Mario Kart DS Hazards, Obstacles & Emblems

Every course obstacle in the game and where it appears, plus the emblem maker that lets you paint your own logo on your kart.

Hazards: 22
Courses with hazards: 18
Emblem size: 32 × 32 pixels

Hazards and obstacles

Angry Sun

From the second lap it swoops down and drops Fire Snakes onto the road.

Desert Hills

Bullet Bill

Fired from the airship’s cannon across the opening straight; a hit flips your kart.

Airship Fortress

Bumper

Pinball bumpers that bounce karts (and pinballs) away. Pink ones move in circles.

Waluigi Pinball

Burner

Jets of fire that drop from the ceiling or sweep sideways and set you alight.

Airship Fortress · Bowser Castle

Chain Chomp

Loose Chomps roll around Peach Gardens; a chained one lunges at karts on GCN Luigi Circuit.

Peach Gardens · GCN Luigi Circuit

Cheep Cheep

Fish that flop about in the shallows and spin out anyone who touches them.

Cheep Cheep Beach · SNES Koopa Beach 2

Fire Bar

Rotating bars of fireballs in Wario Stadium. Contact sets your kart on fire.

Wario Stadium

Firesnake

Bouncing flames dropped by the Angry Sun in Desert Hills.

Desert Hills

Flipper

The two pinball flippers before the finish of Waluigi Pinball; they spin you out.

Waluigi Pinball

Goomba

Walk across Mario Circuit. Hit one with a shell and it leaves a Mushroom.

Mario Circuit

Lava Bubble

Jump out of the lava on GBA Bowser Castle 2 and can knock you into it.

GBA Bowser Castle 2

Monty Mole

Pop out of the ground and leap into karts on Peach Gardens and N64 Moo Moo Farm.

Peach Gardens · N64 Moo Moo Farm

Pinball

Huge steel balls that roll down the pinball table in Waluigi Pinball.

Waluigi Pinball

Piranha Plant

Snap at karts on Mario Circuit, SNES Choco Island 2 and GCN Yoshi Circuit.

Mario Circuit · SNES Choco Island 2 · GCN Yoshi Circuit

Pokey

Cactus stacks that sway across the road in Desert Hills.

Desert Hills

Rocky Wrench

Pop out of hatches on the airship deck; driving over a hatch bounces you.

Airship Fortress

Sidestepper

Crabs on the sand of Cheep Cheep Beach that spin you out.

Cheep Cheep Beach

Snowman

Solid snowmen on DK Pass and N64 Frappe Snowland that send you flying.

DK Pass · N64 Frappe Snowland

Swoop

Bats that swarm through the building on N64 Banshee Boardwalk and slow you down.

N64 Banshee Boardwalk

Thwomp

Stone blocks that slam down (or slide sideways) in Bowser’s castles.

Bowser Castle · GBA Bowser Castle 2

Venus Fire Trap

Spits fireballs from pipes on Mario Circuit.

Mario Circuit

Walking Tree

Trees that wander across the road outside Luigi’s Mansion.

Luigi's Mansion

Emblems

Mario Kart DS emblem maker — Drawing Mario in the emblem maker

Open Options, then Edit, to change your nickname and draw an emblem with the stylus.
Your emblem can be shown on the side of your kart.
It also appears next to your name in multiplayer and online races.
Erase Data in the same menu wipes the whole save, so be careful.

The finished emblem.

FAQ

What hazards are in Mario Kart DS?

22 kinds, including Angry Sun, Bullet Bill, Bumper, Burner, Chain Chomp, Cheep Cheep and more.

How do you make a custom emblem?

Go to Options, then Edit, and draw on the emblem grid with the stylus. You can show it on your kart.

Which course has the most hazards?

Four courses tie with three kinds each: Desert Hills (Angry Sun, Fire Snakes, Pokeys), Mario Circuit (Goombas, Piranha Plants, Venus Fire Traps), Waluigi Pinball (bumpers, flippers, pinballs) and Airship Fortress (Bullet Bills, burners, Rocky Wrenches).

Sources & picture credits

Guide text is original retrogameindex writing, checked against the Super Mario Wiki and the Mario Kart Racing Wiki. Kart statistics, staff ghost times and item odds are the values from the game data as transcribed by the Super Mario Wiki. Screenshots, renders and artwork © Nintendo; local copies archived from Super Mario Wiki file pages (listed on the image gallery).