|
Mario Kart DS
|
|
|
|
|
Publisher Region Released Nintendo NA 11/14/2005 |
|
Your Account Options
You currently have no privileges related to this game profile because you are not signed into an HonestGamers account. Please log in, or click to register for a free user account.
|
More Reviews by Jason Venter
|
|
 |
Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland (PlayStation 3)
There’s an astonishing level of complexity on display everywhere you turn, so you might have to wait until your second or third trip through the game before try... |
 |
Kingdom Rush (iPad)
Kingdom Rush is the perfect showpiece for Apple’s famous tablet, by virtue of thoroughly competent and refined design that typically is preserved for the... |
 |
Revenge of the Titans (PC)
Compounding that particular issue is the fact that it’s difficult to see very far. The perspective is close enough to the ground that you can easily see detail... |
 |
Little King's Story (Wii)
Your royal guard has a tendency to get caught up on fences, on the edge of buildings and so forth. By the time you’re commanding a group of 17 soldiers, it’s a... |
 |
Ridge Racer (Vita)
In Ridge Racer, though, none of the tracks—even the two bonus ones—include more than a few corners that you might call “sharp.” Old Town, one of the adde... |
|
Best DS Games
|
|
|
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2 |
|
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 3 |
|
Elite Beat Agents
Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 3 |
|
Space Invaders Extreme
Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 2 |
|
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 3 |
|
Kirby: Canvas Curse
Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 4 |
|
|
Mario Kart DS
Average Rating: 9.2; Reviews: 5 |
|
Pokemon Pearl
Average Rating: 9.0; Reviews: 4 |
|
Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan!
Average Rating: 9.0; Reviews: 4 |
|
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Average Rating: 9.0; Reviews: 2 |
|
Looking for a good read?
Check out a selection from our database of more than 8000 reviews! phediuk has weighed in on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All for the DS and figures it rates 7 out of 10. What do you think? Read the review, then be sure to leave feedback or chime in with one of your own! |
Systems > DS > M > Mario Kart DS > Staff Review
Sign up for a free user account and you can leave feedback for this review or even submit a game review of your own!
Review by Jason Venter 
December 27, 2005
The Desert Hills course is one of my favorites. As you sit at the starting line and stare out at the distance, you’ll see the block pyramids and frowning sun that you likely remember from Super Mario Bros. 3. The starting light ticks down through the colors, and just like that you fly forward. Desert hills roll around you as you slide into a corner, hop, then mash the buttons right, left, then right again. You pull out of the corner with a burst of red exhaust that launches you directly toward a cactus in the middle of the road. You dodge it, then some of its friends, and soon you’ve made it around the first lap. As you negotiate the turns on your second lap, fire sprouts from the track in a graceful arc and you pass underneath it. You veer sharply into the next corner while overhead, the scowling sun’s ominous frown somehow makes you smile.
This is Mario Kart DS, and it feels perfect.
To me, it seems like the whole game is a gift from Nintendo, a gesture of good will. The company can still make great games, titles that reach back to the good times you remember while at the same time stomping all over the tepid ‘hits’ that crowd store shelves in the present. All the nostalgia in the world wouldn’t save this game in the end, but it doesn’t just stop there.
Sure, the game has the Airship Fortress stage, rife with Bullet Bill shots and those moles that like to peep out from underneath manholes. You might call those gimmicks and I might agree, but then there are other areas like the Tick-Tock Clock zone, where you’re racing along the gears of a clock and the road is turning beneath you. Maybe you’ll prefer the pinball course instead, where you race through a giant pinball machine and bounce from bumpers while avoiding huge iron orbs that roll your way.
With so many great tracks, it’s hard to pick a favorite. If you’re missing some of the good times of old, a lot of those are back, too. You can race through re-imagined versions of the tracks from each of the past games in the series. They’re just as much fun as they were before. In fact, that’s true of the whole game.
Not since the Super Nintendo have I had this much fun driving the portly plumber and his friends around the tracks that apparently litter the Mushroom Kingdom. If the GameCube title left you feeling disheartened, this is the game that will make you believe all over again. It’s about time.
|
|
|
|
You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!
|
|
|
Info |
Help |
Privacy Policy |
Contact |
Advertise
|
© 1998-2012 HonestGamers None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Mario Kart DS is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Mario Kart DS, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. |
