Mario Kart DS is a game for the DS. It was a Mario Kart game. It was Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection compatible.There are 8 starter characters and 4 hidden characters.
Tracks
Mario Kart DS contains 32 tracks, split up into the Nitro GP and the Retro GP, Nitro GP contains new tracks never seen before, Retro GP however, contains tracks from previously installments of the series, that Nintendo found worthy to be put into Mario Kart DS. Nitro tracks:
Mushroom cup:
-figure 8 circuit -yoshi falls* -cheep cheep beach -luigi's mansion
flower cup:
-desert hills -delfino square* -waluigi pinball
star cup:
-dk pass -tick tock clock -mario circut -airship fortress
Special cup:
-wario stadium -peach gardens -bowser castle -rainbow road*
Retro tracks: shell cup
-snes mario circut 1 -moo moo farm -peach circut -luigi circut
Banana cup:
-snes donut plains -n64 frappe snowland -bowser castle 2 -baby park
Leaf cup:
-snes koopa beach 2 -n64 choco mountain -gba luigi circut -gcn mushroom bridge
lightning cup:
-snes choco island 2 -n64 banshee boardwalk -gba sky garden -gcn yoshi circut
* in mario kart wii Characters:
mario, luigi, peach, yoshi, r.o.b.,* daisy,* waluigi,* bowser, dry bones,* dk, wario, toad, shy guy (only in ds download play)
* need to be unlocked
Multiplayer
The game features healthy mutliplayer gameplay. Nintendo have allowed players who dont have the game to use the DS's download play. This means that only one of your friends needs to have a MKDS card to play a local network game. However playing a game with download play has its downsides, the data downloaded from the host only contains 1 character and the players are limited to playing 100CC mode. Download play allows up to 8 players to play with a single card, and allows the players to play 8 of the 32 tracks.
If everyone who wants to play has a card, then you can play multi-card mode. In multi-card mode there are a lot less limitations. You can play 20 tracks using multi-card play, and all characters and difficulties are available (I think. Will confirm when I own the game). However it has been mentioned that using an Action Replay cheating device, its possible to have more then 20 tracks while in Wi-Fi mode.
Reception
Like all Mario Kart games, Mario Kart DS received a very positive reception.
Metacritic: 91/100
IGN: 9.5/10 (Received best DS game of the year 2005 award)
X-PLAY: 5/5 (Received best racing game of the year 2005 award)
Nintendo Official Magazine: 9.5/10