NINTENDO ALLSTAR TOUR 05 - Eastbourne Airshow - 13th August A two hour long car journey playing Mario Kart: Super Circuit. I was getting ready to play Mario Kart DS. Sure, there were other games I wanted to play at this place, but none of them even came close to Mario Kart DS. Most people would call me mad for choosing to play Mario Kart DS over Zelda but they don't know what they are missing out on. It was a long walk from the car, and we didn't know where it was, but we knew we were there when we saw a giant Pikachu bouncy castle. I went over to play Mario Kart DS. I got to the DS and looked at the screen. This was it. I touched the screen and a menu apeared before me, Nitro Cup or Retro Cup. I touched the Nitro Cup and then chose my character. I had a choice of eight characters. The usual eight: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Wario. My character: Luigi.

The first race was starting up next. It showed a bit of the course and then the camera panned down on to the racers. 3, 2, 1, GO. And I was off, not to a boost start, but I was off. The first track, Figure Eight Circuit, is just like it says it is. The track is in the shape of a figure eight. You start off and you come almost straight away to the first bend. I was feeling daring and I tried to do a skid boost. Press R to hop and keep it held down as you move your thumb from left to right and back again until the dust under the wheels turns orange, and then let go. I got the boost. Its just like how you do them in Double Dash, except you only do one colour. It was a pretty easy track, and after a few well aimed green shells I was in front. However the computer wouldn't having any of it, and tried to get me back with some red shells. Luckily in this game, you can hold items out behind you like in the old games. I had a banana so I wasn't harmed. The only trouble I had was at end of the second lap where a blue shell came out of the sky and bombed the hell out of me. I was overtaken by Toad by it wasn't long until I got back my first place by throwing a bob-omb straight into the path of him. BOOM. I was back in front and scored myself a nice 10 points. It seems as though the points scheme from Double Dash is back and used in this game.

The next course was one called Yoshi Falls. Several characters got a boost start but not me. Straight away the road splits into two, the high road (bridge over the water) with some item blocks and the low road, which is on the inside so its faster but there is some water you must go through. I didn't even see the split until it was too late and I was on the high road. I stayed on the high road the whole away round. There were a few boosts on the high road so I was quite close to the front of the pack. I forgot to take the low road the second time round as well, but on the last lap I remembered and went down. It was much shorter, but the water you have to go through is quite a problem. The current is really strong and drags you towards the edge. I only just managed to stay on the track, by using the hop. This slowed me down a lot and I had to catch up. I got away from the edge of the track as soon as I could and got an item box. Yes, three red shells. They circle around the kart like in MK64 and MKSC. With only two people in front of me, I was soon in the lead. I crossed the line and got myself another 10 points. I was in the lead overall and looked like I couldn't be beaten.

Cheep Cheep Beach was next. It would be my downfall. It started off without a boost again. A bit of beach first before I got to a pier. I tried to skid around the corner, but the corner on the the pier was too sharp and I just hit the wall. At the end of the pier there is a boost jump. Bowser ran into me just as I was going over it and that stoped my boost and I just fell into the water below. I slowly drove out and continued. I caught up a bit to see some people drive across the bit where the sea normally is, because the tide was out. I didn't follow them, I just followed the track. There were a few corners and then I was back at the start. I had some mushrooms so I caught up a little bit, and this time I followed the people across the water. It didn't seem that much faster, but I overtook DK who was following the track. I tried to cut another corner off by going through the sea, but this time I ran into a Cheep Cheep that was jumping out of the water. I should have seen it but I didn't. I used more items to catch back up and soon I was in second place and closing in on Toad. But then it happened. Lightning. Everyone shrunk. And then, to top it all off, I ran into a crab. I was now in fifth place. I used a mushroom to catch up a bit when I had grown back to normal but it didn't help too much. I finished fourth. 4 points. Great. I was second overall and there was only 2 points between me and Toad.

