What Made Mario Kart DS So Perfect?

The Mario Kart series is one of the most popular series out there, spanning tons of games. In this video I take a look at one of my favourite entries in the series, Mario Kart DS, and try to see what truly made it such an amazing Mario Kart game. This is my Mario Kart DS retrospective, enjoy!
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[@obx1bag]

I devoted my life to MK:DS for like 5 years. Had a 3 star rank, snaked like crazy, had a record of like 2000 wins 10 losses on wifi, would've been better if less people quit out. Spent the last 10 years just playing battle against CPU's and honing my shell aim. Best game in existence.

[@paulgilbert5278]

And it’s music has the best funk

[@jenofjennifer]

i was more of a mario kart wii person than a mario kart ds person but each to their own i played both versions both of them bring nostalgia

[@docterpain01]

Teach me your ways to get 3 star I only have 1-2 stars.

[@johnomalley7211]

@@jenofjenniferMario Kart Wii is soo based tho if you grew up on DD or DS then you’re a real og🤷🏾‍♂️

[@jenofjennifer]

@johnomalley7211 i also did grow up with the ds version of it, the amount of memories ive had when i always played with friends as for the wii version of it i always went trolling my friends a lap behind with item cheats those times were fun

[@migue897]

I remember that game was sooooooo good that even when my top screen broke I kept playing just with the map for like 2 more years

[@isopropyltoxicity]

Tf lol I could never

[@averagePokemonplayer-qm9fg]

Oh my god

[@StevenJones851]

That's amazing cool

[@Daily93]

I did the exact same when we wanted to play local play. Had a broken top screen ds used for GBA games and MK DS.

[@t1bor.___]

same thing for me and i was also having fun with that mini map

[@Nu_Merick]

i remember playing this game soo much back in the day. it was one of the reasons i was getting carpel tunnel syndrome for a bit bc of the insane drifting/snaking in those online matches... i also vividly remember Reggie announcing he would be online playing MK DS and i managed to match up against him lmao

[@NickMario1]

Oh that’s cool lol

[@hihello3372]

Who won?

[@rosilinathedragon4382]

Did you kick his ass? (and take his name)

[@CesarTorres61296]

Did you beat Reggie?

[@Nu_Merick]

@@rosilinathedragon4382 i did, he wasnt that great iirc, he played a couple races and dipped. His Body wasn't ready🤣

[@NinetyLegos]

"You can't even play this online anymore" Modders: Allow us to introduce Wiimfi

[@gamerjac1059]

lets goo i love wiimfi

[@noahmontgomery3879]

I want to play this beautiful game again before I die. I want to be that 87 year old man in a nursing home who is laughing at his young self’s apparent wonder with such a simple but amazing game.

[@shannongrossman9882]

I am a 54 year old woman who is still playing her same Mario Kart DS game.

[@Noanmayor]

When the younger generations move into nursing homes they gonna look like college dorms with everyone playing the game lmfao😂

[@diabeticman2194]

MKDS was iconic, I remember on the last day of primary school my class would always get some rounds of Mario Kart in. Tracks were pretty good too, Airship Fortress, Delfino Square and Waluigi Pinball are fantastic! Mission Mode was also a nice novelty as well

[@jwil4286]

The credits scene for this game even makes me cry today

[@VigilanteVTD]

Bro that's a song I wanna hear at the final moment of my life

[@Rossoneri2]

Balloon battle in block fort was my favorite, think that's why I loved the n64 and ds versions so much compared to the rest

[@Kalanken]

Despite tour's missions being quite simple compared to mkds, i find some of them pretty fun and unique like the glider challenge where you glide as far as you can, precision gliding, big reverse race vs. 100 and snap a photo. They usually are some of the most fun ones to do buteven then the other ones aren't that bad

[@ceciliapereira3058]

omg ive got tears in my eyes cos i finally found my gang!! ive been advocating for mariokart ds as the best game ever FOR YEARS and no one really got me so i started to think i was just crazy and the nostalgia made me feel more intensely abt it, but after watching this video and reading the comments i feel so validated!

[@CallofFreaky]

I had no clue other people held this game so near it’s awesome seeing all these comments cuz I’ve never heard anyone else talk about it other than my friend I used to play with and eventually we’d share his copy and sold it back and fourth between each other cuz we just couldn’t let go of it

[@Gameboy-Unboxings]

Man kids who had wifi back when the ds was released were so damn lucky...i was a huge gamer as a kid but i literally didnt even know that online gaming existed. It is kinda funny to think though how this is actually far from the first mario kart game to have online multiplayer.

