Leaf Cup
Win a Gold trophy in the Shell Cup and Banana Cup to unlock the Leaf Cup for that class.
Lightning Cup
Win a Gold trophy in the Leaf Cup to unlock the Lightning Cup for that class.
Rainbow Cup
Beat all the Staff Ghost Data on the Retro tracks to unlock the Rainbow Cup in the Retro Grand Prix.
Star Cup
Win a Gold trophy in the Mushroom Cup and Flower Cup to unlock the Star Cup for that class.
Special Cup
Win a Gold trophy in the Star Cup to unlock the Special Cup for that class.
150cc Mirror Mode
Win all Gold trophies in all cups in the Retro Grand Prix 150cc class to unlock 150cc Mirror Mode.
Mission Mode mission 7
Get a 1 Star or greater rank on each level of missions 1 through 6 to unlock mission 7.
Bonus karts
Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Nitro Grand Prix in the 100cc class to unlock a third kart for all characters. Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Nitro Grand Prix in the 150cc class to unlock a total of seven karts for all characters. Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Retro Grand Prix in the 150cc Mirror Class to unlock all karts for all characters.
Play as Daisy
Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Nitro Grand Prix in the 50cc class to unlock Daisy.
Play as Dry Bones
Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Retro Grand Prix in the 50cc class to unlock Dry Bones.
Play as R.O.B.
Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Mirror Mode Nitro in the 150cc class to unlock R.O.B.
Play as Shy Guy
Play a Download Play game against another player to have the option to play as Shy Guy. Note: Shy Guy can only be used Download Play mode.
Play as Waluigi
Win a Gold trophy in all cups in the Retro Grand Prix in the 100cc class to unlock Waluigi.
Alternate ending sequence
Win all Gold trophies in all cups and classes to change the ending sequence.
Star next to name
Win all cups in all classes with a 1 Star or greater rank for a star to appear next to your name in Multiplayer mode and on the "Records" screen.
Development team ghost times
Successfully complete the indicated circuit with a time less than the target to unlock its development team ghost racer, with the corresponding best time:
Skip credits
Press Select + Start to skip the credits to the congratulations screen.
Quick start
During the initial countdown, hold down the gas (A) about a half of a second to a second after the number "2" appears to get a large boost when the race starts. You may have to practice to get the correct timing.
Extra boost while driving
Press R to hop while turning or when making a turn. While you are sliding, or immediately beforehand, keep pressing Left then Right (or vice versa) to acquire a blue flame behind your kart. Release it to get a slight boost. If you keep pressing Left then Right (or vice versa) some more while you have the blue flame, you will get a red/orange flame for an even better boost. You may or may not notice the blue flame when getting the red/orange flame.
Drafting
If you are in second place or worse, follow the opponent ahead of you very closely. You will see lines on the sides of your kart. Follow close for long enough, and a large air wave will appear in front of you. This will increase your car's top speed momentarily and allow you to push aside other karts, even if you are light. When the wave disappears, your speed will return to normal.
Higher jump
To jump higher when you are going over a jump, press R. This requires some practice and precise timing.
Save time with sandy pits
On any sandy pit on a curve that would normally slow you down, use a mushroom to cross over it.
Inflate balloons faster
Instead of holding Select, blow into the microphone. If you stop or go very slow in balloon battle, you can blow up your kart's balloons; however there is a limit on the top right. If you hold Select it will fill your balloon, but if you blow into the mic it works better. If you whistle into the mic it works even better.
Throw a banana peel forward
While throwing a banana peel, press Up.
Holding items behind you
While having a throwable item in your inventory, hold L or X to hold any throwable item behind you. This can protect you from oncoming opponent attacks from items that hit you from behind, such as red and green shells. You are also able to store another item in your inventory while holding your throwable item behind you.
Using the "?" boxes correctly
Use the following trick to help your chance of winning in almost all modes of play. When getting a "?" box, wait until you see another item box before planting it. If timed correctly, the "?" box that was laid down will be directly on top of where the original one was. If anyone tries to get it, they will not be able to tell it is a fake until they hit it.
Lighting bolt
On the DK Jungle Parkway, Royal Raceway, or Wario Stadium courses, use a lightning bolt just before someone reaches the jump. They should fall off the jump, costing them time. Do not use it when they are on the turbo pads because it will not affect them.
Shortcut in Bowser's Castle
When you get to the rotating floor, go around it all the way until you see the small entrance.
Shortcut in Delfino Square
Near the halfway point of the course, use a mushroom to cross the water and land on a dock. This is not easy, but saves a lot of time.
