How long have we all been playing Mario Kart games now? In some ways I’d rather not think about it (easy way of getting round it being early Tuesday morning and my addled brain not remembering). Throughout my gaming past the series runs like a spinal cord, with the numerous iterations dotted around on home consoles and handhelds absorbing so much of my time that I could have practically built myself my own grid of go-karts by now had I been doing other things instead of looping my way around Rainbow Road in search of the perfect lap.

But we all love Mario Kart, don’t we? Okay, perhaps Double Dash didn’t hit the mark, but the rest of the series has given us some great single and multiplayer laughs. Mario Kart DS compiles the very best parts of the whole lot in one package, whilst also offering the proud DS owner the first chance at having a crack at the much-vaunted Nintendo Wi-Fi online gaming scene.

Game modes within MK DS are mostly as per usual, with Grand Prix, Time Trial and Battle being present and correct, along with the new Mission mode. Grand Prix sees you partaking in a series of initially eight championships of four circuits each, with half of the 32 on offer being newly designed tracks and the other half being a selection of retro. The newer circuits are all pretty well designed and feature a range of locations, such as the race around Delfino Square and the Tick Tock Clock circuit which sees you desperately trying to avoid getting tonked by swinging clock arms. Difficulty levels are as before, with 50cc, 100cc and 150cc marking the three levels.

You could quite easily lose yourself for whole days doing this alone. There’s plenty of circuits to plough through and a whole host of familiar characters to do it with, from the usual gang of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi et al to new additions like Dry Bones and R.O.B. Each character has a selection of karts he can use too, each having their own individual attributes. Initially each character has a selection of only two karts, but progress through the game will allow a bigger selection to be opened up.

Battle and Time Trial modes act pretty much as you’d expect them to. Battling can be either done in single player modes or with a system link to a chum’s DS, and features the standard balloon-busting antics as well as a game where you must attempt to collect the most Shine Sprites. Time Trial gives the player the chance to best themselves over a flying lap of any selected circuit, with staff ghosts being available if enough progress is made.

Whilst these two modes will be immediately familiar to people who’ve played any of the Mario Kart variations in the past, Mission Mode is completely new and allows the players to undertake a number of simple tasks over seven levels. Each level is broken down into eight missions, which include such tasks as bumping into a set number of enemies, collecting coins or completing a circuit in a set amount of time. When these missions have been completed the player is then offered the chance to flex their vehicular muscles against a boss character, with progress to the next level being allowed upon defeating it. The mode is by-and-large good fun, and despite the slightly repetitive nature of the tasks it’s got enough variety packed in to keep you digging through.

But it’s the Wi-Fi multiplayer options that will excite most. Having set up your DS to play online (oh how I wish it was as easy as it sounded), selecting the Wi-Fi option from the main menu dumps you into a lobby where you wait for players to join, with the maximum being 4. Once this is done each player selects his racer and kart, and then a random vote takes place where each player votes for the circuit he wishes to use. The circuit with the majority vote is chosen, but if there is no clear winner a random track is selected from the choices made.

With that, you’re away. Despite initial misgivings you’ll soon realise that racing online with Mario Kart DS is great fun and for the most part billiard table smooth. The DS also copes very well with the action and allows you to wander around, so going to the fridge and grabbing a nice cold beer or getting a steaming pie out of the microwave can be accomplished without too much risk of dropping out of the action, although it’s probably best that you try to achieve either of the latter two whilst not actually racing.

Mentioning pie and beer, Nintendo have also set a selection of random public Wi-Fi hotspots in most cities thanks to their collaboration with BT. This means you could quite easily take your DS to your local pub, restaurant or library and partake in some online racing. Quite whether your friends and co-workers will look kindly on you leaning suddenly and gasping with excitement whilst peering into your DS is another matter entirely (mine are sadly resigned to such antics by now), but who cares when you’ve just red-shelled Luigi to snick a last-gasp win on Yoshi Falls, eh?

The online mode alone is worth picking up Mario Kart DS for. The best part about it all though is that the offline mode is as good as any single player experience a Mario Kart game has offered to date as well, so you’re getting one fantastic game whether your focus is online or offline. It also acts as an exciting welcome to Nintendo’s online service, which looks as solid as everyone could possibly have hoped for. The garden is certainly rosy for everyone’s favourite Japanese funsters, in more ways than one.