After all four races, the three best drivers with the highest scores will receive trophies at the award ceremony. The winner of the race gets ten points, second place gives the player 8 points, six for third, and so on. After each race, there is a scoring distribution for the eight racers. A new way a player can get a burst of speed is by drafting behind another player, after a few seconds blue lines will appear around the player which indicates a burst of speed and the player can power past the person in front–maybe barging them out the way as well if controlling one of the stronger characters like Bowser or Donkey Kong. There are multi-colored strips scattered around each course that provide a further burst of speed when driven over.
A player can then push left/right repeatedly on the d-pad which will make the sparks turn orange and the player will then get a small speed boost when they release the shoulder button. Pressing one of the shoulder buttons when going around corners will put the kart to a skid and blue sparks will spit out the sides of the wheels. Players can corner more effectively by power sliding around corners.
Racers at the back will also get to use the dreaded Blue Shell which seeks out the first position driver and takes them out. At the back of the pack players get more exciting weapons like an invincibility star which increases the speed of the kart or a red shell which is a projectile weapon that will home in on the car in front causing them to spin out.
When a player is in front these items are usually less powerful such as a banana skin that can be dropped behind for other cars to skid on or a green shell which is a projectile weapon which requires manual targeting. The player will want to pick up a power up pretty quickly by driving into a multi-colored item box which will give the driver a randomly selected item.
Players start the first race of the cup at the back of the grid, but can launch themselves in to first place immediately by pressing the acceleration button at the right time during the Pre-Race Countdown for a rocket start. Touching the screen toggles between a map of the track and a close up of the player which also shows item boxes, course hazards and incoming weapon attacks. The action takes place on the top screen of the DS, whilst the bottom screen shows a map of the circuit and where each of the racers are. Depending on where a player finishes in a cup they will be given a rating of E, D, C, B, A or 1, 2, or 3 stars, with E being the worst and 3 stars the best. Each of the eight different cups consists of four races giving 32 tracks in total–16 brand new ones and 16 that have been taken from each of the four previous games. The player can choose from eight characters with five unlockable characters becoming available as the game progresses. Class determines the speed and aggressiveness of the enemy karts. Players first choose from 3 classes they wish to race in–50cc, 100cc, or 150cc. Grand Prix mode mirrors the Grand Prix mode seen in all previous games in the series. Game Modes Grand Prix You can't get more average than Mario's default kart! Most notably this is the first Mario Kart to be playable against other players online via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. This DS iteration introduces several new game play features such as an adventure mode where players undertake missions to collect coins or defeat enemies drafting new weapons such as Bullet Bill and a refined power slide system. The player can race against up to seven other well known characters in the Mario universe such as the great plumber himself or his perpetual arch enemy Bowser, in environments taken directly from the platform games. Tactics such as using shortcuts, power sliding and boosting can be used to gain an advantage over opponents. The game is an arcade style racer that emphasizes the use of ridiculous weapons to get ahead of opponents.
Mario Kart DS is the fifth game in the seminal kart racing series from Nintendo and the only Mario Kart game to appear on the DS. Overview The game's title screen with Mario!