Mario Kart DS - 10/10
The birth of the Mario Kart franchise has been established on numerous Nintendo platforms. It has made an explosive impact on the racing genre and has set the bar for the high quality of Nintendo DS games.
History
It all began with the SNES, when they released Super Mario Kart. Not soon after that, the sequential Mario Kart, was Mario Kart 64, released on the Nintendo 64. This revolutionised the series, with the inclusion of 3D computer graphics. The next Nintendo platform to experience the superiority of Mario Kart was the Game Cube which gave gamers the ability to have two gamers playing simultaneously on one kart, in Mario Kart: Double Dash. It was time that the franchise had made the transition to Nintendo handhelds, and it came to the Game Boy Advance. Mario Kart: Super Circuit gave gamers the freedom to take their races anywhere with them. Now comes arrival of Mario Kart DS, for the Nintendo DS. With two screens to play with, improved graphics and new characters this took the franchise to the ultimate level of gaming on handhelds. Nintendo was not done yet, as they released Mario Kart Wii, for the Nintendo Wii. This was a massive improvement on previous titles, as they included the innovative idea of motion censored controls. No more pressing buttons, this allowed you to get more interactive and feel like you are actually racing.
Nintendo have a reputation for having a Mario Kart title on each of its famous platforms, so who knows? There will be more Mario Kart titles coming in the near future, on new consoles!
Story
Be the first to race over the finish line. It’s as simple as that. Dominate your opponents on the track, by using items, which you can obtain during your race and drifting. These items are inside floating boxes, which all situate in a perfect line. To get an item, just race through the box and you’ve got it. However, the higher position you are in the race, the lower quality of item you’ll receive. The lower positioned you are in the race, the better items. You can also deploy your items forward and backwards. Drifting is cunning manoeuvre to get around those bends quickly, but what is also the slicing on the cake, is the mini-turbos. These add a tiny boost onto your drift when you release it and are a tremendous help. On the tracks, are sometimes dash panels, which conveniently give you a good boost. Some unique courses have lots of these, for example, Rainbow Road.
Characters
There are a large variety of characters to choose from. Choose the characters which suit your requirements in terms of statistics and favour. Characters are also divided into three groups of weight criteria- light, medium and heavy.
Light= Good acceleration and off-road, but poor top speed
Medium= All stats are even and all-rounded
Heavy= Good top speed, but poor acceleration and off-road
Mario Medium
Luigi Medium
Peach Light
Yoshi Light
Toad Light
Wario Heavy
Bowser Heavy
Unlockable Characters
Apart from all of the preceding characters, here are some that you have to specially unlock via Grand Prix trophies or DS Download.
Shy Guy
Daisy
Dry Bones
Waluigi
R.O.B
Main Menu
There are five main selections on the main menu. These include Single Player, Multiplayer, Nintendo WFC, Records and Options.
In Single Player, your racing adventure begins, as any of the available characters. More will be unlocked as you make game progress. You can choose in compete in a Grand Prix, play some Time Trials, create your own races in VS, destroys rivals off the racing track in Battle and set records in Missions.
Grand Prix: Firstly, choose your desired difficulty, 50cc, 100cc or 150cc. You will unlock a difficulty called 150cc Mirror later on, after you have completed all the three difficulties. It’s basically the same thing as 150cc, but everything reversed. Choose a character to race, and any of the karts. Choose any Grand Prix, from the Nitro Grand Prix or the Retro Grand Prix. In the Nitro Grand Prix are all the exclusive new courses for the DS. In the Retro Grand Prix are all classic races from previous Mario Kart titles.
Time Trials: Basically, just choose a stage, and set a time record for it. Your record will be saved for the stage, and as well as your fastest lap. You can keep on trying to get faster and faster, try as many times as you desire! Your time trials can also be sent and received to and from other DS consoles.
VS: Set your own course, difficulty, course, rules and team, in this selection. Finally, you don’t have to abide to the rules, you can make your own courses!
Battle: Battle is the place where you can compete against all the other characters, off the race track, in a set stage. Your goal is to eliminate them, with items, such as shells, bombs and fake item boxes. However, you must make sure that you don’t die, as you start with only one balloon and have five backups to use. The more amount of balloons, the lower quality of items and the lower amount of balloons, the higher quality of items. You can also steal balloons, if you charge directly in to a opponent, immediately after you have initialised the Star item.
Missions: Test your skill here, as you complete missions and defeat bosses. There are 7 unlockable levels, each containing 8 missions and a boss. You will achieve a rating at the conclusion of your mission. It may be 3 stars, 2 stars, 1 star, A, B or C. The 7th level however, must be unlocked by getting at least a star rating in each of the missions and bosses in levels 1-6.
In Multiplayer, you can play with your mates in Mario Kart DS via local wireless connection. The distance between yourself and others must be less than 10 metres, in order for the connection to flow and function properly.
There are two modes, Normal and Simple.
In Normal, you can connect with up to 7 other players which all own a Mario Kart DS cartridge. One player must host and everyone else must join that player’s group. Once complete, just
CUT OFF the roster of players and get the host to make preparations for the game. Then, you can just race!!!
In Simple, you can connect with up to 7 other players, but you only require on Mario Kart DS cartridge. The person with the Mario Kart game hosts and everyone goes onto DS Download, which is located on the start-up screen of the Nintendo DS.
In Nintendo WFC, you can connect with people around the world, which all have a Nintendo DS console and a Mario Kart game. However, this is only eligible for gamers that have Wi-Fi.
In Records, you can check out the records in Grand Prix and Time Trials that you have established. These include you total amount of wins and losses in all races, and your fastest races in Time Trials. There is a history of all friends and people around the world you’ve battled in here as well.
In Options, you have the ability to modify your game settings. You can choose your type of sound which you prefer, locate your friends on (Wi-Fi), change your nickname and emblem, and erase all of your game progress on Mario Kart DS.
Gameplay
9.8/10
The controls in this game flow beautifully and are easy to adapt to. The bottom touch is a great guide in races, as it tells you all racers’ positions and provides a mini map.
Graphics
9.1/10
The game puts you in a virtual 3D gaming world and the 3D racing graphics makes it extremely easy to play. Like all other Mario titles, the graphics are superb.
Sound
9.4/10
During any race, you will be offered various music to listen to whilst you are competitively racing. These tunes suit the stage in which you are racing in, and speeds up relatively rapidly when you approach your last lap, as the suspense builds up. The variety of music are all great and provides excitement for your races.
Value
10/10
Replay value for Mario Kart DS is excellent. Have unlimited attempts at setting or beating your scores, getting better ratings for your missions, playing online... The options are endless. This game will last you round 30 hours+ in single players mode before you start challenging your mates!
Overall
9.6/10
Must buy for all DS owners. Mario Kart is an essential to every Nintendo DS owner’s collection, regardless of their age or gender. Mario Kart DS is a game for everyone, and is loved by millions worldwide. I certainly enjoyed every single minute of this game, and I’m sure you will too.
PLEASE “THIS IS COOL” AND COMMENT
=D
Submitted by azn_kvn69
16/05/2009
1385
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