Mario Kart DS retrospective: Why you should buy the classic racer on Wii U

First released: 2005 (Nintendo DS)
Now Available On: Wii U Virtual Console

Nearly 10 years after it sped on to the Nintendo DS, Mario Kart DS made a sudden and surprise debut on the Wii U Virtual Console this week, launching alongside the likes of Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64 and WarioWare Touched!

Of course, as the third biggest-selling game on Nintendo DS with more than 23 million sales, there's a good chance you've already played it. But if you're new to the series, and fancy trying a classic racer this weekend, here's why we recommend downloading it.

Mario Kart DS wasn't exactly bursting with new tricks and innovations on the race track, instead focusing on delivering the same chaotic racing action we know and love, while balancing and refining things like handling and slipstreaming.

The game will probably be best remembered for what it did off the track. Taking full advantage of DS Download and Multi Card Play, it was the most multiplayer-friendly Mario Kart game to date.

It was possible for eight players to battle it out in multiplayer races using only one cartridge, which we're guessing made it as popular on the playground as it was in the canteen at my old job.

Laying the foundations for future releases, it was also one of the first DS games to feature online play, although there were one or two restrictions and it wasn't particularly easy to set up.

Thanks to the introduction of an entertaining Mission mode, it was also one of the better single-player Mario Kart games, offering players a genuinely appealing alternative to the standard races and time trials.

Mission mode was a great fit for the Nintendo DS, as it gave players a chance to improve their skills by tucking into a selection of bite-size missions while travelling to and from work or school.

The deceptively challenging missions tasked players with passing through gates, collecting coins and even driving karts backwards. Levels would even end with entertaining boss battles against the likes of King Boo and Big Bob-omb.

Mario Kart is a clearly a series that's best played with friends, but Mission Mode was a great way of extending the life of its single-player offering, an area which has been neglected in subsequent releases.

Mario Karts DS also packs a couple of the series' best courses, including the excellent 'Waluigi Pinball' and 'Delfino Square', both of which made our list of the top-ten best tracks of all time.

'Delfino Square' is an intricate and attractive track with some risky shortcuts, while the colourful 'Waluigi Pinball' course remains one of the most unique and epic tracks the series has ever produced. Of course, not every track is a winner - the less said about 'Yoshi Falls', the better.

With a wealth of previous courses for the development team to call on, Mario Kart DS was famous for introducing the now customary Retro Grand Prix.

It was a simple way of extending the number of courses available to players, and would give newcomers the chance to race two of the all-time greats in 'Wario Stadium' and 'Baby Park'.

Elsewhere, the dual-screens of the Nintendo DS made it much easier to check the track and keep an eye on your opponents, while the ability to inflate balloons with the microphone would breathe new life into the long-serving 'Balloon Battle' mode.

On the downside, Mario Kart DS was the game that gave birth to the controversial "snaking" method, which saw sneaky players drift boost from side-to-side in order to speed their way to the finish line.

Still, assuming you avoid "snakers" and getting hit with a (road) rage-inducing Spiny Shell, Mario Kart DS is one of the better entries in the series, providing a nice balance between single-player shenanigans and multiplayer mayhem.

The series would go from strength to strength in the releases that followed, beginning with the superb Mario Kart Wii, which has sold a staggering 35 million copies since launching in 2008.

Mario Kart 8 looks less likely to match such impressive sales figures, but it has been credited with giving the fledging Wii U a shot in the arm. Here's hoping Mario Kart DS can do the same following its Virtual Console release.