Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS
Game developer(s)	Nintendo
Game publisher(s)	Nintendo
Franchise	Mario
Platforms	Nintendo DS
Release dates	November 14, 2005 November 17, 2005 November 25, 2005 December 8, 2005
Genre	Kart racing
Modes	Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB: Everyone

Mario Kart DS is a kart racing video game for the Nintendo DS, and was first released in 2005. It is part of the Mario Kart series, and is family friendly like the other installments. It has received an E rating from the ESRB. Unlike most Mario titles, the game first released in America instead of Japan. It was Nintendo's first game to be compatible with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service, although since May 20, 2014, the service has been discontinued, therefore disabling online play. In 2015, Mario Kart DS has been re-released as a digital download for the Wii U's Virtual Console.

Modes

There are no unlockable modes in Mario Kart DS.

Grand Prix

In Grand Prix mode, the player competes against computer-controlled racers, or, in Multiplayer mode, other players. There are two Grand Prix in Mario Kart DS: Nitro GP and Retro GP, each having four cups that each have four race tracks. Nitro GP has sixteen tracks, which were newly created for the game, while Retro GP contains sixteen tracks from earlier Mario Kart games, hence the name. The game starts out with three engine classes that represent the difficulty levels: 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. A fourth engine class is unlockable, 150cc Mirror Mode, in which all the 150cc tracks are flipped horizontally.

Time Trials

In Time Trials, the player can choose any course for their racer to race on, with the objective being to complete it as quickly as possible. There are no items or opponents in this mode. The results of a Time Trial run are saved as "Ghost Data", which the player can compete against later (for a faster time), or traded with friends.

Battle Mode

Battle Mode was not available online, and is only available in single-player and multiplayer modes.

Balloon Battle

In Balloon Battle mode, the goal is for racer to try and pop each other's balloons, while keeping their own intact. Each racer starts with five balloons, which are either red or blue, depending on whether the racer is on the red team or the blue team. Every racer starts out with one of their balloons inflated. Players may inflate their racer's balloons by either holding the Select button or by blowing into the DS microphone while the kart is stationary. Only up to three balloons can be inflated at once.

A racer can pop another racer's balloon by attacking them with an item. If a racer has one or two inflated balloons, they can steal one from another racer by dashing into them with a Mushroom.

Players with fewer inflated balloons can gain more powerful items from Item Boxes, just like in races, where racers in lower positions can gain more powerful items. The last player or team remaining wins the battle. If a racer loses all of their balloons in Wireless Play mode, they become invisible and will periodically spawn Item Boxes for other racers to pick up.

Shine Runners

This mode is a reintroduction of the Shine Thief mode from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. The goal is for players to collect the most Shine Sprites, which are scattered throughout a course, within the time limit. If a racer gets hit, they lose one of their Shine Sprites. Whoever ends up with the most Shine Sprites wins.

Mission Mode

In the Mission Mode, which was newly introduced in Mario Kart DS, the goal is for players to clear each level, which consists of eight individual missions with objectives ranging from collecting coins to attacking enemies. Each mission has a specific character, as well as a kart pertaining to that character, that the player is forced to use. When a mission's goal has been completed, the player is ranked based on their performance, the highest ranking being three stars. After completing all eight missions of a level, a boss level is unlocked, and the player must complete it to unlock the next level. There is a hidden Level 7, which is unlocked after the player achieves a minimal of a one-star ranking on every mission of the previous six levels.

Options

The options menu has the usual options for adjusting audio or deleting one's data. However, there is an emblem maker unique to Mario Kart DS, in which players can create their own emblem on a character's vehicle. The player can create their own using a Paint-like interface or choose from a variety of pre-selected items. During races, they show up on the player's kart and are displayed prominently in the blurbs; players can see custom emblems when the racer is in front of them. During Wi-Fi, they are shown in the selection screen and in the blurb above the player during a race.

Multiplayer

The game features 8-player single-card and multi-card LAN play. Single-card play can be played with a mix of players using either a game cartridge or Nintendo DS's built-in wireless service, DS Download Play. In single-card play, players with a cartridge can choose their characters, but those using DS Download Play are forced to play as a randomly colored Shy Guy. In single-card play, only the courses from Mushroom Cup and Shell Cup are available, but if all players are using a Mario Kart DS game cartridge, then all of the tracks become available. In wireless play, every player can choose their own character to play as.

