Plumbers, Princesses, Fungi, start your engines!!! Mario Kart DS has earned the right to be called a classic. It's pure unrivaled fun! Mario Kart DS was the second ever portable Mario Kart game. It's a huge leap from the GBA with it's 3D Models, more karts, more characters, and most importantly, more tracks!
Sure, no game is without it's flaws. But Mario Kart DS's are nothing too major. But, this game being the first time I ever played as Waluigi, it holds a special place in my collection. So, with a paragraph or two done already, let's....**Beep, beep, BEEP!* GO!

Graphics: 8/10

These graphics aren't the worst, but they're not the best either. Most of the characters look great! Although the fact Mario and Luigi's mustaches look painted on takes a few points off my rating. (Those beautiful things deserve to SHINE!).
One more thing I complain about is that all the items are sprites, while everything else is a 3D model. Every item but the Fake Item Block was a sprite. It makes them stick out a bit too much from everything else. The shells don't even spin, it's like in an art application where you can drag a picture around. That's how they move. Granted they go just as fast as their animated cousins, and the lack of animation does NOT make them any less dangerous.
Besides that, the characters look great, and have little layers of extra detail to them! The karts all look very nice also. You can tell the wheels are spinning FAST, which I like to see.
But what blows it all away is the tracks. They look amazing! I'll admit they haven't aged too well. But when I was little Bowser's Castle, Waluigi Pinball, and all the rest blew my mind! Even now I still think they're some of the coolest looking tracks you can find. They are made with lots of creativity, and lots of little things that will catch your eye while you race.
These are amazing graphics for the DS, especially a 3D DS game. The graphics haven't aged too well, but 5 years ago this was top notch.

Sound: 9/10

The sound is great! There are quite a few songs you'll remember long after playing. (Waluigi Pinball anyone?) All the music fits their courses almost perfectly. Some of the music is EXTREMELY catchy. Only one or two tracks I'd call forgettable. But this game has one of the better soundtracks you're going to find on the DS.
The sound effects are amazing too! As the Mario Kart standard, most of the character's voice clips were made for this game. Mario and Luigi have a few recycled clips from Super Mario 64 DS, however. Most voice clips here aren't reused in any other Mario Kart games either, go figure. I really missed Bowser's "G'day!". (Australian Bowser was best Bowser...:'()
The sounds various items make are crisp and clear. This one has my favorite version of the shells. Once they hit a wall they go *Clunk!*, it's a good warning to get out of the way.

Addictiveness: 10/10

It was almost impossible to get myself to stop playing! The Grand Prix mode is always lots of fun. This game had the most fun Battle mode out of them all in my opinion. Once you're out, you're out! No respawning gives it a "to the death" vibe. Which can sometimes be fun. You can also blow yourself some more balloons with the microphone.
This game has one more thing no others did. A challenge mode! This extends the life of the game quite a bit. I'll get into it later. But trust me, it's very addicting. I only wish more recent games were made with single player in mind...

Story: 0/10

...What? This is Mario Kart. Were you expecting some kind of story? Well...Mario and all his buddies are competing in a kart racing tournament. There you go.

Depth: 6/10

This game is the one that, shockingly, set the par for future Mario Kart games in terms of depth. When you complete enough Grand Prix's not only will you unlock characters. You'll eventually unlock more Karts too! And what's this bottom row? Retro Cup? Sounds coo-Woah there's a ton of old levels in here! That's right. Mario Kart DS started the trend of remaking old courses!
So, with all that cool depth aside. There's one more thing that adds to the depth. The Challenge mode. It's a set of levels that drop you into a race, and you need to do something to complete it. Like: Do 10 mini-turbo boosts in 2 laps, don't hit any banana peels, etc.
After you beat all the levels, you fight a boss! Yup, boss levels in Mario Kart. They are most of the bosses from Super Mario 64 DS (Goomboss, Bob-Omb King, Big Bully, etc) It's extremely fun, addictive, and provides a nice challenge.

Difficulty: 7/10

Mario Kart is a totally new degree of difficult. In 50cc there's no chance you'll lose if you're actually trying. 100cc gets a bit harder, a mild degree of challenge. But let's face it, 150cc and Mirror is where the game truly begins. The racers get smart, and ruthless! Banana peels rain from the skies, Donkey Kong will ram you off the road, there will be so many shells that PETK (People for Ethical Treatment of Koopas) will protest!

Okay, it may not be THAT bad, but there are a few races that will end up like that...It's a game of both skill, and luck. Of course your kart selection will also be a deciding factor as each has it's ups and downs. The only real thing you can do is practice, and know the ins and outs of each track. Just like any other Mario Kart game. The game has times where skill is needed, and other times you're left at it's mercy. And let me tell you, it has none.
The challenges, again, contribute to this a lot. The bosses are pretty challenging, and "worlds" 4-8 are some of the hardest things I've played through in a DS game.


Overall, Mario Kart DS is a pretty solid game. It started a few trends that other games have followed ever since. Like Retro Tracks, a motorcycle, and online play (Shockingly yes, this did have online play). And then a few things that didn't stick around with the series. Mainly customizable decals, challenge mode, incredibly easy turbo boosts, and Bowser's Australian accent. It was a great game. One of the most fun games on the DS for sure.
If you're into Mario Kart, or are curious about it and happen to have a DS, I highly recommend this game.

Overall: 9/10

This is a really great review. I think you did a great job with adding a good amount of depth and you did well with explaining why you feel like this game is one of the better games in the series. There is one thing that I need to point out though, and that's the part at the end when you were talking about trends that the game started. You mentioned motorcycles in there, and those didn't appear until Mario Kart Wii. Other than that though, this is an excellent review.

gamerforlifeforever2 : That's only sort of true. In Mario Kart DS, Waluigi has an unlockable kart called the Zipper. It's a three wheeled motorcycle.

A user of this : ... uuh oops! I completely forgot about that! Well I suppose you're right then, even though it's got 3 wheels instead of 2 like normal motorcycles.

A user of this :

- Excellent Review -

I can see how much you enjoyed playing this game while I was reading.
I do agree that the addictiveness is rather high . Whenever a new Mario Kart comes out I can't help but play it all the time.
The story explanation was the best part.

Man, this review sucked!

... is what I would say if we're playing 'everything is the opposite of what I'm saying'
You have made a great review again and I loved the PETK joke! You also had small parts where you talked about the other games in the series which is very good because you show that you have a lot ot knowledge about the games.
I have only played this game once on an emulator (which ran it too slow unfortunately) but I was impressed by the quality, it's really good compared to Super Circuit (which also was very good even though it's underrated).

Wow, that's an excellent review worthy of a 5! You gave it a lot of details without getting lost in them, it's well-structured and I'm actually dying to play the game!

However - and only if it applies to you - I would have loved some comparison with previous Mario Kart games. That franchise has such a glorious history that comparisons are always warranted for "old" players like me.