Mario Kart DS

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Mario Kart DS
North American box art
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Series	Mario Kart
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release date	NA November 14, 2005 AUS November 17, 2005 EU November 25, 2005 JP December 8, 2005
Genre(s)	Kart racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: A (All ages) ESRB: E (Everyone) OFLC: G PEGI: 3+
Media	Nintendo DS Game Card
Input methods	D-Pad, buttons, touch screen, built-in microphone

Mario Kart DS is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth installment in the series and the first to use Nintendo's free online service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game was released in the North America, Australia, and Europe in November 2005, and in Japan in December 2005, and in South Korea in which it is the very first Wi-Fi Connection game launched in April 2007. It was well received critically, scoring an average of 91% from Metacritic.

Like other games in the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart DS involves various characters from various Mario games racing each other in go-karts on tracks themed from locations in the Mario series. Less realistic physics, and the use of various weapons and or items to achieve victory differentiates kart racing games like Mario Kart DS from more realistic racing games.

Gameplay

In Grand Prix mode, the player competes against seven computer-controlled racers. There are two Grand Prix in Mario Kart DS, each consisting of four cups, and each cup consisting of four race tracks. Nitro GP contains sixteen brand new tracks while Retro GP contains sixteen tracks converted from previous entries in the Mario Kart series. There are three engine classes which serve as difficulty levels for the Grand Prix mode: 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. The higher the engine class, the faster all the karts go. A 150cc Mirror Mode is also an unlockable, in which all the 150cc tracks are flipped horizontally, as if seeing the game in a mirror.

Another staple of past Mario Kart games, Battle Mode, also makes a return. Mario Kart DS is the first Mario Kart game to feature 1 Player Battle. Battle modes include the classic Balloon Battle, in which you try to pop everyone else's balloons by attacking them or steal them with mushrooms and eliminate them, or Shine Runners, in which you try to collect the most Shine Sprites. Eventually, players with the least amount of Shine Sprites will be eliminated from the game.

In the new Mission Mode, players control a specific character in that character's standard kart, and must perform eight individual missions, whose objectives range from collecting coins to attacking enemies. Players are then ranked based on their performance, and given either an E, D, C, B, A, or one to three stars if the task is completed by a certain time. In order to advance to the next level, players must complete a "boss" task, which is unlocked after all eight of a level's missions are completed. Completing all missions in level 1 through 6 with at least a 1 star rating on each mission opens up a secret 7th level with more challenging missions to complete. It should be noted that there are no missions where one of the unlockable characters is playable.

In Time Trial Mode, players try to finish a course in as short a time as possible. Like in previous games, the fastest time will be saved as a ghost (a carbon copy of the player's preformance which can be raced against), but, unlike past games, players are now allowed to save ghosts on all 32 tracks. Players can also collect up to 10 ghosts from friends, and, when fast enough, can race against staff ghosts.

While racing, the top screen of the Nintendo DS displays a third-person perspective behind and slightly above the player's vehicle. The bottom screen lists the current race standings, items carried by each player, and a map of the course. The map can be toggled to show an overall view of the entire course, or a close-up view of the racer's immediate vicinity. The close-up view is very detailed, showing nearby racer positions, course hazards, item boxes, and even incoming attacks.

Each playable character starts out with two karts: one special kart unique to that character, and a standard kart resembling a real go-kart. These karts have slightly different stats, although their general strengths are the same. As a player progresses through the game, he or she can unlock a third special kart for each character, also with slightly different stats. Ultimately, the player can unlock the ability to use any of the 36 total karts with any character. When a player is selecting their kart for a race, the game lists the kart's max speed, acceleration, weight, handling, drifting ability, and the quality of items the kart is likely to receive.

Each course features numerous item boxes that players can drive through to receive a randomly-selected item. Whichever item the player receives is generally dependent upon their current position in the race and, to a lesser extent, the item stat of the player's kart; Players near the front will tend to receive rear-attack items such as banana peals, while players trailing in the back of the race will tend to receive more powerful items like a spiny blue shell. Most attack items can be targeted forwards or backwards by holding the appropriate direction on the D-pad when using the item against other. New items like Bullet Bill transformation have also been added in the game.

