Since no one posted about Mario Kart DS, I decided to create a topic about it.
I don't have it yet, but it features Online Play with a Wi-fi! and its out like about 2 months ago
Mario Kart DS
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Sapphire Wolf
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came about a hairs width away from getting the girls a pair of DS's with Mario Kart DS bundled (it was that or nintendogs...) but just couldn't wrap my head around that much $$ for just 1 present each... specially since they would have had them broken by the end of the day im sure.
got em a new gamecube instead (mine died a few years back and they missed mario kart)...
i was really curious about the wifi game play...
got em a new gamecube instead (mine died a few years back and they missed mario kart)...
i was really curious about the wifi game play...
i cant wait till the Revolution comes out. Youll be able to download pretty much any game that nintendo every created, plus the controller will kick ass, and online play is free (the rev has built in wi-fi)
but the wi-fi thing is that you take your DS to any hotspot (ie starbucks) or your own wireless network and you can play people online from around the world completely for free.
but the wi-fi thing is that you take your DS to any hotspot (ie starbucks) or your own wireless network and you can play people online from around the world completely for free.
I have some friends pressuring me to buy a DS so we can play Mario Kart DS on-line. I haven't heard good things about Mario Kart DS's gameplay balancing. It sounds similar to the wacky balancing in the GameCube version (heavily favors those trailing behind, individual weapons don't do much damage). I was more concerned about DS longevity. Nintendo doesn't seem especially committed to the system and there's little else on it I have much interest in.
The Wi-Fi aspect is pretty cool, however.
The Wi-Fi aspect is pretty cool, however.
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SkyNet
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For those of you wanting to know a little more....
I have an Nintendo DS along with Mario Kart DS. I'll give my impression of the game.
If you own a DS then I think you're going to want to own this game. It's on of the best out there. Hands down. It's the only Mario Kart that lets you play Battle Mode against CPU opponents, and you race other people online.
Okay to quickly let you know where this game falls short.
1. Only 20 tracks of the 32 are available online. (You think that's not a big deal until you've played those 20 to death.)
2. You can't play battle mode online. So either you play it with friends localy in wi-fi mode or with the CPU.
3. The leader is screwed.
4. Only 4 people are allowed to race in online play, and all you can do is Grand Prix.
5. My biggest gripe. It doesn't support WPA only WEP. This may mean nothing to you people, but I like to have security.
Let me explain three. Simply put if you were in a tight race with 3 other people and you are all about 0.0100th of a second apart and you cross item boxes. Guess what. The leader is going to receive a banna peel, green shell, or if they are extremely lucky a ba-bomb. They will not receive any items that will increase their speed or give them invincibility. Not even if everyone is kissing their ass, and I mean puckered up to it.
However the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place people will each get items that can range from star(invincibility & speed), mushroom(speed), triple mushroom, golden mushroom(unlimited speed for a set time), blue shell(leader killer), bullet bill(transform into bullet bill to move up the track many places).
Depending on how far back you are in rank you'll get the better items, so fourth is liable to get the blue shell, golden mushroom, or bullet bill the most. 3rd probably the triple mushroom, and 2nd a mushroom. You can see how the leader just lost this race. Since he's only 0.0100th of a second ahead and hasn't got a speed item he just lost.
Nintendo should have considered distance along with Rank. In other words they should not give good items to those in lesser ranks if they are kissing the leader. This is something you'll have to deal with if you're good at this game.
There are other things that people don't really know. Things such as we don't really know what cc the online play is. Most people think it's 100cc though. For those that don't know what I'm talking about. cc is the engine class. The higher the number the bigger the engine the faster the car etc.... There are 3 classes. 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc.
We also don't know how the \"Rivals\" match up work. Alot of people complain they get matched up with people either way under their skill level, or to far above it, etc...
These are mainly it's online gripes I've described.
Let me talk a little bit about it's single player. It's really fun. It has alot of hidden features which I've tried not to mention here so I don't spoil things for people. I think it was something like 9 to 10 hidden items. Mind you the items are all types of things, so don't clasify it as you're going to receive an object because it might not be an object or even a thing.
