Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS is probably the biggest game to come to the Nintendo DS so far. I’ve read a lot of reviews and the majority of them are in the 9 – 10 out of 10 range. I’ll have to confess right now that this is the first Mario Kart I have played so I can’t really compare it to the ones that have come before. Since Ben and I have both played this game a lot, I’m going to include comments in this review from the perspective of an adult and a 10 year old.

Mario Kart DS is also one of the first DS games to use the Nintendo WiFi connection to allow play across the Internet so I’m giving this game two ratings – one for the gameplay and one for the Internet experience.

The Game

What I like about the game:

1. It’s fun. – The controls are simple to use and learn. The game is very entertaining and the different characters have their own personalities.


2. Good Graphics. – The graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on the DS. The frame rates are very smooth which lends to an immersive experience.


3. Good Sound. – The music fits with the game and is not so overly repetitious that it becomes annoying.


4. Variety of Games – There is grand pix racing (32 different tracks), time trials, and battle modes with many different arenas. There is a lot of value packed into this cartridge.


5. Multiplayer – There is built-in support for both single card and multi-card play.

What Ben likes:

1. Gameplay – If you like racing games where you can explode your opponents, this game is for you.


2. Variety – Along with the racing there is the battle modes with balloon battles and shine runner battles.


3. Multiplayer – It’s great to be able to set up the multiplayer games quickly. Since not everyone on my bus has Mario Kart they can still use their DS to play single card download races and battles.


4. Lots of rewards – There are many characters that you can unlock. You start with eight racers to choose from (each with two carts). You can unlock another four racers and up to 30 carts.

What I don’t like:

1. Sometimes Annoying – The biggest annoyance is when you are just about to win a race and you get hit by a missile (there is a blue one that only targets the cart in first place). When you get hit by one of these over 50% of the time when you are in first place on the last lap, You really get the feeling the game itself is out to get you.

What Ben doesn’t like:

1. Blue Koopa Shells –  These weapons are probably the most annoying of all the power-ups (unless you are just behind the cart that gets hit and take first place). These are especially annoying on the tracks such as rainbow road where you can get knocked off the tack and by the time your cart is reset you could be in last place.


2. No long missions/races – All of the individual events are designed to be completed in less than 5 minutes. If you are the type of person who wants a longer experience that game can get extremely repetitive.

Nintendo WiFi

The much-hyped WiFi component is my biggest disappointment when it comes to this game. Nintendo bills it as a free service where you can compete against your friends or racers from anywhere on the planet.

You know, that sounds really good in practice. However, my experience with the WiFi has been less than stellar. With over 1 million of these cartridges sold, you would think that finding people to race would be easy. Instead it is an exercise in patience and futility.

Other than Ben, I don’t know anyone else with a DS so programming in friend codes so that I can race against my buddies is pretty much out of the question. So, I have to go into the other modes and stare at the screen for 5 minutes while it tries to find someone to race. You see, you just can’t go into an online game room and choose a race to participate in – the WiFi system matches people up.

You sit and stare at the screen while the three available opponent slots say “searching” until one glows yellow which says you have an opponent. However, it does not show you who the opponent is, just that it found someone. Oh yeah, 90% of the time the person will go away before the game is locked in since after 2-3 minutes of being teased that they have a race, the system still hadn’t locked us in and started the race – you can’t force a start so you are at the mercy of the Nintendo WiFi service.

I have only had 4 races on WiFi. Three times I only had one opponent and one time I had two, but one dropped out after he/she lost the first race (you do four races in a set).

As you can see, I’m not really a fan of the WiFi service as it was implemented for Mario Kart.

The ratings are:

Mario Kart DS (Mike) – 9 out of 10
Mario Kart DS (Ben) – 8.5 out of 10
Nintendo WiFi Connection for Mario Kart DS – 1 out of 10