History YMMV / MarioKartDS

** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' allowed the player to choose which Kart they could drive, however it was based on weight restrictions. This game does away with that and allows any driver to drive any Kart, allowing for more customization. Future games would implement even more customization following this trend.

* DisappointingLastLevel: The Retro Grand Prix ends with GCN Yoshi Circuit, which feels a bit lackluster when compared to GCN Rainbow Road. Later games would end up with a better-received retro course each, namely ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' with [=N64=] Bowser's Castle, and subsequent console games with a retro Rainbow Road.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: More of an Underused Game Mode. Mission Mode contains fifty-six regular missions and seven boss missions. However, completing these doesn't unlock anything for the other modes, and the missions only use the eight starter characters in their respective standard karts, only letting you play the character the game gives you. So the incentive the play the Mission Mode is very small.
* UnexpectedCharacter: R.O.B. being in the game took a ''lot'' of fans by surprise.

* DisappointingLastLevel: The Retro Grand Prix ends with GCN Yoshi Circuit, which feels a bit lackluster when compared to GCN Rainbow Road. A retro Rainbow Road wouldn't appear until ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'', released six years later.

* BrokenBase: Snaking, the tactic of doing a continuous sequence of mini-turbos in alternating directions, leading to a very sore thumb and possibly broken D-pad. This led to a lot of [[CasualCompetitiveConflict heated debates over the ethics of snaking in online matches]], especially non-friend matches. Opponents of snaking argued that snaking is a cheap exploit that takes away the fun from racing and often turns online matches into "snake or lose", proponents argued that snaking is a valid tactic to perform that adds an extra layer to the game and that [[StopHavingFunGuys people who didn't snake did not deserve to play online]]. This debate would only worsen after Nintendo altered the drifting mechanics to [[ObviousRulePatch remove snaking]] in later games.

* BrokenBase: Snaking, the tactic of doing a continuous sequence of mini-turbos in alternating directions, leading to a very sore thumb and possibly broken D-pad. This led to a lot of [[CasualCompetitiveConflict heated debates over the ethics of snaking in online matches]], especially non-friend matches. Opponents of snaking argued that [[{{Scrub}} snaking was for assholes]], proponents argued that [[StopHavingFunGuys people who didn't snake did not deserve to play online]].\\
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This tactic didn't come out of nowhere; doing mini-turbos in sequence on a straight stretch had been possible, and known to be faster than driving in a straight line, since ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' (but on that game it was necessary to space them out rather than doing them in an unbroken chain). In ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', the tactic was upped a notch as it was possible to do mini-turbos in fairly rapid succession in a straight line, though it was still better to leave at least a small gap to allow the boost from one miniturbo to wear off before starting a new drift, and since that game used a [=GameCube=] joystick rather than a DS D-pad it wasn't nearly so taxing on your thumb.\\
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The reason why the debate blew up in this game was partly because it was possible to spam mini-turbos to an even greater extent than before, partly because the use of the D-pad made it much tougher on the player's thumb, but in large part because this was the first ''Mario Kart'' game to have online play, which led to more casual players, who did not employ the tactic in earlier games when they just raced their friends in person, coming up against more "hardcore" players who employed the tactic to its full effect.

* BrokenBase: Snaking, the tactic of doing a continuous sequence of mini-turbos in alternating directions, leading to a very sore thumb and possibly broken D-pad. This led to a lot of [[CasualCompetitiveConflict heated debates over the ethics of snaking in online matches]], especially non-friend matches. Opponents of snaking argued that [[{{Scrub}} snaking was for assholes]], proponents argued that [[StopHavingFunGuys people who didn't snake did not deserve to play online]].
** This tactic didn't come out of nowhere; doing mini-turbos in sequence on a straight stretch had been possible, and known to be faster than driving in a straight line, since ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' (but on that game it was necessary to space them out rather than doing them in an unbroken chain). In ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', the tactic was upped a notch as it was possible to do mini-turbos in fairly rapid succession in a straight line, though it was still better to leave at least a small gap to allow the boost from one miniturbo to wear off before starting a new drift, and since that game used a [=GameCube=] joystick rather than a DS D-pad it wasn't nearly so taxing on your thumb.
** The reason why the debate blew up in this game was partly because it was possible to spam mini-turbos to an even greater extent than before, partly because the use of the D-pad made it much tougher on the player's thumb, but in large part because this was the first ''Mario Kart'' game to have online play, which led to more casual players, who did not employ the tactic in earlier games when they just raced their friends in person, coming up against more "hardcore" players who employed the tactic to its full effect.

