After being burned out recently by quite a lot of games I regularly play, I landed on Mario Kart DS. It had been one of my favorite games as a child, and one I have fond memories of playing in the backseat of the car while we were on the way to visit family. Not to mention the countless times me and my friends played it while we were staying over at each other’s houses, or even the rare occasion we were allowed to play at school.

Now as my eyes landed on the game I had waves of nostalgia come over me at once. But does the game withstand the test of time? Is it still as fun to play at night in my bed as it was all those years ago? I decided to give it a try.

And I was pleasantly surprised!

Graphics - 8/10

Look, the game was made for the DS, a console that has long since been outclassed and forgotten about. The graphical limitations at the time were way below what we would now consider standard or acceptable. Still, for a game released back in 2005 it holds up fairly well. And I believe it’s because of some design choices that were made. Back then most games on handheld systems avoided a reliance on models as they took up a lot of space and generally looked choppy and glitchy. Mario Kart DS tries minimizing that issue by keeping as much of the game in 2D as possible. Every item in the game, with the exception of the fake item box and the blue shell, is a 2D image that they just move around in all three dimensions. If you pay close attention to the green and red shells this is very noticeable. During gameplay this looks smooth and doesn’t hinder the experience whatsoever. The character and vehicle models were good at the time and don’t look too jarring today either, albeit a bit pixelated.

The courses look fantastic! This was the first Mario Kart title to add 4 new cups with 4 retro tracks each. These tracks are taken from past Mario Kart titles and updated to fit the look of the current game. The new tracks look nice as well, with a few highlights being Bowser’s Castle, Rainbow Road (with a loop!), and Delfino Square.

The bottom screen shows you a simplified map of the track around you with some extra details like items and player positions. Overall I’d say this game makes good use of the DS’s graphical capabilities.

Sound - 9/10

Background tracks are super important in games like these. They have the power to really immerse you into the game as if you were driving it in real time. Mario Kart DS takes care to make every background song fit the course that you are playing, ranging from relaxing music to stressful or eerie tunes. As you enter the final lap the music changes to a quicker arrangement to really hammer home the suspense near the end of the race.

There’s also some cute sound effects that often get overlooked. My favorite being the little taunt every character makes when they pass an opponent in front of them. Really adds to the experience when you shove Luigi onto the grass and then proceed to laugh at him.

Also a fun fact, as a kid I was (still am who am I kidding) a big iCarly fan. And in this game whenever Bowser passes an opponent he sounds like he’s saying ‘Gibby’ in the exact way that the character Gibby would say his own name on iCarly. I giggle every time I hear it. I’ll put a link to it here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8SG3J3s44

Addictiveness - 10/10

I can’t not rate this game a 10 on this scale. As a kid I would be hooked for hours playing this in the car, in bed, with friends, even on the toilet (yes, I was weird). There is so much replayability here as no two races are the same. Every race is a unique experience with unique RNG and moments. Even when you didn’t feel like racing, you could still explore one of the game’s other game modes, but more on that in a bit.

The game gets even more fun when you make use of the DS’s wireless connection function to play with your friends. And you don’t even need to all own the game! As long as there is one copy you can join their lobby without owning it yourself. The only downside here is that you can’t play as any character when doing this, as the game automatically assigns you as a Shy Guy of a certain color. But, Shy Guy isn’t in the main game and is only playable through this method, so it’s still pretty fun. Being able to play with 7 of your friends is such a game changer. It makes every race a million times better, as you now have real people to race against rather than questionable NPCs. And nothing beats the satisfaction of unleashing a blue shell upon your friend and watching him rage in real time.

Story - N/A

Oh did you expect a 5000 word essay on the fabulous storytelling this game achieves? Come on, it’s a racing game. You could argue for some backstory here or there but generally the story plays no relevance to this game and your enjoyment of it.

