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Author Topic: Mario Kart DS...is it any good?  (Read 4525 times)

AbercrombieBaseball

  • FitchPitch
« on: December 03, 2006, 08:05:42 PM »
First off, I haven't been on here in some time. But I have a question, hopefully I'm not too late asking this.

My grandparents bought my cousin a Nintendo DS for Christmas. I was asked to get a game for her. Being that I know next to nothing about the DS (although I finally figured out it's not a Game Boy) I went with my gut and grabbed the last copy of Mario Kart for DS at Sears on Black Friday.

Trouble is, I forgot to ask if this one was good before I got it! Being that it was the last one there I decided I'd snap it up since I know she likes Mario Kart for the Game Cube.

A bit of background: she will be 12 in March, currently has a Game Boy Advance (though it's pink so I call it a Game Girl), and also has a Game Cube. She's also a lot better at learning controls than I ever have been.

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2006, 08:19:39 PM »
Yes!  It's one of, if not the best DS game.  According to gamerankings.com Mario Kart DS is the highest rated DS game to date with 80 reviews and an average score of 92.1%.  I was going to buy it yesterday for one of my brothers for Christmas, but it was still thirty dollars used and thirty-five dollars new at the three stores I checked.
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

AbercrombieBaseball

  • FitchPitch
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2006, 08:26:23 PM »
Wow, am I relieved! Sounds like I made the right choice. And yes, even on Black Friday morning it was $35. I'm so glad that she'll have a great game to start her DS library with. Anything to put a smile on her face--she's pretty much the only family I've got (besides my grandparents, mother, uncle, and golden retriever) so I always make sure she gets the best.

Not to change the subject, but my grandparents also bought her Nintendo Dogs for the DS. Is that a winner as well?

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2006, 08:35:07 PM »
She'll probably like Nintendogs.  It'll be a good game to compliment Mario Kart because Nintendogs uses the touch screen and microphone a lot.  Mario Kart mostly uses the d-pad and buttons.  I personally liked WarioWare Touched! a lot better than Nintendogs, but more girls seem to like Nintendogs and WarioWare did get slightly lower scores.
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2006, 08:35:27 PM »
Most definitely. It's highly recommended- no, absolutely MANDATORY for everyone whom possesses a DS to own this game. Okay- not mandatory, but you get the point. It features tons of racers, karts and tracks to race with. Those will keep your cousin occupied for some time to come. The tracks are well designed and challenging, but not too challenging. It's a happy medium. The controls are tight, leading to a great racing experience. It was also one of the first games that allowed online multiplayer, which made the game's replay value substantially high.

You picked up a good game, man. Your cousin will enjoy MKDS a lot.
In Soviet Russia, Pokemon chooses you!

BP

  • Beside Pacific
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2006, 10:10:42 PM »
Oh yes. A fantastic game. You start out with eight characters, and each has two karts. As you progress there are four other characters to unlock, each with two karts of their own. But somewhere between the start and unlocking the last character, each character gets a third kart. Eventually, you'll have twelve characters and thirty-six karts, allowing 432 different combinations. There are sixteen new courses for Mario Kart DS, and four from each previous Mario Kart. The retro tracks are nicely done--the SNES and GBA ones look good in 3-D, The MK64 ones are faithful to their original incarnations, and the MK:DD ones don't have everything they did on the GameCube, but are great all the same. For example, a shortcut in Yoshi Circuit is missing. The sound is really good and not overdone (except for Daisy's voice which I witnessed killed an old lady). The graphics are what we wish MK64 had. The characters and karts are all in 3-D. The items are all sprites (except the blue shell, the Bloope5r and maybe another I forgot), but they're not badly done. Oh, and you can jump again!
And multiplayer is really fun and easy. If you know someone with a DS, you can play with them, nothing else needed. There's also Wi-fi for playing online (most TMKers do, but I can't because I can't connect right). I play against people I know at school sometimes and it's really fun.
All your dreeeeeeams begiiin to shatterrrrrr~
It's YOUR problem!

SushieBoy

  • Giddy fangirl
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2006, 11:09:46 PM »
Actually Robert, Sega had made alot of online games on the Dreamcast, but unfourtonetly, the online site is out of business.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2006, 11:17:37 PM »
I would assume he meant for the DS, because there have been a billion online games before that.  (no exaggeration)

« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2006, 06:54:49 PM »
I would assume he meant for the DS, because there have been a billion online games before that.  (no exaggeration)

Yeah, that's what I meant. I guess I was in such a rush to get my post up I forgot some important details. My bad.
In Soviet Russia, Pokemon chooses you!

SushieBoy

  • Giddy fangirl
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2006, 07:33:57 PM »
Oh, Okay *slaps self on the head* Anyway, MKDS is a great game overall, with good course design, graphics, and control, many kinds of game modes and unlockables. A must have for the DS.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Glorb

  • Banned
« Reply #10 on: December 10, 2006, 11:27:46 AM »
MKDS is a good game? That's funny, I heard it got terrible reviews.
every

« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2006, 12:52:29 PM »
MKDS is a good game? That's funny, I heard it got terrible reviews.
I got this from Wikipedia:

Game Rankings : 93% average
Metacritic : 91/100
Joystiq: 9.0 out of 10 (90%)
GameSpot  : 9.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: : 81% (fresh)
X-Play - 5 out of 5
Nintendo Power: 9.0/10
IGN: 9.5/10
Hyper: 93/100
Nintendo Official Magazine (UK): 95%
The average of all the above reviews is 91.7%.
Also, GameSpy gave it a 5/5

By any chance were you refering to a different game with the intials MKDS?
In Soviet Russia, Pokemon chooses you!

« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2006, 01:04:42 PM »
With "Mario Kart DS" being in the topic, and no Mortal Kombat games on DS, I have to ask, are there any other MKDSes?

BP

  • Beside Pacific
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2006, 03:39:31 AM »
Mortal Kombat: Death Sucks.
All your dreeeeeeams begiiin to shatterrrrrr~
It's YOUR problem!

Area 64

  • Cholesterol
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2006, 04:24:15 PM »
It's a really great game. Just beware: if you're playing on the Internet, your fun could be ruined by snakers.

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