My daughter had left her cartridge of Mario Kart DS sitting next to my pc, unloved, for some months now. So yesterday I decided to pick it up and stick it in my DS lite. And now, I can't stop playing it. What a great game! Yes the AI cheats like a mofo. Yes the random distribution of power-ups brings a large element of luck into the game. But it makes for close exciting races. It makes you want to play that race again. I'm smiling even as as I'm cursing out the cheap-move-blue-shell-attack that just ruined my race in the very last corner. Just like I'm smiling when I do it to someone else. Like I'm smiling when I'm nailing a boosted start. Like I'm smiling when I finally gold star a series after many tries.
Tales of the long waits and all the 'snaking' put me off trying the online element, but purely as a one-player game, I'm having a blast.