Mario Kart: Double Dash for Nintendo Switch

[Timogotchi19]

This is a poll for a game I really want Nintendo to make for the Switch to make up for Mario Kart Tour (which I hate a bunch, mostly for its heavy microtransactions). To differentiate from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I want this game to be another Double Dash game and to re-feature EVERY past driver (a la Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) that has been playable at some point in the series' near-30-year history (Petey Piranha, Funky Kong, Wiggler, R.O.B., Pac-Man, Mametchi, etc.)

 

[Joc]

Nintendo themselves hate Mario Kart Tour too. Their investors force them to make iOS/Android games, and in-app purchases are practically mandatory there.

Anyway, Mario Kart isn't suited to crossovers IMO. I liked R.O.B. in Mario Kart DS and I'm neutral towards Mametchi in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, but I hate Link and Animal Crossing Villager in Mario Kart 8, they look so out of place. Mametchi in Super Smash Bros. would be more interesting.

 

[Timogotchi19]

Nintendo themselves hate Mario Kart Tour too. Their investors force them to make iOS/Android games, and in-app purchases are practically mandatory there.

Anyway, Mario Kart isn't suited to crossovers IMO. I liked R.O.B. in Mario Kart DS and I'm neutral towards Mametchi in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, but I hate Link and Animal Crossing Villager in Mario Kart 8, they look so out of place. Mametchi in Super Smash Bros. would be more interesting.

Mametchi was actually in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, not DX.

I think guest characters in Mario Kart are completely okay, as long as Mario is still front-and-center. Otherwise, it wouldn't be Mario Kart.

And I disapprove of Mametchi being in Smash. Agumon from Digimon (which is literally Tamagotchi suited for battle) would be a far better choice.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

As a big fan of kart-racers* and someone with a keen interest in the business side of things, I would much rather see Bandai Namco come up with their own Tamagotchi-themed mascot-racing game.

*I can practically guarantee that I'm the only person here who has All-Star Fruit Racing in their collection.

Reason being, the purpose of Nintendo's first-party games is to foster an audience to sell hardware and software to, thus creating the same opportunity for other businesses who sell software and add-ons for their hardware, rather than to act as a billboard that pays companies who aren't making that effort themselves to promote their content for them in a first-party game. The quality required of software with a purpose like this is why these franchises have a prestigious reputation to begin with. It has been most unfortunate seeing some of them having their game-design and long-term business value compromised by way of third-party characters being included in them. Nintendo shouldn't have to pay licensing fees to third-party companies to be able to release their own first-party content on their own consoles, but that's what's happening.

Nintendo has extremely valuable characters, and it's bothersome that at least one of their ostensibly first-party productions is actively damaging them by using them as a collective and unimportant prop in order to big up characters that have no place being there and that aren't relevant to Nintendo's business, to the detriment and exclusion of Nintendo's business. It would be very sad to see another, with even greater commercial value, meet the same fate.

I think that there's plenty of iconic imagery to draw from to create a purely Tamagotchi-based racer of this ilk (we all see that a pixel-poop is ideal as an equivalent to banana-peels, I trust? ), and I would most certainly buy it - Bandai Namco already has a (hehe) track-record for being able to make a quality racer, after all, which is why they were licensed to handle the Mario Kart Arcade GP titles in the first place (and the fact that, as far as I know, they were paying Nintendo for that license, rather than vice-versa, made the third-party inclusions less irksome from a business perspective).

They would have to include Tarakotchi, though - we all need a toupee-wearing duck-blobfish using his stinky feet to drive in a kart-racer, which is why my vote went to Other.

 

[Timogotchi19]

As a big fan of kart-racers* and someone with a keen interest in the business side of things, I would much rather see Bandai Namco come up with their own Tamagotchi-themed mascot-racing game.

*I can practically guarantee that I'm the only person here who has All-Star Fruit Racing in their collection.

Reason being, the purpose of Nintendo's first-party games is to foster an audience to sell hardware and software to, thus creating the same opportunity for other businesses who sell software and add-ons for their hardware, rather than to act as a billboard that pays companies who aren't making that effort themselves to promote their content for them in a first-party game. The quality required of software with a purpose like this is why these franchises have a prestigious reputation to begin with. It has been most unfortunate seeing some of them having their game-design and long-term business value compromised by way of third-party characters being included in them. Nintendo shouldn't have to pay licensing fees to third-party companies to be able to release their own first-party content on their own consoles, but that's what's happening.

