Mario Kart DS

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Mario Kart DS is part of the popular Nintendo racing series, in which players race their favourite Nintendo characters in karts against each other on different tracks. These "tracks include everything from simplistic figure-eight circuits and beach courses to street races that task [players] with avoiding traffic and racing around a giant pinball table" (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 2). This isn't the average kart race though, because the karts can be armed with weapons such as banana peels, opponent-seeking red shells, and opponent-shrinking lightning bolts to power-up the racer (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 1). As Harris states, "the series has never been about realistic racing, but that's its charm -- players still have to employ some proper racing skill and strategy, but the power-up element can throw off even the best driver" (2005, ¶ 4).

A great single or multi-player game, Mario Kart DS features: (1) eight single-player grand prix competitions that consist of four races each; (2) fifty-four single-player missions that consist of six groups of nine missions with a boss battle at the end of each group; and (3) battle-mode games, Balloon Battles, and Shine Runners, which can be played as either single-player or multi-player (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 2, 5, 7). In addition, this game allows players to connect with friends (up to 36 of them), rivals (players of similar ability), and regional or worldwide opponents through Mario Kart DS online, so there are lots of opportunities to race against real-life competitors (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 9). Finally, this game can be played in one of three classes (difficulty levels) - 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc - and as players progress through the different classes, there is a discernible increase in the speed and in the aggression of the players (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 2).

For reviews of this game, please refer to: Game Rankings.com http://www.gamerankings.com/ds/920788-mario-kart-ds/articles.html

This game made the play list, because it is a classic award-winning game. In fact, Mario Kart first appeared on the Super Nintendo in 1992 (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 1). As Harris asserts, "there's absolutely not a doubt in my mind: Mario Kart DS is the greatest Mario Kart game ever, which, in turn, makes it the greatest Kart racer game ever created" (Harris, 2005, ¶ 1). The delightful visuals and sounds effects associated with the series, make it a great gender-neutral game that children aged 10 to 12 would enjoy. In addition, Mario Kart DS makes good use of the functionality of the DS by utilizing both of the screens, which was one of our criterion. Namely, the top screen displays a close up of a player's character and the bottom screen displays a map, which not only shows the player's location on the circuit, but also the locations of power-ups, traps, and opponents (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 4). This game is also great for children, because it has a short learning curve due to the forgiving handling of the carts (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 6), which is remarkably tight and responsive (Harris, 2005, ¶ 5). However, the game also has lasting appeal, because there are numerous advanced techniques that racers can learn to shave a few seconds off of their times (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 6). Finally, one of the best reasons why this game would be a good addition to a library collection is that players, with some restrictions, can use a single copy of the game to race and battle against up to seven other people (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 7). The restrictions on circuit and character choice when using only one copy of the game, are lifted when each player has his/her own copy of the game (Calvert, 2005, ¶ 7). In conclusion, players aged 10 to 12 can learn good hand-eye coordination and strategy while playing this fun kart racing game.

SOURCES:

Calvert, J. (2005). Mario Kart DS review. Retrieved from http://www.gamespot.com/ds/driving/mariokartds/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Bread-review&tag=stitialclk%3Bgamespace

Harris, C. (2005). Mario Kart DS. Retrieved from http://ds.ign.com/articles/666/666125p1.html