Mario Kart DS: - Polluting the Online World With Shells and Banana Peels

Mario Kart is easily the most popular spin-off from a franchise, ever. This little game is undoubtedly one of Nintendo's big guns, but in the company's fit of trying to be different this generation Mario Kart was a game that suffered. Don't get me wrong, Double Dash wasn't a bad game, but was just sorely misunderstood. The new mechanics for the series were just a bad change and prevented the game from being the Mario Kart we all know and love. With the announcement of Mario Kart for the Nintendo DS handheld unit I had hope that it would be a more orthodox Mario Kart game. The chance of online gaming through the DS had me hoping but not holding my breathe that it would make it's way to this new Mario Kart game. After the game's release I can honestly say that even besides the integration of online this is easily the best Mario Kart game ever created. What does it take to make this the best in the series? Read on to find out.

Surely the prospects of racing online has brought back the interest those may have lost from the disappointing Gamecube game. What I find amazing isn't limited to the online elements, but rather how well this game can function even without them. This feels like the most complete Mario Kart package ever released, with even more options, courses, characters, and items than ever before. Fans have been screaming to take their Mario Kart races online ever since the Gamecube broadband adapter was first released, and as such it's a very rewarding experience to connect your DS to the action. Even after the dust has set I still say that Nintendo chose the perfect game to first showcase the power of their online network (even if it's had it's problems, it's still a huge committment by Nintendo).

Gameplay
Because there's no story for this game I'll cut straight to the chase. Anyone who has played a Mario Kart game should know what to expect in the gameplay department. It's still a race to the finish amongst famous Nintendo characters through variously themed courses. This is the game at a bare bones approach. The whole idea is a whole lot deeper. Instead of relying solely on racing skills ala your typical racer, Mario Kart DS is all about pulling ahead through the use of various items and techniques. This adds in an element of chance and surprise to the concept, but the game is mostly reliant on your skills at driving. Mario Kart DS is certainly a game where practice makes perfect and so you'll be practicing a whole lot in order to beat the more challenging races later on in the grand prix.

The first element to starting a race is in choosing your character. Upon initial boot up you can choose from 8 tried and true characters to the Mario Kart formula. Each character has their strong and weak points and only you can decide who you work best as. Adding further to the element of individuality comes the different karts. There are only 2 choices in the beginning, but as you progress in the main game you can unlock more. The karts too have their positives and negatives requiring you to make even more choices than before. One nuance I had with the 64 version of Mario Kart was the blatant unbalance as it featured one character vastly superior to the rest. As far as I can tell this has been improved. I still can't do well as Bowser, Wario, or Donkey Kong however, and even online I haven't seen anyone particularly excel with this heavy weight class.

Another basic aspect which should be addressed are the courses. Numbering 32 in all, Mario Kart DS features both new and old ones equally with 16 of each. The new courses fit in well, and while some are a little boring (Figure 8 Circuit and Desert Hills come to mind) some are really quite cool (Cheep Cheep Beach, or if nostalgia is what you desire try Airship Fortress). Overall I'm satisfied with the new levels, but I have to question a few of the retro courses. Baby Park is one I definitely don't care to see reborn, along with Moo Moo Farm. Thankfully my all time favorite Mario Kart course has been reborn in 3-D (Koopa Beach 2) and this makes up for some of the more questionable choices. It is quite cool to see some of the classic mode 7 levels (from the GBA and SNES versions) in full polygonal glory.

I'm quite pleased with the selection of items this time around, but I'm still waiting for the series to bring back the feather from the SNES version. Mario Kart DS features your standard issue green, red, and blue shells, banana peels, fake item boxes, mushrooms and more from the prior games. New to the line-up (or just altered from past items) is the newly infamous Bob-omb (it's big change is that it's now useful), Blooper squid, and the Bullet Bill. Each of these items are surprisingly useful. As you'd expect, the Bob-omb explodes to send your enemies flying. Blooper is a bit unorthodox as far as Mario Kart items go as it sprays ink on enemy screens to distract them a bit. Bullet bill has the unique trait of transforming your racer into the bullet for a few seconds as it shoots down the race track. In usual fashion the more useful items pop up when you're behind as a way of giving the less fortunate a small boost. This is slightly annoying, but mostly in the case of the blue shell because of it's ability to seek out the character in 1st place.

The DS version is the first Mario Kart that really tries to address single player issues. There was just never enough to do with just one player in the past, but that has changed a bit. You can still take part in the Mario Kart GP races featuring various classes (or difficulties as they were) and the traditional time trial mode where you can race the ghosts of your past games. New to the mix is the mission mode where you must perform specific tasks in an arena. These tasks mainly work to fine tune specific aspects of your racing (such as shell aim and timing). While this mode doesn't have enough to keep you coming back, many of the tasks are initially fun. Now you can also play against bots in battle mode. These computer controlled characters in no way can replace the intense action of real human players, but it's fun when there's nobody around.