Nintendo has extremely valuable characters, and it's bothersome that at least one of their ostensibly first-party productions is actively damaging them by using them as a collective and unimportant prop in order to big up characters that have no place being there and that aren't relevant to Nintendo's business, to the detriment and exclusion of Nintendo's business. It would be very sad to see another, with even greater commercial value, meet the same fate.

I think that there's plenty of iconic imagery to draw from to create a purely Tamagotchi-based racer of this ilk (we all see that a pixel-poop is ideal as an equivalent to banana-peels, I trust? ), and I would most certainly buy it - Bandai Namco already has a (hehe) track-record for being able to make a quality racer, after all, which is why they were licensed to handle the Mario Kart Arcade GP titles in the first place (and the fact that, as far as I know, they were paying Nintendo for that license, rather than vice-versa, made the third-party inclusions less irksome from a business perspective).

They would have to include Tarakotchi, though - we all need a toupee-wearing duck-blobfish using his stinky feet to drive in a kart-racer, which is why my vote went to Other.

I see where you're coming from, clearer than a crystal, but I'm kinda on the other side of the opinion fence.

Crossovers can expand a person's interest horizon. Take me, for example. The whole reason why I got propelled into the Tamagotchi franchise in the first place was because of Mametchi's appearance in MKAGP2.

Plus, its not like Nintendo will suddenly turn Mario Kart into Nintendo Kart or something, because that would cause the uniqueness of Super Smash Bros. to depreciate, and even if they were to have some guests from other franchises (Zelda, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, Pac-Man, Tamagotchi, Taiko no Tatsujin, etc.), at least 70% of the game would still be dedicated to Mario (although why Nintendo recently chose to make skins of existing Mario characters take up roster space instead of researching the franchise's RICH history of characters (including the Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario sub-series) is beyond me).

Furthermore, Nintendo had $52 Billion in bank when the Wii U was out and about, and they definitely raked even more money through the Switch and their *clears throat* mobile tenures.  Licensing royalties should be as complicated for Nintendo as reading a book, particularly if they're licensing from Bandai Namco, who seems to be eager to work with Nintendo anyway, being the head developers of Smash 4 & Ultimate (even though Sega, Capcom, Square Enix, and even Konami have more than 1 rep while they still only have Pac-Man as of this typing) and they've lent a hand for several Mario projects, including MK8 & Tour.

Between you and me, I'd much rather have my kart slip on a banana peel than on a pixelated turd. I also won't deny that Tarakotchi would work well in a Double Dash environment, using the aforementioned feet for steering and/or managing items.

 

[Joc]

As a big fan of kart-racers* and someone with a keen interest in the business side of things, I would much rather see Bandai Namco come up with their own Tamagotchi-themed mascot-racing game.

We already got Digimon Racing for the GBA in 2004 and Tamagotchi Party On for the Wii in 2007, which were shamelessly unoriginal. Pac-Man Party (2010) on the other hand, I actually preferred to Mario Party 8 at the time. Still, I don't want them to imitate Mario again if they have no original ideas to add.

*I can practically guarantee that I'm the only person here who has All-Star Fruit Racing in their collection.

I know it but don't have it. I watched a video of the beta before it came out and wasn't impressed.

Reason being, the purpose of Nintendo's first-party games is to foster an audience to sell hardware and software to, thus creating the same opportunity for other businesses who sell software and add-ons for their hardware, rather than to act as a billboard that pays companies who aren't making that effort themselves to promote their content for them in a first-party game. The quality required of software with a purpose like this is why these franchises have a prestigious reputation to begin with. It has been most unfortunate seeing some of them having their game-design and long-term business value compromised by way of third-party characters being included in them. Nintendo shouldn't have to pay licensing fees to third-party companies to be able to release their own first-party content on their own consoles, but that's what's happening.

Nintendo has extremely valuable characters, and it's bothersome that at least one of their ostensibly first-party productions is actively damaging them by using them as a collective and unimportant prop in order to big up characters that have no place being there and that aren't relevant to Nintendo's business, to the detriment and exclusion of Nintendo's business. It would be very sad to see another, with even greater commercial value, meet the same fate.

Are you talking about Super Smash Bros? It makes sense for that game. Why would Master Hand restrict himself to Nintendo figurines? And Masahiro Sakurai made it clear that he sees it as a honor to handle all these characters.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

I see where you're coming from, clearer than a crystal,

I'm really glad to hear that, as I didn't expect that it would be understood by many. After all, consumers aren't businessmen, and I don't expect that people are looking at things from that angle.

