(thing) by jclast Thu Jan 12 2006 at 0:43:09

Game: Mario Kart DS
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: EU: 11/25/05, JP: 12/8/05, NA: 11/14/05
Genre: Racing
ESRB: E
Players: 1-8 LAN, 1-4 WFC

What is it!?

Mario Kart. It's been a staple of the Nintendo library since the SNES days, and before that we had RC Pro Am on the NES so it's all good. The 16-bit era brought us Super Mario Kart, the jump to true 3D gave the world Mario Kart 64, and when everybody else was shooting for photorealism, Nintendo gave us good cartoony fun with Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. And for those of you that absolutely needed to race on the go, the GBA's Mario Kart Super Circuit harkens back to the days of the original SNES Mario Kart. There's even an arcade edition: Mario Kart Arcade GP.

What does every console need? A killer app, that's what. Fun games move units, and the DS is more than capable of pushing a few polygons (it's more powerful than the Nintendo 64, but that topic is better suited for the Nintendo DS node). What else do gamers like? Competition, and lots of it. If it's free, all the better. Enter the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC), a free (so far) service used to play some of your Nintendo DS games with people all over the world. So far we've got a console to sell and a service to debut. Mario Kart is the perfect way to sell more DS units and get people using WFC. Gamers know Mario Kart, and they love racing their buddies. Now when there's nobody around, you can still race real people instead on the AI opponents. I get a fun racer, and Nintendo makes some money. Everybody wins.

How does it work!?

A makes you go. B makes you stop. Steer with the control pad. Those three simple sentences are enough to start somebody on the 50cc Mushroom cup. And after you've won that you'll want to go back for more. L and/or X throw an item if you have one. R lets you hop and then powerslide, and if you alternately press left and right while powersliding you get a quick boost. The controls are simple, and that's part of Mario Kart's charm. There's no need to worry about damage to your kart or overheating your engine. Just race and have fun.

For the more advanced racers, however, there are some extra tricks. Many of the courses feature shortcuts. Watch out though, many of these shortcuts require a mushroom to make a long jump, and you're not prone to receive one right before you need it. You can also draft behind your opponents when you aren't in the lead, which is handy for regaining the lead. The last trick I know about is called "snaking." Snaking is continually powersliding to receive turbo boosts. If you're getting beaten repeatedly at online play, you've probably found somebody that's very good at snaking. Don't worry though, the AI racers don't do it.

Where can I race!?

There are four weight classes to race in. They are, in order of difficulty:

  1. 50cc
  2. 100cc
  3. 150cc
  4. Mirror 150cc
The heavier your engine, the worse your kart's accelleration and the off-track handling are. The Mirror 150cc is the hardest weight class of all because not only is your kart heavy but you're probably memorized the tracks, and now they're all backwards.

Each weight class features eight cups to win. The first four feature brand new tracks, and the second four feature retro tracks.

The new tracks are, in order of difficulty:

  1. Mushroom Cup
    1. Figure 8 Circuit - Simple figure 8, a beginner's track.
    2. Yoshi Falls - Two waterfalls grace this almost perfectly circular track.
    3. Cheep Cheep Beach - The water is pretty, but it slows down your kart.
    4. Luigi's Mansion - Tree monsters, a swamp, and you get to drive through a house!
       
  2. Flower Cup
    1. Desert Hills - Watch out for sand and fireballs!
    2. Delfino Square - Race around the town from Super Mario Sunshine.
    3. Waluigi Pinball - Avoid giant bumpers and flippers as well as your fellow racers.
    4. Shroom Ridge - Weave through traffic as fast as you can!
       
  3. Star Cup
    1. DK Pass - Up and down the mountain we go!
    2. Tick Tock Clock - Watch out for the minute hand!
    3. Mario Circuit - Normal track except for the goombas in the road.
    4. Airship Fortress - Speed through that which caused so much trouble in SMB3.
       
  4. Special Cup
    1. Wario Stadium - More jumps and bumps than you could possibly need!
    2. Peach Gardens - Does that castle look familiar?
    3. Bowser Castle - No? How about this one?
    4. Rainbow Road - A Mario Kart staple.
       
And the retro tracks are, in order of difficulty:
  1. Shell Cup
    1. Mario Circuit 1 (SNES) - The first Mario Kart track. Ever.
    2. Moo Moo Farm (N64) - Sadly, there are no cows on the track. Only some moles.
    3. Peach Circuit (GBA) - Normal track; very flat (the GBA couldn't handle complex tracks).
    4. Luigi Circuit (GCN) - Two-way traffic!
       
