Mario Kart DS Reader Review

This is it the race on what it all comes down to Super Mario must win at Baby Park or Bowser will be crowned champion. Lap 1, Mario gets away fast he's away from his competitiors Bowser throws a red koopa shell at the Princess' kart and takes her out Bowser moves up to 3rd with only Toad between him and Mario. Lap 3, Bowser strikes a lightning bolt and shrinks everyone down to size and takes 1st. Final lap, Mario needs to pick up the pace he must win this race we're coming up to the final corner Mario fires a koopa shell Bowser's way... It got him! Mario zooms past and wins the race!!! Mario is the Champion.

That's the sort of thing that can happen in Mario Kart the unfortunate thing is it can also happen to you. Throw your racing handbook out of the window as this is about as chaotic as racing gets. Mario Kart is one of Nintendo's best franchises that had it's most recent appearance on the Gamecube with Mario Kart Double Dash. The DS version goes back to basics in the sense that it's every man, woman or reptile for themself. In the game you choose a character and battle your way through the cups unlocking new characters and Championships along the way. The game is a challenge as the difficulty of the races does get ramped up in the later competitions. What I've always loved about Mario Kart is the way the racing is so frantic and you don't know who's in front from one moment to the next due to all the items you can use to your advantage to get the upper hand. Having said that the A.I is suspect at times with you racing through a Championship and always battling out with just one character for that 1st spot rather than everyone of the eight racers. You can also find yourself getting hit with an item just as about the race is to end and as a consequence end up losing the race.

The main difference with this Mario Kart game to any other is the ability to play online. So once you've completed the main mode you can test your skills against players from around the globe. This is excellent and Mario Kart is perfectly suited to the online format. It all works fine and you can race against up to three competitiors. That might not sound like much but with the frantic nature of the game it suits it. The only dissapointment would be the simplified stats tracking which only calculates your win/loss record. The whole friend code business is bound to rub some people up the wrong way although on the whole considering this is Nintendo's first attempt at implementing online play into Mario Kart it works extremely well and is one of the main factors that makes this particular Mario Kart a cut above the rest.

Mario Kart DS not only brings new tracks but also incorporates classic ones also from the N64, GBA and Gamecube. The game itself standalone is excellent as it's always fun to play plus the fact that you get a great online mode to go with it, could you really ask for anymore? As an all-round package you're probably not going to find anything better on any system.