Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS is a stunning game in the six title Mario Kart sub-series, featuring WiFi Multiplayer and a mission system.

Mario Kart DS is the first Mario Kart game to appear on the Nintendo DS, and the first to support eight-person play, WiFi/Internet play, and a nifty map that even showed incoming projectiles, which took use of the DS' bottom screen.

Playable Characters
A total of twelve Nintendo mascots take part in the fifth installment of the fourteen-year series. The eight that made it happen in Mario Kart 64 can be chosen at the beginning, but the player must win trophies in Grand Prix mode to unlock four bonus characters:

Grand Prix, Time Trials, Versus Modes
As per the N64 and Double Dash!! versions of the series, sixteen new courses were added into the game (in the usual Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special Cups). But, sixteen old courses, four from each of the SNES, N64, GBA and GCN versions reappeared in four new cups, totaling thirty-two courses in eight cups. In addition, six battle courses appeared, two being reused from previous games.

The non-battle courses appear in three modes:
 * In Grand Prix mode (single-player only), a player competes in each cup in 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Mirror 150cc engine classes, with ascending speed and difficulty. The game takes the point system of Double Dash!! by awarding 10/8/6/4/3/2/1/0 points for 1st-8th place. Also, a rating of how well a player performed is shown after the trophy presentation: ***, **, *, A, B, and C. An overall "game ranking" of *, **, or *** is shown in the Records area if the player has earned the designated ratings in all cups, all classes.
 * In Time Trial mode (single-player only), a player goes for the fastest time on a course. Interestingly, the items rating of a kart determines how many mushrooms a player has to boost with (3.3 = 1, 6.7 = 2, 10.0 = 3). Players can choose to race against their best time as a ghost, the staff ghost (raced by a Japanese Nintendo staff player with a * game ranking), or no ghost.
 * In Versus mode (single/multiplayer), player(s) choose their karts and head out on the race track for some quick fun. Up to 8 players can play locally via wireless play – simple mode only uses one game card but is limited and everyone having a game card creates the full experience. In single-player mode, the player can choose a) engine class, b) how hard the CPU will be, c) whether the courses will be chosen, in order, or random, whether the rules are d) free (neverending), # of wins (1st place only counts), or # of races raced (going up to 32 creates the "All-Cup" of Mario Kart DS), and e) activating teams.

Courses Table
__HIDER__ The following is a table that shows a) all courses, separated by cup, b) * signifies that the course is playable via Wi-Fi, c) Time Trial staff ghost time, and d) Time Trial staff ghost character and kart combo (see below for kart stats).

Battle Mode
In Battle mode (single/multiplayer [same setup as versus, for both]), players play a different aspect of kart racing that was born from Mario Kart 64 on one of six courses, two of them from past games. The courses are: And the two types of battle are: "Burst your opponents' balloons with items! If all your inflated balloons burst, you lose! Blow into the mic to inflate your balloons!" "Collect more Shines than anyone else! Steal opponents' Shines to add to your total. Those with less Shines get booted over time." In single player mode, CPU bots are available to "practice" your skill for the real game against friends locally. Sadly, Battle Mode is unavailable on the wireless connection.
 * Nintendo DS
 * Twilight House
 * Palm Shore
 * Tart Top
 * Block Fort N64
 * Pipe Plaza GCN
 * Balloon Battle: The classic battle mode from 64, this aspect gets a new twist in DS. In 64, each player choose a character and got three matching balloons. Players used items to "pop" balloons by hitting them with shells, bananas, even stars. When a player reached 0 balloons, he or she was out of the game. In DS each player starts with one balloon, but they can "blow up" their balloons using the microphone feature on the DS (or holding the SELECT button). Each player has 4 balloons in stock (5 balloons in total), but can only have up to three at a time. The less balloons a player has, the better items he or she gets from Item boxes (blue shells, lightning, and Bloopers are removed from this mode). The following is what the game describes this mode as:
 * Shine Runners: Adopted from the GCN version, 9 Shine Sprites are scattered onto the course at the beginning. Players try to capture Shine Sprites, but being hit causes a player to lose one sprite – it moves to a random spot for someone else to grab or retrieve the sprite. In the meantime, a clock ticks down to 0. Anyone with or tied with the lowest Shine total when the clock hits 0 is eliminated. The clock resets itself to a lower time and the battle continues until one is left (there are 9 sprites to avoid a tie, but it is possible to a) have two players with 4 sprites trying to get that last 1 on the course when time expires, and b) have three players with 3 sprites each. In this case, no one is eliminated and the clock resets as usual.) The less sprites a player has, the better an item (lightning returns, a deadly item that only one with no sprites can get, but blue shells and Bloopers remain out). Description from the game:

