Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX is a Mario Kart game for arcade systems, developed by Namco Bandai Games in partnership with Nintendo. It is the tenth installment in the Mario Kart franchise and the third title in the Arcade series following Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, which was a follow-up to Mario Kart Arcade GP. The game was released in Japan on July 25, 2013 and in the United States during 2014.

Gameplay
Grand Prix, Clone Battle, and two-player modes are featured in the game. The player can choose between seven karts, five of them being unlockable. Before starting a race, the player can take their photography and decorate it with twelve included features, such as a samurai helmet and a pirate suit. On some cases, the camera cannot be used, in which the player's photography is their selected character's portrait. The arcade operator can set whether the camera should be used or not. The player can choose to play in 50cc, 100cc and 150cc, with the latter two being unlockable. The player then must choose which one of three themed tracks (Toad, Mario, Don-chan) they want to play. Like Mario Kart Arcade GP and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, there are only six racers in each race rather than eight or twelve, with the exception of playing Versus with 2-4 players or Team Battle with 4 players; where there are four racers. Every circuit has a time limit, and when the player is at first place their photography has a crown. When the player completes a lap, lights between the game screen change the color. The main feature of the game is that players can now play in cooperative (with 2 players) or in teams (with 4 players), similar to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! in that a player is the driver and the second shoots items. Cooperative or team play allows the player to gain a special power-up which transforms the player's kart into a Fusion Kart that will drive and the second player is called to control the turret and shoot unlimited amounts of Green Shells at any direction for a limited period of time. Fusion Karts also have health bars when playing in Team Mode with 4 players. Additionally, gameplay elements from Mario Kart 7 such as the use of gliders and underwater courses are present.

Instead of Mario Cards like the last two installments, the player can use a Banapassport Card to save their progress. As such, the cabinets will have online connectivity, but it is currently unknown if the game will have online leaderboards or multiplayer. The game will however make extensive use of downloadable content, where over the course of five years the game will gradually have more content added through major yearly updates, so in the end there will be a total of 30 courses, 20 characters, 120 vehicles and about 150 items, increased from 10, 12, 22 and 90 respectively as long as the machine is set up to an internet connection by the operator.

Certain cabinets (mostly those released outside Japan) are configured to only play single exhibition races, prohibiting play in Grand Prix or Time Trial. Players are free to select between any course and character (excluding downloadable characters and costumes), however the type of Kart the players drive is determined via roulette, and the engine class is 100cc. Every race will bring up the "Game Over" screen after completion, and the selected kart the player was given will be different in the next race he/she plays.

The commentary from Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 returns and this time, it is voiced by Rica Matsumoto in the Japanese version and Jack Merluzzi in the American version. Some of the quotes in the American version of this game are reused from the second game.

Most (but not all) US/UK cabinets as of July 1, 2015 have two new characters, new features and a mode that allows a 2 on 2 team battle. The update also changed the time limit on races in the US/UK version from 180 seconds to 250 seconds and added a Tips section after a single-player race. Also, the point system for Co-op Races and Team Races for determining the team winner has changed:

Playable characters
The latest version of the game features a total of 16 playable characters (9 are default, 3 are unlockable, and 4 are downloadable). Characters are divided into four weight classes (feather, light, medium, and heavy). Also, some characters have palette swaps that can be selected on the character select screen.

Middleweight

 * Speed: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Acceleration: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Handling: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]

Lightweight

 * Speed: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Acceleration: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Handling: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]

Featherweight

 * Speed: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Acceleration: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Handling: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]


 * Hero Don-Chan (Palette Swap of Don-chan)

Heavyweight

 * Speed: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Acceleration: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]
 * Handling: [[File:Gold star.png]][[File:Gold star.png]]

Non-playable characters

 * King Bob-omb
 * Fire Piranha Plants
 * Toads
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Cheep Cheeps
 * Lakitu
 * Chain Chomp (cameo)
 * Goomba
 * Bullet Bills
 * Dolphins
 * Piantas
 * Blooper (cameo)
 * Sushi (cameo)
 * Fishin' Lakitu
 * Lantern Eel (Taiko no Tatsujin series character)
 * Shy Guys
 * Dry Bones
 * Magikoopas

Karts
There are twenty-eight karts to choose from, and gliders are automatically preset when selecting a kart. Other karts are downloadable and to be released, with some being recolours of existing karts.

Items
Mario Kart Arcade GP DX has the most items out of any Mario Kart game; a grand total of 100 items. The player can only use three items per race, selected via a roulette, with at least one item to throw forward and one backward. Additionally, certain downloadable palette swaps of characters will enable the use of an exclusive powerup only available to that swap.

Courses
The game features 10 race tracks, all of which share the general track layouts of courses in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 but modified significantly, mainly to alter their theme and accommodate the vehicles. Only the Mario and Bowser Cups keep their tracks' original branding, while the Yoshi Cup becomes the Toad Cup, the Donkey Kong Cup becomes the Don-Chan Cup, and the Waluigi Cup becomes the Bowser Jr. Cup. The Wario, Pac-Man, and Rainbow Cups are removed entirely, and it is unknown if these courses will return through future updates to the game.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The Toad Cup's tracks contain scenery based on objects and landmarks from this game.
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: As with the previous Arcade GP games, sound effects from this title are re-used, such as the race start countdown and the item roulette.
 * Mario Party 6: Toad and Waluigi's artworks are reused in this game.
 * Mario Party 7: Wario's artwork is reused in this game.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: Bowser Jr.'s artwork is reused in this game.
 * Mario Party DS: Mario and Luigi's artworks are both reused in this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Peach, Toad and Bowser's artworks are all reused in this game.
 * Mario Kart 7: Gliding and underwater driving from this game are present.
 * Mario Party 9: Yoshi's artwork is reused in this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2: Gold Mario is playable as a palette swap of Metal Mario.

Trivia

 * Alongside photographed images of players, it's been shown that several avatars can be used as an alternative in some cabinet types. These avatars are reused from some of Namco Bandai Games's earlier titles, being We Ski, We Ski & Snowboard, and Go Vacation.
 * Don-chan and Yoshi are currently the only characters to have three palette swaps.
 * This is the first Mario Kart game with palette swaps, with the second being Mario Kart 8.

External link

 * Japanese Site

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX Mario Kart Arcade GP DX