Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart DS is a 2005 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. Like other games in the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart DS features characters from the Mario series and pits them against each other as they race in karts on tracks based on locations from the Mario series. It was released in November 2005 in North America, Europe, and Australia, and in December 2005 in Japan, and re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in North America and PAL regions in April 2015 and in Japan in May 2016. The game is the fifth main entry in the Mario Kart series, the second for a handheld console, and the first playable via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online service.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 2005
- Developer
- Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
- Platforms
- 2 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 14 November 2005 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platforms | Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo DS |
| Genres | Racing |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q858564, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Mario Kart DS? How long to beat it
Total play time for Mario Kart DS is about 24.1 hours to do everything, and around 4.6 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 4.6h | 187 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 10.7h | 131 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 24.1h | 132 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Mario Kart DS sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Mario Kart DS lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 67ahead of 19% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 62ahead of 96% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Mario Kart DS
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Mario Kart DS appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Mario Kart DS qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Mario Kart DS
What platforms is Mario Kart DS on?
Mario Kart DS is available on Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo DS. It first released in 2005.
Who made Mario Kart DS?
Mario Kart DS was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and published by Nintendo.
How long does it take to beat Mario Kart DS?
about 4.6 hours for the main story, 10.7 hours with the main extras, 24.1 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.