Nntendo's Wii U is expected some time in 2012, and since there has traditionally been a Mario Kart for every console, we're sure the Wii U will get its very own version soon after.
This feature is taken from Games Master Presents Mario Kart. You can purchase the full magazine in stores or order it online and have it delivered straight to your door. It's also available digitally through Apple Newsstand as well as Zinio. Also read CVG's Mario Kart 7 review.
So, this set our brains to thinking. What would we like to see in a Mario Kart that could take advantage of the technological marvelry contained within Nintendo's shiny white future-box?
Aside from Mario, Toad, Lakitu and pals looking the best they've ever looked in hi-def, what more dare we hope for?
The possibilities are flapping through our minds like bats through Wario's Gold Mine. More than anything we're hoping for plenty that's innovative to keep our favourite karting franchise alive and well for yet another generation. But here, just to wet your appetites, is what we'd like to see in Mario Kart Wii U... Take note, please, Nintendo!
PHOTO INOPPORTUNITY
It's the final corner of a Wi-Fi race. You're in second, but Johnny First-Place hasn't reckoned on you having a Green Shell in your mitt. You deftly flick it towards his tailpipe, and then - SNAP! - the Wii U controller takes your unfortunate foe's mugshot at the moment of impact. Oooh, doesn't he look cross? The snap is uploaded to your 'Hall of Pain'. For every 100 entries in your grimace-gallery, Nintendo gives you a new prize.
BOUGHT CIRCUIT
As the gaming community boards up their garages in anticipation of a TENTH Need For Speed game this generation, we suppose we should be thankful that Nintendo have the restraint to stick with their one console/ one Mario Kart rule. But would downloadable track packs really be too much to ask for? We still love Mario Kart Wii, but if we have to drive around Moo Moo Meadows one more time, then we're done braking for cows. This idea would be an absolute money factory for Nintendo. Demand would be HUGE. Even if there was a constant influx of user-generated content, no one knows how to place a Monty Mole quite as maliciously as The Big N.
A DESIGN STRIFE
How good would it be if Nintendo let us create our own circuits from scratch by drawing them directly onto the tablet screen? Call-Your-Mum-Good, that's how good. It might sound fanciful but the PlayStation 3's ModNation Racers was built entirely around this concept and there's no reason why Nintendo can't go one better by adding a little of their magic (eg: Lakitu filling in the Donut Plains countryside with a cloud-mounted cement mixer as he trails your stylus strokes).
Then you could upload your creations onto the Mario Kart servers for the rest of the community to enjoy. We can see you starting to hyperventilate there, Nintendo, but chill. We know the prospect of a million boypart shaped courses being uploaded gives you 'the willies', but here's the genius part: you get to review them first and you then upload the best on a weekly basis!
KISS AND SHELL
That luxurious tablet screen opens up a new world of potential hurt for your racing rivals. Imagine deciding a Green Shell's trajectory by flicking it with your fingers, or tracing a flight path for a new boomerang weapon with the stylus. Or! Or! Or! Sending a little Bob-Omb in a tiny little kart out in front and monitoring its progress on the controller screen. When it gets sufficiently close to Diddy Kong... Boom!
GRAB BAG
Until now, Mario Kart has never given you a say in what item you get when you trundle over a question block. If like us you're tired of getting bananas in second place and useless fake question blocks when in 12th, you'll embrace our proposed new meritocratic system, where players are free to 'grab' the item they want from a spinning roulette on the tablet screen, provided they're prepared to take their eyes of the road for a split second. The roulette can be rigged to ensure back-markers still have a higher chance of nabbing the good stuff.
THE RACING GODS
Mario Kart's madcap shenanigans are perfect for Wii U's 'asymmetrical gameplay'. Imagine three players battling it out for the chequered flag while a fourth, tablet-wielding contestant assumes the role of God of Jerks by flinging Bullet Bills, shells and Podoboos (you know, the flames with eyeballs) at them as per his or her will.
Comments
12 comments so far...
G_R7 on 4 Dec '11 said:
I just don't want to be hit with a Blue Shell, then a Red Shell, then another Red Shell for then someone using a Star or Bullet Bill to come up my arse making me lose all my coins and for everyone else to pick them up while on the last bend of the last lap making me come in 7th overall. Sadly, that will never happen.
lordirongut on 4 Dec '11 said:
Some evolution would be nice. Nintendo are lauded as the most innovative company in existence, but Mario Kart 7 is essentially the same game I played on the SNES. Shake it up a bit.
trUePN on 4 Dec '11 said:
Option to switch on or off Mario Kart 64/Mario Kart DS style snaking.
Pro players and the whining crying lazy to practice newbies will be both glad.
Windowlicker79 on 4 Dec '11 said:
The last thing you want whilst playing Mario Kart is for someone to come up your arse.
Billybob21 on 4 Dec '11 said:
bennyt on 4 Dec '11 said:
Some good ideas, liking the photo finish...maybe something similar to Star Fox's multi-player
To me, i don't see how Ninty can improve MK after MK 7 which is just incredible and such good fun.
I don't plan on getting the Wii U yet, but i would like to see:
-More customisation, perhaps the ability to body-spray our kart
-Maybe have a rallying stage/mode similar to Colin Mcrae games with x amount of stages and the more points you earn, the more you unlock or another championship mode along with Grand Prix
-Two players on one kart (double dash?)...
-Keep it like MK7 with no bikes
-No more blue shell!!!
-dlc in the form of special unseen before tracks with/on festive seasons...
Right that's me done, back to MK7
MD1500 on 4 Dec '11 said:
Really obvious idea here. The Wii U screen doubles as a rear view mirror.
MakoChanX on 4 Dec '11 said:
Love this idea. I would take a snapshot of my "I WIN BITCHEZ" face to really make it special
Dalekbuster523 on 3 Jan '12 said:
What about a kart that functions as a time machine when your 8th?When you're 8th,the tablet screen could ask you if you either want to travel forward or backwards in time(backwards giving you a second chance to come 1st and forwards allowing you to get to 2nd or 3rd lap before anyone else,depending on luck of the draw) or if you want to send someone else backwards in time,giving you time to overtake that racer who you've sent back in time.
Izo on 3 Jan '12 said:
What the...? How the hell would that work out? If you travel forward in time while you're 8th I doubt it'll have a bearing on your final finishing position as when you fast forward everyone else is going forward with you.
Dalekbuster523 on 3 Jan '12 said:
Unless you sent some people back in time then travelled forward in time to lap 3.This is becoming like a Steven Moffat plot!
Balladeer on 3 Jan '12 said:
Steven Moffat wrote the Christmas special. It was absolutely awful, and I say that as a fan of the series. Fortunately he redeemed himself with the recent Sherlock episode.