Mario Kart DS is so dang good

[foxmosis]

I got a story for y'all that feels very coded to the vibe of this forum.

So I reconnected my childhood Wii with WiiLink so several defunct services were no longer defunct.  One of these services was the Nintendo Channel, which had various trailers and videos but also demos you could download to your Nintendo DS.  One of the demos I had downloaded was Mario Kart DS, a game that I had heard a lot of praise for but never played, so I thought this would be neat.  I was stunned by how good it felt to handle and wanted to play more.

So I went to my local library and checked out their copy of Mario Kart DS.  I can't be exactly sure, but it does look like it was last played back when it was more relevant.  At least there wasn't anything unlocked, just a few Grand Prix courses done.  Not even with a Gold Trophy, just done.  So I started playing Mario Kart DS, and I unlocked everything.  I completed everything in Mission Mode with at least one Star, and got the Gold Trophy on every Grand Prix.  I didn't get a Triple Star ranking on every GP, but Gold was good enough for me.  I also did every course in the Time Trial so whoever picked it up next would get to see my times.  Some are good!  Some aren't!

And finally, I updated the Emblem with my local library's logo and added in a message along the lines of "CHECK OUT LOCAL LIBRARY, FEB - 16 - 24" along the borders.  So that way whoever plays it next will know that this was played recently.  I even got to play the game with some friends as well.

Anyways, that was my journey with Mario Kart DS!  I really had a fun time with this game, I definitely see why it's the fan favorite.  It took me a bit to get used to how the drifting worked in this game but once I got a handle for it I really enjoyed it.  I think I prefer it to how the drift works in later games.  I'm not sure if it's my favorite game in the series, I would still consider myself a casual Mario Kart fan, but I've always considered Mario Kart 7 my favorite.  Nostalgia aside for that entry, I think it has a better selection of tracks to play.  But I feel like Mario Kart DS was a more rewarding experience, so I guess I'll have to see what I feel like once some time has passed.

I also figured people of this forum would have some things to share, so I'm mostly posting this to hear what people have to share.

[splashy]

mkds is pretty fun though i never became an avid player. snaking is pretty much required to play at a high level. (in which my thumb legit starts to hurt from rocking it over the d-pad hundreds of times) and the turn radius always put me off. in contrast, mk7 feels really tight, i feel like i've got full control over my kart's movement as all times.

with all that aside, mkds still has many features going for it. including an actual vs mode, that sweet emblem feature  (which i always just made scribbles with as a kid) as well the intruiging quirk of item box rng being dependent on your choice of kart.

[jensen]

my greatest memory with mkds is honestly the download play feature, it was so fun to find a friend who had never played it and be there for their first experience as you played the game together. download play is one of the things i really miss about the modern handheld market. 

[cairo]

I love this thread!! I definitely have some bits to contribute-

First is a link to the font from Mario Kart DS. Uppercase and lowercase are both awesome for making webpages :)

Second is my personal history with the game- while I never owned a copy myself, my best friend did. We went to a summer day camp at the YMCA where they brought us on two field trips per week. These trips were to different parks and museums around our state, + the bus ride was sometimes 90min each way! (This was around 2008/2009).

Mario Kart has a download play feature where only one person needs the cartridge for up to seven other people to join with their own DSs. There were definitely more than seven DSs on the bus competing for one of the coveted spots. This is the part I'll never forget-

If I wasn't one of the seven who got to join.. my friend would restart his DS and boot everybody out until I did get in. The symphony of groans throughout the entire bus when this would happen, and he just did not care at all. Setting my bar for friendship pretty high at such a young age.. one of my favorite stories!

[BlackMageGaming]

Mario Kart DS is one of the best DS games, let alone one of the best Mario Kart games.

I remember way back when I was sent over to Summer camp, I would bring my DS with me, and every other kid had their own DS too. Everyone with Mario Kart would all get together, and everyone who didn't have it would join in download play. We would always play Balloon Battle, I would always pick Dry Bones, and I would usually always win 

It was so much fun, and I have countless memories of download play DS games from back then. I love Shy Guy and I wish you could play as him on a regular cartridge!

Around a year or two ago, I was working at a church camp as a counselor and I would play my 3DS at downtime and so many of the campers would all hoard around me and watch me play Mario Kart DS. Another kid brought his 2DS, and he would pass it around to the others and they would all get a chance to try to beat me in balloon battle. I kept thinking about how the game they were playing was older than all of them, and that fact made it cooler to them, just like how I was interested in retro games when I was their age.
Oh, none of them beat me, I still got it
 
Nowadays, I think I'd like to try to complete Mario Kart DS's RetroAchievements, I love achievements so much. 

[foxmosis]

mkds is pretty fun though i never became an avid player. snaking is pretty much required to play at a high level. (in which my thumb legit starts to hurt from rocking it over the d-pad hundreds of times) and the turn radius always put me off. in contrast, mk7 feels really tight, i feel like i've got full control over my kart's movement as all times.

I never figured out how to doing to make snaking happen, and I actually do get what you mean by the turn radius although eventually I really got a handle for it.  I do love MK7 though.

my greatest memory with mkds is honestly the download play feature, it was so fun to find a friend who had never played it and be there for their first experience as you played the game together. download play is one of the things i really miss about the modern handheld market. 

god i also miss download play, it was both really cool and also made playing with friends easier

Mario Kart has a download play feature where only one person needs the cartridge for up to seven other people to join with their own DSs. There were definitely more than seven DSs on the bus competing for one of the coveted spots. This is the part I'll never forget-

If I wasn't one of the seven who got to join.. my friend would restart his DS and boot everybody out until I did get in. The symphony of groans throughout the entire bus when this would happen, and he just did not care at all. Setting my bar for friendship pretty high at such a young age.. one of my favorite stories!

Man I love stories like that, that's a great friend you have there.  Absolutely would have driven me nuts as well but that's fantastic lmao

Around a year or two ago, I was working at a church camp as a counselor and I would play my 3DS at downtime and so many of the campers would all hoard around me and watch me play Mario Kart DS. Another kid brought his 2DS, and he would pass it around to the others and they would all get a chance to try to beat me in balloon battle. I kept thinking about how the game they were playing was older than all of them, and that fact made it cooler to them, just like how I was interested in retro games when I was their age.
Oh, none of them beat me, I still got it
 

Not an exact science but I was showing my nephew Sonic Pinball Party and it was really cool to see him get sucked in.  He might be a little too young for the novelty of it being older than him to sink in, but I think it's fantastic getting to share stuff with people from a time before they even existed!