[@GodOfCulture]

The Fact that the Character Vibes with you when you have the Star Simply Perfection

[@MrJordandurrant]

DD & DS really were a series high-point IMO. The series has got flashier and more complex since , yet it has added nothing.

[@arlwiss5110]

limitations breed innovation, and producers demand empty shine

[@supervivo7069]

I never owned the game myself, but my neighbour let all the kids use his copy via download play (remember when Nintendo had that feature?). My brother, my friend, his younger sister, their father, and myself all played the game when we were on vacation together one year. It was a time for sure.

[@darquezze306]

I'm really surprised you didn't shout-out Wiimmfi for allowing us to play a bunch of DS and Wii games online without needing any modding. As that is a way to still play MKDS online

[@gamecubeplayer]

there aren't many players on mkds online wiimmfi because it only supports wep security

[@Xgone]

​@@gamecubeplayer there is also an easy alternative being via melonds emulator where you don't need to abide to wep security connection.

[@gamecubeplayer]

@@Xgone i know but that doesn't fix the low player count problem

[@Xgone]

@@gamecubeplayer there really isn't much you can do apart from making it more accessible. Unfortunately its either that or sticking with the original hardwares supported security types.

[@EirTheGhost]

The drifting is what sold it for me. Yes snaking did exist but there's this movement feeling with MK DS that I can't explain and just isn't replicated on any of the other Mario kart games. My best memory to this day is finally getting that 8 player multiplayer race. Easily the best moment in my gaming history.

[@thederpyguy2295]

If I remember correctly you’re able to hold select to inflate your balloon in the battle mode. So you’re not stuck blowing into the mic

[@NinetyLegos]

Which was a nice idea for those with bad mics

[@roflBeck]

I remember the best way was to just rub the mic with my thumb lol. Balloons fill really fast if you do it that way, much quicker than holding select or blowing tbh.

[@HarrisonJamess]

I generally played the game my entire childhood without realising that I could make my own balloons, I used to boost into other players to steal there balloons and feel like general grevous

[@MysticNinTorres]

The nostalgia hits hard on me for this game, as it’s one of the more unique and fun Mario Kart games ever.

[@MicahCallari]

just wanted to say i legit love watching your new videos the moment i have a chance, youre legitimately one of the most positive nintentubers i know and that makes your videos rly pleasant to watch :)

[@pseudodistant]

"It's not like you can play Mario Kart DS online today, anyway." *Laughs in Wiimmfi*

[@GolfcuBebe]

I have a dsi with R4 card Can I play online on it? If so how do I set it up

[@pseudodistant]

If you have a mac, and set up a WEP network for your DS, be sure to still set the maximum connection count to 1, and turn it off when your DS isn't in use. WEP isn't very secure, but since you're not sending sensitive information over your DS it shouldn't matter. So long as you set it up properly, they won't be able to connect to the hotspot so long as your DS is connected, so there shouldn't be a risk of foreign entry.

[@ThundagaT2]

Man i had so much fun with this game's multiplayer in high school. We would often bring our DS to school and play with friends in homeroom. The teachers were surprisingly cool with it lol.

[@anon1066]

This was the first game I ever got. I remember grinding it for hours on the floor next to the wall charger. I probably traded it away at a GameStop for a call of duty or something rip. Still brings back so much memories to me.

[@wariodedede]

I remember overnight trips back in 8th grade and every one was using download play with Mario kart on the bus despite that game being 6 years old at that point. There were multiple games going on at the same time and our teacher had to constantly tell us to calm down lol.

[@toonix1148]

I gotta say this is my favorite mario kart game for two simple reasons Waluigi pinball and nostalgia

[@VigilanteVTD]

Mission mode and music

[@toonix1148]

Oh yeah right

[@jellymcmichaels4240]

Same here!

[@futureatmosinc]

Man! I loooove your video!! I'm in the middle of it right now 😂 and all the nostalgia and everything you've mentioned! 🌴✨ Mario Kart DS was one of the best ;) very happy to hear other people are still hyped about it! I think it will forever stay in our memories.

[@codemisterz]

Thank you for another awesome Retrospective! Mario Kart DS, was a great choice, considering I started on Mario Kart DS, and to this day I'm addicted to Mario Kart, and I still return to Mario Kart DS, on my DS lite, or my 3DS.

[@returnofskurk1633]

Quite easily one of the best Mario Karts, tons of content, cool characters, ton of vehicle variety and the best part for me. Ds Download play. I remember my class would have 2 groups of people playing together because there was that many of us bringing our DS to school, it was super fun.

