Hideki Konno, who has worked on more Mario Kart incarnations than you could shake a well-placed green shell at, talks Mario Kart DS!

Director of both Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, Konno also worked on Super Circuit for the GBA and as well as the new DS incarnation. Nintendo's official European site recently held an interview with him, which revealed new info on the title...

Nintendo of Europe: Previous Mario Kart games have had a 'gimmick', like the dual characters in Double Dash!!. What's the 'gimmick' going to be in Mario Kart DS?

Hideki Konno: "This time we've gone back to basics, so only one player rides on one kart. And we're taking advantage of the wireless communication capabilities of the Nintendo DS, so this time up to eight players can simultaneously play against each other wirelessly.

"We wanted the multiplayer game to involve more people playing simultaneously than ever before, and it had to be simple and quick enough for people to set up.

"Another very important factor is that we are going to make Mario Kart DS Wi-Fi capable. In other words, if you own a Nintendo DS and Mario Kart DS you can play against strangers in any part of the world.".

NoE: How does the game make use of the special features of Nintendo DS?

HK: "We are incorporating many DS-original items but I'm afraid I cannot dwell on this point now. But one of the ideas that we haven't openly disclosed yet is that we are taking advantage of the dual screen.

"For example, one item added to the Nintendo DS version is the squid character from Super Mario Sunshine. [Gooper Blooper]. Because it's a squid, it can spit out ink and if you are the victim you cannot see the upper screen because it's painted with ink for a certain amount of time. But because it's a dual screen, on the lower screen you have the map so you know where you are and where others are."

NoE: What can you tell us about the courses in the game? We heard there will be a mixture of classic and new tracks.

HK: "We identified 16 of the best courses that people really enjoyed playing in the past, so we are now compiling these courses into the Nintendo DS version. I believe that the players who used to play these courses are going to have a very nostalgic feeling.

"We have also added 16 new courses, and because Nintendo DS is a highly capable machine we are actually creating some kind of topography so that there are ups and downs in the courses, and some new tweaks."

NoE: Can you tell us about some of these 'tweaks'?

HK: "There's a course where you are actually driving through a huge pinball table with bumpers and flippers. There are huge iron balls going through the course and you have to be very careful not to be hit by them."

NoE: And can we look forward to anything special in the single player mode?

HK: "One of the original objectives of making Mario Kart DS was to intensify the one player mode. Before we had simply the Grand Prix racing and Time Trial modes but this time we have made some changes so that even in a versus match you can actually play by yourself, in other words the computer is going to become the opponent. And also in the Battle Mode the computer can be your opponent so that you can play by yourself."