Nintendo DS - Mario Kart DS Highly recommended

Format
Nintendo DS
Publisher
Nintendo
Developer
Nintendo
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
Racing

Mario Kart DS

By David Rasmussen
15th Jun 08

Oh the joys of driving… something you probably have not been enjoying as much as you should since the gas prices went through the roof of late. Well don’t you fret… OK, actually fret a lot but for the sake of this review don’t fret… because you can enjoy the joys of driving without spending the money for the gas on both the DS & and Wii (the Wii more because you actually get a steering wheel device to go with your Kart game).

There isn’t much driving games on the DS, but Mario Kart DS is the best one you can find right now to own on the DS. Yes, even better than Diddy Kong Racing (which just isn’t as good as the original version that came out way back when). Easy to play, easy to absorb and work, easy to get addicted to, there just isn’t anything flawed about this new Mario Kart on the DS!

If there is a problem, and I’ll bring this up a lot on the Wii version, it’s that the Wii version is just a lift of the DS version with a lot of levels from this ported to that. Dang. But when it comes to this or that version I have to say my favorite is this version for a few reasons, but I’ll go into that in a minute or two.

Featuring a stack of eight main Kart racing levels, 4 races per level (32 in total) along with challenge modes (collect the most coins or pop other people’s balloons on their carts) and a special mission mode (short little missions of various types, a few harder than others unless you absorb the instructions to do certain things that mission mode require you to do or you can’t pass) are the highlights of the game. The main meat and potatoes of the game is still the main Kart racing mode, and this is beautifully fun (with three levels of difficulty and abit of unlockable racers and carts, though on the sad side it’s a lot of work just to unlock a new racer or kart and there isn’t many variants in karts to choose from).

Still racing is quick and fast to pick up, right out of the jewel case you’ll quickly master the game without the slightest hesistation. A few things of the game (a certain move for instance that is a hardship to pick up in the first set of Missions) are incredibly hard to pick up -- but seeing how these particular moves are not necessary to win most of the modes except the hardest (maybe) you don’t need to worry too much about these except for getting through the Missions mode.

Let’s see… given the choice between this game and the Wii version which do I love the best? I’d have to say this version since it came first, and it is the easiest to pick up and the easiest to run with… oh, and WiFi multiplayer is easier to pick up and play since it doesn’t require much to pick up and play (short of a WiFi hotspot).

So once I unlock my favorite Princess Daisy I’m off to race to my heart’s content (and look, you can even customize your own emblem for your racer that makes your racer all your own… far better than the unlockable Mii you can use in Mario Kart Wii.
So with all that said Mario Kart DS gets 5 runaway karts of joy out of 5. Enjoy!

-- David Rasmussen 15th Jun 08

Nintendo DS Mario Kart DS Images