Tendo City

Then lets-a go!!!

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Cruel fate!

The R Button on my DS has stopped working! I was in the middle of a race, and all of a sudden it's not responding!! The R Button is crucial in MK because you need it to power slide (and thus power boost)!

I've tried restarting the system, pressing the button harder, tried different games...nothing. I refuse to believe that the button can simply decide to stop working during a game. Does anybody have any suggestions? Anything else I can try to heal my R Button??

<i>Edit:</i>

Okay, I've found that pressing almost directly down on the letter R seems to make the kart jump, though it's not very reliable, and doesn't always consider it held down for the full time it takes for a power boost. Not only that, but to press it in that way is uncomfortable. I've been known to play this game for hours! This really bites!

Good call refusing to believe it would decide something, as it lacks sentience. However, it CAN just break. The exact reasons why it would break are unknown until you examine it though.

Okay, my suggestion? Open the thing up. Most likely, the little plastic "bumper" with the metal bit that completes the circuit is out of place or somehow damaged. You will likely need to get in there, check out the WORKING shoulder button, see how everything is set up, and then you will know exactly what the R button should look like. Make it look like that, and you should be good to go, once you've put the system back together (a tricky process with the GBA at least).

Oh yeah, do this in as clean a place as possible, and keep track of EVERYTHING, using a bowl or a plate or something to put all the pieces. Use labels if needed.

All I can say is, good luck. I don't plan on taking advantage of a wounded animal, so I'll wait (plus it would be really embarresing if you still kept beating me).

As for me, I've finally beaten all cups in mirror mode and thus unlocked all characters and all carts. However, this game is crazy! Not only must I do that, they score how WELL you got that gold cup when you win, and to the best of my knowledge the highest ranking is 3 stars. So, now I'll just need to keep practicing in order to get triple star rankings in all of those.

Those missions are amazing. Boss battles! They are slowly getting closer to the awesome that is Diddy Kong Racing's single player mode. I expect a lot from Mario Kart Revolution.

I kinda wish you could do battle mode online though...

I've heard bad things about disassembling the DS...Even under perfect circumstances, there is no guarantee it will ever turn back on again.

Besides that, I'm not in the least bit qualified to pry open a $150 machine. For all I know, I could make things worse. It does have partial responsiveness, but not nearly as good as it was before (i.e. yesterday :()

I shudder at the thought of buying a new one, but I'm really, really, into Mario Kart DS now and am seriously considering such a splurge.

Had I not been a die-hard Nintendo fan, I'd be scolding the company for shoddy machines. They're known as reliable hardware producers, but I've had to replace my GameCube twice and now this with my DS...

Changing the subject, so you got R.O.B. huh? He's great, isn't he :D?

Indeed, a little unbalanced actually. Before that, I was a "Toad Masta!" (upgrading from Yoshi).

I haven't actually read much of anything regarding taking apart the DS. What exactly did you hear? I know from experience the PS2 is a bastard sword +2 to annoyance to take apart. The reason is simply that the system's front buttons are connected via a ribbon which leads really deep into the machine, meaning when you take off the cover, be VERY careful and lay the top off to the side. If it does get disconnected, you may end up like I did and spend an hour trying to get the ribbon back into place. The only other issue is that little warrentee sticker you will break in the process of opening it.

I might read up on the DS later today. If I can find a good walkthrough, I'll send you to it. Just keep in mind that your DS is already in a nearly unusable state (excepting a few games that don't even use the shoulder button), and if you are already considering buying a new one, the least you could do is make sure you have to by doing all you can with this one. The other option would be selling it and hoping the guy testing the system to make sure it works doesn't bother with checking each of the buttons :D. But, that would be dishonest, if that matters.

Anyway, I suppose you could hold off for now. Wow that sucks though.

Oh yes, it should be noted I have an ACTUAL ROB, and more useless an add-on I have yet to see. I have the gyromite parts attached (instead of the stack up parts attached to his default kart). I mean, the idea was you would send commands to ROB to keep gyros in place on top of the buttons on the second player NES controller (via an odd adapter). This would open and close gates in game. One factor is how easy it is to cheat if you wanted to :D. Another is how many parts there are for a child to lose. But, the main issue is ALL of that could have been done in-game. One side could be the actual game, the other side could be an in-game ROB moving the gyros around from your commands. The only thing that made ROB different was the "wow neato" factor of flashes on the screen making a robot do things (though really it was no different than a remote control, it just used visible light rather than infrared).

I don't think he's unbalanced. He's got the stats of a heavyweight (high speed, low acceleraion), but actually has a fairly low weight.

Even if he is a bit unbalanced, we earned it!!

Well if I do end up opening up the system, this appears to be what I'd be looking at.

I don't have one of those weird Y-screwdrivers though. The DS is setup is made with weird Y shaped screws...

Ah yes, that's a problem.

Balance is the most important part of a multiplayer experience. Earned it or no, if a character is inherently superior to any others, then you end up with everyone either picking that character, or going with a disadvantage. That basically lessens the fun of the whole thing.

Not anymore, <a href="http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=279&products_id=1850&">I just bought the screwdriver.</a> :D

Perhaps my DS just needed a break?

