How's it clever? You even state compared to a HANDHELD version it wasn't was full.
Sorry, yea. How silly of me to talk about handheld games that actually put effort in rather than silly little ports oh, and the games being released 3 years apart. using the same style of thinking one could say the same about Pokemon XD on the Cube in comparison to Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. I must remind myself you don't play DS... Handheld isn't a disability.
Fact is - Mario Kart Double Dash is the 2nd largest Mario Kart game to date. And arguably the deepest, what with character combinations adding a level of strategy.