James.C gives his thoughts on how the new controller could make it the best Mario Kart yet
Nintendo only ever puts out one Mario Kart game per system, usually featuring some focus on the unique aspects of that system, and that’s why a Project Café version of the seminal kart racer really gets me excited.
Much like some DS/3DS games have removed screen HUD elements and put them on the lower screen, I’d hope the first HD version of Mario Kart to feature something along those lines, especially in multiplayer.The two biggest issues I have with Mario Kart local multiplayer could be solved with this (potential) new controller:
1) I hate that everyone can see what items you are carrying. If I have a green shell and someone else has a red, they know they can own me in a head-to-head kart joust. Similarly if they have an invincibility star, no one is going to go near them in fear they could waste their attack items and/or get splattered into the wall.
Imagine if I have a triple red shell and I’m the only one to know it, thanks to my individual screen on the controller – think of the mind games and psych-outs you could play on your friends! It would also free up more screen estate for four player split screen games.
2) You can only carry one weapon, or two if you include kart-circling items, at a time. If you have three red shells spinning around you and you pick up a star, the only way to use the star is to shoot off (and most probably waste) your shells first.
The touch screen could allow multiple reserve items that you could select at any time, fire off one red shell, switch over and save the other two for later, now you are free to plough through a crowd of your friends with your star.There is potential for some great tactics here, keeping a powerful item in your reserve until the right moment, but failure to use it soon enough and the match could be over, item wasted.
As for single-player, a constant rear-view mirror would be nice, making it easy to dodge incoming green shells shot at you by the cheap AI.On second thoughts, how about not having cheap AI this time?
Another idea could relate to a new item, similar to the way the squid blocks your view by squirting ink on the screen, but this time it could black out the TV screen entirely forcing you to race by looking at the controller screen!
It would also be great to have pop-up messages notifying me of online battles my friends are currently playing. A pop-up message comes onto your controller: “Hey James, you up for a balloon battle?” I push “Yes,” and when I finish my single player game I’m taken straight to my friends party game.Although that is delving more into the console side of things and the online network structure that we currently know nothing about, but we can only hope.