Genre: Racing
Year: 2005
Developed by: Nintendo EAD
Published by: Nintendo
Platforms: DS
#145
Feeling Like: All are welcome
This was the last game I ever played in Sackville, New Brunswick. I remember playing it to death while I waited for Greg to wake up and drive me to the airport. Greg is a good friend, I hope I didn’t keep him up with the various flashes of light emanating from my DS Lite. Either way, I got to Moncton’s airport on time and continued to complete lap after lap, race after race until I touched down in Victoria hours later.
If you’ve been following along, you’ll note that in nearly every post regarding a handheld game, I mention how I’m not generally a huge fan of handhelds. Most of the appeal is the ability to play where I shouldn’t be able to play: on vacation, in the car, in church (that was shut down by my parents very quickly). But the games themselves weren’t a massive success in my eye. The adventures were short, and because they had to sacrifice graphical fidelity, many of the character models looked downright ugly.
A few games sidestepped this criticism. When it comes to Tetris, it doesn’t matter which console it’s on, it’s always perfect to play. Tetris DS added multiplayer to a game I didn’t think could incorporate multiplayer, but it was breezy and brilliant. The decision to allow fellow DS owners to play along, even if they didn’t own Tetris DS themselves was a stroke of genius.
You can add Mario Kart DS on the small pile of handheld games that I absolutely adore.
Is there a bad Mario Kart? Double Dash is probably my least favorite and least played, but if somebody handed me a controller I’d play it without hesitation this very second. The Game Boy Advance version and Super Mario Kart probably haven’t aged well in the shadow of Mario Kart 8 but they’re still endearing. There’s something inherently cute to seeing these cartoonish, goofy characters looking dead serious behind the wheel of a little go-kart. How does Bowser even fit in his seat?
The fundamentals are here, with more than a few bells and whistles. Having a little map as the second screen was welcomed, but I don’t know how helpful it was unless you were gunked by squid-ink and needed to see where you were going. The graphics, like many DS games, leave a lot to be desired but the tracks are the star of the show. The Airship Fortress, Tick-Tock Clock and Waluigi Pinball were superb, so much so that a few have even made their way into DLC for Mario Kart 8. They’re all beautifully designed, a great mix of environmental dangers, unique turns and don’t overstay their welcome. In a series with some absolutely stellar levels, Mario Kart DS doesn’t lag behind.
The absolute best memory I have regarding Mario Kart DS, and the main reason it’s as high as #145, is playing it at SilverCity. We were about to watch a movie as a group, there were five of us and we purposefully got there about half an hour early. We immediately began a massive Mario Kart session, everybody whipped our their DS and giggled along in the near-empty theatre. Before we knew it, we had another human player join us. After they won a race, they stood up and waved to our group – a complete stranger, just hopped right in to enjoy the festivities. It was awesome, a totally organic and unexpected experience that was facilitated by this game, and the joy only a roomful of dorks can provide. Setting up a match and allowing friends (and mystery attendees!) was so simple that we constantly wanted to do it, even if we only had a few minutes to spare.
Despite Mario Kart DS launching early in the DS’ lifecycle, it’s easily one of the best titles available on the little clamshell wonder. Even though I’d rather be in front of a large TV and the feel of the system in my hands never felt 100% comfortable, there’s enough Nintendo quality here to more than make it a worthwhile entry in the Mario Kart franchise, and on the 500.
The 500 