  2. Banana Cup
    1. Donut Plains 1 (SNES) - So. Many. Turns.
    2. Frappe Snowland (N64) - Frappe. That's a funny word.
    3. Bowser Castle 2 (GBA) - Man's got a lot of castles. Bowser++
    4. Baby Park (GCN) - It's an oval. At least there are plenty of items.
       
  3. Leaf Cup
    1. Koopa Beach 2 (SNES) - Watch out for the deep water!
    2. Choco Mountain (N64) - Mm. Choco Mountain. *drool* I'm sorry. What was I talking about?
    3. Luigi Circuit (GBA) - Ha! Mario's only got one circuit in this game. Who's more popular now?
    4. Mushroom Bridge (GCN) - They nerfed the bridge. The boost pads are gone!
       
  4. Lightning Cup
    1. Choco Island 2 (SNES) - Obstacles, mud, and bumps everywhere. *growls*
    2. Banshee Boardwalk (N64) - The giant ghost cheep cheep alone makes this track great.
    3. Sky Garden (GBA) - I've never won this track. Ever. You fall of the edge. A lot.
    4. Yoshi Circuit (GCN) - It's shaped like Yoshi!

What characters can I use!?

Mario Kart DS features 13 racers, but when you first begin the game, you'll only have access to eight. Don't worry, you'll unlock the rest as you win cups in the Grand Prix mode. Each character has a weight class, and his or her weight affects each kart's accelleration, speed, and power.

The lights racers at your disposal are:

The average weight racers are: And finally, the heavy racers are: Each character initially has two karts to choose from. This will be upgraded along to way until each racer has access to each of the game's 34 karts. Each kart handles differently. Some have terrible accelleration but a great top speed. Some are good for powersliding. It's all about finding a kart you like. Some of the more notable karts are Luigi's Poltergust 4000 (from Luigi's Mansion), Waluigi's backhoe, Bowser's airplane (adapted from his SMB3 copter thing), and R.O.B.'s legs!

But I want to hit people!

Then you've come to the right place. All the old standards are back. Green shells, red shells, banana peels, bombs, and many other weapons are at your disposal.

  • Banana peel - make your opponents wipe out.
  • Triple banana peel - make them wipe out three times. Also makes a handy shield!
  • Blooper - New to MKDS, Blooper covers the screens of those ahead of you with his ink!
  • Green shell - Dummy fire projectile.
  • Triple green shell - Three dummy fire projectiles or a handy shield.
  • Red shell - Kart-seeking shell.
  • Triple red shell - Three kart-seeking shells. These could be a shield, too, but I've never hung on to them long enough to use them as such.
  • Blue shell - Always hits the racer in first place (at the time of firing). Always.
  • Bob-omb - Blows up and can affect more than one racer.
  • Boo - Makes you transparent and steals an item for you.
  • Bullet Bill - Rocket through the race as Bullet Bill for about six seconds.
  • Fake item box - Makes racers wipe out.
  • Mushroom - Get a speed boost. Handy for shortcuts.
  • Triple mushroom - Get three speed boosts.
  • Gold mushroom - Get unlimited speed boosts for about ten seconds.
  • Lightning bolt - Make all your opponents tiny!
  • Star - Top speed increases, and you're invincible for about eight seconds.

What about multiplayer!?

Mario Kart DS allows eight people to play on only one game card. Single game multiplayer is the best kind. As long as everybody has a DS nobody gets left out of the fun. Local multiplayer is lag-free in my experience, and it's just as fun as playing on a television. WFC play takes a bit longer to set up because you have to find opponents and such, but my experience online has been mostly positive. As with any online game there are some folks that would rather disconnect than lose, but real people will always present a better challenge than the AI racers, it's great to be able to race real people no matter what time it is or if I'm the only one in the house that wants to play, and I've only had somebody disconnect from a race twice.

But is it any good!?

Mario Kart DS is fantastic. It feels like the next edition of Mario Kart even though it's on a handheld. I liked Super Circuit, but it just didn't feel like a successor to Mario Kart 64 to me. The tracks were all flat, and the environments were nearly non-existant. Mario Kart DS has plenty of racers, challenging tracks, wonderful environments (I'm especially fond of Airship Fortress), and a new item (Blooper). When you consider that it also has online play, it becomes evident that Mario Kart DS really is one of the games that every DS owner should have.

* Unlockable character
** single card multiplayer character only

Reference: http://www.gamefaqs - release information

I like it! 2 C!s