So . . . Mario Kart

[K2J]

* N64 Bowser's Castle

No kidding? Awesome.

Oh, and for the record, you could turn items off in Double Dash!!. In my opinion, though, you'd be completely missing the point of the game if you did that.

And I heard snaking is harder to do in MK Wii, as the boost depends on how long you do it - so you would have to drift a long time to the sides on a straightaway, probbably off the track, in order to get a worthwhile boost.

[Zeta]

For those keeping track, Toadette and Rosalina have been revealed as racers.

And the full track list is as follows;

Mushroom Cup:
Luigi Circuit
Moo Moo Meadows
Mushroom Gorge
Toad's Factory

Flower Cup:
Mario Curuit
Coconut's Mall
DK Summit
Wario's Gold Mine

Star Cup:
Daisy Circuit
Koopa Cape
Maple Treeway
Thundering Volcano

Special Cup:
Yoshi Desert
Moonview Highway
Bowser's Castle
Rainbow Road

Shell Cup:
Peach Beach (GCN)
Yoshi Falls (DS)
Ghost Valley 2 (SNES)
Mario Raceway (N64)

Banana Cup:
Sherbet Land (N64)
Shy Guy Beach (GBA)
Delfino Square (DS)
Waluigi Stadium (GCN)

Leaf Cup:
Desert Hills (DS)
Mario Circuit (GCN)
DK Jungle Parkway (N64)
Bowser Castle 3 (GBA)

Lightning Cup:
Mario Circuit 3 (SNES)
Bowser's Castle (N64)
DK Mountain (GCN)
Peach Gardens (DS)

People who claim to have recieved reviewer copies of the game in EU are saying the complete list of racers is:

* Baby Mario
* Baby Luigi
* Baby Peach
* Toadette
* Bowser
* Donkey Kong
* Koopa Troopa
* Luigi
* Mario
* Peach
* Toad
* Waluigi
* Wario
* Yoshi
* Toadsworth
* Shy Guy
* Diddy Kong
* Princess Daisy
* Princess Rosalina
* Birdo
* Boo
* Wiggler
* Dry Bones
* R.O.B.
* Mii

If so that sucks, becasue I actually liked Boswer Jr. but at least Rosalina is in there.

[Yami CJMErl]

Damn, they're sticking R.O.B. in everything these days. Why not just go off and make a reissue unit while they're at it?

Also, no Baby Park makes me sad.

[P.P.A.]

No Patatrooper (or -troopa or whatever)? Fuck you Nintendo. :(

[Crazy Penguin]

I'm pleased with the number of minion enemy characters available, especially Shy Guy.

Just Googled Rosalina. Sooooo... how many female characters does the Mario series have who aren't dainty and uber femme?

Three stereotypical princesses and a baby version just isn't cutting it.

I like Toadette, but she's just a pink Toad with weird "hair". Birdo is brilliant but even she's shocking pink and has a bow in her hair. I still want Wendy (Bowser's daughter) to be playable in a Mario Kart game, but she's also another outdated stereotype. Pauline wouldn't really be helping things either...

Maybe it's time to start borrowing characters from the spinoffs. Captain Syrup from Wario Land 1 and 2. Dixie Kong. Mona and Ashley from the WarioWare series.

[K2J]

Captain Syrup from Wario Land 1 and 2.

At least someone else remembered her. On the topic of WarioWare, I fully expect Diamond City to be a stage in the next installment.

[Zeta]

Just Googled Rosalina. Sooooo... how many female characters does the Mario series have who aren't dainty and uber femme?

Three stereotypical princesses and a baby version just isn't cutting it.

I like Toadette, but she's just a pink Toad with weird "hair". Birdo is brilliant but even she's shocking pink and has a bow in her hair. I still want Wendy (Bowser's daughter) to be playable in a Mario Kart game, but she's also another outdated stereotype. Pauline wouldn't really be helping things either...

Maybe it's time to start borrowing characters from the spinoffs. Captain Syrup from Wario Land 1 and 2. Dixie Kong. Mona and Ashley from the WarioWare series.

Heartily agree to all of the above. Personally, I think it's high time we should have seen Dixie Kong, Mona, Ashley, Professor Gadd, Kamek, Tatanga, and Wart in karts.

[G.Silver]

At the same time, the following Peach and Daisy have among non-gamer females (who will still play Mario games) is really surprising! For me personally, I think once you take the "human" aspect away the genders become pretty irrelevant, so I don't think there's really any need to diversify a group of characters that is largely gender-ambiguous to accomodate more characters who are "female." Boo ("Tabatha" in Japan!), Wiggler, and the Shyguy in particular, without getting into Yoshi's obvious sexual confusion.

Characters like Captain Syrup and Mona also have essentially the same bodies as the existing female stereotypes, so I think if you're going to combat this I don't think adding more barbies is the solution. Daisy in particularly is really tomboyish now apparently so I think Nintendo is trying to make the ladies they're already using be a little less of the dapper princesses anyway. I'd like to see Goombella, but if Toadette isn't a good enough addition then she probably isn't either.

