Mario Kart DS Reviews
Mario Kart is a superb game, that is, if you own Wi-Fi.
- Posted Jul 3, 2008 9:50 am PT
- Recommended by 3 of 3 users.
- Difficulty:
- Just Right
- Time Spent:
- 40 to 100 Hours
- The Bottom Line:
- "Been there, done that"
The Mario Kart series is one of the successful Mario spin-offs, all Mario Kart sales totaling over 48.18 million. (This does not include sales on the Virtual Console for Wii) Mario Kart DS is the fifth installment in the series and is the first Mario Kart to be on a hand held system. Mario Kart DS is also the first game to take advantage of the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi capabilities.
Mario Kart DS is a Kart Racing game featuring all of our favourite Nintendo characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser and many more. The game contains 13 characters, four of which, are unlockable.
The single player aspect of the game has 5 modes you can play in:
In Grand Prix, (the main 'story' of the game) you pick a class, a character, a kart and finally a grand prix. There are 8 grand prix's but only 4 are unlock-able from the start of the game. In each grand prix there are four tracks, the object is to place as high as you can to get points, at the end of all the races, the points are tallied up and if you are in the top three you unlock a new grand prix.
In time trial mode, you try and get the best time on a chosen track, you can try and beat the ghost time. A ghost time is when you race on a track for the first time, than it creates a ghost, and you can play again and try and beat that ghost. There is even a staff ghost which is really hard to beat!
In versus mode, it is basically a free race, you can have teams, you get to pick the course, etc and you get points as you keep racing. The good thing about this, is you can keep race infinity tracks and still not be done racking up the points.
Battle mode has two different games, first, balloon battle. When you begin balloon battle, you have two balloons and can blow into the mic to get a maximum of 3. When you get hit by an item, you lose a balloon, the object is to survive the longest. The next game is Shrine Runner, in this game, you go around collecting Shines, when you get hit by an item, you lose a shine, over time, people with less Shines will get booted, the object is to stay in the game for the longest amount of time. Both games have a team option.
In the final mode, mission mode, you are given tasks, once you complete 8 tasks, you have to defeat a boss. This is probably one of the best modes in MK DS because the objectives vary from driving through gates in order to performing power-slide turbo boosts.
The graphics in this game are amazing, you can see everything from the tire treads on the racing karts, the audience in the crowd on some of the tracks and there is lots of detail on all of the karts, but, the graphics are lacking on the touch screen, everything is pixel-y and looks ugly.
The sound in this game is okay, sometimes you can tell that the DS is doing this game no good sound-wise but other times you can hear everything from power-slide turbo boosts, items hitting the track and much more.
The multi-player features are fun, but there is nothing to separate the two things, they both feel like one mode, except now you can talk to people while doing local wi-fi and playing against a real player makes it harder.
I have not tried online, but if you don't own wi-fi, after you log about 100 hours on this game, it will get boring.
Overall, this game is just a graphically updated version of the older games with a few new items and characters, with little-to-no touch screen capabilities. But if you are looking for a good racing game on the Nintendo DS, you've found your game.
Mario Kart DS is a Kart Racing game featuring all of our favourite Nintendo characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser and many more. The game contains 13 characters, four of which, are unlockable.
The single player aspect of the game has 5 modes you can play in:
In Grand Prix, (the main 'story' of the game) you pick a class, a character, a kart and finally a grand prix. There are 8 grand prix's but only 4 are unlock-able from the start of the game. In each grand prix there are four tracks, the object is to place as high as you can to get points, at the end of all the races, the points are tallied up and if you are in the top three you unlock a new grand prix.
In time trial mode, you try and get the best time on a chosen track, you can try and beat the ghost time. A ghost time is when you race on a track for the first time, than it creates a ghost, and you can play again and try and beat that ghost. There is even a staff ghost which is really hard to beat!
In versus mode, it is basically a free race, you can have teams, you get to pick the course, etc and you get points as you keep racing. The good thing about this, is you can keep race infinity tracks and still not be done racking up the points.
Battle mode has two different games, first, balloon battle. When you begin balloon battle, you have two balloons and can blow into the mic to get a maximum of 3. When you get hit by an item, you lose a balloon, the object is to survive the longest. The next game is Shrine Runner, in this game, you go around collecting Shines, when you get hit by an item, you lose a shine, over time, people with less Shines will get booted, the object is to stay in the game for the longest amount of time. Both games have a team option.
In the final mode, mission mode, you are given tasks, once you complete 8 tasks, you have to defeat a boss. This is probably one of the best modes in MK DS because the objectives vary from driving through gates in order to performing power-slide turbo boosts.
The graphics in this game are amazing, you can see everything from the tire treads on the racing karts, the audience in the crowd on some of the tracks and there is lots of detail on all of the karts, but, the graphics are lacking on the touch screen, everything is pixel-y and looks ugly.
The sound in this game is okay, sometimes you can tell that the DS is doing this game no good sound-wise but other times you can hear everything from power-slide turbo boosts, items hitting the track and much more.
The multi-player features are fun, but there is nothing to separate the two things, they both feel like one mode, except now you can talk to people while doing local wi-fi and playing against a real player makes it harder.
I have not tried online, but if you don't own wi-fi, after you log about 100 hours on this game, it will get boring.
Overall, this game is just a graphically updated version of the older games with a few new items and characters, with little-to-no touch screen capabilities. But if you are looking for a good racing game on the Nintendo DS, you've found your game.
More Player Reviews
-
- Video_Tycoon's Score
- 9.5
- superb
Is it possible to go wrong with Mario Kart DS? Never,you will never ever go wrong with this game. continue »
- Posted Jul 5, 2008 12:09 pm PT
-
- Video_Tycoon's Score
- 10
- perfect
One of the best games on DS. You need this game. It rocks!!! continue »
- Posted Jul 3, 2008 11:36 am PT
-
- Video_Tycoon's Score
- 10
- perfect
Mario Kart DS is the second 3-D Mario Kart Game since Double Dash! continue »
- Posted Jul 3, 2008 9:40 am PT
-
- Video_Tycoon's Score
- 9.5
- superb
Go Mario Kart! I didn't know the DS was so much fun! continue »
- Posted Jun 29, 2008 4:26 pm PT
-
- Video_Tycoon's Score
- 8.5
- great
Whoa! Cool cars, cool courses, cool characters! continue »
- Posted Jun 29, 2008 12:54 pm PT
Tell the world what you think of Mario Kart DS.
Mario Kart DS Quick Links
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- GameSpot Score9.2Editors' Choice
Check Prices: $24.5 – 54.6
| GameStop | $34.99 | SHOP › |
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| Amazon.com | $33.48 | SHOP › |
Critic Scores
- IGN 9.5 / 10
- Gamervision 9 / 10
- VideoGamer 9 / 10
- Thunderbolt 10 / 10
- GameZone 9.5 / 10
- Gaming Age A
- Eurogamer 9 / 10
- 1UP 9 / 10
*The links above will take you to other Web sites and are provided for your reference. GameSpot does not produce or endorse the content on these sites.
User Submissions
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