Some of you readers may have known that I own an entire set of Mario Kart DS gashapon, produced by Yujin. All I can say is that they are really nice and are proudly displayed in my living hall.
It is also no surprise that a new set would be released based on Mario Kart Wii, but this time they are produced by long-time candy toy manufacturer, Furuta. Like the karts from Yujin, the Mario Kart Wii gashapon feature a pull-back motor each, and the karts move in a straight line once released.
One other unique feature for the karts by Furuta is that they come accompanied with candy! I remember previously when I bought an entire set of Star Trek models by Furuta, each came with a pack of chocolate candy.
Formula One is having the Monaco Grand Prix today, so I figured that it would be nice to take a break from proting my post and to have some racing action with strangers on Mario Kart DS’ WFC service.
Round 1 & 2
I was still pretty rusty but out of the first 2 rounds I played, I won 1 with 3 wins over a particularly tough opponent who was using that Robby character. I must admit that I feel bad sneaking up on him on the Figure-8 and Rainbow Road circuits.
Karma
The third round was with a new opponent, and I’m guessing that he had a heck of a time toying with me as he was the superior driver after all. But As most people say, karma can be a bitch, and he got disconnected in the last race with our points tied. LOL
My first encounter with a Snaker was in the 4th round of my little WFC foray. He beat us (myself and another player) real bad. It sucked, but I manage to finish 2nd.
Boo-Yah!
It was full house in terms of participation for round 5 with 3 other,albeit greenhorn, players. This resulted in a whitewash for them, with me winning all four races :P. Round 6 featured the same bunch of people, with one drop-out, and 3 race wins.
The last round featured even lesser people with people dropping-out like flies. My opponent decided to disconnect on me with 2 more races to go. Anyways, this leaves me the following Nintendo WFC MATCH records: 10 wins and 2 losses.
Friend Code:
I’m not really big on the Friend Code thing, preferring to race strangers instead, but if you want to add mine (537013-901459), please do and drop me a comment so that I can add you in return.
This article could have been titled “How to Add Cheat Codes to Your R4DS?” as what am I about to describe to you is essentially that, but hey, I figured the title is eye-catching, so do bear with it :).
Produced by Taito to go along with its release of Arkanoid DS, the Paddle Controller does seem a little limited in application. However, did you know that you can actually play Mario Kart DS using the same Paddle Controller?
It does require some “cheating” on your part since the Paddle Controller is not officially supported by the game, having been released some two years before this odd-looking controller hit the market. Support for the Paddle Controller can be implemented by means of Action Replay or any flashcart with a built-in cheat function.
Since I don’t have an Action Replay, here’s a guide on how to add Paddle Controller support for your Mario Kart DS on the R4DS.
There are some prerequisites. You’ll need a couple of things:
Once you have downloaded the R4 Cheat Code Editor, remember to uncompress it to somewhere easily accessible. You’ll be using the Cheat Code Editor for most part of the guide.
Start the Cheat Editor by clicking on the r4cce.exe file.
Once in, select File -> Open
Look for the CHEAT.DAT file located in the _system_ folder of your R4DS MicroSD card, and click on the Open button
This will cause all the Cheat Codes stored in the CHEAT.DAT file to be listed out, by game, on the left pane. Look for Mario Kart DS.
Click on the Add Code button in order to enter one of the two cheat strings to enable Paddle Controller support for Mario Kart DS.
Enter the following information (obtained from prerequisite 1.) in the corresponding text boxes:
Click on the Add Code button again to enter the second cheat string. Enter the following information (obtained from prerequisite 1.) into the corresponding text boxes:
Once this is done, it’s time to save the changes that you have done to the CHEAT.DAT file. Click on File->Save to do so.
Now, replace the MicroSD card back into the R4DS flashcart. Before starting the Mario Kart DS ROM on the R4DS, be sure to enable the cheat codes by visiting the Cheat Menu via highlighting the ROM and pressing Y.
Once the game is started, press the Start and Select buttons simultaneously. After that, pressing left or right on the direction pad will calibrate the Paddle Controller’s centre point to its present position.
Use the Paddle Controller to move left or right (but not up and down) when it comes to menu options and during the race. Be warned though that the Paddle Controller can be quite sensitive, which would lead to some over-steering action :).
Here’s a video of me playing MKDS with the Paddle Controller:
The Paddle Controller for the Nintendo DS is available at Play-Asia with the price tag of USD 19.90. Lets just hope that other developers would take advantage of this new controller in order to justify the price tag.