* BrokenBase: Snaking, the tactic of doing a continuous sequence of mini-turbos in alternating directions, leading to a very sore thumb and possibly broken D-pad. This led to a lot of [[CasualCompetitiveConflict heated debates over the ethics of snaking in online matches]], especially non-friend matches. Opponents of snaking argued that [[{{Scrub}} snaking was for assholes]], proponents argued that [[StopHavingFunGuys people who didn't snake did not deserve to play online]]. This tactic didn't come out of nowhere; doing mini-turbos in sequence on a straight stretch had been possible, and known to be faster than driving in a straight line, since ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' (but on that game it was necessary to space them out rather than doing them in an unbroken chain). In ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', the tactic was upped a notch as it was possible to do mini-turbos in fairly rapid succession in a straight line, though it was still better to leave at least a small gap to allow the boost from one miniturbo to wear off before starting a new drift, and since that game used a [=GameCube=] joystick rather than a DS D-pad it wasn't nearly so taxing on your thumb. The reason why the debate blew up in this game was partly because it was possible to spam mini-turbos to an even greater extent than before, partly because the use of the D-pad made it much tougher on the player's thumb, but in large part because this was the first ''Mario Kart'' game to have online play, which led to more casual players, who did not employ the tactic in earlier games when they just raced their friends in person, coming up against more "hardcore" players who employed the tactic to its full effect.

* BrokenBase: Snaking, the tactic of doing a continuous sequence of mini-turbos in alternating directions, leading to a very sore thumb and possibly broken D-pad. This tactic didn't come out of nowhere; doing mini-turbos in sequence on a straight stretch had been possible, and known to be faster than driving in a straight line, since ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' (but on that game it was necessary to space them out rather than doing them in an unbroken chain). In ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', the tactic was upped a notch as it was possible to do mini-turbos in fairly rapid succession in a straight line, though it was still better to leave at least a small gap to allow the boost from one miniturbo to wear off before starting a new drift, and since that game used a [=GameCube=] joystick rather than a DS D-pad it wasn't nearly so taxing on your thumb. The reason why the debate blew up in this game was partly because it was possible to spam mini-turbos to an even greater extent than before, partly because the use of the D-pad made it much tougher on the player's thumb, but in large part because this was the first ''Mario Kart'' game to have online play, which led to more casual players, who did not employ the tactic in earlier games when they just raced their friends in person, coming up against more "hardcore" players who employed the tactic to its full effect. This led to a lot of [[CasualCompetitiveConflict heated debates over the ethics of snaking in online matches]], especially non-friend matches. Opponents of snaking argued that [[{{Scrub}} snaking was for assholes]], proponents argued that [[StopHavingFunGuys people who didn't snake did not deserve to play online]].

* BrokenBase: Snaking is a tactic in this game that is ''only'' possible in this game -- you drift back and forth forever, spamming the heck out of how easy it is (though, not on your thumb) to get drift boosts since it just requires you to spam left and right twice in succession. It worked in ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' as well, but it was nowhere near as spammable because doing it on a straight path would practically veer you into a wall most of the time since drifting made you turn much more widely. This was the first ''Mario Kart'' game to have online play, which naturally led to a lot of [[CasualCompetitiveConflict heated debates over the ethics of snaking in online matches]], especially non-friend matches. Opponents of snaking argued that [[{{Scrub}} snaking was for assholes]], proponents argued that [[StopHavingFunGuys people who didn't snake did not deserve to play online]].