10 Best No.5's In Gaming History
8. Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart DS had a lot riding on it.
The Mario Kart series needed a hit to wash the taste of 2003's Double Dash out of gamers' mouths, and the Nintendo DS - now one year into its lifespan - was still looking for a killer app to lure gamers away from Sony's PSP.
Nintendo needed nothing less than the best Mario Kart it had ever made, and fortunately, that's exactly what happened.
Mario Kart DS was an unqualified triumph. Stripping away the gimmickry of the previous game, Nintendo produced the best distillation of the Mario Kart formula since the series' inception in 1992. The Grand Prix mode was stuffed with tracks that still hold up among the series' best nearly 20 years later (there's a reason Nintendo fans went ape over Waluigi Pinball's comeback in Mario Kart 8), and some of MKDS' innovations - like retro tracks and online play - have since become series standards.
Mario Kart DS was the perfect game at the perfect time, and although it may have been outpaced by Mario Kart 8, it still holds up as one of the best karting games ever made.