Mario Kart DS - Second Play

Happy Happy Joy Joy? Genius? Brilliant? Groovy? Whatever the adjective, Mario Kart DS has delivered more in a handheld title than I had ever expected. The addition of a quick (relatively … more on that later) and smooth online experience adds so much to what has been historically an addictively fun series. When I wrote my first Play Rating about a week ago, I was 11 and 8 in Wi-Fi Connection races. Many online matches and hours later, I am 54 and 31. Slowly and with practice I have been honing my driving skills trying to perfect the rocket start and mini turbos. Oh, and let’s not forget all the time I’ve put in to unlocking a couple new characters and a slew of new karts by taking on the CPU in the single player Grand Prix mode. Though I might have said this in my first Play Rating, it certainly continues to apply: this little cartridge packs some intense gaming value for those that enjoy a colorful, fun, and well-produced racer.

Just recently Nintendo announced that over 112,000 copies of Mario Kart DS has been sold in the United States in its first week. What was significantly more interesting is that they noted that 45% of the people who picked up a copy have checked into the online network. That’s an impressive number. Microsoft in December of 2004 noted that at that time 5,000,000 copies of Halo 2 had been sold and of that 900,000 had gamed on their Live service which if you do the math results in 18% trying online play. I would be interested to see how that 45% statistic changes over time; however, if nothing else it speaks highly of the accessibility and desirability of Nintendo’s online approach. The only negative to speak of at this time has been the time it takes to match racers online. Once you select a lobby of either Friends, Rivals, Regional, or Worldwide, you need to wait while the system tries to pair you up with other available racers. This can take anywhere from one to a couple minutes and unfortunately the annoying part is how many times I have been connected to two or three people and then had the connections lost. I’m not sure if this is caused by a Wi-Fi issue on my end, with the other players, or if it is network issue. Whatever it is, it stinks; however this is the only technical issue I have had since connecting and racing online. Once I am connected the experience continues to be exceptionally smooth. The portable gaming experience on the DS and GBA has always provided quick time to play, meaning the system could be turned on and you could be gaming very quickly. If it wasn’t for matching delay, you could turn on your DS and be racing online against others all over the country and world in what I would guess would be about a minute or so. That to me is really excellent.

Though I have played a bit with all the single player modes including the Time Trial, Mission and Battle Modes, my single player focus has been on the Grand Prix simply because I discovered I could unlock new characters and karts to race online with. The Grand Prix mode is a collection of three different engine classes with eight cup challenges of four races each. You race against eight CPU racers on four different courses per cup and the object to earn the most points of all your opponents across the four races. If you come in first in the first two cups you will unlock the third. Finishing first in the third cup unlocks the fourth. Finishing first in the fourth completes the Grand Prix and unlocks extra content in the form of characters and karts to be used everywhere else in the game. The different engine classes represent an increase in challenge and speed of the race. The races can get pretty challenging at the higher levels. So far I’ve completed most of the Grand Prix, though not all with the highest of rankings. It is truly excellent to have eight carts going at once. It makes me wish the online mode allowed for eight.

The courses are overall brilliant. DK Pass is one of the new ones that has you climbing up a snow covered hill to then slide down avoiding snowballs and snowmen along the way. Another great one is Bowser Castle which has a really cool turning drum section that you have to steer and balance your way across so not to get dumped below. Every course has a theme and a unique look and feel to its world and the obstacles within. Each course is memorable enough that with practice you develop strategies to take advantage of its challenges. There are the shortcuts that you discover as well as more subtly strategies to employ. For example, there are combinations of power ups such as using a mushroom that offers a temporary speed boost to allow you to drive through shallow water to cut a corner that would have slowed you down too much without the power up. These little gameplay touches make the races that much more of a thoughtful and engaging experience.

Finally (at least for this Play Rating), I’ve discovered one very important and cool fact that has really added an additional dimension to my game playing experience. Play the game with headphones on. The music is pretty good and the effects are great and listening to it all with a decent pair of headphones really shows off some quality sound production. There are all these little details like crowd noise and the various exclamations of each character that are really well done and that are not evident when listening through the speakers.

There’s more to say and certainly a lot more to play. My enjoyment level is still super high and the game continues to make me smile. There’s definitely more to come soon in the next and likely final Play Rating of our Mario Kart DS Progressive review.