Introduction
Mario Kart DS since the time that I bought it on release has been a pleasure both to play and review and first and foremost even if you have never played a Mario Kart game in your life I can safely say that this one is a good place to start. So feel free to read on and learn about the game that if you own a Nintendo DS should be in the top slot right now.


A Bit of Something Old and a Bit of Something New
Mario Kart DS sports an array of both old and new features.

Some returning features are:
The ability to drag items
The 3 shells once again circle you
The ability to hop
The same drifting as in Double Dash
Multiple karts
The ranking scheme from Super Circuit
16 reworked classic tracks from past Mario Kart games

Some of the new features include:
Travelling behind another kart gives u a speed boost
16 all new tracks
2 characters make their Mario Kart debut.
36 all new karts with unique stats
Online play
2 New items


Learning from the Past
A key factor of what makes this game so great is that none of the errors from past Mario Kart games are repeated in this instalment.

The draw distance problems that plagued the N64 version do not make an unwanted return and it thankfully does not suffer from the same lack of speed as Double Dash did. The multiplayer is implemented almost flawlessly in both single and multi pack play, as well as online, unlike in Super Circuit where it was horribly limited.

Blue shells seem to appear more frequently but overall the whole pace of the game seems more balanced in my opinion. Unlike previous games, in MK DS, the items you receive tend to help the player keep up with the pack but not to overtake so that winning still depends on racing skill than anything else, as it should be. Drifting is overall better balanced such that using it too often rather than on appropriate corners will hinder rather than benefit you, unless off course you are snaking.

People have also complained that past Mario Karts were either too easy or too hard. I personally found MK DD well balanced in this respect such that the main parts of the game should be beatable to old and new players alike while the ranking scheme in Grand Prix and Mission Mode allows the better players a much needed reason to return.