ATV Quad Kings (Wii and Nintendo DS): Dates, Modes and Reviews

ATV Quad Kings is an off-road racing game that came out first on the Wii in August 2009 and then on the Nintendo DS in March 2010, the second time with Storm City Games named as publisher. The two editions share a title but not a publisher, a mode list or a control scheme, so each is described on its own terms here.

Overview

The game sends a player-built rider around dirt circuits on quad bikes, with prize money earned along the way. VGChartz summarises the DS version as 3D racing in three modes, with 18 races across nine locations from the United States to Australia, engine classes ranging from 90cc to 700cc, and 14 unlockable vehicles that include dune buggies as well as ATVs.

Money comes from winning races and from tricks and jumps, and it is spent on unlocking tracks and vehicles. VGChartz also gives an ESRB rating of E and a PEGI rating of 3 for the DS release.

A follow-up with a Honda licence, Honda ATV Fever, came in October 2010 and is covered on a page of its own.

How it plays on the DS

WorthPlaying’s Brian Dumlao reviewed the DS game on 1 May 2010. He lists three modes: World Tour, where a created rider chases wins through point-based circuits across 18 tracks; Arcade, which lets the player pick a track and a lap count; and Time Trial, which is about the fastest lap. He found 14 ATVs but no statistics shown for them, so the differences between machines were hard to judge, and every one of them made the same loud engine drone.

The controls follow the usual DS pattern. The d-pad steers, the face buttons handle acceleration, braking and tricks, and the shoulder buttons trigger turbo and powerslides. Dumlao found the steering loose enough to send a rider into walls, with the held powerslide the only dependable cure, and he saw little point to the tricks. Leaving the dirt line slows the bike heavily, jumps are few, and the music is generic instrumental rock and metal with no voice work.

Another outlet takes a different line on the same version. In a review dated 6 May 2010, Robert Allen of Tech-Gaming describes four championship series in World Tour, an Arcade mode with collectible money icons, and a Time Trial that he thinks pointless. He says money earned in Arcade unlocks nine more ATVs and a few buggies, calls the steering precise, and notes that jumps land by themselves. Neither reviewer reports any multiplayer on the DS.

How it plays on the Wii

Tech-Gaming also covered the Wii version, in a review dated 24 August 2009. It lists World Tour, Freestyle, Arcade and Time Trial, with local two-player play in Arcade and Freestyle and no online mode. There are nine courses, which Allen finds visually bland, and vehicles include ATVs and dune buggies bought with race winnings.

Steering uses the Wii Remote held like a wheel or the Nunchuk. He prefers the Nunchuk for tighter turns, and he describes twelve stunts mapped to two-button combinations that feel unresponsive, with an awkward camera shift on landing.

Release and credits

Wikipedia’s Wii list gives 11 August 2009 for North America with Beyond Reality as developer and Zoo Games as publisher. Its DS list gives 2 March 2010 with Beyond Reality and Storm City Games. VGChartz agrees on the March 2010 date and prints Storm City Games beside it, but names Enjoy Gaming Ltd as developer. WorthPlaying prints Storm City Entertainment as publisher on its DS review, which matches the way the same company appears under two names elsewhere in the catalogue.

Reception

WorthPlaying scored the DS game 3.5 out of 10 and called it lackluster, recommending it only to devoted ATV fans or people who must own every DS racer. Tech-Gaming judged the DS version an anemic effort with serious omissions that even fans should avoid, and graded the Wii version D+, saying it lacks the depth of the ATV Offroad Fury games.

Can you still play it?

Both editions were sold as physical copies, so the closing of the Wii Shop Channel in January 2019 and the Nintendo eShop in March 2023 does not decide anything here. A Wii disc works on a Wii and in the Wii U’s Wii Mode, with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk that the review describes. The DS card runs on DS, DS Lite and DSi hardware and on the Nintendo 3DS family; the Wii U and Switch cannot read it.