Mario Kart DS
November 22,2005 - Mario Kart is a series long regarded as one of Nintendo’s finest. The idea is simple; put some of Nintendo’s key characters in a kart race full of whacked out weapons and insane level design. The latest entry in the series that began its life on the SNES, is definitely one of the best DS games available, and one would be hard pressed to find a game that was anywhere near as fun as this.

The core gameplay of the Mario Kart franchise is here in full force with Mario Kart DS. All of the trademark weapons such as multiple types of shells, bananas, trick item boxes, and a plethora of new items are all available for you to launch at your opponents with the wrath of a thousand Goombas. After all, items almost single handedly make Mario Kart what it is; fun.

Streaming Video

Check out the TV commercial for Mario Kart DS.

Mario Kart DS may be an all new game, but that doesn’t mean that the developers don’t know their old school roots. Aside from the new tracks designed specifically for Mario Kart DS, the game also includes courses from every Mario Kart game in the series: Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart Super Circuit, and even Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. The addition of these courses makes the game almost infinitely replayable, as they’re available in both the Grand Prix mode as well as the game’s multiplayer mode.

Speaking of multiplayer, Mario Kart DS is the first game for Nintendo’s dual screened device that takes advantage of the DS' Wi-Fi capabilities. By using a wireless router or a Wi-Fi adapter, players can log on to Nintendo’s Wi-Fi service and compete against players all over the world in Mario Kart. The set up is simple, and all in all it will probably take roughly 2 minutes if all of your equipment is in order.

Racing online is a blast, and there is usually little to no lag at all. Players begin each race by choosing a course, and after the votes are tallied, the popular course is where the racers compete to see who the top dog is. Unfortunately battle mode is not available for online play, but the game at least somewhat makes up for that by adding bots to the non-online enabled battle mode, for the friend challenged gamers.

The online in Mario Kart DS does come with a downside though. It may seem like a god send that Nintendo has finally taken initiative and launched an online service, even making one of their most popular franchises online enabled, but the service isn’t without its share of flaws. For one, there is no way to communicate with other players while racing, or even while in the game lobby; not even text chat. Also, adding friends to play with is a hassle, as both players need to exchange “Friend Codes” with one another. It’s not like Xbox Live, where one can simply go to their friends list and add their buddy’s Gamertag, Nintendo has unintentionally shot themselves in the foot with this complication.

Mario Kart is a technical marvel. It’s amazing to see how much was packed onto such a tiny cartridge. Not only does it contain a full fledged online mode, among a truck load of single player goodies, but the game is visually impressive as well. The characters do look a tad muddy, and some of the textures around the race tracks are sloppy, but all in all the game looks as good if not better in some ways than Mario Kart 64.
The music in the game is a fine mixture of happy and upbeat tunes, scrambled together with dark and monotone downers. The latter of which appear on darker levels such as the haunted house track, or Bowser’s dungeon, a great fit. Everything is well composed, and every song seems to fit its respective track perfectly.

The voices from most of the characters are fitting, but nonetheless annoying. Everything seems like it’s being recorded from the inside of an aluminum can, and some of the character’s voices can grate your nerves down to the brink of insanity. The DS doesn’t produce the best sound quality, but having no voices at all might have been the wise choice here.

Mario Kart DS is the DS’s newest hit, and is quite possibly the best game available for it right now. With a flawed, yet fun, online mode, a great deal of single player modes, and enough courses to choke a horse, Mario Kart DS is almost infinitely replayable. If you own a DS, and you have even the slightest bit of interest in racing games, Mario Kart DS is a wise investment. If not, you should still check it out because it’s one of the finest portable games available.

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