In single player grand prix you'll race against the computer which IMO sucks compared to my skill, but is damn luckly with the items. I almost never lose a match to computers, but when I do it's because they blue shell me 3 or 4 times in a row. The computer is lucky like that. They will item spam you throughout the entire race. Infact you almost can't get away from a race if you're the leader without taking at least 2 blue shells and a lightening bolt during it.
I have an Nintendo DS along with Mario Kart DS. I'll give my impression of the game.
If you own a DS then I think you're going to want to own this game. It's on of the best out there. Hands down. It's the only Mario Kart that lets you play Battle Mode against CPU opponents, and you race other people online.
Okay to quickly let you know where this game falls short.
1. Only 20 tracks of the 32 are available online. (You think that's not a big deal until you've played those 20 to death.)
2. You can't play battle mode online. So either you play it with friends localy in wi-fi mode or with the CPU.
3. The leader is screwed.
4. Only 4 people are allowed to race in online play, and all you can do is Grand Prix.
5. My biggest gripe. It doesn't support WPA only WEP. This may mean nothing to you people, but I like to have security.
Let me explain three. Simply put if you were in a tight race with 3 other people and you are all about 0.0100th of a second apart and you cross item boxes. Guess what. The leader is going to receive a banna peel, green shell, or if they are extremely lucky a ba-bomb. They will not receive any items that will increase their speed or give them invincibility. Not even if everyone is kissing their ass, and I mean puckered up to it.
However the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place people will each get items that can range from star(invincibility & speed), mushroom(speed), triple mushroom, golden mushroom(unlimited speed for a set time), blue shell(leader killer), bullet bill(transform into bullet bill to move up the track many places).
Depending on how far back you are in rank you'll get the better items, so fourth is liable to get the blue shell, golden mushroom, or bullet bill the most. 3rd probably the triple mushroom, and 2nd a mushroom. You can see how the leader just lost this race. Since he's only 0.0100th of a second ahead and hasn't got a speed item he just lost.
Nintendo should have considered distance along with Rank. In other words they should not give good items to those in lesser ranks if they are kissing the leader. This is something you'll have to deal with if you're good at this game.
There are other things that people don't really know. Things such as we don't really know what cc the online play is. Most people think it's 100cc though. For those that don't know what I'm talking about. cc is the engine class. The higher the number the bigger the engine the faster the car etc.... There are 3 classes. 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc.
We also don't know how the \"Rivals\" match up work. Alot of people complain they get matched up with people either way under their skill level, or to far above it, etc...
These are mainly it's online gripes I've described.
Let me talk a little bit about it's single player. It's really fun. It has alot of hidden features which I've tried not to mention here so I don't spoil things for people. I think it was something like 9 to 10 hidden items. Mind you the items are all types of things, so don't clasify it as you're going to receive an object because it might not be an object or even a thing.
In single player grand prix you'll race against the computer which IMO sucks compared to my skill, but is damn luckly with the items. I almost never lose a match to computers, but when I do it's because they blue shell me 3 or 4 times in a row. The computer is lucky like that. They will item spam you throughout the entire race. Infact you almost can't get away from a race if you're the leader without taking at least 2 blue shells and a lightening bolt during it.
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SkyNet
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Let me describe some items real quick. The blue shell has changed for those of you that know it from the 64 on. It doesn't race along the ground, and short of a star it can't be dodged. It flys in the air now, so it only hits the leader, and it really takes them out. It will be at least 3 seconds or more before they get to start again. It is area effect so when it hits it creates a shock wave that will take out near buy racers as well. (When you see a blue shell come people around the leader scatter. It's something really funny to watch.)
Lightening bolt. It causes you to lose your items, spin out, and shrink. Here's where things get different. You grow up faster depending on your position. So if you're in last place then you grow up almost immediately. If you're in first then you're the last to grow up. Also you can no longer be squashed if you're small. I really miss that.
