Not to mention, Mart Kart DS was also the first in the series to include classic tracks from the other games from the Super Nintendo, GameBoy Advanced, Nintendo 64, and Gamecube eras. Drifting through Peach Gardens, dodging gigantic pinballs in Waluigi Pinball, and driving through the sands of Cheep Cheep Beach and Desert Hills is legitimately a great time and it’s no wonder why most of the DS tracks returned in future titles.

The tracks are also incredibly fun with plenty of hazards and atmospheric aesthetics and music to make each track feel unique. I actually like the smaller roster as it has some pretty fan-favorite characters and the expansive list of karts is pretty great. As they climb up difficulty level, players will not only obtain more challenging races, but also some new karts and characters that players can utilize. These battles were never really just straightforward races either and present an incredibly unique challenge to players.īut players aren’t just able to take down some missions and bosses as Grand Prix mode lets players speed through various tracks and take down opposing computer players. Not to mention, the boss battles were actually incredibly creative and had players battle it out with humongous enemies with only items and their driving skills at their disposal. Through each mission that passed I constantly wanted to achieve the best grade and all of the challenges are fairly achievable with the right amount of skill of course. These missions and boss battles actually added a different kind of challenge that hadn’t been seen in the series up until that point. All of these bosses a new kind of challenge to Mario Kart players, especially with Chief Chilly (Bottom Right) as his third jump constantly knocked me off the course. In this mode, players would have rivalry races, take down Mario’s most well-known enemies with items, and even taking down bosses at the end of each section.

No seriously, I’m not kidding, there was an actual single-player mode for Mario Kart at one time that wasn’t just another time trial mode. One of the most undervalued things from Mario Kart DS had to be the single-player mode that had players test their skill through different missions. It’s an entry that isn’t talked about much and I can never figure out why that is as it fully encapsulates what makes the franchise so iconic and even adds new things to make it unique. Each iteration constantly added more characters, items, and tracks that fans continue to love and, for me, no iteration is greater than Mario Kart DS. It’s incredibly addictive gameplay matched with Nintendo’s best characters made for easily one of the most beloved franchises under the Super Mario name. When looking for a fun party game that you and a group of friends, one of the first games that gets undoubtedly blurted out is Mario Kart.

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