The Mario Kart series began on the SNES and has since grown to be one of the sharpest feathers in Nintendo’s red cap. It has appeared on every one of their consoles since and every gamer has their own favourite version. With the arrival of the Nintendo DS, it was inevitable that one of its hottest properties was going to make an appearance. With years of development behind the franchise and the added wonder of WiFi play, Mario Kart DS was destined to be a success.
Kart kicks into gear from the off. It ticks all of the right boxes – an impressive collection of brand new tracks and classic tracks imported and adapted from the history of the series, a ranged but not engorged cast of characters (with exclusive new karters available to unlock), eight Grand Prixs to race in (with 4 difficulty levels each), a flashy Versus mode, new Challenges and the old reliable Time Trial. The engine is fine-tuned and cranked up – the graphics are impressive for the DS, and the karts race better than they ever have. It’s the tidiest, most streamlined Mario Kart experience we’ve ever been blessed with. Praise Nintendo.
The real beauty behind the beast is the multiplayer mode. You can share the fun with seven other players and just one copy of the game, with the only downside being that all the other racers must play as Shy Guys (little masked creatures) and there are only eight courses available. If the people you are racing with are lucky enough to have their own copy of Kart, then the entire game is unlocked and ready to share via wireless. Got no friends? Hook it up to a WiFi hotspot and play someone random from Tokyo. While the online multiplayer mode is somewhat impersonal and could seriously do with a wider range of options, there's nothing stopping you from having a blast with it.
As a single player game, you’ve got lots to keep you busy. The Versus games are a bit weak and you’re a better man than I if you can be bothered to tolerate them. The Challenges are a nice addition and introduce us to possibly the strangest moment in Mario Karting history – boss battles. The meat is in the main races, which are sheer brilliance. The weapons on offer are expertly picked and useful, the map is a blessing and the controls are intelligently light on stylus and heavy on intuition. I know, this is starting to read like a press release, but you'd be hard pressed to find any self-respecting amateur video game journalist who would dare say anything bad about the Kart. It's frankly awesome, and I've wasted many hours of my life in a wireless circle with my DS-owning friends, being beaten to a pulp and left in Princess Daisy's dust. I've also wasted many hours of my life doing other stuff.
You can’t talk to it, you can’t stroke it, you can’t write on it, you can’t blow into it and teach it how to do tricks, but this is by far the most essential game on the DS today.
Ooh, why don't you just marry it, Mr. Digital Lard?