Mario Kart DS Impressions

During this morning's Game Developers Conference keynote speech, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata showed off a number of upcoming games for the Nintendo DS, including Mario Kart DS. The demonstration focused primarily on the wireless multiplayer component of the game, which was fitting, as the Wi-Fi component of the DS and the upcoming next-generation Nintendo gaming console was a central tenant of Iwata's keynote address. While we got to see only a single three-lap race, in which Iwata himself took part, the game looks to be coming along nicely.

Before the demonstration began, several members of the audience were selected to take part, bringing the total number of players on stage to eight, the maximum number supported by the game. Players were asked to spread out across the stage, with Iwata on the far left-hand side, to demonstrate the range of the DS's wireless reach. Though only one DS was shown on the big screen--that belonging to Nintendo's Bill Trinnen--the disparity in performance between the karts found in the game was clear. The Trinnen-controlled Luigi car was passed up early by quicker-accelerating opponents, but it rallied later in the race due to some skilled powersliding and deft use of the pickup weapons found on the track.

For those players who may have been new to the series, Trinnen explained the basic controls: The A button is for acceleration, the B button is for braking (for those rare times when you want to actually slow down), and steering is accomplished with the directional pad. More-advanced techniques such as powersliding and weapon firing are executed using the right and left trigger buttons, respectively.

As has been seen in previous demos of the game, Mario Kart DS's use of the handheld's dual screen format is to present maps and menus on the lower touchscreen and the actual races themselves on the upper screen. We didn't notice any particular touchscreen usage during the race itself, but the top-down map always illustrated who was in the immediate vicinity. In addition, a dynamic grid position indicator on the left-hand side of the touchscreen updated each player's position in the race, quickly noting lead changes or players falling behind.

The look of Mario Kart DS will be familiar to anyone who has played the series before--brightly colored tracks and characters and a speedy frame rate even with eight people playing simultaneously. The track used during the demo was a simple figure-eight track with wide corners and walls that allowed plenty of ricocheting. And while we didn't get a great look at the rides found in the game, one screenshot shown before the race began had Mario driving an especially cool-looking kart modeled to look like a 1960s-era rear-engine Formula One car, complete with oval-styled nose cone. Bananas and turtle shells were the weapons of choice among many of the onstage players during the demonstration, including a well-timed shot that took Trinnen out of first place just before the end of the race. Just like in previous versions of the Mario Kart series, you run over boxes strewn across the track to score your weapon upgrades.

Mario Kart DS looks to be another fun entry in a very popular series, especially for those who have a number of DS-owning friends. We wished we could have seen a few more tracks or gotten a bit more detail on how the lower screen can be used during the game--there seems to be more than one type of track map view, for example--but we're certain these questions will be answered as we approach the game's American release date, currently slated for "later this year," according to Iwata.