Mario Kart DS Vs. Mario Kart for the Wii

I started off as a fan of Mario Kart racing at the office. I was not much of a console person, and even less aware of the handheld market at that time. But there was something enticing about grownups spending their lunch break screaming and shouting while hunched over the little devices. “Green shell! Blue shell!, Turn left, no, right!” – you might think it’s not 4 people playing, but half of the staff, as the viewers sometimes got more excited than the players themselves.

It did not take me long to join the party and get a DS Light of my own, together with a copy of Mario Kart. This definitely was a worthy buy, even despite the price tag – you might want to look into the pre-owned section if you do not want to splash out the cash both for the DS, as well as the game itself.

Mario Kart is simply put a racing game based around the Mario theme. Rather than focus on deadly realistic in-game physics or car models, or even bothering with vehicle damage, the whole experience is aimed at having as much fun as possible.

To see just how not serious the game is, it is enough to mention that the drivers are the familiar faces from Mario universe – Peach, Mario himself, Luigi, Yoshi, etc. And the vehicles they drive range from “proper” racing carts to weird creations with wheels.

The DS experience

The little handheld device does not provide superb graphics, but as mentioned above, it is not the most important aspect of the game. With that said, they are clear, cartoony, and the meaning behind them is easy to decipher.

What is unique in this racing game is that one of the two screens serves as the race view, while the other one presents the map of the track. This not only maximizes the map view, normally crammed in the screen corner in other racing games, but also allows you to switch between to map types. The first one being a detailed more local view, while the second shows the whole track.

The Wii experience

Admittedly the graphics on the Wii console are not its strongest selling point; however you obviously get more compared to the tiny DS screen. There are also more fancy effects on the tracks as well as in regards to the characters – for example rather than bounce of the big trucks, like on the DS, on one of the “street” tracks, your little cart gets flattened cartoon style for a while.

An interesting addition is the extra peripheral – the steering wheel. By combining it with your Wiimote you can imagine holding a real steering wheel while driving inside the game. However personally despite all the fancy controls, I found the DS simple arrows a bit more stable to use. Though it might be just a case of getting used to the sensitive Wiimote.

Final verdict

Both games are fun and addictive, they also share the same type of funky music. If you are looking for some multiplayer racing without the hardcore driving experience you should be perfectly happy with either the DS or the Wii version of Mario Kart.

How to decide which one is for you? Well if you already use the Wii a lot and have a family (or friends) eager to play than the choice is probably obvious. However if you are a more on the go person, and tend to have short times when you meet-up with other DS owners and want something entertaining to kill your time, then you might be better off with the DS version.