Diddy Kong Racing DS is basically Mario Kart’s wilder cousin—same chaotic energy, but with hovercrafts and planes thrown into the mix. You start off picking between Diddy, Krunch, or a handful of other weirdly charming characters, then blast through tracks that feel like someone dumped a jungle, a haunted castle, and a space station into a blender. The first race is pure chaos—banana peels everywhere, missiles flying, and that one jerk AI who always seems to steal your boost pads.

What surprised me was how much single-player stuff there is. Unlocking new tracks means beating these weird adventure mode challenges, like collecting silver coins mid-race or outrunning a rolling boulder (yes, really). The hovercraft controls take some getting used to—drifts like a shopping cart on ice—but once it clicks, pulling off tight turns feels stupidly satisfying. And if you’ve got friends with DSes, the local multiplayer still holds up for some properly messy races.

It’s not perfect—the rubberband AI can be brutal, and good luck finishing the final boss race without throwing your DS across the room. But there’s something about the janky charm that makes it way more fun than it has any right to be.