Along with Double Dash, this is one of the best Mario Kart games out there, with a wealth of modes, characters, tracks - and most importantly, an excellent driving/handing and physics engine.
The biggest innovation here is the detailed bottom-screen map, which shows which items all racers are holding, any items currently on the track, and all track features and obstacles. If you're crazy enough, you can play just looking at this screen since all necessary information is shown on it.
This is also the last Mario Kart game with a true elimination-style balloon battle mode, and it is a highlight. Six excellent maps, including the best ones from Double Dash and 64. Oddly, you start with one balloon and must hold select (or blow into the microphone) to set up your other two, with an additional two available in reserve. This makes matches a bit more tense than usual since they all basically start in a sudden-death style situation. You can even play it single-player against CPUs, a first for the series.
The Mission Mode is frequently mentioned when discussing this game, and it's alright. It's one of those things that you just play through once and forget about soon after. It's nice to have, but it's not the game's strongest feature.
What makes this game great is the core driving and track design. This is the last Mario Kart to feature the snaking mechanic, and it feels great just like Double Dash. It's a lot easier to pull off in this game, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just gives DS a different snake-heavy flavor to it. The new tracks are still some of the best in the series, like Waluigi Pinball, Tick Tock Clock, and Airship Fortress, while the retro tracks are sadly a bit too reliant on normal circuit courses. Still a good selection, but there aren't any showstoppers here in contrast to the new DS courses.
The biggest innovation here is the detailed bottom-screen map, which shows which items all racers are holding, any items currently on the track, and all track features and obstacles. If you're crazy enough, you can play just looking at this screen since all necessary information is shown on it.
This is also the last Mario Kart game with a true elimination-style balloon battle mode, and it is a highlight. Six excellent maps, including the best ones from Double Dash and 64. Oddly, you start with one balloon and must hold select (or blow into the microphone) to set up your other two, with an additional two available in reserve. This makes matches a bit more tense than usual since they all basically start in a sudden-death style situation. You can even play it single-player against CPUs, a first for the series.
The Mission Mode is frequently mentioned when discussing this game, and it's alright. It's one of those things that you just play through once and forget about soon after. It's nice to have, but it's not the game's strongest feature.
What makes this game great is the core driving and track design. This is the last Mario Kart to feature the snaking mechanic, and it feels great just like Double Dash. It's a lot easier to pull off in this game, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just gives DS a different snake-heavy flavor to it. The new tracks are still some of the best in the series, like Waluigi Pinball, Tick Tock Clock, and Airship Fortress, while the retro tracks are sadly a bit too reliant on normal circuit courses. Still a good selection, but there aren't any showstoppers here in contrast to the new DS courses.