Shortcut in Sky Garden
When you get to the second green bridge, look to the left to see a cloud that goes across to the other track. Hop over it to get to it, then hop back off to avoid falling off. Note: This may require some practice.
Shortcut in Wario Stadium
This course is one of the longest in the game, but it has a shortcut that can cut a lot of time off your lap. It is possible to jump over the wall to the left of the starting line by using any one of the four small jumps there. Although you can make it over the wall without the assistance of any speed boosting item, a Mushroom or Mini-Turbo assist is helpful. Approach the wall at a high speed so that you are driving directly at it as you reach the peak of the small hill. Jump right before you hit the wall and you will fly over it. The timing requires some practice, but once you master it, it is not too difficult. It is also possible to jump back over the wall on the other side of the starting line, but the return jump is much more difficult and requires precise jump timing and aim.
Shortcut in Yoshi's Circuit
Just after the first two turns, go straight and you will see a gap in the wall. Hop over it to get ahead.
Shortcut in Yoshi's Valleys
This course is a tangle, as shown in the introductory map. However, there are a few shortcuts that will help you defeat just about anybody. Follow the course until you reach the maze part. Immediately go left and keep towards the left. The first shortcut is to stay left on the narrow part of the course. After doing that, you will hit a little checkered ledge, and see a large red and white sign on the left pointing to the right. This is the difficult part. Accelerate as fast as possible and stay to the far right. As soon as the rail on the left side ends, pull a hard left powerslide off the road. You will continue the powerslide onto the upcoming road after you land, and if done correctly, you will have shaved off at least ten seconds. This requires a lot of practice.
Retro mode courses
Banana Cup
Easy Staff Ghost wins
Learn to use SSMTS (Snaking); it will improve your time if done well enough, but it is difficult to master.
Snaking
Snaking is the art of getting boosts on straightaways by turbo sliding. First, get to one side of the track. Then, turbo slide to the other side of the track. Before you reach the other side of the track, begin holding the opposite direction. For example, if you were turbo sliding to the right, hold Left. Once you are turbo sliding roughly in a straight line, begin tapping Left and Right until gold sparks begin shooting from your tires. Then, stop turbo sliding. If done correctly, you will get a quick boost. You must be able to do all of this very quickly, or you will reach the end of the straightaway before you get the boost. Also, make sure you stop turbo sliding when the gold sparks shoot from your tires, and not blue ones.
Stealing balloons
When playing in Balloon Battle mode, you can steal balloons from another kart by getting a Speed-Up Mushroom from a mystery box and ramming another player. Note: You may only have up to three balloons at a time on your kart.
Placing traps
Always use your items strategically. Use them to block others and place them where players do not have enough time to react, such as in a turn or at the bottom of a hill.
Dodging turtle shells
To dodge red and green turtle shells, drop another item trap behind you just as it is about to hit you. To dodge blue turtle shells, turbo boost just before it lands. It will hover and spin above your head; this is when you boost. It is difficult to do, but works.
Character effects
Characters only affect weight. You can get a good idea of how much weight they add by their appearance. For example, Bowser is heavy while Dry Bones is light.
Recommended player and kart combination
Use R.O.B. and R.O.B. LGS. The heavy weight will help knock people off the track while their high speed will help you get past your opponents and gain the lead.
Upside down track
In Time Trials mode, choose any character and car, then select the Rainbow Road track. When you get to the part that is only boosts, crash into a wall and jump. It will appear as if the stage has flipped upside down. Note: If you jump on the first area filled with boosts, sometimes you will just fly off into space and the stage will not flip temporarily.
Shortcuts in Delfino Square
Near the halfway point of the course, use a mushroom to cross the water and land on a dock. This is not easy, but saves a lot of time. Additionally, after the track is on again after it splits, go over the bridge and follow the course as usual. Slightly before you make the right turn to go across the bridge, make a right turn to go in an alleyway and cut the corner and be ahead on the track slightly. It is recommended that this be done with mushrooms or some other speed boost item.
Shortcuts in Mario Circuit
In Mario Circuit 1, get two mushrooms. On the third turn there are two pipes. Use the mushrooms in the dirt part to save approximately five seconds. The second shortcut is in Desert Hills. In the part with the big "pyramid", there is a small gap. Use a mushrom to go through a good shortcut.
Shortcut in Waluigi Pinball
After you shoot up the slot at the beginning of the race, get a mushroom and wait until you see the first ramp on the track. When you are coming toward it, use the mushroom to ramp off and go over your opponents on the track. This can help you to get ahead a few places.
