IAnnounced at the AOU event in Japan, Mario Kart Arcade GP is the result of the latest agreement between Nintendo and NAMCO and is built upon the TriForce board.

The game allows four cabinets to be linked together, with player’s faces featuring within the game thanks to the minicam, dubbed the NamCam, which takes a picture of your face before the game.

Featuring both “Race” and “Combat” modes, players select three types of weapons before the race begins, including the traditional assortment of koopa shells, mushrooms and various other favourites. It’s worth noting that the game returns to the more traditional characteristic of one character per kart, whilst we’re also happy to note the return of coins – something that has been sorely missing in recent console versions.

Featuring 24 tracks from 6 different worlds, Mario Kart Arcade GP includes the usual roster of Nintendo characters alongside NAMCO classics such as Pac-Man.

The big question on everyone's mind is "So when is this coming to the GameCube?" At the rate things are going, we'd expect this game to actually be a launch title for the next Nintendo console. That's completely hearsay right now, but come on, are we that far off? Right now, we just want to know when this arcade monster will show up in North America?

Scheduled for a Japanese release in Autumn 2005; we’ll have more information soon.