Blooper. (It's a white squid) This is new. It puts ink or oil or whatever you want to call it on every racers screen that is ahead of you. Sometimes it really affects their vision depending on where they get splashed, and other times it doesn't bother them at all. I can tell you from personal experience that I've lost races due to this thing.
That's just some of the items, and some of the features or non features from online etc.. etc.. I could talk about this game and probably write an extremely long report on it, so I'll just say that I've played the hell out of it, and I really enjoy it, but it has it's problems that really bother me, but currently I'm a 2 star rank, and I'm working on becoming a 3 star which is the highest rank. However there is plenty to do in this game, and if you play it non stop it should keep you busy for about a month trying to beat everything. (I'm talking about everything, including the staff ghost, .... I'll let you find out what those are.)
I've just described some things that apart of the game, and some of the gameplay itself. If you have any questions feel free to ask, and I'll explain or give my opinion on the matter.
Lightening bolt. It causes you to lose your items, spin out, and shrink. Here's where things get different. You grow up faster depending on your position. So if you're in last place then you grow up almost immediately. If you're in first then you're the last to grow up. Also you can no longer be squashed if you're small. I really miss that.
Blooper. (It's a white squid) This is new. It puts ink or oil or whatever you want to call it on every racers screen that is ahead of you. Sometimes it really affects their vision depending on where they get splashed, and other times it doesn't bother them at all. I can tell you from personal experience that I've lost races due to this thing.
That's just some of the items, and some of the features or non features from online etc.. etc.. I could talk about this game and probably write an extremely long report on it, so I'll just say that I've played the hell out of it, and I really enjoy it, but it has it's problems that really bother me, but currently I'm a 2 star rank, and I'm working on becoming a 3 star which is the highest rank. However there is plenty to do in this game, and if you play it non stop it should keep you busy for about a month trying to beat everything. (I'm talking about everything, including the staff ghost, .... I'll let you find out what those are.)
I've just described some things that apart of the game, and some of the gameplay itself. If you have any questions feel free to ask, and I'll explain or give my opinion on the matter.
Re:
For the reasons you describe, yes, yes, and yes. That sort of binary reward system really annoys me in Mario Kart. In some of them, the balance is so off-kilter that it's practically advantageous to trail most of the race, then reclaim it all on the last lap.SkyNet wrote:3. The leader is screwed.
I think what made Mario Kart: Double Dash!! obnoxious was that getting hit meant losing an item, if not all items. It sucked horribly that you couldn't counterattack the guy who just hit you. It's too bad it would seem this rule is still present in MKDS.
In Mario Kart 64, one could have argued that the green shells and banana peels the leader gets are part of a "preventive" defense. You can hold the items behind you indefinitely and any one attack could be absorbed. But this was thrown out the window in MK:DD with the prevalance of weapons that penetrate all defenses (notably the Mario Bros. fireballs, or Bowser's Chain Chomp). The result is really just anarchy with very little strategy.
Re:
yeah ... that game was pretty sweet!SkyNet wrote:Was that the little remote controlled racing cars?
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SkyNet
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Yeah, I never owned that game, but I played the demo for a while with my brother. Good times.
BTW, if any DBBer gets Mario Kart DS let me know. I would like to race you. There is a thing called friend codes that lets me race friends on my list.
That's another bad thing kinda. Nintendo doesn't allow you to give out your friend code on their site so there isn't a way to make friends because there isn't an ability to do it in game because there isn't a chat function or a function to add whoever you're playing to your friends list.
Although someone did find a very inventive way around it. Since you can make your own Avatars for people to see. They just drew a picture of their friend code. Something like \"My friend code is: ....\"
BTW, if any DBBer gets Mario Kart DS let me know. I would like to race you. There is a thing called friend codes that lets me race friends on my list.
That's another bad thing kinda. Nintendo doesn't allow you to give out your friend code on their site so there isn't a way to make friends because there isn't an ability to do it in game because there isn't a chat function or a function to add whoever you're playing to your friends list.
Although someone did find a very inventive way around it. Since you can make your own Avatars for people to see. They just drew a picture of their friend code. Something like \"My friend code is: ....\"