For anyone who still has some questions about what this game will offer, here are hopefully some answers. This info comes out of Nintendo's updated fact sheet for Mario Kart DS.
DS Download Play:
- 2-8 player simultaneous wireless game play
- Choice of multiplayer racing, Balloon Battle, or Shine Thief modes
- Players who own Mario Kart DS can choose their own characters and use personalized icons
- Players who do not own Mario Kart DS must play as Shy Guy; they cannot use personalized player icons
- Track selection is limited to eight tracks for racing and three arenas for Balloon Battle and Shine Runner modes
- DS Download Play is limited to the 100 cc engine class
Multi-Card Play:
- 2-8 player simultaneous wireless game play
- Choice of multiplayer racing, Balloon Battle or Shine Thief modes
- Players can choose from different engine classes
- No limits on character choice
- No limits on track choice
- Player's win/loss ratio is saved and tracked
- Players who race locally are automatically added to each other's friend roster and then can race via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
- Players can trade ghost data wirelessly, allowing them to race against each others' best times.
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection:
- 2-4 Players racing simultaneously
- Choice of playing with:
- Friends Only (players registered as Friends)
- Rivals (players with similar skills)
- Recent Opponents
- Regional Racers (players in their country)
- World Racers (players anywhere in the world)
- No limit on course choice, but each player votes for a course and the course with the most votes wins (in case of a tie, the course is chosen randomly)
- No limit on character choice
- Players can create and use personalized player icons
A recent interview from Hideki Konno (producer of Mario Kart DS), found in the Famitsu magazine has uncovered this info on the game.
- The game's control is meant to be similar to Mario Kart 64, and even though you use the D-pad, Nintendo has been able to acheive control that compares favorably with analogue control.
- The karts have a huge variety, and the game depends on which kart you choose, since some are heavier or lighter. Some karts can move faster over certain courses.
- You can view the karts stats at the beginning of the race, such as how long it takes you to recover a bad turn or making it easy to under steer.
- A 32x32 pixel decal editor is included.
- You can have 60 people in your friends list, and once you battle them in a LAN game, they are automatically added to the friends list.
- You can exchange friend codes with distant players in order to manually build up your list.
- Multiplayer play includes classic modes such as time attack and balloon battle.
- A new "Collect Shine" mode of play in the game allows players race to collect the most Shines. By hitting your opponent, you can reduce his/her Shine count.
- There is a new single player "Mission Run" mode, where you are given certain tasks to complete (such as making your kart move through tire-shaped gates in order and using items to take out crabs in a free-roaming battle stage) has been added. Completing these tasks allows you to unlock new karts.
There you have it folks. Happy yet?
- Source:
Vooks