Mission Mode
Mission mode (single-player only) is a new mode for the Mario Kart series. It involves seven levels, each containing eight "missions" and a boss battle. Each mission and boss battle earns the same ranking as a Grand Prix, almost always depending on how much time is left. There are varying mission types: There are some one-time isolated missions as well that are self-explanatory. Each mission takes place on a course, often blocked off in some areas (sometimes even a battle course!) and players are given a character in their own standard kart (CPU players are also in standard karts). Sometimes mushrooms are lain across the track to help the player complete the mission.
 * Driving through gates – driving in between literally half of a tire, and they are always numbered and must be entered in order.
 * Collecting coins – as said.
 * Destroying item boxes – most of the time these item boxes will contain Mushrooms to boost you to a high ranking. Sometimes the Item Boxes will move, and the player will have to catch up with it! Additionally, in later missions fake item boxes will try to slow the player down!
 * Using stars, Bob-ombs, or shells to destroy enemies – a Wario-exclusive mission, with one Luigi and one Yoshi.
 * Driving backwards – tough! Players must use the B button to move and directions on the D-pad are reversed. Sometimes combined with other types!
 * Performing power boosts within a certain lap – as said. More power boosts are often required to finish faster, meaning a higher ranking.
 * Racing a CPU player for one lap – item boxes contain mushrooms and stars that the CPU can't use – the key to victory. CPU players will get turbo starts.

When at least a * ranking is achieved on all missions and bosses in the first six levels, Level 7 is unlocked.

Boss battles are unique. They have their own battlefields and different strategies are used to beat them.

Mission Table
__HIDER__ The following includes: a) mission #, b) mission description (straight from the game; we bold what the game highlighted in red), c) time limit for the mission (0:00 signifies it's a race, thus no limit), d) course, and e) character the player is.


 * * Conjectural title based on surroundings.
 * ** Despite not being mentioned, the player drives in the opposite direction!
 * 1GCN version
 * 2GBA version
 * 1Using green shells (solo or triple) and Bob-ombs
 * 2We lied – this is the only gate mission that is unordered.
 * 3Players can use any means – normal or powersliding – to finish.

Karts
Also unique about Mario Kart DS is its 36 different karts (excluding Shy Guy), 12 being standard karts similar to Mario Kart 64. Originally, only 3 karts are available to each character, each related to him or her in some way (1 standard kart). As the player wins Grand Prix tournaments, it's up to 7 karts, adding four karts from other characters. Once winning every tournament possible in 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Mirror, each character can be paired in any of the 36 karts, making 432 combinations (excluding Shy Guy). Each Kart has six ratings:


 * Speed: How high the top speed of the kart can go.
 * Acceleration: How quickly the top speed is acheived.
 * Weight: A heavier kart can knock over a lighter kart to the side.
 * Handling: How tight the kart normally turns.
 * Drift: How tight the kart turns while drifting.
 * Items: When a ? Block is hit, how good the item will be (a high items rating signifies a higher chance of getting a Banana Bunch in first place, Triple Mushrooms in 3rd/4th, etc).

Ratings Chart
The ratings are from 0 to 10 in one-tenth intervals. The Items rating will be either 3.3, 6.7, or 10. For the three karts related to a character, each one will have those different three ratings, the standard kart always being 6.7. In addition, not only does the kart affect weight, but the character (Bowser will make one of Peach's karts much heavier), so weight is omitted.

Highs are shown in green and lows are shown in red (except for Items). To conserve space, it has been split into two rows. Look to the right of the Kart name for stats.



Note: Margin of error &plusmn; .2 points