Nintendo WFC

Before Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was shutdown on May 20, 2014, players could use either a wireless router, an access point or a Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector to connect to Nintendo's service and access the mode. Players could choose to gather opponents worldwide, locally, or only with friends. Up to four players can race online, so for a short while, the game would search for up to three opponents. After this, players would each select a kart and vote on the track that they want to race on, and the game would select the track with the most votes for players to play on. However, in cases where none of the tracks were voted for more than once or if two tracks were each voted for twice, the game would choose a track randomly. After a set of four tracks were played, the winning and losing players were chosen based on the points they receive after each race, like in Grand Prix mode. All of the online races were at 100cc.

Only twenty courses can be played over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Several of the more complex and/or obstacle-ridden courses were likely disabled from online play because of possible latency issues.

Every copy of Mario Kart DS has a record of a player's online wins and losses, which was displayed to other players when opponents were found via Wi-Fi. Whenever online racers completed a set of four courses, a number of wins were added to the record depending on how many opponents that racer placed ahead of. Likewise, with losses, their number is equal to the number opponents that they lost to. If any racer disconnected during an online play, the other racers automatically receive a win at the end of the series, regardless of their performance. If a player won first place in a set of four races, a loss is subtracted from their record. Any player that disconnects from online play during an active match is penalized with a number of losses equal to how many opponents were in the race that they disconnected from.

Playable characters

In Mario Kart DS, there are a total of 13 playable characters: eight are available from the start, four are unlocked by completing certain objectives, and one character is only available to users playing the game via DS Download Play. The eight starting characters make up every playable character from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit.

Each character falls under one of the three weight classes — light, medium, and heavy — which affect a racer's top speed, acceleration, and off-road performance. Light characters have low top speed but high acceleration and off-road performance. Medium characters are average in every stat. Heavy characters are the opposite of light characters in that they have high top speed but low acceleration and off-road performance.

Starter characters

Name	Weight	Instruction booklet bio
Mario	Medium	"Mario is familiar to racers one and all. With a balance of abilities, he is a racer suited to all situations."
Luigi	Medium	"Mario’s younger brother Luigi is ready to race. His superb traction makes it harder for him to spin out."
Peach	Light	"A generally genteel princess, the heart of a competitor burns deep within her. She is adept at drifting."
Yoshi	Light	"While Yoshi is usually ridden by Mario, this time he's ready to race. Yoshi’s traction is excellent."
Toad	Light	"Toad uses his tiny stature to his advantage as he skillfully weaves in and out of traffic on the track."
Donkey Kong	Heavy	"DK overwhelms opponents with his jungle instincts. He drifts through corners like a mad-man...or a mad-ape!"
Wario	Heavy	"As his name implies, he's the anti-hero to Mario’s heroism. Other than acceleration, he has no foil."
Bowser	Heavy	"Mario’s arch-enemy is superb at using his drifting skills to race through curves."
DS Download Play exclusive
Shy Guy	Light	"Shy Guy stares out from behind his mask, his gaze revealing the hidden weaknesses of his opponents. Shy Guy appears only in DS Download Play matches."

Unlockable characters

Note that these characters are not mentioned in the instruction booklet and therefore do not have a bio.

Character	Weight	Unlocked by
Dry Bones	Light	Winning a gold trophy from each of the four cups of 50cc Nitro GP
Daisy	Medium	Winning a gold trophy from each of the four cups of 50cc Retro GP
Waluigi	Medium	Winning a gold trophy from each of the four cups of 100cc Retro GP
R.O.B.	Heavy	Winning a gold trophy from each of the Nitro or Retro GP cups in 150cc Mirror mode.

Courses

All of the Retro GP cups have one course from each of the previous Mario Kart titles. The courses in each of the cups are sorted chronologically from earliest to latest game, and have a console abbreviation at the start of their title to indicate the game of origin: SNES (Super Mario Kart), N64 (Mario Kart 64), GBA (Mario Kart: Super Circuit), and GCN (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!).

Nitro Grand Prix
#	Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Star Cup	Special Cup
1	Figure-8 Circuit	Desert Hills	DK Pass	Wario Stadium
2	Yoshi Falls	Delfino Square	Tick-Tock Clock	Peach Gardens
3	Cheep Cheep Beach	Waluigi Pinball	Mario Circuit	Bowser Castle
4	Luigi's Mansion	Shroom Ridge	Airship Fortress	Rainbow Road
Retro Grand Prix
#	Shell Cup	Banana Cup	Leaf Cup	Lightning Cup
1	SNES Mario Circuit 1	SNES Donut Plains 1	SNES Koopa Beach 2	SNES Choco Island 2
2	N64 Moo Moo Farm	N64 Frappe Snowland	N64 Choco Mountain	N64 Banshee Boardwalk
3	GBA Peach Circuit	GBA Bowser Castle 2	GBA Luigi Circuit	GBA Sky Garden
4	GCN Luigi Circuit	GCN Baby Park	GCN Mushroom Bridge	Yoshi Circuit

Legend: Tracks highlighted in green were playable on Nintendo WFC prior to the service's closure whereas tracks in red were not.

