The next game in this Mario Kart marathon, Mario Kart DS, is actually the first one I had played beforehand and isn't brand new to me. I don't think I ever owned it back in the day, and apparently I still don't seeing as I had to emulate this one, but I remember playing it all the time with friends on the bus. Though, since I never owned it, I always had to use Shy Guy and also never really played the mission mode. That changes now as I got gold on every 150cc cup and did every mission, including the secret one you unlock.

I'm gonna start with my gripes I have. First, I think in terms of how the characters look, this is the weakest in the series. Some of them just look so off and blocky. Mario Kart 64 didn't have this issue obviously because they weren't actual models but this one really does. Some are better than others but, I guess I can cut it a little slack since it's the first portable title in 3D, a chunk of them just look kinda ugly. While the new courses have some really solid picks, some of them are just really forgettable. There are some absolute bangers like Waluigi Pinball, Tik Tok Clock and Airship Fortress. But then there's courses I find to be super bland like Figure 8 Circuit, Yoshi Falls or Desert Hills. Overall, I'd say it's a decent new track line-up but it's hit or miss. The retro track selection though, I found really weak. Half of the courses are from Super Mario Kart and Super Circuit so I just found them boring and then some of the picks from 64 and Double Dash are meh. The last cup does have Banshee Boardwalk and Yoshi Circuit so it was probably my favorite cup, but then it also has an awful course in Choco Island 2 so it's a bit conflicting. Overall, not a great selection of courses between both new and old but again there are some bangers here and there.

In terms of how the game controls, it controls leagues better than the last portable title Super Circuit. Instead of feeling super slippery, it feels way more similar to the newer titles. Only thing is, it has the old speed boost where its dependent on you going left and right on the d-pad rather than holding your drift for as long as possible. If you're used to Wii and beyond, it takes a little getting used to, but once you got it down it's pretty fun.

That's all fine and dandy, racing is fun but not that great in this game. What I remember the most was the battle mode and while I barely played it this time around, I remember absolutely loving it. Considering what Wii and 7 does with their battle modes, this is one of the better ones in the series. The maps are mostly all great and both balloon battle and shine runners were a ton of fun. Again, I'm mostly going off memory but this truly was the most fun aspect of this game at least when I played it as a young lad.

As I said before, I never played missions as a kid, but I can tell you I would've enjoyed them a lot back then. This along with the battle mode really saves DS from it's faults I listed before. None of the other games have something like this so you have a reason to come back to this one for sure. With so many missions, there's bound to be some that aren't the best but most of them were really cool. The fact there were bosses at the end of each level, and almost all of them are really fun, is just icing on the cake when it comes to mission mode. They should really bring this back for Mario Kart 9, would love to see what stuff they could come up with nowadays.

Of the 4 Mario Kart games I've played thus far, this is my favorite. While I didn't think the actual racing aspect was the best due to the course quality, the battle mode and missions make up for it and are THE reason to come back to this one. Been a long while since I played DS, had a ton of nostalgia when playing the battle mode specifically, so I'm very glad I was able to play this one again. Next in the series is the fan favorite Wii, I always liked DS more than Wii but that may change cuz I forgot how good that game's tracks were. Either way, look out for a Mario Kart Wii review coming soon!

The sheer amount of content inside this cartdrige is insane. Are you telling me Mario Kart DS has the best battle mode, missions, passable retro tracks and incredible replayability and driving? Waluigi Pinball? Shroom Ridge?

I admittedly grew up with Mario Kart DS, but it feels good to revisit old games and see that the fun you had as a child was justified, imagine playing and enjoying bad games, right? Jokes aside, stellar tracklist with some stinky ones in the SNES repertoire, Mario Kart DS is probably the first Mario Kart to feel modern in how it plays, in the amount of content (to this day rivaled) and especially in how driving feels: responsive, quick and with a broken but rewarding miniboost system. Hitting continuously left and right on the dpad destroyed my DS but it was worth it, especially playing online. Lots of good memories and to this day the most consistent Mario Kart.

Mario Kart did not get actually good until Double Dash but while Double Dash is a good game that i have yet to play in it's entirety, it is also a game with a unique gimmick that has not been replicated since and as such, that is a game that stands on it's own even after years of Mario Kart following it. Mario Kart DS standardized the series and set the stage for the improvements of Wii, 7 and 8. While the controls feel a bit slippery (disclaimer: may be due to emulation), it's a decently fun game that would be more fun if the online still existed. It's selection of brand new courses is pretty decent overall, containing some strong fan-favorites such as Waluigi's Pinball and Airship Fortress. It's also the first game in the series to introduce retro courses, which is neat as it gives past courses a new chance at life (any N64 course is automatically improved here) and it's currently the only game in the series with Missions. Indeed, Mario Kart DS has the best single player content in the series due to essentially having a """"""'story mode"""""" where you can take on different challenges. My only gripe with Missions is that some of the challenges are repeats. There's not a whole lot bad to say about Mario Kart DS, it's pretty decent and it's only main problem is that the later games exist (but it holds on by having the best single player content).