Shortcuts in Yoshi's Circuit
Just after the first two turns, go straight and you will see a gap in the wall. Hop over it to get ahead. Additionally, drive forward until you see the two cloud signs that read "Nintendo" in red. Right after you pass the second sign, you should see a hole in the wall. You may need to use a Mushroom or any other speed items to get across.
Enemy attacks
Look at your bottom screen to know if you are about to be attacked by an enemy (such as by a Green Shell). The following are the symbols for the various enemy attacks:
Mario Kart DS Unlockables
Leaf Cup ... Achieve gold on Shell Cup and Banana Cup
Lightning Cup ... Achieve gold on Leaf Cup
Star Cup ... Achieve gold on Mushroom Cup and Flower Cup
Special Cup ... Achieve gold on Star Cup
More Kart Choices ... Achieve gold on all courses in 100cc, 150cc, or 150cc (mirror) Nitro Grand Prix
150cc Mirror ... Achieve gold on 150cc Retro Class (all courses)
Daisy & Dry Bones ...Achieve gold on all courses 50cc Nitro Grand Prix
Waluigi ... Achieve gold on all courses 100cc Nitro Grand Prix
ROB64 ... Achieve gold on all courses 150cc (mirror) Nitro Grand Prix. Alec Ritter maintains beating just the Nitro cups unlocks ROB.
Final Mission ... Achieve one ranking on all courses for all missions one through six
Mario Kart DS Unlock Starry Names
To affix stars to your name in a wi-fi battle, just race all the grand prix races (including mirror tracks) and earn at least one star in the ranking. The number of stars earned during your grand prix career will be reflected in your wi-fi standing.
Mario Kart DS Unlockable: Alternate Ending Screen
You must complete all the classes with gold trophies on all cups, which includes mirror mode.
Mario Kart DS Hint: Blue Shell Block
First place racers can shoot a bomb backwards just before a blue shell hits to stop it from scoring a hit.
Mario Kart DS Hint: Burst Start
Hold A just after the two begins to disappear for an advantageous start.
Mario Kart DS Hint: Shroom Packing Time Trials
Any kart that has a full statistics meter in the items category will have 3 mushrooms in time trials.
Mario Kart DS Hint - Snaking/Drifting
Snaking will help you win races by a long shot. To snake is basically powerslide. Mastering snaking can be tricky. To powerslide, press R button while turning either way and shifting the D-Pad left and right at a medium speed until your sparks on your Kart turn red. It usually takes only four left/right/left/right/ motions to get a powerslide, depending on your speed. Once you master the speed of how you powerslide, you can start to snake.This will mostly help you get three star ranking on your Grand Prix races. You can also use this method online, which many users do. (Including myself) To snake, powerslide a certain direction. After that, either hop or turn sharply the other way and do another powerslide. Do this for most of the race, and depending on the track, you can win it easily rather than those that do not snake. Hope this helps anyone! I've taught this to many friends and now they are really good at Mario Kart DS, and it's fun to snake!
Mario Kart DS Hint - DK Pass and Yoshi Circuit
DK Pass ... When you see the ice to the right of you when you're racing, get ready. Near the end of the ice, to the left, there's a hill with some trees. Climb up the hill with a play that goes moderatley fast over snow and grass and all that (I usually use Dry Bones with his Standard DB), and on the very tip of the hill is an item box. Even if you're in first place, this item box will give you either 3 mushroom boosts or a star!
Yoshi Circuit ... Where the hand of Yoshi is you can see that there is grass leading to a pit of water. Because of that you'll have to drive around the 'hand'. Well, if you have Dry Bones Stanard Kart again, you can jump across the gaps. Drive in to the grass, and press the drifting button right when you're on the edge, and if you've done it right you should land on the other side of the track. Unlike the DK Pass cheat, this doesn't work with most karts. Try to find one that works! You casn also use mushroom boosts with any kart to go through.
Submitted by Dry Bones (cinnamoncookie)
Mario Kart DS Hint: Block Shells
To block red and green shells from scoring a hit on your vehicle, try to hold a banana peel, a red shell, or a green shell of your own behind your go-kart. This will block any shell from hitting you, so you can continue the race unhindered.
Mario Kart DS Hint: Last Place Item Trick
This is a strange maneuver but worthwhile to try. When you start any given race, allow yourself to fall into last place. Then, grab an item. Because of your last place status, the game will give you an exponentially higher probability of grabbing a great item (like a Star, Bullet Bill, et cetera). Then, work your way past the last place players until you’re in third or fourth place and use your good item to make your way towards first place.
|
|
