16 Best Nintendo DS Racing Games

Activision released Monster Jam on November 13, 2007, as the third game based on the monster truck tour. At the real shows, the racing part is a heads-up tournament where the first truck to cross the finish line moves on to the next round,. A sequel, Monster Jam: Urban Assault, followed on October 28, 2008.

It is a simple game, and players like it for exactly that reason. One summed up the appeal as "smashing pixelated cars with big pixelated trucks", which is about as honest as a review gets.

Undercover came out across a pile of systems in 2008 and got mixed reviews, many of which criticized the game's difficulty and story. The DS version kept the police. For the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii editions, players can also drive police vehicles once they unlock them in the main mode. Maggie Q played the villain, Chase Linh, in the full story.

On the DS it is a solid street racer with cop chases. A small group of players still name it when someone asks for a DS racing game, and it tends to sit right next to the other Need for Speed games on their lists.

Race-O-Rama is the sequel to Cars Mater-National Championship. Lightning McQueen races through a new series while his old rival Chick Hicks uses a gang of students to learn how to beat him. The main version was made by Incinerator Studios for the bigger consoles, so the DS got its own smaller take. It was the last Disney/Pixar video game published by THQ.

It is a kids' racer, and it never pretends to be anything else. That is also why it works. The handful of players who name it are oddly fond of it. If you want a gentle racer for a younger player, this is a safe bet.

Nitro was the arcade Need for Speed. During a race you earn "style points" for powerslides and drafting, and your nitro recharges over time. The "Own it" feature marks who is in front, with extra style points for staying in first place. It is a cartoonish, fast game that suits a small screen better than the realistic entries.

An enhanced edition, Need for Speed: Nitro-X, came out on DSiWare on November 26, 2010. Players who name Nitro tend to recommend it outright. It is the one to pick if the other Need for Speed games feel too serious.

Own the City was the handheld version of Carbon, built around your crew. Your wingmen come in classes: Blockers and Drafters work like the console game's wingmen, and Assassins can take out several rivals at once with deployable spike strips. Police pursuits can happen, but only in free roam, so the cops never ruin a race. It was also the final Need for Speed released for the Game Boy Advance.

Players who grew up with a DS name it as one of their favourites, often beside Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing. The crew system gives it more personality than most handheld street racers, and that is what people remember.

DiRT 2 was the first game in the series since Colin McRae died in 2007, and the last to carry his name. It was also the last game in the series on handhelds. On the console versions, rallycross races take you from London to Los Angeles.

Players credit Firebrand Games for this one. The same studio made TrackMania DS, and they talk about DiRT 2 as one of the unusual ports that should not have fit on a DS cartridge. If you like rally driving and want something that feels more like a real car than a kart, this is the one.

Underground 2 is the direct sequel to Need for Speed: Underground, and the big versions sold around 11 million copies. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions were developed by Pocketeers. The DS port has its own trick: you can design custom decals and put them on any car in the game. That was a great toy for anyone who spent more time in the garage than on the road.

Players often name it in the same breath as Ridge Racer DS, and the two make a good pair of early DS street and arcade racers.

ProStreet moved Need for Speed off the open streets and onto race tracks, many of them real places like Portland International Raceway. It was the first game in the series built mainly for high-definition consoles, and the portable versions for mobile phones, the DS and the PSP were released to varying success. Drifting earns you cash, which you spend on upgrading your car or buying a new one.

The DS version is one of the better ones. Players who love cars put it near the top of their DS lists. If you care about tuning a car, start here.

In Monster Racers you travel the world looking for monster breeds to train and race. You take a test to get your racing license, then compete in tournaments held on each of the seven continents. In the wild you race monsters yourself to defeat or befriend them, and with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection you could join up to three other trainers in tournaments. It is a spiritual sequel to Monstar Race, which started on the Game Boy in 1998.

Critics praised the gameplay and graphics, but disliked its lack of originality. GameSpot rated it 7.5/10, calling it addictive but unoriginal. Players describe it as Pokémon with races in place of battles, and they love it for that. It is very easy to miss on a shelf.

The Nintendo versions of Speed Racer came out on May 6, 2008. Winning first place is only part of the goal: you also need the most points by the end of the cup. You get bonus points for "car-fu" on your rivals or for destroying their car outright. The soundtrack, composed by Winifred Phillips, received positive reviews.

Movie games usually end up in the bargain bin for a reason. This one surprised people. Players call it strangely fun and impressive for the hardware.

Urban GT 2 is a sequel to Asphalt: Urban GT and the second major title in the Asphalt series. The Nintendo DS version came out a year after the N-Gage one, with improved graphics, sound and dual screen support. It also features The Pussycat Dolls and a sample of Moby's "Lift Me Up", which reviewers called a "marketing gimmick". The DS version scored 65% on GameRankings and Metacritic, far better than the PSP one.

GameSpot praised its licensed cars and upgrades but noted the poor AI. Players keep it on their favourite DS lists anyway, Pussycat Dolls and all.

Ridge Racer DS is a remake of Ridge Racer 64, and it arrived in the DS's first year. Critics were not kind about the controls. GamePro said of the DS version, "with a frustrating control scheme, Ridge Racer only stays in low gear."

Players disagree with that. They still recommend it when someone asks for a DS racer, and it shows up next to Need for Speed: Underground 2 again and again. It is the purest arcade racer on this list.

All-Stars Racing came out on Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Windows, and it puts characters from all over Sega's history into karts. The soundtrack mixes old and new tracks from the Sonic and Sega franchises with original songs, some by Richard Jacques. The game received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Players pitch it as the other kart racer on the DS, the one to get when you have played Mario Kart DS to death. It is also the best way to see Sega mascots race each other on a handheld.

TrackMania DS was developed by Firebrand Games and released by Focus Home Interactive in Europe on November 14, 2008, then by Atlus USA on March 17, 2009. It is part racer, part puzzle game. Only three of the PC version's seven environments made it to the DS, Stadium among them. It received generally favorable reviews.

Players call it fast and oddly satisfying, and they also warn that it is hard. They often name it together with TrackMania Turbo, the second DS TrackMania, as one pair. If you like shaving seconds off a lap more than beating other cars, this is the best racer on the DS.

Diddy Kong Racing DS is an enhanced remake of the Nintendo 64 game, released worldwide in early 2007. It is the most recent Nintendo-published game developed by Rare. The story is the same: a bloated space pig called Wizpig has taken over Diddy Kong's island, and you drive, hover and fly your way across it to stop him. The original sold 4.8 million copies and was the Nintendo 64's eighth best-selling game.

Players call the DS version a solid remake, though most of them still prefer the N64 original. Nothing else in this genre on the DS plays like it.

Mario Kart DS came out in November 2005 in North America, Europe and Australia. It has 16 new tracks and 16 tracks from the previous four games, split into the Nitro and Retro Grand Prix. New items include a Blooper that squirts ink onto the other players' screens and a Bullet Bill that turns you into a fast-travelling bullet on autopilot. It runs at a consistent 60 frames per second, and it was the first Mario Kart you could play online, through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

It won Editors' Choice Awards from GameSpot and IGN and sold 23.6 million copies, the third-best-selling DS game. Some reviewers grumbled about the rubberband AI. Players still recommend it far more than any other DS racer.