I'm also not really convinced some of the spin-off characters really fit in Mario Kart, but then I'm sort of loathe to accept Diddy Kong so I'm probably taking it a bit extremely.

[Crazy Penguin]

The three princesses are just so same-ish. There's more variety between the Mario and Wario brothers, and I'm still not a big fan of Waluigi. Say what you will of Captain Syrup but at least she isn't Peach with a new hairstyle in a different dress.

I suppose Cackletta could be used if she wasn't dead.

I'm also not really convinced some of the spin-off characters really fit in Mario Kart, but then I'm sort of loathe to accept Diddy Kong so I'm probably taking it a bit extremely.

In general I tend to agree, but I think it's fine if it's in moderation and there are no proper Mario character to fill the role. Diddy Kong always bothers me because they could use Donkey Kong Jr instead.

Heartily agree to all of the above. Personally, I think it's high time we should have seen Dixie Kong, Mona, Ashley, Professor Gadd, Kamek, Tatanga, and Wart in karts.

Tatanga is criminally overlooked. I like the flavour he adds to Mario's world. Galaxy would've been the perfect opportunity to bring him back. I'd also like to see Popple, the thief from SuperStar Saga, become a recurring character in the series.

Was Kamek ever given a specific name in the Japanese games? I heard that Kamek was just their generic name for all Magikoopas.

[Yami CJMErl]

If we're speaking about obscure Mario characters, then I say this game needs more Fawful love.

[K2J]

If we're speaking about obscure Mario characters, then I say this game needs more Fawful love.

Holy crap, I forgot. I can't believe I forgot him. The only good part of Partners in Time was his cameo. The rest was mostly a dungeon crawler instead of an actual RPG. His kart could be that thing he uses at the end of the first game. It is the overheat!

[DackAttac]

Goddammit. Why is it every time I find an RPG I actually really like, it gets deemed "not really an RPG"?

Despite not finishing the first game (meh), I saw Fawful was exactly the kind of character who could get recycled into a sort of extreme form of comic relief in spinoffs and cameos down the line and looked forward to that. That's exactly the kind of blowjob Nintendo is infamous for giving their fans' nostalgia. So, yeah, his absence since the sequel's been a little disappointing, but I suppose he'd also be a little too easy to overuse.

[K2J]

Goddammit. Why is it every time I find an RPG I actually really like, it gets deemed "not really an RPG"?

Sorry, but PiT didn't have any real character development (the antagonists didn't even talk until the end boss), nor a true overworld or sense of direction. It was just, "Hey, a portal goes here; let's go down it" a bunch of times. The whole time-travel aspect could've been better-used as well, not to mention the baby system being a bit too complicated (I can't really handle 4 characters simultaniously, thanks) but still underutilized (the uniqueness of the brothers is more lacking than in the prequel).

That's not to say it's not an RPG, but I certainly didn't think it was a very good one.

[P.P.A.]

Birdo

she

Err... :x

Also I'm not happy with Rosalina being in. First because she's just a recolour of Toadstool, and second because I didn't like Galaxy.

[The Iron Giant]

Hell, Rosalina's backstory in Galaxy was more interesting than Peach has been since her inception. Also, I am getting sick and tired of seeing R.O.B show up in every damn game now. He's always sucked and always will.

[Zeta]

Yes, Rosalina actually has a personality and history unlike Peach. Hence my preference towards her.

[Wooduck51]

She also built her own starship and has limited cosmic powers, which makes her even better.

[Zeta]

It turns out that list of characters is fake and the real one is much more dissapointing. Two words: Baby Daisy. Also, Funky Kong, Bone Bowser, Dry Bones, Baby Luigi, Rosalina, King Boo, Bowser Jr. Toadette, Dry Bones, Diddy, Mii, Birdo, and Daisy. Those are all the hiddens..

[Yami CJMErl]

Also, Funky Kong

Okay, now THAT I did not see coming.

[Zeta]

I'm sure Bowser Bones, Dry Bones, Baby Daisy, and Funky only made it in because they're just reskins of characters already present. Lazy bastards.

[The Iron Giant]

Wait, how do we know these aren't just alternate skins? The character-select screen only shows enough room for 18 characters, which leads me to believe these people are just messing with us.

[Zeta]

They're listed in the credits as separate characters and a German magazine lists 24 characters. So no, they're separate racers. I suspect they were planning on 18 characters and then just threw in Funky, Baby Daisy, Bone Bowser, Birdo, and Dry Bones in as extras. The way Pichu, Roy, Ganondorf, and Dr. Mario were thrown into Melee in the last month or so.

[Crazy Penguin]

Donkey Kong Jr's exclusion has just become even more inexcusable.

He was one of the original eight!

Argh.

[Zeta]

Rare killed DK Jr. with the invention of Diddy Kong, sadly. Also the new Donkey Kong is supposed to be hip and young and childless.

[Esrever]

Rare actually intended for Diddy to be DK Junior... Nintendo just thought the redesign was too drastic and told Rare to change his name to something else. Kinda funny that he wound up more or less replacing Junior anyhow.