[@solitarycrow]

Mario Kart DS is so painfully nostalgic it makes me shed a tear. Kids today or the younger Gen Zers will never get to experience the joys of LAN or splitscreen multiplayer mode. To me, memories of linking my DS with my friends to face off in Mario Kart were what stood out the most.

[@Phoeboi]

I honestly loved how the drifting was in MKDS. Sure snaking was overpowered, but it was a skill that you had to practice and master. I really hope one day they bring back the DS drift system, even if it’s just an optional feature for single player and local multiplayer. And who knows, if it ever comes back maybe they can make CPU’s snake as well to really push expert players ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@_speedyhops8058]

Snaking was not that hard I was able to learn it in like 5 minutes

[@Phoeboi]

@@_speedyhops8058 I guess I just have a skill issue then

[@anonymous38741]

snaking has a very high skill ceiling personally i enjoyed it back then but now i see what an injury risk it is (repetitive strain injury, carpal tunnel syndrome)

[@piplupempoleon4225]

Drift system bypass bad handling, even Bowser can do better than Luigi thanks to drift stat

[@xannymanny9754]

I remember spending so long meticulously recreating the Wu-Tang Clan symbol pixel by pixel and feeling so satisfied when it was completed. It sucks that they’ll likely never bring back an emblem creator, but it’s obvious why not lol

[@GalvatronStudios]

I played this game so much that the L and R buttons suddenly stopped working on my DS

[@Nathan-mu1pz]

This was the very first "modern" game I ever experienced. All I knew before this was the N64

[@justadummy8076]

This game had the perfect battle system, 3 balloons, 2 reserves, can’t do anything whilst inflating, PVP or PVE, eliminations, it was perfect

[@WarlockX4]

This game literally got me through college. I took 2 classes where the professor would rather talk about her personal life then the actual subject matter. I sat in the back of the class and played Mario Kart DS the entire year. Great times.

[@Qwerty10254]

Can't wait to watch this. Great game and your videos are incredible

[@pje1452]

Thank you for this video Fr i was playing this when I was 5 and I picked it up again and now I’m 20 still having as much fun as I did back than

[@Whiteout116]

One of my favorite games as a kid

[@sleepysealasmr]

dude.. mission mode was locked away in my mind until this video. that was SO much fun, the bosses- omg. thank u for this.

[@eksmad]

Mission Mode. Best Mario Kart ever.

[@PlanetJayster]

Ah, yes… 8-player Download Play tournaments in high school during lunch periods… GREAT times. And that was BEFORE I got my own copy of the game! 😅

[@timzy4395]

Mario kart ds was my 2nd ever Mario game behind super Mario bros ds and this got me fully hooked to Nintendo ever since

[@VirusFlash]

Very nice video- I usually get distracted very easy and skip the video but was just sitting still throughout the whole video. Good job

[@theawesomeali8834]

MKDS is nostalgic for me, and will remain in my heart. I would play almost every day and had a ton of fun with mission modes and playing so many memorable tracks and battles

[@LegendryHeropon]

regarding blowing balloons in balloon battle, you could also hold select instead of blowing into the microphone

[@KappaCow]

great memories huddled up on the floor of my childhood friend's living room all racing each other

[@LionProGamer]

Your videos are so well detailed and interesting, keep up the good work 🎉👍

[@VG2M76]

That's an almost 20 years old game and it's still better than other newer games, the fact that people (including me) keep playing it after all these years and never get bored of it means a lot.

[@Black-nf3tx]

Agreed 100%. I remember going to my local churches summer program during the summer as a kid because both of my parents worked, and all of us would play MKDS during the times we weren't going on field trips. I would purposely join without my cartridge to play as Shy Guy because he was my favorite character by far with Dry Bones being second. I was always the best out of us because I would put the most time in since it was my favorite game along with Pokémon diamond, whereas my friends would actually play a variety of games that I would lose to them at. Loved all the missions as well and remember hoping they would add King Bomb-omb as a character (still have hope for him in MK9 since he was added to tour)

[@louiejackson2312]

thanks for making this video, mk ds is the first racing game i played when i was 8. i was always stuck playing shy guy because my sister was the only one with the game. good times

[@B0ssguy]

im not really a mario kart tour fan, but calling those missions a sad attempt to replicate ds' mission mode is pretty ignorant. there's very creative new types of missions like the gliding challenges, vs 100, and vs big characters that act as bosses but in a full race. every cup ends with one and there's a whole new set of them for different tracks every tour so it doesn't get old. honestly more fun than the regular gameplay of tour, and imo better than the mostly repetitive and not that interesting ds missions also mkw's tournaments were basically mission mode

[@WritingCountingOriginal]

x2

[@rickman1945]

Every day on the bus, playing against everyone thinking you were good, then suddenly the quiet kid at the back of the bus starts snaking and running laps around everyone.

