Mario Kart DS

Gamecow’s Price	RRP $69.95     Save $6.95 $63.00
Availability
Genre	Driving Racing
Platform	Nintendo DS
Release Date	17/11/2005
Rated

Mario Kart DS is a must have for any Nintendo DS owner, and as the review says, a great incentive to buy a DS if you don’t have one.  Mario Kart DS features all your favourite Nintendo characters and the best part is using the power-ups during the race.

Power-ups are what makes Mario Kart DS great for any member of the family.  You are not guaranteed of a win until you have crossed the line, someone could easily grab a power-up and fly past you to snatch victory.

Every DS owner should have this in their collection.

Mario Kart DS Product Information

Time to race...no wires attached. The acclaimed Mario Kart series has gone wireless, letting players race and battle with up to eight karts at once, regardless of whether everyone has a game card. An all-star cast that includes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, Bowser and Toad will round out a truly all-star lineup of more than 30 courses drawn from every Mario Kart game.

That's right players will tour courses from Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! , not to mention brand-new tracks and arenas. With all the crazy items and frantic speed players have come to expect, this game is a Mario Kart fan's dream.

The game has a new dimension of fun, since players can battle others around the world by connecting to Nintendo's new wireless gaming service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, via Wi-Fi.

Mario Kart DS Review

The Mario Kart series has always been regarded as one of the most accessible gaming experiences available, thanks to Nintendo’s lovable horde of misfits, pick-up-and-play controls and the great equalizer of pick-ups littering the track. Now, the fifth game in the series, Mario Kart DS, has come to invade our DS. As if living up to the hype that being a Mario Kart game brings wasn’t enough, it’s also a big landmark for Nintendo: their first fully-fledged foray into the wonderful world of online.

If you’ve ever played a Mario Kart game, you’ll be at home here. The controls are, for the most part, identical – except for the change of the accelerator button to A, and brake to B, for obvious reasons. So that’s two buttons and a d-pad for control – something virtually everyone can understand. But, there’s more to it then that. Tapping the R button will send kart up in the air, and turning at the same time will launch the kart into a powerslide – and whipping the d-pad from side-to-side will also enable you to get a little speed boost, which is more critical than ever before.

Then there is the great equalizer – the power-ups – which can be deployed with a quick tap of the L button. Of course, old favourites return. The banana peel, green and red shells make up the staple of the arsenal, while the ghost also returns. The new power-ups are all quite good, really. The highlights are definitely the squid, which drops ink all over the screen making it rather difficult to see, and bullet-bill, which will launch the kart half way around the track at rocket speed, destroying any other kart foolish enough to be in the way.

Making up the driving roster are characters you would expect – Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and so on. While none of the characters available at the outset are new to the series, some of the unlockables are – one of which is rather ridiculously obscure. On top of that, each player now has two different karts to choose from – the traditional kart, of course, and a customized kart for each player.

As you would expect, the presentation is typically Nintendo. Each of the character’s are lovingly detailed and superbly animated – a staggering feat when you consider you don’t even see the characters out of their karts. The tracks are even better to look at, especially the new ones. They are all busy and full of life – for example, the waterfalls in Yoshi Falls are particularly eye-catching.

Mario Kart DS has, surprisingly, managed to live up to the hype placed upon it – almost. The one player is thankfully much more entertaining than it has been in recent times, thanks to harder – but not hard enough – 150cc cups, the interesting driving missions and a much-appreciated single player battle mode. In multiplayer, the game is even better. Basically put, Mario Kart DS is a complete package, with something for everyone. If you have a DS, you really have no excuse not to buy this game. And if you don’t have a DS, then this is the best incentive you will ever get.

Full review PALGN