|
|
|
|
System:
Nintendo DS
Genre:
Racing
ESRB Rating:
RP
Release Date:
1- 2005
Racing
ESRB Rating:
RP
Release Date:
1- 2005
Publisher:
Nintendo
Developer:
Nintendo
Nintendo
Developer:
Nintendo
CUBE128
Published:1- 2005
User Views: 4990
User Replies: 0
The DS game we've all been waiting for?
Nearly two years ago, Nintendo unveiled its latest innovation in the hand-held industry, their third pillar console, the Nintendo DS. The DS left gamers amazed and puzzled all at once with its unique use of dual screens, microphone play, a touch screen, and wireless play.
When this third pillar giant was revealed, a slew of games under development for the console were announced and briefly shown with a quick video or a few screen shots. These games displayed Nintendo’s first-party efforts toward the new system: Metroid Prime Hunters, Super Mario 64 DS, Animal Crossing DS (known today as Animal Crossing: Wild World), and New Super Mario Bros.; and among these games was Mario Kart DS. I think everyone who has been following the DS since its release will tell you that two titles really stood out from that initial unveiling, Animal Crossing DS and Mario Kart DS. If you asked someone about his thoughts on the DS, chances are he wouldn’t have hesitated to subject you to his ecstatic hype for both games.
Mario Kart DS is the fifth installment in the Mario Kart series. The series started way back in the Super Nintendo days with Super Mario Kart. Although Mario Kart 64 came soon after the Nintendo 64 was released, as did Mario Kart: Super Circuit with the release of the Game Boy Advance, neither title could dethrone Super Mario Kart from its title of best Mario Kart game. Many fans looked to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on the Gamecube to finally covenant the crown, but to our dismay, Double Dash!! followed its GBA and N64 cousins and broke down a few feet from the finish line. Mario Kart DS was released earlier this week on November 14th. Was it really worth the wait, and does it follow the footsteps of its Gamecube, N64, and GBA incarnations? Let's find out.
MKDS doesn’t stray from the concept of the past MK installments. You race using your favorite of the available Mario-themed characters with a wide array of items at your disposal to gain the lead over your opponents. Although MKDS isn’t compromising the basic approach to the series, it is in no way a shallow title.
I am simply amazed at how much depth Mario Kart DS includes, Nintendo has really packed “bang-for-your-buck” quality in this title. From the start you have a wide variety of modes to play from, so many in fact that you don’t know where to begin your fast-paced adventures. We’ll start with the classic Mario Kart Grand Prix mode. Grand Prix hasn’t changed much since Double Dash or Super Circuit; again you choose an engine class, 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc, 150cc being the fastest and most difficult class, and race a set of levels known as a cup. Each cup contains four levels to race in. Racing against seven other competitors, you earn points corresponding to the place you finish in. When the cup has been completed, the racer with the most points wins. The only difference between the Grand Prix in Mario Kart DS and other Mario Kart Grand Prix's is the amount of cups; Mario Kart DS contains the largest quantity of cups of any rendition in the franchise, offering a total of thirty-two courses. You have sixteen all new levels to race in as well as sixteen additional levels assembled as Retro Cups. You guessed it; the Retro Cups are cups containing levels from the past Mario Kart incarnations: four courses available from each past game, Super Mario Kart, Super Circuit, Mario Kart 64, and Double Dash!!.
As well as the capital Grand Prix mode, there is the generic Time Trial mode. There is not much of a change from past installations here aside from being able to exchange ghost data wirelessly with a friend. In addition there is finally a single-player version of Vs., Shine Runners, and Balloon Battle modes! Now you can race computers in all the courses you unlocked in Grand Prix, compete with computers to obtain the most shine sprites, and battle them in special battle-only levels in an attempt to use items to pop your enemies' balloons with grievous items and be the last racer standing. These modes offer various options from computer difficulty to team assembling.
Mario Kart DS also offers an all-new mode, which happens to be my favorite as well, Mission mode. In Mission mode you are put up against tasks that are short but sweet, in many ways alike to Super Smash Bros. Melee’s event mode. There are about fifty missions to complete, and every ten missions you get to actually challenge Super Mario 64 bosses, from King Boo to the Big Bob-Omb from the bob-omb battlefield, all from behind the wheel of your kart. These additions are what I longed for in Double Dash!!, and one of the game's best ways to keep you playing. This just adds to my belief that Mario Kart DS is to DS as Super Smash Bros. Melee is to Gamecube.
As well as clever and sometimes corky designs, the courses look beautiful; this game joins Nintendogs and Super Mario 64 in pushing the DS’s 3D engine to the limit. The graphics are really great: all the 3D models look and run very smoothly, although I must say some of the characters, those who have appeared in Super Mario 64 DS in particular, don’t look so great. The character models do not suffer from pixilated appearances but seem to be a bit too blocky, especially the larger characters like Donkey Kong and Bowser, which makes me wonder why all the courses are so round and perfect.
[1] 2 3 Next
| Post Comment Game
|