Mario Kart DS

The game is the fifth installment in the Mario Kart series of video games, and the first to be playable via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online service; the service has since been terminated, along with other games playable via the service. Mario Kart DS received several awards, including Editors' Choice Awards from Gamespot and IGN, G-Phoria's Best Handheld Game award, and IGN's Best Racing/Driving Game Mario Kart DS was the best-selling game in its first month of release, and also held that position the following month. While racing or battling, the Nintendo DS's top screen offers a third-person perspective of the player's kart, while the bottom touchscreen shows the race's current standings, items carried by each racer, and a map of the course. If the battle is played in single player, then the match ends and the results are announced when all of the human player's balloons are popped. After all eight missions in a level are complete, the player must complete a boss mission to advance to the next level. The game also features a multiplayer mode, in which eight players race each other using the DS Download Play feature or a multi-card wireless LAN connection.