Depth - 10/10

For a Mario Kart game this one really goes above and beyond when it comes to the amount of content available to you, for which I can only commend it. For the first time there are a total of 8 cups, 4 standard ones and 4 retro ones, each with 4 courses for you to drive through. Adding onto that, there are several settings you can choose from. 50cc is the slowest setting and is useful for getting the hang of the controls in this game, but also when you’re playing with someone who isn’t really skilled at video games. Sorry grandpa! 100cc goes a little quicker but is generally irrelevant as there exists 150cc, in which you go a lot quicker! Then, when you have mastered all the tracks, you can challenge yourself by choosing 150cc mirror mode, which essentially takes all the courses and puts them through a mirror. Muscle memory taught you that you have to turn left here? Good luck driving into a wall, as the turn is now on the right. The easiest way to keep the game from getting stale too quickly is to switch between 150cc and 150cc mirrored mode every once in a while. Getting certain times awards you with a rating after every grand prix. Try to gain 3 star ratings on every cup in every setting!

In fact, it isn’t just something you should do to challenge yourself. Doing well in cups allows you to unlock more content to the game! Certain characters, like newcomers Dry Bones (my main) and R.O.B. will join you after you complete certain cups with a good score. Other content that gets unlocked includes more vehicle options for every character! Each of these vehicles has unique stats that can help determine which one better suits your playstyle. Heavy characters like Bowser tend to have cars that exceed in speed and off-road, but are weaker in handling and acceleration. Lighter characters like Toad are the opposite. Try and find out which one you prefer!

Once you’ve perfected the tracks you can use the Time Trials mode to try and set personal records for each course. As a bonus you can even see the ghost of your best recorded time as you play, so you can easily tell if you’re ahead of your record or not. There are no other players here so your time depends entirely on your driving skills!

Aside from grand prix racing and time trial mode there are also some other game modes. Balloon Battle makes a return and is better than ever! In this gamemode you play on completely unique tracks that don’t have lap counts. Instead, you each get 5 balloons at your disposal (though a max of 3 at a time) that you can now blow up using the mic function of the Nintendo DS! Or be lame and press like select or something instead. Split into two teams, your goal is to collect items from item boxes spread throughout the map, and then hit your opponents with them. Every time a player gets hit, you lose a balloon. When you run out of balloons you are removed from the map. The team that completely eliminates their opponent’s balloons wins the round. Man, I used to play this for ages. I still remember all the good routes or camping spots.

Another gamemode is Shine Runners, which makes its debut here on the DS. It acts similarly to Balloon Battle, but instead of balloons you collect Shine Sprites throughout the map. After a certain time period, the player with the least amount of Shine Sprites gets removed from the map. Last team standing wins. This one was just as fun as Balloon Battle, and often got even more intense as you can get eliminated at any point if you are falling behind.

For those sick of playing all of the above, there is still the missions mode. That’s right, a Mario Kart game with missions! And they are actually quite fun. They range from simple things like collecting all the coins along the way, to racing unique characters in a 1v1, to full on boss fights! That’s right, boss fights in a racing game. It’s super difficult to get 3 stars in every mission, so be prepared to spend hours perfecting and optimizing each one to get the highest rating!

So yeah, this game has a lot to offer. It’s super shocking that all of this is on a DS game, released back in 2005. I like to think the wide variety in game modes is what kept it entertaining all those hours that I put into it. Easy 10/10.

Difficulty - 8/10

Mario Kart DS is not inherently a difficult game. The controls are quickly mastered and the tracks aren’t extremely punishing either (well, aside from Rainbow Road). The real difficulty comes from handling all the things that get thrown your way. Random lightning strikes and blue shells right before a cliff can often cause you to lose the lead you spent 2 laps building. You can’t always predict what others are going to do, especially when you play with friends. A good player isn’t necessarily the best driver, although that would certainly help, but the driver who can adapt to the ever changing circumstances on the track.

The game also comes with difficulty settings itself. The aforementioned 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and 150cc mirrored modes can be seen as slight difficulty tweaks, with the latter being less forgiving due to the quicker pace they offer. The battle modes come with a wide range of RNG and randomness that you can’t prepare for, and the missions are genuinely hard to perfect and get a max rating on. I swear sometimes I feel like I drove perfectly, only to get 1 or 2 stars total.

It’s really as difficult as you allow it to be. Still, when you play with friends it doesn’t even need to be all that difficult. It just needs to be fun, which is what this game is.

Overall

Definitely recommend this game if you want to go back to the old days and replay a classic Mario racing game. The wide variety in game modes will keep you hooked for hours, which is the sign of a successful game in my eyes.

Thanks for reading.

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GIBBY