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Mario Kart DS Preview
Written by Señor Cha Cha on Monday, November 7, 2005
The first game to take advantage of Nintendo's WiFi connectivity on the DS, and we have in-depth hands-on. Mario Kart DS...
It's Mario Kart DS, it's online, and it's phenomenal. Seriously, you just have no concept how enjoyable this game is and that's perfectly all right, because once this soon to be million seller hits shelves on November 14 it's on like Donkey Kong. Killer app? Most definitely. Online done right? For the most part. A must buy? You'd be a fool to not pick this up.
Xbox live is cool but what Nintendo's managed to do is a whole other beast entirely. Mario Kart in bed? Check. Mario Kart at the dinner table? Check. Mario Kart on the friggin toilet, on the porch waiting for Fed Ex, in the cellar waiting for my pants to dry, or while at a McDonalds eating chicken fajitas? Check, check, check, and check. Sure, the game's more polished than Queen Elizabeth's silverware and the 3D engine is about as smooth as Mr. Clean's head, but it's the anytime, anywhere option that is this title's most amazing feature. It's the satisfaction of knowing that I can stop writing this article, switch on my DS and zip through four quick races. Nintendo's made online portable gaming accessible to the masses, which is something Sony and its cohorts are still trying to figure out after a year.
I'm feeling very unconventional today so I'm just going to use bullets (which are not in any way related to Bullet Bill) and run down the yum. Structure? The Senor doesn't need structure!
Slick 3D engine: I'm not saying that there isn't any lag, because every so often, when a black cat slips past your feet and the planets align with the sun you're going to see a very slight hiccup of two, but that's one or two stumble wumbles in about twenty races and your first place position won't be compromised.
Aside from that small minor annoyance Nintendo's done a wonderful job, as Mario Kart's engine puts Need For Speed and Asphalt Urban GTs' to shame. The attractive scenery glides past like a hawk and all of it's nice to look at. For example, there's this one particular area on Cheep Cheep beach that always makes me smile, a moment when the karts enter a forest and are flanked by tropical trees. It's sweet!
Robust Single Player Campaign: Like its predecessors, Mario Kart DS features a highly enjoyable single player experience that is a nice complement to the game's multiplayer shenanigans. There's the usual Grand Prix mode that contains 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc races, but there's also Time Trials where you can actually upload and download your ghosts from previous races, Vs (a quick start mode that'll plunge you into an eight-player race), Battle, where you duke it out against several other opponents in two mini games (Balloon Battle, where you must pop all of your opponents balloons using weapons and Shine Runners, where you must collect more stars to eliminate them), and finally, Missions. In this final mode, you must complete a series of unique challenges and they run the gamut from speeding through a series of check points to breaking boxes to collecting a set amount of coins to defeating bosses from Super Mario 64, all before time runs out. Highly addictive and plentiful (there appear to be well over 50 of these missions), it's fun challenging myself to best previous scores.
Two ways to race: The bottom screen displays the map, but you can also use it to race. In fact, for some courses I actually prefer using it to the top screen. It allows you to see items long before you reach them, as well as who's on your tail.
An insane amount of courses: How do twenty sound? You'll have all of the new stuff such as Yoshi Falls, Cheep Cheep Beach, Luigi's Mansion, Delfino Square, Tick-Tock Clock, Airship Fortress, and the awesome Waluigi Pinball (you're actually racing inside of a pinball machine and you have to dodge pin balls and flippers), but there's also a wealth of old content, courses from all of the previous Mario Karts which includes Moo Moo Farm, Luigi Circuit, Baby Park, Rainbow Road, Mario Circuit 1, and Frappe Snowland. There's even one course that resembles a Nintendo DS! And don't forget about the Battle arenas, which are mini courses in themselves. There's just a ridiculous amount of places to go and this helps to keep things varied.
Weapons aplenty: If you've played a Mario Kart game then most of the weapons found in this one will seem very familiar. Banana peels, red and green shells, tricky item boxes, bombs, lightning, mushrooms, the star that makes you invincible, and the fabled golden mushroom have all returned, but there's also some interesting new additions. The Blooper covers all of the drivers with ink and splashes some onto the top screen, while the Bullet Bill pickup transforms you into the giant bullet and enables you to basically knock everyone over.
Multiple karts: Each character has up to three different karts that vary in Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Handling, Drift, and Items. The last one should be of particular interest because it determines how often your character will receive the necessary goodies to propel him or her to the finish line. Basically, if your Item attribute is low you're going to be receiving lots of bananas.