Luigi's Mansion. One of the first tracks we saw of the game. I was ready for it. Still no damn boost start. I didn't know what I was doing wrong, but I didn't let it worry me. I had a race to win. The start line was outside. Almost straight away, I found myself inside the mansion. You go down a slope and then round some corners. Then you go into this big room with some kind of big round thing in the middle. Go around the round thing and then you are outside. I followed the track and then I saw it. A tree, walking across the track. It walked right in my way. It stopped as if it had hit a wall, and I had to wait for it to get out of my way. That put me back a bit, but nothing I couldn't recover from. Then came the mud. The track kind of dies away and goes into mud for a bit before coming back to track. It does this a bit more afterwards as well. And there are more walking trees. The mud wasn't that big a problem, that is until I tried to skid around a corner. I went right into the wall. I lost a few places thanks to that. At least it was only the first lap. The start line comes up after a few more turns in the track. I managed to avoid the trees and skidding into walls for the rest of the race. I even managed to get back into first place. But near the end of the last lap, I was hit by a Blue Shell. Toad over took me and I had lost my items from the Blue Shell's blast. I couldn't catch up with him. Second place, 8 points. That's 32. Toad had 36. I had come second overall, I hadn't come first. The next screen show you your trophy, the grade you get (I got grade C) and your times for each track. I also noticed near the top, it said 100cc. No wonder I didn't win. I wasn't ready for 100cc on my first try. I like to work my way up.

So after my crushing defeat, I left Mario Kart and played some other games. But I wasn't done yet. There was still a whole other cup left. The Retro Cup. I returned to hopefully get first place in a cup full of tracks I had already mastered. I was Luigi again. The first track, the first ever Mario Kart track, Mario Circuit from Super Mario Kart. The only things that had changed are that it is now in 3D and that the question mark blocks had changed. A easy win with a few mushroom boosts across that big sandy bit. 10 points.

Moo Moo Farm. A classic from my favourite Mario Kart. The Monty Moles were still there, jumping up and down, trying to stop you taking that corner. I knew what I was doing, I took the corner. Toad sped away at the begining and I didn't catch up with him until the last lap. I overtook him and just as I was going the bridge at the end, I got Blue Shelled. I thought I had lost it but just when I thought Toad was going to overtake me, he ran into the back of me, giving me the speed to beat him to the finish line. Thank you Toad. 20 points.

Peach Circuit up next. This is the track I've had the least practise out of all the Retro Cup tracks. That is why I practised this track on the car journey. It is a good thing I did because I knew where I was going. One thing that made this track easier in this game is that it is easier to skid boosts. I took almost every corner perfectly. 30 points.

Luigi Circuit from Double Dash. I played on it the previous night in Time Trial mode to make sure i knew what I was doing. It obviously didn't work when I drove straight into the Chain Chomp while skidding around that corner. That's all that went wrong though. There were a lot of items flying all over place but other than that, an easy win. 40 points. The award screen showed 1st place, a gold trophy and a Star ranking. I rule that much.

In conclusion, THIS GAME ROCKS.
Graphics 8/10 - Best I've seen on the DS so far. Even better than Mario 64 DS in my opinion. A little bit blocky, but I don't mind. Do you?
Sound ?/10 - I coundn't really hear the sound other than a few sound effects because of all the loud games on TVs around me. Too bad, I would've liked to hear the music of the new tracks.
Gameplay 10/10 - What do you want me to say? Its Mario Kart.
Controls 9/10 - Easy pick up and play stuff. There were no instructions when I played it and I did well. "A" is accelerate. "B" is break. "R" is hop and skid. "L" is use weapon. If X and Y were used, I didn't use them. The only problem I had was that once my finger slipped of the "L" button while I was holding a Banana out behind me. But that proably had something to do with my sweaty hands.
Replay Value 10/10 - I played each up cup 3 times. There wasn't even a multiplayer mode. Try to get a better grade. That's all I need to keep me going. Multiplay will make this game a legend. Add the fact it will be online and I don't think any DS game will come close for a long time.

Overall 10/10 - It might sound biased, but this game really was that good. I want it now. It's alright for you lot, you don't know what you're missing. I do. I want it now.

by SmoothMunky
Proof reading by Yoshiking

If you have played Mario Kart DS and wish to submit a preview of your own then send it to Charzendat@MarioKartDS.co.uk