Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS is a 2005 kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was released in November 2005 in North America, Europe, and Australia, and on December 8, 2005, in Japan. The game was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in North America and PAL regions in April 2015 and in Japan in May 2016. The game is the fifth main entry in the Mario Kart series, and the first to be playable via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online service. Like other games in the series, Mario Kart DS features characters from the Mario series and pits them against each other as they race in karts on tracks based on locations in the Mario series.

The game received critical acclaim and was praised for its graphics and gameplay as well as its Battle and Versus mode but was criticized for its repetitive single-player mode. Mario Kart DS received several awards, including Editors' Choice Awards from GameSpot and IGN, G-Phoria's Best Handheld Game award, and IGN's Best Racing/Driving Game.

Mario Kart DS was the best-selling game in its first month of release and held that position the following month. Overall, Mario Kart DS is the third best-selling game for the Nintendo DS as of March 2016 and the third best-selling Mario Kart game, behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Wii, with 23.6 million units sold worldwide.

Gameplay
Mario Kart DS is a racing game in which the player, as a Mario franchise character, races in a kart against seven other characters. Each course features item boxes that the player can drive through to receive a randomly selected item. Some items allow the player to attack other racers to slow them down, while other items can be used to speed up their own kart to pass other racers more easily.

The game features a base roster of the eight playable characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, along with four unlockable characters Daisy, Dry Bones, Waluigi, and R.O.B. for a total of 12. Each character has three unique karts to choose from, each of which vary in attributes such as top speed, acceleration, and handling.

The game features five single-player game modes: Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, Battle, and Mission. The Grand Prix and Versus modes require the player to choose an engine class from among 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. The classes serve as difficulty levels—the higher the engine class, the faster all karts go. In addition, a Mirror mode can be unlocked, in which karts use 150cc engines and tracks are horizontally flipped. The game features 32 courses across eight cups, half of which contain tracks from previous Mario Kart games (known as Retro Grand Prix).

The game also features a multiplayer mode, in which eight players race each other using the DS Download Play feature for consoles without a cartridge or a multi-card wireless LAN connection. This version has limited courses available, and players with no cartridges play as Shy Guy, a character unavailable in normal play.

Until its discontinuation on May 20, 2014, Mario Kart DS supported online play via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, in which up to 4 players could play together.

Development
Nintendo announced on May 11, 2004, that they planned to release a Mario Kart game for the Nintendo DS, releasing some gameplay video footage at the same time. The company offered the game for the public to play for the first time at the 2005 Game Developers Conference, where the game's wireless feature was also showcased. Mario Kart DS was produced by Hideki Konno. The game runs at a consistent 60 frames per second and uses full 3D characters and environments.

Mario Kart DS is the first Mario Kart iteration to support online play. Konno remarked that although both Mario Kart DS and the Halo series feature online play, he noted that most of the people who use the feature in Halo games were "hardcore gamers". With Mario Kart DS, Konno wanted "everyone to go online, and the technology and time is right for that to happen". As the Mario Kart game for the Nintendo DS, the developers tested several features that took advantage of the device's bottom touchscreen. They considered letting players place items anywhere on the track instead of just behind their kart. However, the developers found it too confusing because the game already had too many distractions, making it difficult to control where to place items while racing.

In an interview, Konno noted that tracks from previous Mario Kart games were included in Mario Kart DS so that players who played the original Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System would feel more familiar with the DS iteration of the series.

Reception
Mario Kart DS was released by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in North America on November 14, 2005, in Australia on November 17, 2005, in Europe in November 2005, and in Japan on December 8, 2005. Nintendo later revealed that Mario Kart DS would also be sold bundled with a new red-colored Nintendo DS starting on November 28, 2005, along with "a checkered-flag wrist strap, and racing-inspired decals to customize new red handheld". The game was released to critical acclaim; it holds an aggregated score of 91% on Metacritic. Praise focused on the game's graphics and gameplay, while criticism targeted its repetitive single-player mode. Mario Kart DS received Editors' Choice awards from GameSpot and IGN. The game was nominated by GameSpot for several Best of 2005 awards, including Best Multiplayer Game, Best Driving Game, and Best DS Game, winning the lattermost. The game received G-Phoria's Best Handheld Game award. IGN gave the game the awards for Best Racing/Driving Game. During the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Mario Kart DS in the categories of "Racing Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay".

Several reviews praised the game for living up to the standards set by its predecessors. Finding the game's online shortcomings annoying, GameSpy still believed that the single-player mode and local wireless gameplay more than made up for them. Nintendo World Report noticed that "the best features of past Mario Kart games are back" and work well with the new features in Mario Kart DS, calling the result "the most impressive game to ever hit the Nintendo DS and also the best game in the Mario Kart series". X-Play shared this sentiment, and remarked that the game shattered all of its expectations, making it the "best kart racing game ever released—handheld or otherwise". GameZone also believed that Mario Kart DS "lives up to its legacy" with its inventive courses, "stellar" multiplayer, and "more replay value than any other racer in its class". Alejandro K. Brown of CBS News appreciated the game's unique use of Nintendo DS features, such as its microphone and wireless connectivity. GamesRadar named Mario Kart DS the best DS game of all time, beating out Pokémon Black and White (2nd) and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (3rd).

Finding it hard to imagine how Nintendo could make a Mario Kart game better than Mario Kart DS, IGN lauded Mario Kart DS's gameplay and depth in its design. GameSpot called the game a "significant step forward" for the Mario Kart series, partly because it is the first in the series to feature online play. Game Revolution remarked that the game "goes the distance" with its single-player and multiplayer modes. 1Up.com complimented the "surprisingly compelling package", describing it as a "portable racing game on par with anything ever to appear on a console". Video game magazine GamePro was pleased with the variety of racers, courses, modes, and multiplayer options offered, toting the game as a "must play" for any Nintendo fan and a requisite for any Nintendo DS owner to purchase. Computer and Video Games described Mario Kart DS as the "most complete" Mario Kart game, despite a few graphical shortcomings. Eurogamer enjoyed the game's multiplayer mode, calling it "genuinely practical to play with other people". British publication GamesTM criticized the game for being simply a "polishing of the Mario Kart concept and little else".

The game was the first for the Nintendo DS to take advantage of the console's Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection feature. By the end of its debut week in the United States, 112,000 people purchased the game, of which 52,000 of them had logged onto Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to play against other people over the Internet. Mario Kart DS was the best-selling handheld game in its debut month of November 2005 in the United States. It was the 10th best-selling game of 2008, and the best-selling Nintendo DS game of that year. In Japan, the game sold 224,411 copies in its first week. Mario Kart DS sold 3,112,363 units as of July 2008, and 3,224,996 copies as of January 2009, making it the sixth best-selling game for the Nintendo DS since the console's release. In the United States, it sold 910,000 copies and earned $31 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 23rd highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, or PlayStation Portable in that country. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 26th on a list of greatest Nintendo games. As of March 2016, Mario Kart DS has sold 23.6 million units worldwide.