List of Mario Kart DS glitches

This is a list of glitches in the game Mario Kart DS.

In Battle Mode, when the player (with more than 2 balloons) touches a Banana and touches another Banana while spinning, the player will lose only 1 balloon.

When the player goes up to the boardwalk that has the one item box, they must press R when they are on the wall. If timed correctly, the player can float on the side of the road. This will work in any mode.

To do this glitch, the player must go to the spinning wheel in Bowser's Castle, then go reverse and go to the corner of the wheel and the player will still be driving, but sideways.

In Cheep Cheep Beach, at the double-stone arch, the player must be touching the stone arch and then pressing the control pad to the left until the player drops. If done, the player will be in the "Out of bounds" zone but not stopping out of bounds. The glitch will end if the player presses R or B.

If the player receives damage from an item while on the loop upside-down in Rainbow Road, they will fall down with their head facing the pit. Afterwards, Lakitu will pick them up like usual.

In Luigi Circuit (GCN version), the player needs to turn around when the race starts and use a Mushroom on the corner of the bump and hop. If it was done correctly, the player will go through the invisible barrier and fall through the hills and the character will not make a sound. The screen will just blackout and Lakitu will bring the player to the track.

This can also be done in Bowser's Castle, by going past the room with the Thwomps and then the player should see two "hills" with a spike fence. The player needs to go to the first "hill" and use a Mushroom and hop. The player will fly past the fence and go through the bar and fall into the lava. These glitches are best done with the Egg 1.

This glitch is difficult to perform and sporadically occurs. When playing mission 3-Boss, if the player can manage to hop into Goomboss as he is right near the edge of the median, Goomboss will hop over it as he does on the third lap. The player must do this while Goomboss is close to one of the turns though. This glitch can either help or hinder the player depending on where it occurs.

In Rainbow Road, when getting to a loop, the racer should hit the fence and push while holding Down on the. After a little while, the player will start to fly away and Lakitu will pick the player up and put him or her on the beginning of the loop. This works best on the corkscrew.

To perform this glitch the player must pick the Luigi's Mansion track in any mode with any character and kart. Once the race starts, the player must then park their character on the stairs at the entrance of the mansion. After that, hold down both and  to drift in place. If the player tries to turn, the game will sometimes freeze. This glitch was fixed on the Wii U Virtual Console release.

In battle mode, if the player is Waluigi, for unknown reasons, his voice will occasionally disappear and this will last until the player quits battle mode.

After the player gets a perfect Rocket Start, the player should start snaking. If done correctly, the player could drive like they are using a Mushroom as soon as they are snaking, so they will be able to go off-road without losing speed. As soon as the player does not have a turbo anymore from the start, the glitch ends. The glitch is very useful to do great Time Trial records.

While going into a pipe at the same time as someone else, the player will end up far away from the area falling in the background.

To perform these glitches, one must choose Rainbow Road in time trial mode. First, the player has to start heading around the spiral road. When the player reaches the part of the spiral road that has the track heading towards the loop right above it, the player must turn around, sharply drift, and jump extremely close to the edge of the road in a corner that allows that player to get past the respawner and jump onto the section of the track right before the loop. Then the player should continue on until they reach another curve. That player should go through all five rings before the loop, turn around, and then shroom and jump off the edge to the left of the rainbow pipe that one could see by the curvy section of the track, while holding. If done correctly, the player should respawn by the corkscrew, and the lap shall count.

Note: This shortcut is very difficult and sometimes when the player jumps correctly during the first part, that player may not get the lap count for unknown reasons.

When a Spiny Shell is approaching, right when it is about to hit the racer, he or she needs to get hit by something that will make he or she flip over once e.g. Fake Item Box, Red Shell etc. The racer will just flip over once and while the player flips over, the explosion will occur. After the explosion is gone and after the character flipped, he or she will spin as if he or she touched an explosion half way through, but, nothing will be there to make the player spin.

The Spiny Shell can be avoided by a skillful use of a Mini-Turbo; karts with a high handling can do it by a timed hop right after releasing the Mini-turbo. This is best done with the Dry Bomber.

When the player quits or restarts any level or course, they will have a second of control before the screen fades to black. Usually, the music does not play while this happens. However, if the player during this short period picks up a dropped Star on the course, then the Star music will play, even though there should be no music. The Star music will cut out once the game is bought back to a menu, or the level has restarted.

Go to the bumpers near the end of Waluigi Pinball and right before a ball comes, drive into the bumper. If done correctly, the racer will go flying, usually off the course.

This glitch is very hard to perform and occurs rarely. On the first set of multiple bumps near the end, the player needs to boost over the bumps and head to the right (left in mirror mode). If done correctly, the player will fly on the top of the wall's corner and fall through it, before being picked up by Lakitu back to the normal track.

This glitch is only noticeable in Versus mode. If the player chooses Bowser's Castle at first, the upper screen will show during the start of the race that the player's character is in 7th place, although clearly the character is behind the racer in 7th place. This glitch wasn't fixed in the Wii U Virtual Console release.

Any character can be used to perform this glitch. On Yoshi Circuit, the player must go to the end of the first fence at the start of the course, then hit the end of the fence diagonally, and falling into the water. If the glitch has been performed correctly, then the character will be a few paces behind the finish line and when the player drives the wrong way around the track Lakitu should not be present, and the place counter should still be the same as when the player fell into the water. After the Yoshi nose section, the player can turn around and when they cross the finish line it will count as a lap.

In battle mode, if a CPU hits an item under a bridge in Block Fort, the CPU may get stuck under the bridge. Eventually, the CPU will sometimes recover unless the CPU is defeated.