Plus, its not like Nintendo will suddenly turn Mario Kart into Nintendo Kart or something, because that would cause the uniqueness of Super Smash Bros. to depreciate,

Thank goodness. Smash has already been damaged beyond repair - sacrificing Mario Kart in the same way would be disastrous for the future.

(although why Nintendo recently chose to make skins of existing Mario characters take up roster space instead of researching the franchise's RICH history of characters (including the Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario sub-series) is beyond me).

This baffles me all the time. How many baby/metal versions of characters do we really need?! Still, being very technical, Mario was spun off from Donkey Kong, not vice-versa*, but I agree, the two series' close relationship does warrant a few DK characters, for sure.

*Does anyone else remember those Atari 2600 Mario Bros. ads that referred to Mario as "Mario from Donkey Kong"? Great jingle on those, too, along with the earliest appearance of Luigi's cowardly traits.

Licensing royalties should be as complicated for Nintendo as reading a book,

Definitely. The problem is the absurdity of a situation where they're having to pay others in order to release their own stuff for their own stuff.

Between you and me, I'd much rather have my kart slip on a banana peel than on a pixelated turd.

Same, honestly. But I still find the idea hilarious.

I also won't deny that Tarakotchi would work well in a Double Dash environment, using the aforementioned feet for steering and/or managing items.

I definitely wouldn't want to touch the wheel after that guy.

We already got Digimon Racing for the GBA in 2004 and Tamagotchi Party On for the Wii in 2007, which were shamelessly unoriginal.

Agreed! I should clarify, my interest is in stuff that tries to do something to stand on its own to some degree.

I know it but don't have it. I watched a video of the beta before it came out and wasn't impressed.

It turned out to be pretty competent, considering its obviously low budget, I feel. I've quite enjoyed the juice-mixing power-up system. (I've gotten Meow Motors as well, but I think that some of what it does to set its mechanics apart is a little wonky here and there - like having drifting as a toggle. The different mission types are alright, though.)

I've certainly had a better time with it than Crash Team Racing (original or remake), at least - that one has a problem with confusing excessive complexity for depth, I feel.

Are you talking about Super Smash Bros? It makes sense for that game. Why would Master Hand restrict himself to Nintendo figurines?

The bigger question here is, why has Nintendo's Mario Kart equivalent for fighting games been turned into PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale 2, complete with design that's clearly dictated in the same way, contrary to its sole purpose of selling Nintendo products? That's the problem.

I don't expect the damage that has been done to Smash due to third-party inclusions to be widely understood yet - as I said above, consumers aren't businessmen, so I don't expect it to be, as most will be looking at it from a perspective that's roughly along the lines of "There's that thing I like! WITH MARIO!", and just not knowing about things like brand-damage and brand-dilution that are actively being caused by it. And I don't expect regular people to know that - businessmen are paid for that, and it's not the concern of consumers.

And Masahiro Sakurai made it clear that he sees it as a honor to handle all these characters.

I'm sure that it is! Going by interviews, that appears to be because the series has been transformed into his own personal bad fan-fiction (complete with an awfully pretentious story-mode), though - every new addition is what he famously personally likes or is from his industry friends (they're often what he writes about in his Famitsu magazine columns, and multiple developers have openly stated in interviews about several recent new additions that their characters were added because he likes them) or are otherwise twisted to suit his ends, and he seems to delight in undermining Nintendo's business using their own money (see the utterly painful Banjo-Kazooie release video, for example, and the way that he used beloved cartoony baddie King K. Rool as a stand-in for a particularly vile character from Persona 5 in Joker's release video - that made it clear what he really thinks, since he admits to being the one that writes this stuff). If anyone else created something like it, they'd be absolutely lampooned for it (see the fan-fiction writer "squirrelking", for example). 

 

[leogames2012]

I do love Mario kart But If Nintendo Add Mametchi ON Mario kart tour They Need to Use A Low-Poly version Of the Model They Used on Tamagotchi Forever.

 

[leogames2012]

And I disapprove of Mametchi being in Smash. Agumon from Digimon (which is literally Tamagotchi suited for battle) would be a far better choice.

i DO Approve Him being In smash. But I want That Him Get Abilities From Pikachu. So That is a Better choice (Like Which Villager Is Now suited For Battle In SSB4.)