Freedom to express: Mario Kart DS comes with a rudimentary paint feature that allows you to customize your own emblem that'll be displayed during races. You can even draw on the karts! The program is a bit crude, but there are plenty of options to make something cool. There will no doubt be tons of naked breasts once the game is released. I, however, am sporting a very sweet Sonic the Hedgehog.
Become a boost master: It's possible to get a little boost as soon as the race begins, but how you go about it may determine the outcome of the match. To boost, you have to hold down the A button and release it as soon as the race starts. However, holding it for too long will cause you to stall and therefore give your opponent a sizable advantage, so some practice may be required in order for you to time this just right.
Online made easy: Well, it's really easy if you have a wireless router and it's not password protected. If that's the case you'll run into some connection troubles, but that won't cripple your progress, especially since Nintendo's included a separate booklet with the game entitled Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Instruction Booklet, a 27 page monster that should answer all of your trouble shooting needs, and even if it doesn't, the company has people glued to an access line that are willing to help you.
There are two ways to get online, either through your standard wireless router or by using the super special Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, which, once it's plugged into your computer's USB port, will become an access point. Unfortunately, the USB Connector is only being sold online, a strange decision that'll no doubt piss off some people who don't have the necessary equipment. However, since you'll be able to play at McDonalds across the country and many people don't even bother to create logins for their wireless networks, you'll probably be able to steal it from somewhere.
Unlike most developers, Nintendo's done an admirable job making it easy to connect to its online service. The large buttons with bright colors are easily identifiable, and the system handles all of the messy bits, so searching for the nearest access point takes only two button presses.
Once online, you'll need to sit through a 1-4 minute set up process as your DS searches for opponents, but once you get past that, you'll compete in a series of four races that unfortunately don't feature tie breaks. But thankfully, once those four are completed you have the option of quitting or engaging your opponent(s) in another series.
There's really nothing else to say about multiplayer other than it's really a lot of fun. Industry people have been saying nothing beats live competition and it's worth repeating here. That's not to say that the AI doesn't put up a fight because it does, but it's also not sneaky enough to ram you off a course or hit you with a red shell at exactly the right moment. It just sucks that Nintendo hasn't included some sort of chat feature because I'm always ready to trash talk but have no way to really get my points across.
Mario Kart DS is a lot of fun but it's not exactly perfect. Here are some nagging issues that have me less than impressed.
Crappy DS to access point range: Nintendo recommends moving no more than 30 feet away from a wireless router and that really sucks because I can play in my family room but not upstairs. It's just weird since my laptop can pick up reception from all over the house. But that's what the Nintendo USB Connector is for. But this is where things get fishier than Cheep Cheep. It's a free connection and it works quite well when all optimal conditions have been met, but if you stray out of range or find yourself in a room with about 30 other people who are also trying to play Mario Kart you're going to run into some annoying issues.
Shady vehicle balancing: I'm glad that each character has different types of karts to select from but some are just too damn fast. Constantly getting burned by someone who can always put a good 100 feet between competitors forces the ones lagging behind to become overly dependant upon the weapons. Whether or not I'm going to win race has less to do with my driving skill and more to do with the odds of me acquiring a blue shell.
Strange bed fellows: Making friends in Mario Kart can be a real pain. Rather than being prompted after a match whether or not I want to add people to a friends list I need to exchange a 12 digit Friend Code with the person and that's just silly. Surely there's a better way to do this.
System settings of doom: While online, Nintendo treats the game cartridge and the DS as one complete system, so if you pop the game out and put it inside another unit you'll need to search for an access point and update your WFC (Wi-Fi Connection) settings. Not a big deal; just a few extra steps you'll have to take before playing.
No quitting: Once you've agreed to race people you can't pause the game and back out, so the only way to quit is to turn off your DS.
No online Battle: Battle mode can only be played in offline multiplayer.
USB Connector snafu: Nintendo was kind enough to give me one of these but I cannot install it because I don't have the CD that is supposed to be included with the package. What the heck's up with that?
Even with its issues, Mario Kart DS is going to blow up and for good reason. Not only is it a quality product and feature intense, but it marks Nintendo's first online title to receive a worldwide launch. I don't know about you, but that's definitely something I want to take part in. Expect the Senor's review shortly before the game's November 14 release.
posted November 8, 2005