Introduction
I must admit that I haven't had the chance to play online more than once or twice, so forgive me if my familiarity with this subject seems somewhat limited. I imagine that besides the people who are having trouble connecting, most of the information they would be looking for is already found elsewhere in the guide. The guide currently offers tips and shortcuts for each race, and online play is nothing more than racing the game's normal tracks against other players around the world (including your friends of course.) There are a total of 20 tracks you can play when going online. I'll outline the basics of how to get connected, and like I said, when it comes to actual tips for playing the courses online, it's all found elsewhere in this guide.Getting Connected
In order to play online you must meet one of the following three conditions. You must either have a compatible wireless router connected to the internet in your home or office. If not then you must have the official Nintendo Wifi USB connector thing which can be ordered online from Nintendo's website. If this isn't an option then you can drive to one of the many wireless "Hotspots" in both Canada and the United States and get online from there.For those taking the router route, here is a list of compatible routers (as it says on the site, not every router is listed here. If yours isn't then there's still a good chance it works, they just haven't tested it yet.)
Nintendo Wifi Router Setup
If you're going the Hotspot route, here a list of hotspots:
Nintendo Wifi Hotspots
Playing Online
There are two primary ways to play online, you can either search for players randomly, or search for your friends. To search for anyone to play against simply choose Nintendo WFC Match and select something like Regional, or Worldwide. The rest happens automatically from there. If you want to play against your friends then you'll have to enter their "Friend Code." Select Friend Code and enter their Friend Code there. You can see your own in "Confirm Friend Code" and then give that to people yourself. Once you have entered a Friend Code, and that person has entered yours they will be officially added to your list and you will be able to play online against them in an online match. If you want to play multiplayer against someone in the same room as you, just go to Multiplayer, you need not be online.Read Before you Play Online
This is the typical "etiquette" section that everyone should read since most of it relates specifically to Mariokart DS. First of all you have to remember that "Snaking" as I described it earlier is a common technique to encounter online, and if you don't like it there's absolutely NOTHING you can do about it. Well that's not quite correct. You can learn to Snake, you can win the match anyway through normal racing techniques and skillful item use, or you can just... not even think about it. Remember that a hell of a lot of people on there still don't bother with Snaking. If it really offends you then simply wait till the match is over, and go find another game.This brings us right into our next point, and the number one problem with Mariokart DS online. It's not Snaking, it's disconnecting. I'm talking about people who disconnect in the middle of a race when they realize they aren't going to win so that they can maintain a better win/loss ratio. I don't even know what to say to this besides suck it up. The win/loss thing isn't a big deal at all, it doesn't matter what your ratio is, if you kick someone's ass in a race it'll be just as good either way. Don't disconnect until the race is over. I realize, and so do most, that some people's routers are perfect and will disconnect periodically. Just avoid doing it intentionally.
That about covers it. There's even more stuff you can read if you check out REX ROMANI's sticky topic on the GameFAQs Mariokart DS message board, linked here. IGN Hopefully it's still there when you read this, but if not, at least the basics have been covered. You should have no trouble getting online and having fun.
