The Mario Kart game on the GameCube was just about perfect. The only thing really missing from it was online play (though there are unofficial ways around that). So when the DS version came out, the way Nintendo was hyping its wireless online matchmaking system, online play was almost a given. I could finally play against, and lose to, folks from all over the world who were much much better than I was. It was like 1996 all over again.
Yeah, it’s Mario Kart. Run around tracks, shoot things at your opponents, yadda yadda. What’s kind of cool about this version, though, is that in addition to being able to play online you can also unlock courses from previous games in the Mario Kart series. It’s almost as though Nintendo is saying, “No! Being able to play a goofy kart racer online is not enough! We must also cash in on the nostalgia aspect to solidify the hardcore players!”
And that kind of crap totally works on me.
I could gush about this game and the series in general some more, but I think I’ve done that quite enough already.