I did not get on well with Mario Kart DS. As a game, it's solid, but its controls are horrific - they were clearly designed by a crustacean.
For those unfamiliar with it, MKDS uses B for brake, and A for accelerate (these buttons are placed diagonally at the far edge of the console), and is designed very much around drifting and a trick called "snaking" (the button for this is the right shoulder button, just above the aforementioned action buttons), without which you will not get very far. This requires you to hold your hand in an utterly bizarre "crab claw" fashion in order to play, and this is enormously painful for me. Moreover, it cannot be remapped. The handling is also VERY stiff compared to all other installments, no matter what character or kart you use, and I didn't like this about it, either. It's just not for me.
This said, my vote goes to Mario Kart 7 - I've had more fun out of this one than any other Mario Kart game (though Mario Kart Wii comes very close - I've logged a downright terrifying amount of hours on that over the years :lol: ), and very much appreciate how the controls were fixed up so that I can actually play it at all. It's unfortunately still missing a remapping option, but the fixed controls are pretty much what I would have gone with anyway, so this is not an issue for me, personally. I like the handling, I really like the kart-customising options (they're somewhat reminiscent of those in the criminally-overlooked Mega Man Battle & Chase, although MK7's aren't quite as deep), I love the courses, and I've gotten on well with the online play (although this has never been especially important to me - this is why I missed the period when exploits were being used online; I've only played online two or three times in total - twice shortly after release, and once a couple of weeks ago). My only real gripe is that Diddy Kong is missing, so I just play as my Mii, or as Luigi.

So, yes, Mario Kart 7 for me.
