N-Philes

Mario Kart DS Online Impressions

Posted November 28th 2005 by Various Authors.

Page 2

Victor: Mario Kart DS Wi-Fi, this is what I as a gamer have been waiting for since I got into Mario Kart 64 back in 1997 with my family. We played that game into the ground. I replayed all the cups, got all the special ghosts, even made up a few of my own shortcuts. The one thing that the game lacked was a challenge; my family and friends were not good enough, they just couldn't take my prowess. That is why when I caught wind of a rumor of story of an alleged focus group that indicated there MIGHT be a Mario Kart coming with online capabilities, I went nuts. That's the most you need to know. Anyways, the release has come and gone, so is the online experience that we've been waiting for worth it? If you don't want to read a lot, let me tell you right now that it is definitely worth it.

Mario Kart DS Wi-Fi is set up in four different choices of opponents: Friends, Rivals, Regional, and Worldwide. The only thing you can do is race against your online opponents with 20 different tracks selected from the game cartridge. First is the Friends option which searches for people on your Friends list to see if anyone else is online and then puts you together in a game automatically. Make sure you get plenty of friends that play this game a lot or you will never use this feature. Best way to use this is to just call your friends and tell them to get online at the same time. This mode is pretty good because unlike the other modes where you play people you don't know, you can have awesome random races against people that you do know, and can discuss how much you owned their faces.

Rivals is probably the best one to use when you want to get better in the game, or where you can show what skill you have in comparison to other people in the network. I find this mode the most entertaining mainly because of how much of a challenge I am always receiving. This not meant for people looking to improve their ability, but to see if they have improved at all in reference to what their current score is. I probably spend the most time in here, mainly because it's always a bit tough.

Region is pretty good for just trying to find people to play and randomly race against in your area, and a good place to practice with people instead of the games' AI. Worldwide is basically the same thing as Regional, except that you could be playing people in India, Japan, Europe, you get it. Go to these options to check out how people are playing around the world or your area.

Nintendo WiFi works pretty well for Nintendo's first run into handheld internet play, but there are some things that you should be concerned about. Usually I have my signal dropped from the other players even though I have two bars, and this happens when there is a wall between the wireless router and me. If there is no wall, there is no fuss. Another thing is that the decals that some people have online are just... ugh. Swastikas, middle fingers, and a couple of phalluses are just some of the profane things I've seen online. This doesn't happen too often though, so you shouldn't be worried about constantly playing with something hairy in plain view.

To close, the WiFi gaming with Mario Kart DS is incredible, playing with other people has never been this fun, and personal friendly play over the Internet makes for some interesting conversation the next meet you and your friends have. This game is worth the buy just for the stat tracking and online play that is available right out of the box. Also don't worry, hot spots aren't hard to find.

Desiré: The mere fact that you can play Mario Kart online with friends around the world is enough to validate that it is a fantastic multiplayer title. That is, of course, if you can connect to those friends. If your signal isn't strong enough, good luck staying connected. If you don't pre-plan with your friends when you're going to have a four-person match, again good luck. Be prepared to connect with less than the norm more often than not, even if you have over half your total friends list filled. You can always play with strangers, and Worldwide gives you a better chance of actually finding opponents if that's your goal; I spend countless minutes trying to connect with people on regional before giving up and trying Worldwide. Obviously, the solution is more players with wi-fi, more wi-fi hotspots if you're unlucky enough to not have it in your home, and a hell of a lot of patience.

Side note: since receiving Mario Kart, I've had nothing but major muscle cramps in my hand and a practically permament indentation in my thumb from the not-so-soft A and B buttons as well as one in the palm of my right hand from the DS itself.

The play itself, when you can connect, is awesome. The graphics are great, the new items are a blast and the unlockables are a fun add-on. My main complaint with the actual game is the horrible sound bites of the characters as they pass each other. It's nothing more than a pure annoyance, but the background music is soothing and appropriate to the course itself. From the initial revving of the engine upon startup to the motor itself, all of those sounds are fine. But seriously, the "whoo hoo!"'s. "look at me!"'s and the "goodby"'s make one want to scream. The missions are pretty easy though, so if you're looking for a challenge you're not going to find it here. All in all, the game is fun, fast paced and a blast to play, especially against people you don't know (for the simple fact that you don't have to feel bad about kicking their collective butts). Happy gaming!

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