Staff Ghost times

Name	Track	Character	Kart	Time
Mushroom Cup
Ninten☆たなか	Figure-8 Circuit	Mario	Standard MR	1:36:481
Ninten☆まフは	Yoshi Falls	Yoshi	Egg 1	0:57:677
Ninten☆しんご	Cheep Cheep Beach	Donkey Kong	Standard DK	1:43:654
Ninten☆しんご	Luigi's Mansion	Luigi	Streamliner	1:59:357
Flower Cup
Ninten☆かつ	Desert Hills	R.O.B.	ROB-LGS	1:31:262
Ninten☆いわ	Delfino Square	Peach	Royale	1:54:601
Ninten☆しんや	Waluigi Pinball	Waluigi	Gold Mantis	2:23:288
Ninten☆ジョ-	Shroom Ridge	Toad	Mushmellow	2:05:123
Star Cup
Ninten☆™NN	DK Pass	Donkey Kong	Wildlife	2:14:607
Ninten☆だい8	Tick-Tock Clock	Daisy	Light Dancer	1:54:903
Ninten☆モリオ	Mario Circuit	Mario	Shooting Star	1:56:533
Ninten☆ツュソ	Airship Fortress	Bowser	Hurricane	2:07:748
Special Cup
Ninten☆マトゥ	Wario Stadium	Wario	Brute	2:14:868
Ninten☆めキつ	Peach Gardens	Peach	Royale	1:52:989
Ninten☆ひろむ	Bowser Castle	Boswer	Hurricane	2:19:661
Ninten☆たえこ	Rainbow Road	R.O.B.	ROB-BLS	2:16:246
Shell Cup
Ninten☆いわ	SNES Mario Circuit 1	Mario	Standard MR	0:50:688
Ninten☆だる®	N64 Moo Moo Farm	Donkey Kong	Wildlife	1:17:751
Ninten☆だい8	GBA Peach Circuit	Peach	Royale	1:12:011
Ninten☆おつぱ	GCN Luigi Circuit	Luigi	Poultergust 4000	1:29:759
Banana Cup
Ninten☆しぱた	SNES Donut Plains 1	Dry Bones	Dry Bomber	1:08:027
Ninten☆ジョ-	N64 Frappe Snowland	Wario	Brute	2:08:781
Ninten☆ジョ-	GBA Bowser Castle 2	Bowser	Standard BW	1:52:258
Ninten☆ひょう	GCN Baby Park	Toad	Mushmellow	0:50:920
Leaf Cup
Ninten☆しんや	SNES Koopa Beach 2	Yoshi	Egg1	0:54:847
Ninten☆イシビ	N64 Choco Mountain	Wario	Dragonfly	2:15:571
Ninten☆モソオ	GBA Luigi Circuit	Luigi	Poultergust 4000	1:46:581
Ninten☆ひょう	GCN Mushroom Bridge	Toad	Mushmellow	1:30:600
Lightning Cup
Ninten☆おつぱ	SNES Choco Island 2	Waluigi	Zipper	1:01:620
Ninten☆ま?	N64 Banshee Boardwalk	Dry Bones	Dry Bomber	2:14:403
Ninten☆ドリ-	GBA Sky Garden	Daisy	Power Flower	1:44:400
Ninten☆たろう	GCN Yoshi Circuit	Yoshi	Standard Yoshi	1:48:793

Battle courses

There are six battle courses in total, two of which are from an earlier Mario Kart game:

• Nintendo DS
• Twilight House
• Palm Shore
• Tart Top
• N64 Block Fort
• GCN Pipe Plaza

Items

As in previous Mario Kart games, there are Item Boxes found in certain parts of each track that racers can drive through to obtain a randomly-selected item. Doing this triggers a short roulette animation with the Item slot, placed at the top-left corner of the screen, as it rotates between item icons before stopping on one. Racers in lower positions receive more powerful items than those in higher positions, as it gives them a chance to catch up. Racers in higher positions always receive basic defensive items from an Item Box. A player can have their racer use an item by pressing either L or X. Certain items can be thrown in front by holding Up on the D-Pad.