If you do have friends with DS units than you're in for a treat. You can transmit the game data to 8 people if nobody else owns a copy of the cartridge. There is one drawback to this though. Due to the limited save size you can only play certain tracks and use certain characters through this method. Still the amount of features for this is astounding given the fact that it's just through data transfer. It's nearly fully functional. Should every player own a copy of the game than you have access to everything Mario Kart DS has to offer while playing with friends. This is a real testament to just how far Nintendo wants to go with local wi-fi and the DS and I really couldn't be happier.

Make no mistake about it though; the big new feature to the Mario Kart universe here is online play with up to four players featured at once. Thanks to Nintendo's new wi-fi connection service it's possible to have online matches with three other human players across the vast network. It's Nintendo's first try at something like this, and as you'd expect they messed up a few areas. Firstly, the process of finding a random opponent online is a bit mismatched. Nintendo advertises that the network matches you up with players of your skill level but this hasn't treated me so well. Very rarely do I have a close match online; I either get my butt handed to me or I give a royal beating. What's more is that there is no way to contact these random players after a match for a possible rematch because the game doesn't give you the option of adding them to your friends list. Next up is the fact that the courses you can play are limited just like single cart multiplayer. This isn't such a bad problem though because what's offered is adequate.

Nintendo did do something very right when they incorporated the idea of the friends list. Basically this is a list of people by their friend code. By adding these persons you can link up a game over the network any time you are all online. I do wish their was a lite chat program somewhere in the game so that you could decide on things before starting a game. Another thing Nintendo did right was in the level select system. Basically each player votes for which course they would like to play making it a bit more fair than having one person host and choose all options. The network itself is quite sturdy and has only suffered from one nasty crash thus far. Playing online is fairly seamless which is very important for the kind of game that this is.

Several gameplay oriented problems are to be expected with online gaming. One of these such problems is a technique known as 'snaking'. Though I have practiced the special way of driving myself I personally only use it against those who abuse it. This method is done through well placed powerslides and can be used to gain unfair advantages during matches. After a while of playing you will be able to sense when a snake is amongst your crowd by the course that they want to play on. It's a fairly common occurrance and I hope very much that Nintendo releases some sort of update online that prevents players from using this cheap tactic to rack up wins. When played fairly the online matches are fast and furious. It's not difficult at all to find a real challenge here.

Graphics, Sound, Control, and Replay Value
The game is identifiable from a mile away as it just screams of typical Mario Kart style. At a glance the game is very close graphically to the N64 version of the game with one big change; characters are now rendered with polygons instead of sprites. This makes for much more character animation even though some (Donkey Kong) appear a bit deformed. It really is a remarkable feeling to see the old courses in full graphical glory; especially those featured from the SNES and GBA versions. Course textures suffer from the typical DS jagged appearance but this becomes significantly less noticeable while you're zooming around. The touch screen is used to display a map of the track, and items that your enemies have. This is surprisingly useful and a nice idea. Overall the graphics are quite good yet typical of what the DS can do.

The music is mostly in the vein of the Mario Kart Double Dash for the Gamecube. It's your typical happy tunes but with different themes and twists. The various melodies work surprisingly well with the general presentation in this game, and though there aren't any songs I found particularly annoying there are also none that I liked very much. Sound effects are very well done with the the sound of engines, character dialogue, and various item effects overshadowing the music at many points in any given race. Overall sound is more than acceptable in game, but there's nothing I'd listen to outside of it.

I'm very thankful that Nintendo didn't try to turn this game into one of their touch screen experiments. There's practically no use of the touch screen here, and this is good because there's no need for it in every game. Controls come in a very standard fashion; A accelerates, X and L use item, B brakes, R hops, and Y fiddles with the maps view. Be warned that while Mario Kart DS is an incredibly easy game to pick up and start playing, it's very difficult to master. In order to have success against many online players you'll first need to learn how to power slide which is a chore in itself. Controls would be perfect if Nintendo would only fix the snaking problem.

Replay value is nearly infinite if you're in the right situation. If you've got friends who own the DS than you can waste away weeks playing with them in most of what the game has to offer. If you've got a access to a wireless network though, you'll be able to take your game online. If you're without these two options than you will still have the missions and can play against CPU players until your thumbs turn blue. This is definitely the DS game that you'll be coming back to for a very long time.

Final Recommendation
Mario Kart DS is as perfect as any game in the series has ever come. This is the definitive Mario Kart, even when you don't take the online play into mind. Hopefully Nintendo will make things fully functional online next time around.

Overall Rating: 9.3