can I pick one of these up?
Click to expand...

maynerd said:
Where do I get this magazine?
Click to expand...

At circuit city I would figure or ask them about it. It had King Kong X360 and Joanna Dark on the cover. There are two sets of coupons for different games besides Kameo, PGR3, and MK: DS as well. ( We love Katamari is on there.) I got them through a friend of mine that works at the Circuit City Dadeland (Miami, FL). Tee hee, he had a stack of them, I took a few.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Razoric said:
dumb question, how would DLC be done on DS? Download to the game? How much memory could they hold?
Click to expand...
well, typical save these days is 64Kb (that's 8KB). though some games have had larger. Advance Wars DS has 2Mb (yes 256KB) of save space. so who knows with compression.
 
A

antipode

Member
borghe said:
the same as any multiplayer game on DS, being as online and local both use the same wireless chip. as for exact numbers, don't know.
Click to expand...

I doubt that's true; the Ni-Fi local protocol was designed to be low-power, and wireless power consumption is proportional to bandwidth (and to a lesser extent latency.) Battery life is probably a little bit worse online, though how much worse it's tough to guess.
 
C

chespace

It's not actually trolling if you don't admit it
The biggest problem with Mario Kart DS is that a 4 player race soon becomes a 2 player race. The players in 3rd and 4th place always drop because they don't want a loss on their record. And the person in 2nd place will drop if they're on their last lap with no chance of catching up. It's pretty pathetic.
 
G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
Che's right. Considering that almost everyone currently online is supposed to be either press or otherwise involved in the industry, its pathetic the number of people that drop. I'm not like Godly good at Mario Kart or anything, but I've probably only completed 4 of my last 5 online GPs because all my competition drops when I get so far ahead. I fear for what it will be like when the general population is online.

Also, re: Battery life- I'm gonna be running a full battery life test for modojo soon, but in the meantime I can confirm that either my DS battery is beginning to show signs of wear, or MKDS online does up consumption a notable amount. One day of off-and-on single player/online gets me in the red by night, and I know I'm not playing near that many hours.
 
D

DrEvil

not a medical professional
Someone go online please, I've been sitting in the world wide matchmaking for like 15 minutes, grr.
 
M

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Do any of you guys who have the game have a DS from outside your territory in the office? I just want a quick confirmation that there's no problem with it online, I don't feel like buying a Mario Kart if I can't play multiplayer.
 
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