OMG - Super Mario Kart Online?!?!
Super Mario Kart Online
(Tentative Title)
The Mario universe is about to go massively multiplayer! Imagine a persistent online Mario environment that encompasses two gameplay styles: a Super Mario Sunshine 3D adventure and a Mario Kart racing circuit. Now you can have your cake and eat it too! We were able to sit down with Shigeru Miyamoto as he took us through a bit of this must have title of 2004!
Even though the racing circuit component only exists on Saturdays and Sundays (real world days), it is the main reason for the game and your accomplishments in the adventure component directly affect how you perform in the races. No longer do you pick a driver, jump in a kart and race as now, if you do poorly, it is entirely your fault.
You can enhance your standard vehicle (which everyone gets) with a wide array of tires, engines, weapons, spoilers, paint jobs etc. Some enhancements are just cosmetic but some really give you the edge and you will need them to advance. You see, gentle reader, the reason why is because you are no longer playing against some computer AI … you will have real players from around the world attempting to knock you out of the race! And yes, your kart will take damage and need repairs after race weekend!
Race weekend? Oh yes, I did forget to explain this. Monday through Friday (again real world days) no races are held and play will take place in the adventure component of the game only. All day Saturday preliminary races are held with only the winners in each bracket going on to race on Mushroom Sunday. Those players who do not make it to race on Sunday may still hang out in the stands and watch the action. Although it hasn’t been finalized yet the developers are aiming for around 10 tracks per circuit and 10 circuits total. Yep, that is 100 different tracks my friends, and since this game is online they are planning on adding more as time goes on. The circuits are Nintendo franchise theme, like Mario (of course), Metroid, Zelda etc. Should make some pretty interesting tracks. For the prelims the amount of laps you race will be anywhere from 5 to 8 but on Mushroom Sunday each race is 15 laps! Make sure you hit the restroom before your race begins!
As you win races you gain “race points” which can be used to upgrade your driver (you!). You can spend them in a variety of categories like turbo, sight, reflexes and many more. Take for example the turbo category. You have a turbo button on your controller that, while it is pressed, will accelerate you 10% over the top speed of your current engine. A turbo meter will drain while you use this feature and once completely drained it will slowly build us as the race goes on. If you don’t completely drain it then it will build back up more quickly. Now if you put some race points into it you will find it fills up quite a bit faster and it also doesn’t drain as fast while holding down the turbo button. All stats work like this, giving you a chance to really personalize your racer.
Well that is a quick description of what happens with the racing component so lets now take a look at the adventure component. The graphic engine from Super Mario Sunshine will be building block for this portion of the game but gameplay will be quite different.
If you have played a MMORPG like Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot then you should know what to expect. You create a character (the part is still really early, right now everyone looks like Mario) and start out at level 1. Surprisingly this plays quite a bit like a standard MMORPG with you going on quests, forming groups and guilds etc. Instead of focusing on common aspects these types of games share I will instead cover the unique aspects that only Nintendo can bring to this genre.
Combat is basically like an advanced Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga … turn-based with a twist. Above each enemy and player there is a timer and you can only attack every 10 seconds (unless this is altered through a spell or magic item) so you and your group must plan your strategy properly. When the timer reaches zero you may attack (several players could wait until they are all at zero and attack simultaneously or stagger their attacks) and once your attack is over you timer goes to 10 and you must wait again. Make sure you attack the enemies that are closer to their next turn (when timer reaches zero) as you will have a chance to stun them and make them lose a turn. Of course they have the same opportunity to stun you too.
Thankfully you are not just limited to jumping on the enemies or hitting them with a hammer (ala Mario & Luigi/Paper Mario) as you get a wide variety of weapons but they definitely have a “Nintendo” feel to them. Some of the more interesting are: Freeze Ray (which freezes the enemy and is helpful if you get jumped by more enemies than you can handle), Goomba Gun (turns any enemy into an easier-to-kill Goomba) and the Staff of Enchantment (which is useless as a weapon but can “enchant” an enemy which then lets you use it to attack another enemy, essentially giving you an extra member for that round).
Unlike a traditional MMORPG there are no classes here as everyone can use any item or clothes (armor). This makes it easy to just jump in a play without having to worry if you might be choosing the wrong class for the “end game”.
“But what is the object of the adventure component?” Well, remember the racing component? Yes, I thought you would. Well, how good you do there is determined by how good you are here. You see, as you and your friends adventure you will come across enemies that will drop items that will help you in the racing component. You might be fighting a group of Hammer Brothers who, once defeated, offer you a Sticky Tire 3 to let them go. You just got an upgrade for your kart! Now don’t go putting that on your kart this coming Saturday by itself as you need a whole set before you can change the tires. I guess it is back to Hammer Brother fighting!
What a second! Did I just say they offered you a Sticky Tire 3 to let them go? That is correct, there is no killing in Nintendo land. All your enemies will fight until their health is empty then offer you an item, coin etc. to not do them in. And no you cannot deny their gift and kill them. The animation for this is hilarious too: once you have defeated them they kneel on one knee and hold out a bag which can contain one or more items and once you take it you see as dust cloud as they zoomed off. They disappear from view within a couple second (simulating running really fast I guess) so don’t get an idea that you can just enter battle with the same enemy instantly. You don’t have worry about running out of enemies to fight as when we were playing there was an abundant variety to fight in the noobie areas.
The items you get in battle get better as your level increases. At low level you start out basically just getting coins and Stars but later on you will be able to get better engines, spoilers, intakes, exhausts and even Nitrous (think turbo’s big brother) which you can modify your karts with before the first races on Saturday. There are so many quests you can do even at this stage that you will be very busy Monday through Friday that Saturday will sneak up and you will be like “I have to race today!!!”
Sadly we only had a few hours with this game but man does it look great. Finally those with the broadband adapter for their GameCube will have something else to play besides Phantasy Star! When asked if a hard drive would be necessary for added content we were informed all updates will be server side requiring nothing to ever be downloaded. This will definitely sell quite a few GameCubes I am sure when it arrives Christmas 2004.
Sadly this is a work of fiction done by GameGuru while bored at work.
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Originally Posted by Ze_ro