For certain items, the player can hold either L or X to have their racer hold that item behind their kart. This allows them to block basic homing attacks. While doing this, they can drive through another Item Box to pick up another item. If a racer is hit while holding an item out, that item drops onto the track. In Nintendo WFC mode, racers could not carry items behind their kart.

Name	Description
Banana	A banana peel that can be thrown on the track (either from in front or the back). This way, if a racer drives into the Banana, they spin out.
Triple Bananas	A set of three bananas. They function the same but are automatically deployed behind a racer's kart.
Green Shell	A green Koopa Troopa shell that can be thrown on the track, either from in front or behind. When used, a Green Shell slides around the track aimlessly, and if a racer gets hit, their kart briefly tumbles over. If thrown from behind, a Green Shell moves in a straight line.
Red Shell	A red Koopa Troopa shell that is very similar to Green Shells except they home in on the racer in front. Red Shells that are thrown from behind function identically to Green Shells thrown from behind. Like Green Shells, a racer can block a Red Shell by holding either a Banana or a shell behind them.
Triple Green Shells Triple Red Shells	Depending on the color, using the item causes three Green Shells or Red Shells to spiral around the racer's kart, shielding them from attacks in most directions. Besides this, Triple Green Shells and Triple Red Shells function identically to their respective individual counterparts.
Spiny Shell	An infamous blue shell that can be thrown by a racer to target the current racer in first place, even if their position changes after the item is thrown. A Spiny Shell cannot be avoided unless the target manages to use either a Star or a Boo. When a racer has been hit by a Spiny Shell, the resulting explosion flings them into the air, slowing them for a few seconds; any racer caught within the blast radius spins out.
Fake Item Box	An obstacle that resembles an Item Box. If a racer drives into one, their kart briefly tumbles over. Unlike Bananas, Fake Item Boxes do not block Green or Red Shells, which simply pass through it.
Bob-omb	Previously introduced as a character-specific item in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Bob-ombs can be thrown forwards or dropped behind the player. If another racer or a shell hits (or is hit by) the Bob-omb, it causes a large explosion that knocks the racer (and any nearby opponents) into the air.
Mushroom (Triple Mushrooms)	These are provided either individually or in a set of three. When a racer uses one, they are briefly given a burst of speed. This can also allow them to dash across off-road terrain, which would usually slow them. In Balloon Battle mode, a racer can use a Mushroom to ram into another racer and steal one of their inflated balloons, but only if the user has fewer than three inflated balloons.
Golden Mushroom	Allows the racer to use unlimited Mushroom boosts for a short while.
Bullet Bill	An item introduced in Mario Kart DS and a replacement for the Chain Chomp item from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. When a racer uses this item, they briefly transform into a Bullet Bill, which automatically charges down the track on autopilot at a high speed and knocks aside opponents in the way.
Blooper	Another item introduced in Mario Kart DS. If a racer uses it, a Blooper appears in to squirt ink on all racers on all racers in higher positions. This obscures some of their view for a short while. If a player's racer is one of the victims, part of the screen is obscured by a black ink graphic. Blooper is ineffective if used by a racer in first, as this causes them to use a Blooper on themselves. The effects of a Blooper can be ended prematurely if a racer drives over a speed boost or uses a Mushroom.
Boo	If a racer uses a Boo, they become transparent, and they also become invulnerable to item attacks and are not slowed by offroad terrain. Boo attempts to steal an item from another racer for them.
Star	Similar to the main Mario series, using a Star makes the racer invincible for a short while. During this, the racer's body turns a bright color, their kart can drive faster, and they can knock over other opponents upon contact.
Lightning	When a racer uses a Lightning, all of their opponents temporarily shrink from a lightning strike, regardless of their position, and drop any items that they have carried. After a few seconds, the other racers gradually return to normal size, starting from the racer in the lowest position up to the racer in first place, who is affected the longest.

Reception

Mario Kart DS has been met with large critical and commercial success. It is one of the best-selling Nintendo DS titles.

Christ Centered Gamer

A Christian video game review website, Christ Centered Gamer, gave the game a score of 95/100, and also gave the following ratings:

• Gameplay: 19/20
• Graphics: 8/10
• Sound: 9/10
• Stability: 5/5
• Controls/Interface: 5/5
• Violence: 10/10
• Language: 10/10
• Sexual Content: 10/10
• Occult/Supernatural: 9/10
• Cultural/Moral/Ethical: 10/10

External links

• Game manual