i've been playing this game on my DS for the past few days, beating all of the cups with a star rank, (which i'd consider completed btw) and i've come to enjoy it quite a bit. initially i thought it was kind of hard because the CPUs rubber band like craaaaazy and man they are relentless sometimes, but once i learned the game's drifting system and good combos, it became a lot more manageable.

this game has a very strong selection of nitro tracks: waluigi pinball, airship fortress, delfino square, shroom ridge. but it also comes with a lot of real stinkers, most of which are found in the game's selection of retro tracks: choco island 2, koopa beach 2, mario circuit 1.

i understand due to limitation of the DS, they couldn't incorporate more complex tracks from 64 and DD, but man, the SNES and GBA tracks do not do it for the most part, and when they do adapt a track from 64 or DD it's usually pretty neutered, take moo moo farm or GCN luigi curcuit. sometimes the tracks are better though, like with frappe snowland (although i still dislike it lol, fuck the snowmen). tbh though SOME of the nitro tracks aren't all too great either, like desert hills and figure-8 circuit.

the use of the bottom screen is genius, you can practically play the entire game just by using it; it also comes in super handy when a blooper covers your entire screen and is great for when you need to know when someone is directly behind you.

the weight system of this game is... hmm, i'm mixed. on one hand i do enjoy having another factor to consider when picking your character/kart, but man sometimes it is complete bullshit to put it lightly, sometimes a character like bowser or donkey kong will completely shit on you and bump you into mario kart wii and it won't be under your control at ALL. or you fall off the track, and get placed directly on top of another racer by lakitu, only to be sent off the track AGAIN. this happened to me multiple times.

the soundtrack to this game is pretty good, it's kinda crunchier than i remember it being but i do like it and it has a unique sound for sure.

overall this game gets 3.5 stars from me because well, almost half of this game's tracks are horse shit. but when it's good, it's really good. definitely one of the better mario kart games and to have this release on a handheld in 2005 is a godsend honestly. thank you shiggy.

also i didn't touch the mission mode although maybe some day i will.

This has the prestigious achievement of being the worst looking Mario Kart, currently in the middle of the series' history. But here's the kicker... the jumper... the driver... let's discuss balloon battle. This was my "cat playing with the toy's plastic wrapper instead of the toy" guilty pleasure as a kid. No time limit, banger song that never gets old, blowing into the unresponsive mic idk this is the best side mode from any MK. God forbids a man has a hobby though😩I wish you can see the vision like I do, they put their whole Nintendussy into this for no recognition.

There are other modes, that aren't balloon battle. Shine Thief a bit boring, idk I wouldn't try to get my opps addicted on it if I could, I have that much respect. Coming out of left field, mission mode is something fairly unique as you take on the role of Agent Vehicular and do secret missions with no straps and only your ride. Works for me.

Now, let's talk about the main content. As a Luigi fan, well.. he'll always be here, so that's a relief. R.O.B. and Dry Bones are the more peculiar picks, reflected in their status as unlocked racers. I almost said racists but no one is going to learn about it. The races are fun, iconic even, their lasting influence is stronger than most of the retro tracks, to me. Your old favorites are WASHED. LOST media if I had it my way.

Nah wouldnt go that far my favorite isn't Peach Gardens that's for sure it's probs Delfino Plaza. Next, let's talk music. 💯 yeah that's about it and lastly, worth mentioning that you can draw your own logo with a stylus on your kart!! For online play!! Drop a description of yours in the comments if you dare. So yeah, Mario Kart... my favorite apolitical game. Cya fam

I talk mostly about Genesis shit on here but my real B&B in early childhood were portables. My fam was homeschooled 'til college, and for most of my early childhood, my older sister was a figure skater. The skater training regimen is a pipeline unto itself, these coaches had our mom driving her 40 minutes out of town at 5 in the morning multiple times a week. So until I was 11 or so, I spent the majority of school hours sitting in a cold rink lobby, either doing 'school' or playing GBA/DS.

Anyway, if you owned a GBA and didn't have Superstar Saga, you were getting a really garbage selection of Mario things. I didn't like the SMB Advance games growing up, Mario Party Advance was this insane butchering/restructuring of traditional MP, and then there's stray sucky things like, fuckin', Pinball Land. Ew. Worst among these was Super Circuit - lots of content, sure, but the controls are non-functional and the difficulty curve was obscene, let alone for a kid. It's petty to complain about it today, but if you're a literal-ass munchkin with zero money, zero friends, and zero ability to pursue anything outside of hand-me-down hobbies, then being stuck with Super Mid-io Brothers was a fucked up situation.

