Is Mario Kart DS the best Mario Kart ever?

[Citizen_Lurker]

Mk7 looks great on 3DS with 3d enabled, I have to say.

 

[kaprikawn]

SNES and GBA versions are good, all other versions are bad, trufax.

Tight (digital) controls, no snaking and no stupid forced rubber-banding mechanics through the item drop rate.

 

[levi]

Yeah, the GBA version is probably my fave because it gives you all of the SNES levels too. I think it does have catch-up via item drop though, but I've not checked recently to see how much of that is in the SNES original. I did sink more time into MK DS back in the day though - it's got some of my favourite 3D tracks and none of the daft twin cart stuff from the GC version, and no stupid wide tracks a la wii version. MK 3DS (7, is it?) seemed okay, but I'd kind of got fed up of modern cart racers by then I think.

 

[TrashyMG]

Well it's the most modern Mario Kart I can play on the Pandora, so in some sense it's the best in that way.

 

[kaprikawn]

Yeah, the GBA version is probably my fave because it gives you all of the SNES levels too. I think it does have catch-up via item drop though, but I've not checked recently to see how much of that is in the SNES original. I did sink more time into MK DS back in the day though - it's got some of my favourite 3D tracks and none of the daft twin cart stuff from the GC version, and no stupid wide tracks a la wii version. MK 3DS (7, is it?) seemed okay, but I'd kind of got fed up of modern cart racers by then I think.

I have to admit that I haven't played the GBA version all that much. The SNES version does have a bit of catchup mechanic syndrome, you're much more likely to get a red shell if you're at the back, and coins/a banana if you're at the front. But it's nowhere near as bad as later installments where if you're at the back you're pretty much guaranteed to get blue shell, bullet bill or a star.

The thing about the SNES version though is if you're in the lead and you're good, you stay in the lead. The same isn't true of the later ones where it's usually best to actually try to be in about second or third place until the last lap, otherwise you're screwed. I get the whole party game mentality where people who are bad can play against people who are good and still win. But that's not the spirit of gaming to me, that's primary school 'everyone gets a participation medal' mentality. That's not objectively a bad thing, but I don't like it myself, I think competition is healthy. It's exactly the reason people still play Smash Bros Melee at Evo rather than the latest one, Nintendo simply doesn't understand competitive/hardcore gamers. They think they're in the toy industry and they want to push the family-friendly angle and have no interest in appeasing the hardcore fighting game community where game balance is key.

I only played a bit of the DS version and I remember going online with people doing drifting boosts on straights (snaking). It wasn't fun to me. And I've seen Youtube videos of the shenanigans people pull online on the Wii version, there's hackers and allsorts. I'll stick with Overwatch and Tekken for my online fix, at least I'm good at those.

 

[pmprog]

Never played the GBA or DS version.

I did really enjoy the Wii version with mix of bikes and karts. I have mixed opinions on the rubber-banding items:

The bullet bill would have been great if, rather than being a fixed time, was literally only to bring the player up to the player immediately in front. So if you're miles behind the entire pack, it'd put you back in the race, but if you're only a short distance behind the player in front, it would give you much less benefit

The star and lightning I'm quite happy with

The blue shell, on the other hand, was a terrible mechanic. It's fire from near the back of the race, and only affects the player in 1st (or maybe others, if racers are close by). This gives little to no assistance to the player who fired it, because they're probably too far away from 1st to overtake, so all this does is frustrate the player in 1st

 

[levi]

I didn't mind the blue shell in MK64 since it went along the ground so often caught out a number of the computer players (human players knew to keep to the sides as it went past), but the flying one is just plain annoying. The only way to defeat it is to cross the line on the last lap in a close second and overtake somewhere after half way round the lap, but that's been the case even before the flying blue shell, because being in second means you get so much better items.

 

[pmprog]

Well, it was possible to dodge the flying blue shell by jumping just as it hit the floor, but yes, at least the ground blue shell had the possibility of clearing a path

 

[levi]

Oh yeah, sod online. F-Zero GX was broken in very similar ways, but at least you can't actually take that online, as far as I recall. If anything I think Nintendo's skills these days lie in single player experiences.

 

[WizardStan]

no stupid forced rubber-banding mechanics through the item drop rate

No, AI opponents just used their items whenever they wanted. Donkey Kong launches endless stream of bananas directly in your path; Mario and Luigi non-stop star power as soon as they're behind you. SNES Mario Kart was so rubber band cheating and so blatant about it too. At least the later ones pretend like they're fair.

 

[Nintendo]

I think all racing games have some sort of Catch-up Logic implemented in them?

 

[levi]

Maybe most arcade racers, but I don't think many player of similation racers would accept rubber banding. As far as I can tell ridge racer still doesn't have the kind of rubber-banding mechanism that games like MK have always had (though it does have a drafting feature some people are complaining about being abused by computer drivers).

 

[kaprikawn]

Gran Turismo has horrible rubber banding

 

[levi]

Yeah, I don't think anyone except those who have spent far too long on the SonyPlaystation cool-aid think that GT is anything like a simulation.

 

[SNESFAN]

MK8 is likely the *BEST* mario kart, but still needs some rebalancing TBH. The *catchup* mechanics are a great and better idea than previous iterations I've played, but the reality of 1st place never getting anything but coins and last place always getting god items is kind of bullshit to be quite honest. Weighted item odds based off position would definitely be better. The static rubber band mechanics that have existed since MK64 have always pissed me off to no end. Agian slightly weighted speed boost/nerf based off possition to encourage interactive gameplay rather than straight dynamic (based off the player's) speeds or seemingly impossible actual rubber band physics are almost game breakingly non-enjoyable once you figure out they are there.

 

[levi]

I guess part of the problem is for me the games seem to have got easier since they switched to 3D. On the 2D games (SFC+GBA) there are circuits I absolutely had to learn skidding for otherwise I just couldn't make some of the corners at full speed. I don't think I've ever had to even stop accelerating in a 3D mariokart, even before I learned to skid in MK.

 

[matzesu]

Its mybe the best Mario Kart Game, you can play on the Pandora,
And it made LAN Partys pretty Easy, i remember Multiplayer Sessions at Boyscouts, whit multiple DS Konsoles, and only one Cardrige whit the Game..
You can even use a New 3DS to play against DS Users..

Mario Kart 7 was also great cause this land sky underwater tracks, but still more Peaple have DS Handhelds than 3DS..

When i bought me the XBOX, i also bought forza 7, this looks pretty good, but i cant remember when i played the last time, so Mario Kart DS is much more interessting for me..

My last MK was Mario Kart 8DX on Switch..

 

[Nintendo]

Yeah, I don't think anyone except those who have spent far too long on the SonyPlaystation cool-aid think that GT is anything like a simulation.

I loved how GT virtually had Bumper Cars physics.

Gran Turismo has horrible rubber banding

Another bad one (an arcade racer though) was Daytona USA 1

 

[Citizen_Lurker]

Another bad one (an arcade racer though) was Daytona USA 1

Still a great game, though