Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart DS is the continuation of the long running racing game series that began on the Super Nintendo. It features 16 new tracks as well as 16 tracks from the previous 4 games, with each set split up into…
Mario Kart DS is an arcade developed by Nintendo EAD Software Development Group No.1, released 14 November 2005 on Wii U and Nintendo DS. The main story takes about 15 hrs to finish.
What Mario Kart DS is
Mario Kart DS is an arcade game developed by Nintendo EAD Software Development Group No.1 and released in 2005. It was published by Nintendo. It is available on Wii U and Nintendo DS.
The premise, in the publisher's words
Mario Kart DS is a 2005 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. Like other games in the Mario Kart 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 from the Mario series. It was released in November 2005 in North America, Europe, and Australia, and in December 2005 in Japan, and 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, the second for a handheld console, and the first playable via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online service.
How it plays
It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are kids and party. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Multiplayer and Single player.
Where it sits in the Mario Bros. series
Mario Kart DS is the 43rd of 66 entries we hold in the Mario Bros. series. The next entry was Super Mario Strikers in 2005. Its critic score of 90 is 16 points above the series average of 74. The highest-rated entry is Super Mario World at 100.
How it was received
Mario Kart DS holds a critic score of 90 out of 100. That places it above 95% of the 2,164 rated arcade games in our database, which average 70. Games released in 2005 averaged 67, so it scored 23 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 86, across 415 votes.
How long it takes, and what that costs
The main story runs about 15 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 22 hrs, roughly 1.5 times the length of the critical path.
What it launched against
Mario Kart DS launched on 14 November 2005, within three weeks of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Call of Duty 2, Sid Meier's Civilization IV and Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005). It reviewed better than 3 of the 4.
Released around the same time: Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Call of Duty 2, Sid Meier's Civilization IV, Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005).
Cheats and codes
We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Mario Kart DS yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.
Official trailer
Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel. See all 2 videos →
Screenshots
All media
Quick answers
Mario Kart DS — frequently asked questions
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