I say all this because it cannot be understated just how unbelievable of an upgrade the DS was - not just as a GBA successor, but for how well Mario's mainline entries were handled. My kid brain couldn't process that there was not only a fully 3D Mario Kart on handheld, but that it controlled better than all the preceding games (and arguably some later ones), had TWICE as many courses as Double Dash, wireless multiplayer (with twice as much single-pak content as Super Circuit), and a full mission mode. To contextualize this: Imagine if Mario Land 2 was a bigger and more fleshed-out game than World. I never considered handhelds 'inferior' to console, but to see a mostly-console series shine brightest on handheld was eye-opening in ways I can't articulate.

And like, even beyond impressions 'of the time', it stills holds up. Still has as solid a drift system as ever. Hell, biggest boon for me is the map system, I fucking love having a top-down support view of the track. It's a map, rear-view camera, blooper support, and shortcut scope all in one, with no intrusion. Features like this really showed off how 2 screens enriched game design without being merely gimmicks.

I'd argue I prefer other Mario Kart games - I like the track selections in others a lot more, I like the BMX feel of Wii more, stuff like that. But every other post-64 release feels incomplete in one way or another. Double Dash controls bad, Wii's balance is garbage, 7's boring and 8 a bad roster and overly-safe game direction. Conversely, DS is the well-rounded MK: It succeeds at everything it attempts, both as a party and competitive racer. And it has ROB. And you can drive a tank.

Look out for when I eventually divulge my 'Leapster' phase, root doo doot doot doooooo

I made my emblem an amogus

Mario Kart is definitely a weird kind of game for me. These pick up and play types aren't really my thing, even though I have played a lot of Mario Kart in my life, and I feel like it's hard to write about it.

In general, I feel like my preferences in Mario Kart come down to track selection and battle mode, both of which I really enjoyed here. Almost all of the original tracks in this game are killer, especially the flower cup. I love how this game honors the legacy of Mario and has multiple tracks dedicated to specific games in the series. The battle mode is really fun too, especially Shine Runners, and I like the battle courses too; they also fit in with the legacy aspect of Mario Kart DS, and each have some wacky element to them, whether that's teleporting pipes or playing on top of a literal DS. It's pretty sick.

3 stars might seem low considering how much I like it, but there's only so much I can get out of Mario Kart, especially in the single player realm. I like the missions, and I wish that was something that other games continued to do, but I don't like them enough to do them all; I don't find them all that satisfying to play unless I try and perfect them all, at which points its so grindy that it's not fun at all, and the repetitiveness becomes pretty apparent.

I like the courses, but not enough to grind them over and over to unlock everything. Also these CPUs are wack, they can sometimes just accelerate and decelerate out of nowhere, which I find really stupid, even though that's not uncommon for older Mario Karts.

Maybe if I played with friends things would be different, but I liked it enough to enjoy playing it and not much else.

In the hands of a younger me any Mario Kart game was a guaranteed time sink. Especially on the DS, it was portable so I could take it wherever I wanted, It held a charge for hours, and Mario Kart was one of few games I enjoyed on the console.
Before it was mine, my DS was my mom's, I remember her gifting it to me in a carrying case with all her games. In that case, to name a few, were Mario Party DS, New Super Mario Bros, Duck Amuck, Lego Star Wars, and Mario Kart DS. Those games were the only ones on DS I gave much attention, and this was before I got into Pokémon. I enjoyed Mario Kart DS a lot during the time I played it. After beating the Grand Prix what held my attention was the time trials. Racing against myself could have me entranced for hours, just the same as it did on Super Circuit, and as it would today on 8 Deluxe.
I haven't touched Mario Kart DS in a long ass time, but I still have that same copy, and the same DS. Recently I've had the itch to revisit it with the end of 8 Deluxe's booster course pass. Over the past week I've been routinely playing MKDS before bed. I replayed the Grand Prix and afterwards have been trying to beat my old time trials. I'm surprised how well MKDS has held up, I was a little worried that it wouldn't have aged well but I found the opposite. This game really has an enduring appeal, I constantly get the urge to pick it up and keep playing. Drifting is still just as satisfying as I remember, tracks are as beautiful as ever, the music is absolutely classic, and the Nitro tracks are some of the most consistent in the series.
Unfortunately, the Retro tracks really don't live up to the Nitro tracks. That's the main problem with this game in my opinion. The Retro tracks just didn't get the love they needed to thrive on the DS. They often feel bland and lifeless compared to the new courses. The worst of the retro courses are just terrible picks, they chose some of the least interesting tracks possible. Retro tracks make up half of all courses in the game, dooming that half to always be the last pick. I'm also not a big fan of the system which determines your Grand Prix ranking. The system has a large weight to how many times your kart gets hit, and how many items you use to hit other players. Its just not fun to try to get 3 stars on any track in this game.
I've had so much fun revisiting Mario Kart DS, every lap has been a testament to how brilliant the DS and handheld Mario Kart is.

Favorite tracks:
Waluigi Pinball, Shroom Ridge, Rainbow Road