Mario Kart DS (2005) (VG)

Directors:

Yasuyuki Oyagi
Makoto Wada

Release Date:

14 November 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Family | Fantasy | Sport

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Mario | Yoshi | Wario | Princess Peach | Luigi

Cast

Charles Martinet	...	Mario / Luigi / Wario (voice)
Jen Taylor	...	(voice)
Scott Burns	...	(voice)
Nate Bihldorff	...	(voice)
Kazumi Totaka	...	(voice)
Takashi Nagasako	...	(voice)
Deanna Mustard	...	(voice)
Toru Asakawa	...	(voice)
Dolores Rogers	...	(voice)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

0.67 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:E | Australia:G

Company:

Nintendo

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Stormbreaker (2006)

Much like Voltron, the best parts of Mario Kart come together to form a giant super robot.

As a series, Mario Kart has been around since the original released on the SNES in 1992. It's considered a classic, and while it may have not created the genre of the kart racer, it certainly brought it to the mainstream. Since then, we've seen three sequels follow it on the N64, GBA, and GameCube. The release of Mario Kart DS marks an important landmark in the history of Nintendo. It's the first game they've ever developed that features online play, and it's the "killer app" for their new WiFi Connection service, which allows players to race each other worldwide over a wireless internet connection. However, what's most important about Mario Kart DS is that they got it right. Everything about the game comes together perfectly to form what is the best Mario Kart game ever.

The concept is simple enough. Mario and pals race around tracks, while firing weapons at each other, to determine who is the best racer. However, it's been somewhat lacking in the past few Mario Kart games, most notably Mario Kart: Double Dash. Nintendo went back to the drawing board for the DS iteration, removing some of the more gimmicky aspects like two characters on a kart and character-specific items (which heavily unbalanced Double Dash). Mario Kart DS goes back to the roots of the series; even jumping has returned. The result is a more focused game, intense and more exciting to play than any of its predecessors. A deep single player experience keeps the game fresh, and the new online mode means there is always somebody ready for a challenge.

The core of Mario Kart's single player mode has always been the grand prix. The goal is to have the overall best performance in a series of four races. Three engine classes separate the game into three difficulties (which would best be described as really easy, easy, and kind of hard). Mario Kart as a series has always featured "rubber-band" artificial intelligence. Racers in the back of the pack are typically given the best weapons, to give them a chance to climb back into first place. Also, the game will pick a few racers that will be on your back for the entire GP, to make sure you don't totally smoke the competition in the points race. The combination of these features keeps the challenge at a decent level. However, most players are going to blow through the GPs relatively quickly.

That's where the other modes come in. A time trial mode will see how fast you can race a specific track. VS mode is basically a free race mode against seven computer players. Battle mode puts you and seven computers in a large arena to see who can take out everybody else.

There's also a brand new single player mode, missions. They include objectives such as "Take out all the Monty Moles" or "Collect all 20 coins." The missions take place on sectioned off portions of the GP tracks, and are divided into six sets of nine, each harder than the last. After completing eight of the missions in a set, a boss mission is unlocked. The boss missions throw you into a battle with a villain from Mario's past and ask you to take them out go-kart style. Mission mode is something that should have been added to Mario Kart ages ago. It takes the normal actions of the game and puts an entirely new twist on them. The challenge level and difficulty curve are excellent, and the boss battles are magnificent. Mario Kart has remained basically the same over the years, and it's refreshing to see a totally new feature added to this version, especially since it is so well executed.

The most important factor of a racing game is the tracks. If they're not fun to race on then the entire game is boring. It's one of the big reasons Mario Kart: Double Dash wasn't fun. Thankfully, the tracks in Mario Kart DS are for the most part amazing. There are sixteen brand new tracks to race on, all but a few of which are superbly designed. Many of them feature elaborate moving objects, such as the race around Waluigi's pinball table and the Mario 64-inspired Tick-Tock Clock track in which whole parts of the track move. The other sixteen tracks are pulled from prior Mario Kart games (four from each). Some of the all-time best Mario Kart tracks ever are back. The addition of these classic tracks really adds a lot to the game. The tracks from Super Mario Kart (SNES) are particularly exciting to race on. The karts go a lot faster than they did back on the SNES, and the SNES tracks are all really short. The end result is an incredibly cut-throat race where falling behind and charging back up to first is not an easy feat to accomplish.

Mario Kart DS features a ton of racers. At first there are eight, but four more are unlockable. Each character has a standard go-kart and two character-specific karts (one of which must be unlocked). The karts are all rated in various statistics, making each one slightly different from the rest.

Mario Kart has been a favorite game of many people over the years, and it's nice to see the series return to the core of what makes it fun. The best features of past Mario Kart games are back, and when combined with the new ones in Mario Kart DS, the end result is the most impressive game to ever hit the Nintendo DS and also the best game in the Mario Kart series.