Mini-Turbos, a feature first introduced in Mario Kart 64, returns in Mario Kart DS. Mini-Turbos are momentary speed boosts that can be obtained while drifting. Also featured in Mario Kart DS and not to be confused with drifting is the ability to draft behind an opponent's kart. If the player is close enough, light blue streaks will start flying by their kart, and their speed will begin to increase. If the player maintains this position long enough, they will receive a noticeable speed boost, allowing them to easily overtake and pass the opponent.

New to the game are "emblems", or player icons. Using a simple drawing program interface, a player can create a customized emblem. During the race, each player's emblem appears as a decal on their kart, and in multi-player matches, opponents can see the player's name and emblem prominently overlaid above their kart's position on the opponent's screen. The player's emblem is also, on Wi-Fi play, shown to their opponents once the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection has found opponents and initiated a match.

Multiplayer

In Vs. Mode, eight players can race each other using DS Download Play or multi-card wireless

Mario Kart DS also supports online play via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Up to four players can play with a Wi-Fi connection. When all four races are complete, each player also receives one win for any opponent who disconnected during the match -- though if the match cannot be completed due to disconnecting, no wins are given to the remaining player. Disconnecting for a race is looked down on. Of the 32 playable tracks, only 20 are playable during Wi-Fi mode, unless using an Action Replay cheating device.

In Japan, Nintendo used the Japanese comedy duo Ninety-nine, as part of their "Hot Mario Bros." commercial campaign, to advertise the Wi-Fi multiplayer capability of Mario Kart DSImage:Mario kart ds 200px.jpg. They showed Luigi (in Japan) being beaten by players in France, the United States, and Italy.

Snaking

The execution of several consecutive mini-turbos, by drifting back and forth across a straightaway is a technique known as "snaking", but is officially called a "Mini-Turbo". Snaking was originally known as performing "Straight-Stretch Mini-Turbos" in the Mario Kart 64 era. Some people claim snaking as cheating, but others say this is a "skill" that is practiced on Wi-fi.

A Nintendo of America official has personally described snaking as an intentional part of the game's design, considering that a similar technique could also be performed in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

Characters

There are 13 characters in Mario Kart DS; ten are from previous Mario Kart games and three of them are new to the series. The new ones are Dry Bones, Shy Guy, and R.O.B. However, Shy Guy was not directly playable, and players could play as the character by doing a single cartridge multiplayer match, and downloading via DS Download Play. It is also possible to play as him with the Action Replay device. Shy Guy is also the only CPU player in the Mario Kart Nintendo DS Download Kiosk demo, available from version 1 of the USA kiosk; however the player will race against 7 differently colored Shy Guys at once in the single player mode.

Tracks

There are eight cups in the game, with four tracks each. The first four cups are the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the Star Cup, and the Special, and they contain new tracks, such as Delfino Square, DK Pass, and a new remake of Rainbow Road. The other four cups have courses that are taken from all the other Mario Kart games in the Retro Grand Prix, for a total of 32 tracks to race on. Along with that there are six battle courses two of which return from previous games. While playing on Wi-Fi, some of these tracks, such as Waluigi Pinball, are not playable.

Reception

Mario Kart DS received high critical acclaim. IGN called Mario Kart DS the "best of the Mario Kart best" and went on to praise the game's responsive controls and bottom-screen map. GameSpot noted that Mario Kart DS was "one of the best games to hit the Nintendo DS to date."

Sales information

On November 21, 2005, Nintendo announced that out of the 112,000 copies of Mario Kart DS sold in the United States during the first week of release, 52,000 (45%) of those buyers had connected to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Mario Kart DS had a better launch in Japan, where it sold 219,000 copies during its first four days of availability, at the time this was the third best performance for a Nintendo DS game.

As of December 31, 2007, Mario Kart DS has sold 9.67 million copies worldwide.

References

External links

• Official Mario Kart DS website (North America)
• Official Mario Kart DS website (Europe)
• Official Mario Kart DS website (Australia)
• Mario Kart DS at MobyGames
• Mario Kart DS at the Open Directory Project
• Mario Kart DS at Mario Stadium