It's working fine now. I tried it again, just to check, and it seemed to be more responsive again. I then tested it by racing in some of the tracks that (in my opinion) seem to require the most drifting: Frappe Snowland, Figure-8 Circuit, Waluigi Pinball, Sky Garden, Baby Park, and Rainbow Road. The R Button performed perfectly every time. I was even able to sustain a drift for nearly 5 seconds in Sky Garden.

So that's good, I guess. I do wonder what happened though...

As for the screwdriver, I've been looking for an excuse to buy one of those for years, and the money in my Paypal Account was just sitting there anyhow :D. It'll be there if I ever really need to do any repairs, so I'm still happy I bought it.

In other news, WHO WANTS TO RACE ME!

I have a guess as to what happened. The little plastic nubbin or whatever slipped out of place a bit and couldn't make a solid connection. However, eventually after fiddling with it yourself many times it slipped back into place. It's happened to me before, and seems the most plausible. It is just a bit unsettling that that CAN happen though.

Well your guess is as good as mine. As much as I use that button for drifting (at least 15-20 times per race), it doesn't surpirse me that it might go on the fritz for a bit, so you're probably right on the money with that one.

Well, I won a match, but I was doin' the robot for that one so... I'm under the impression that the very fact I pulled off a victory is evidence that ROB is cheap. Or, I actually have improved, but I'll have to play as another character to check on that.

DJ, you should know as well as I that the race depends more on the last item everyone gets than most anything else. You can be in first place the whole race, and be knocked down to dead last with just a few racers behind you having good items. Likewise, you can go from 8th place straight on up to first in the space of one lap should you get the right items. Such is Mario Kart, so don't blame ROB. Besides, maybe your skill is just increasing.

Wanna race me and find out for sure?

ROB is kind of cheap though.

I don't really see how. If anyone, Luigi seems unbalanced to me, having great top speed, acceleration, and handling. He has almost no downside.

NOTICE: CHANGE OF FRIEND CODE

New Friend Code:

468211
236316

Did you get a new DS? You should know there is a friend code transfer option in the game. Right now of course it doesn't matter, it's easy to inform 3 people of this. Later on, when you have 40 people on that list, you may want to consider the transfer.

By the way, I confirmed it, 4 matches total.

Except, in some random circumstances, the variable determining it I can't identify, it's 5 matches. It is weird.

I got a new DS AND a new copy of Mario Kart DS, so no more bumming my brother's copy.

Oh I see, so basically you would need to steal his friend code if you transferred. I gotcha.

Get online you guys!! I need someone to play against!!

Okay, I'll race you in a few minutes, GR.

If anyone wants to race, contact me on MSN, even if I'm marked as away, If I'm around, I'll hear you contact me and we'll do some racin'!!

I've got a fever and the only prescription...IS MORE MARIO KART DS!!!

You gave up :(

The worst part: It worked! After I got everything squared away, I was able to connect to games again...

We'll call it even for all the times your router crapped out on us, and maybe we'll play some tomorrow or Friday.

:(

Get online and I'll race you know! Promise!

I need to get online!!

GR! Let's burn some imaginary rubber!

Okay!

I'm up for some racing if anybody's willing!

I am!

But no one else is. :(

When I got here, DJ was on too, I thought he might want to race too :(

He needs to get on MSN!!

DJ, if you read this, get on MSN and we'll race!

Hey DJ, we haven't raced in a while. I'd be interested to see if you've improved!

People that want to play need to get on MSN so that we'll know when you're ready to play!

Hey GR, it's been a while since we raced. Wanna give it a go?

I'll be on MSN in a few minutes.

How aboot a little Christmas racing, GR?

I'm on right now.

I'm on now. My friend code is:

163270
657853

I won't be able to play against you tonight, but I'll be free most of next week.

Anyone want to race?

I'd race you, but I have to eat and Arrested Development is on in 20 minutes. I'm playing basketball later tonight and if you're still on maybe we can race then.

BTW, how does the wins/losses system work when racing online because I have 20 wins, but I don't think I've raced 20 times. Do you get a win for each opponent you defeat? Maybe I just lost track of how much I've raced, but I don't think it's been that much. I also had a loss disappear, but it was a loss because I was disconnected. I'm guessing that disappeared because losses due to disconnections go away after a while if you haven't had another disconnect. Anyway, I am loving playing MK online, but that could be due to all the free time I have before work starts again next week. :)

It's counted by how many opponents you defeat or are defeated by. For instance, if you race against 4 people and end up in 2nd, you'll recieve 2 wins (for beating the 3rd and 4th place finishers), and one loss (for the guy that was in 1st.). Also, if an opponent quits halfway through a round (as many noobs are fond of doing), it automatically counts that person as a win in your record and a loss in theirs. Ties do not affect wins or losses (unless you're tied with someone while still beating or being beaten by other players).

It's a bit of an odd system, but simple at it's base :D.

Yeah, come and see if I'm on MSN. I might be playing Civ 4, but tell ya what? I'll sign on at around 10:30 (that's Eastern time) and stay in the friends menu for a while. You (or anyone else who reads this) can come and challenge me. I warn you now, I'm pretty good ;).

I'm tired of working on my novel, so I'm free for the rest of the night to play the Mario Kart!

I'll be on in a few minutes.

Get you some of that, Boyeez!!!

I tip my hat to you, Derek! You're a force! Those first couple rounds were just dismal for me (The items I got sucked, and the items you got all hit ME), but I fell into my niche after that. You're a great racer, man! I'd be happy to face you anytime!