How to Get Good at Mario Kart DS - From Snail to Snake - Part #1: Tech

This is a professional and in-depth tutorial about all the techniques used to get fast times in Mario Kart DS.
It has been made not only to help people on getting a better understanding of how good players are able to play so well but also to encourage players on joining the competitive scene of the game by explaining how every time-saving technique is performed.

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Feel free to come back to this video whenever you want and to use the following timestamps to skip to the specific technique you're looking for:

0:00 - Intro

0:34 - Beginner Level
0:41 - Rocket Boost
1:45 - Drift
2:13 - Mini-Turbo
3:28 - Snaking

5:03 - Intermediate Level
5:20 - Double Hop
5:43 - Mono-MTs
6:08 - Respawn Boost
6:46 - Fast-Falling

7:21 - Advanced Level
7:31 - Kart Meta
8:32 - PRB
9:53 - PRB-Reset
10:19 - PRB Double Hop
10:51 - Spin Landing
11:55 - Neutral MTs

14:31 - Credits

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Music:
Intro: "Void - Dedication" from "AD:PIANO 3"
Rocket Boost: "xi - Finder Keepers" from "Parousia"
Drift-MT-Snaking: "void - Idealized Romance" from "AD:PIANO"
Intermediate Level: "cosMo@暴走P - NAJUTA" from "AD:PIANO VI Punishment"
Kart Meta & PRB: "Nardis - Brave" from "AD:PIANO VIVACE"
Spin Landings: "void - Sudden Romance" from "AD:PIANO II"
Neutral MTs: "void - Idealized Romance" from "AD:PIANO"

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Extended Credits:
Polish Subtitles: TowerMan
French Subtitles: EisFan L'officiel

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Useful Links:

Other Links:

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#MarioKart #MKDS #マリオカート

[pikalex]

The Part 2 of the "From Snail to Snake" tutorial series is finally out!
It covers all the steps of getting ranked alongside other players and where to find the worldwide rankings for Mario Kart DS!

[Sryloth]

mk8: hopping
mkw: ultra shortcuts and wheelies
mkds: snake drifting

[MachFiveFalcon]

I remember reading somewhere years ago how snaking "completely ruined" the fun of Mario Kart DS for casual players because you had to do it online to win. But I never played online back then, and it looks so fun to try now. I love high skill ceilings - it makes me appreciate the skills of the highest-level players even more. Thanks for putting all this expertise together! :D

[DerangedIntellectual]

never realized just how intricate a lil kids DS game from 2005 actually was! I played this back when I was a kid and now I’m in my late teens getting back into it for nostalgia. Reminds me of simpler times.

[mkdsabel]

No doubt this will be a good entry level gateway into our fantastic scene. Well put together video, guys!

[sharkgamz]

Mkds looks weirdly good in a higher quality

[GresSimJa]

Knew about a lot of tech, but wasn't too familiar with some things like fast falling. Great to have every single commonly used tech in one comprehensive and easy-to-navigate guide.

[df_br]

Man, we need a mod to make the MKDS Online better, it would be amazing, the time trials is already amazing, nice video bro!

[Puddings]

Amazing! So happy to have contributed to this project and finally see it released! Now everyone will know I am the voice of MKDS!

attention noobs, snackin iz chestin!

[CloudGer]

Very nostalgic video for me. I bought this game the day it was released as a kid, and played the heck out of it with my friends and on 'wifi connection'. It was the first game where I became really competitive (I had over 1k wins online). I think in '06, I once skipped a day of school to get a really satisfying time attack record in Sky Garden. My time was ~1:10 or so. Back then we didn't really have videos like this, and I wasn't in any community. I just played against other good players. As a hobby artist I also loved designing pixel icons for myself and my friends. If anyone remembers a Cloud Strife with a German flag - that was me. I vividly remember a guy having 'Italian God Racers' in his tag, and 4k wins, who I often got matched with and when I finally beat him once, I felt super achieved. Same for when I started consistently dodging blue shells with this drift and jump technique (don't ask me how that worked now though). You would learn about snaking easily by seeing other players, and there were tutorials online, but I didn't know terms for the other techniques you showed here, even though we figured out many by ourselves (you kinda got a feel for how to combine jumps and snakes over time). But if I had these resources back then, I'm sure it would have helped me a lot. I was just a 15 year old kid who loved winning races.
Now I'm in my 30s with a career and barely any time to play games, and trying this today would break my fingers (I remember the snaking pain haha), but I'm really happy to see a community that still loves this game! I wish you all the best.

[alicagank]

Man... MKDS is one of the fairest and best Mario Kart games out there. It rewards you good if you practice and learn new techniques. Awesome video, kudos!

[hyphenhoik]

Brilliant video, cant wait to do none of the tech

[Xanix_]

Mario Kart DS was my first game ever played and I still beat my time-trials records on it !
However, I recently had way more struggle to go faster, but with this video, I discovered some techniques (like Fast-Falling) that will definitly help me and I can't wait to apply them, thanks !
(I knew about the PRB, but I think the most difficult part is not to keep it, but to control the kart once you got it, really hard to do !)

[ShredderNAlt]

8:18 Even if I never end up playing MKDS, this video was worth it to learn that. For some reason as a kid I thought it meant how far you could throw an item.

[cyndll]

I haven't even played the game in 10 years at this point but it's crazy how I apparently intuitively figured out snaking and double hopping back then. If I hadn't stopped playing I would be really damn good now

[boop]

i always thought mario kart wii would be the most complex in the series.. but this is crazy

[sgonzalez_guitarra]

Thank you so much for making this video, I started playing mkds 2 weeks ago and the first thing I did was look for a tutorial that could teach all those weird techniques that mkds players use, but I couldn't find anything on youtube. Now it is a great relief for beginners like me to have a guide to this very difficult game, wish me luck and sorry if my english is not good.

[mattirachminov]

ive been on figure 8 circuit practice for 2 hours, gonna cry at how awesome people are for the hard work we do towards mastering the weirdest little things

[definitelynotsolidsnake]

12:38 I KNEW You would go there lmao i just had a feeling from that voice tone



In all seriousness this was a good video

[CaptainRillaboom]

Snaking is soooo satisfying in this game.