[@daved1216]

Just discovered your channel, youre awesome man.

[@xArsVivendi]

I used to ride to school by bus everyday, and I our bus would always arrive more than half an hour before school actually started, so I played online races and battle mode every day in the morning with my friends. :)

[@luckynow7]

had no idea that the online mode was so limited. i never got to use it because my internet connection at the time wasn't compatible with the ds (or easily accessible on it at least) and just being like 5 at the time the game released, i never looked into it. and growing up later on with newer consoles and games having better internet functionality , i never stopped to think that it must've been so different for a game like this LOL but it's really interesting to hear about!

[@rodreeeges]

that first tune when you open the game, chillssss

[@TheMainEditorOfficial]

I'm really happy we grew up in a time where Game developers were incredibly motivated due to the rapid innovation during the time, dishing out some beautifully written, passionate games with amazing music. What an era the 2000's were.

[@Grontoh]

Thanks for the memories this is my favorit

[@zachhull6598]

This was my first game for the DS! The og chunky one, too. Got both for my 8th birthday and I have a ton of great memories playing via Wi-Fi with other kids in my 4th grade class when we had our free period. At the end of the year the teachers would let us all whip our DS’ out and we’d do mass group battle matches. The multiplayer on that game was next level

[@NottJoeyOfficial]

I remember back in the day I would use my Action Replay to suggest from all courses online. It even let you choose battle courses, though if those won the vote it would load them in race mode and you would just mess around on them until time ran out. It was so fun and it worked perfectly so I don't know why you couldn't just do it anyways. In recent years, when I play the game online with people on Wiimmfi, I informed them about the cheat code and half of us all enabled it to just choose from all the tracks online, it's very fun. Never thought I would play that game online again as recently as 2022.

[@dulantos]

I remember all of this. I’m gonna cry bro. This game will always be a huge part of my childhood. 😔❤️

[@onedankpotato610]

0:45 Gotta appreciate that sync up with the music and announcing the game's title

[@antonin4719]

Snaking isn't an "issue", this is the basics of all the magnificient community that the game has today, and all the competitive aspect and technics of the game. Snaking made the game difficult to master, and very interressant it its mechanics. If you master the technic, nothing can be comparable to play with 3 others players which snakes in WiFi mode. The game, and its technics, are masterpiece, and i'm sad to know that next MK don't have any very skilled issue compared to MKDS mechanics.

[@CallofFreaky]

The signature karts for each character were really really cool

[@kitnoCC]

I really enjoyed this video, man! Great work. You're nice to listen to. You got big potential! Liked.

[@oegaboy]

In my middle school we used to play Mario Kart DS every single break we got. We mostly played balloon battle with a single balloon. I seriously miss being able to do this in modern Mario Karts. Even though we just pressed select to blow up balloons when we did do it. It was very competitive for us, especially with the way red shells worked in that game. It got to a point we needed two rooms because we were with 12 players. So we ended up grading the players so the worst 2 people from the full room had to play in the other room so the best 2 from that group could join us. This went on for like 3 years. That is when we sadly changed to MK7. The dude that won mostly truly was a beast!

[@inphect]

that broken star emblem was such a throwback lmao

[@naniswatch]

The epic bus rides MK:DS gifted me! I couldn't afford much growing up, this game is so special to me for letting me play with friends while saving up to buy my own copy.

[@bellablossomz]

MK DS was a classic and it still holds up to this age and I do miss the missions it brought too. I’m sad I traded it for a Pokémon ranger game😭

[@costelinha1867]

12:24 "It's not like you can play MKDS online nowdays anyway" Wait till he learns that wiimmfi is a thing

[@williams6334]

This and 64 are still my favourite of the series. Thanks for the clip, going to charge my ds now :D

[@DAJTheYouTuber_2007]

Mario Kart DS was the first Mario Kart game i ever played back in 2012... man the memories and i still play it to this day

[@sammykenobi6307]

A lot of people associate this game with the wii/ds era bc that’s when it got popular, but actually, this game is more of a 6th gen game than a 7th gen one objectively, despite releasing on a 7th gen system. This game uses a lot of assets from double dash (a gamecube game). This game came out the same year as games like resident evil 4 which originally released on the gamecube. This game and other early ds games were advertised in gamecube demo disks because the wii wasn’t even out yet. Why do I bring all this up? Because I just find it interesting that this game that even I associate with the later 7th gen is actually way older than it feels. This game is almost 18 years old. Yeah.

