Two Namco arcade games delayed in Japan

TOKYO--Gamers in Japan waiting for Namco's two major arcade games of the year will have to wait a bit longer. At its private dealer show, the company explained that MarioKart Arcade GP has been rescheduled from a fall release to December. Also rescheduled is Cobra the Arcade, which was originally planned for release this spring. The game will instead be released this November. Namco is taking preorders for both games.

MarioKart Arcade GP is an arcade version of Nintendo's popular Mario Kart racing game series. The game is being developed on the Triforce, which is an arcade board codeveloped by Nintendo, Namco, and Sega in 2002 and based on the Nintendo GameCube's architecture. For a detailed look at MarioKart Arcade GP, check GameSpot's impressions from the AOU show.

Cobra the Arcade is a light-gun game based on the classic 1980s sci-fi manga series Cobra. It plays on the same arcade cabinet as Namco's Time Crisis series and features a foot pedal that gamers use to dodge enemy attacks. The cabinet also comes with a light gun that's shaped just like the futuristic psycho gun from the original manga. As a new implementation, Cobra the Arcade's gameplay features a unique psycho shot system, which lets players lock onto multiple enemies and fire shots that home in on them.