The yearly AOU arcade show tends to have one or two big surprises, and taking this year"s spot is none other than Nintendo"s main man, Mario. Through a tie-up between Namco and Nintendo, Namco is developing Mario Kart Arcade Grand Prix for arcades.
Mario Kart Arcade Grand Prix promises some added bonuses above previous home Mario Kart games. In addition to 24 courses set in 6 different worlds, you can count on some new playable characters, including Pacman. Namco will also be making use of what it calls the "Nam Cam," a camera placed above the monitor which allows players to place themselves in the game. Finally, continuing a growing arcade trend, the game will make use of rewritable cards for saving play data.
A Japanese arcade release is set for Fall. We"ll have more shortly.