[@sammykenobi6307]

@Brobromelon yes. Back when nes nostalgia was just becoming a thing in the 2000’s

[@sammykenobi6307]

@Brobromelon i see. So back 2000 years ago, mario kart wii came out. It was the sequel to mario kart ds.

[@sammykenobi6307]

@Brobromelon same.

[@damarionsmiley7427]

This game is my childhood even tho I was born 3 years after its released my brother had a copy of it and it’s the most fun I ever had with him playing this game makes me feel happy

[@Sir_Leung]

Mario kart ds was about the only mario kart game I ever played. So when i played mario kart 8 for the first time I was overwhelmed by the fast, curving tracks, new items and character selection. I even continued do the old dash trick snaking, which just made me slower lol.

[@handicappuccino8491]

I used to think it was the coolest thing that rainbow road had a group to group in a corkscrew back when I first got Mario kart DS

[@gloBrian]

Never forget me and my brothers and sister playing this with our 4 Ds’s, the most fun ever

[@doublekey8931]

I used to play this like a maniac on my DS when I was a kid. I have so many memories of me trying to unlock all the characters and complete it 100%.

[@Blazeyy]

I played this game all the time as a kid, it was literally my childhood, I would play with familia and elementary friends. I would win all the time in races, 1st place against all odds. I recently found my Nintendo DS all this years later and I am currently playing Mario Kart DS and i still got it, so much fun man.

[@OmegaFox09]

Loved this game. I played it on my morning train commute to art school nearly a decade ago

[@williamsdemetrius]

Got this joint when the fire red og ds was bundled with it

[@evanhernandez5378]

I remember playing mario kart ds, man Ioved this game

[@yeeyo11]

The best thing about this game is mini boost mechanic, i remember playing this game with my brother and cousins and discovered how fast you can go by just making multiple mini boost, we were all so competitive that we found out that best car was the egg car, we also created a clan only family members and we had a lot of fun playing this game on wifi and seeking rivals on internet forums back in 2008 i was 12 years old lmao.

[@hellboundBitch]

Love your enthusiasm near the end of the vid. you have really nice vids in general, great job

[@roflBeck]

I used to play this a lot. Funny enough, I don't remember enjoying mission mode a ton but multiplayer was a blast. I used to play local with friends and the online a ton. Good stuff.

[@skaterhaube6026]

You just reminded me of the mission mode in all stars racing

[@SuperYoshi411]

Love this game, it's my 2nd favourite Mario Kart. It's fun, has great tracks, you can design an emblem for your kart and mission mode is awesome. 😀😃👍😊

[@MDE128]

This is one of my favorite games of all time. It’s up there to being one of the best Mario Kart games alongside Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Double Dash. Those three games are my holy trinity of Mario Kart games.

[@ashishadhikari8434]

This brought back so many memories

[@davidmorris8319]

Speaking of incredible courses: Bowser's castle DS is underrated af

[@nekominorinya2569]

My favorite game on the ds, maybe even overall my favourite game, every racing mission is on 3 stars, every single cup in every single gp class is 3 stars , have beaten every single ghost aswell, and i still play it because its simply so much fun

[@ProdNature]

Now this is something i can get into

[@user-it8re8jv2l]

I have a unhealthy addiction to binging underated KZbin channels

[@DanDuels]

you're underrated! great video!

[@kylez33]

Superbly crafted video.

[@GamerBoi20045]

I remember that my cousin had a Nintendo ds with Mario kart DS in it and oh man that literally brings back the memories. It’s that year where Nintendo cared for it’s games 😊😅

[@Thecollinsbrother2005]

I grew up having a Nintendo ds lite and my first time playing Mario kart ds...I feeling love playing the game 24/7...and know I have a switch lite playing Mario kart 8 deluxe...maybe this Christmas I will get a ds lite and Mario kart ds again...in which case I'm the master at Mario kart ds

[@Grapey123]

Cool video! I got the game last week :)

[@zenapllo5714]

I remember grinding this game for 4 months straight

[@ee_li]

I want: - to play as Wiggler -I want the caterpillar pipes to pop you up into the air for a double jump -BRING BACK MULTIPLE PATHS ala Super Mario Bros 4 -Boss races make a comeback, ala diddy Kong racing and Mario 64, but 2D -Wario is the final boss, not Bowser -Kegan Michael Key voices Toad in his regular voice -No shop system -A rotating new challenge stage every week or month or something, with online leaderboards -Boo power-up ability Thanks for the video!

[@Thats-What-We-Dewwwww]

Meanwhile as a kid I had Diddy Kong racing 😂😂. Loved it though