I grew up on 64, but 8 Deluxe is incredible. Great variety of courses and karts, great mechanics.

Mario Kart DS

I did play a lot of 64 and Double Dash back in the day but DS is by far my favourite.

64

Wii. The driving always felt perfect in that game, the other games don't control as well in my opinion. 8 Deluxe feels like a letdown with its lack of unlockable characters and karts which I felt was one of the most fun parts about Wii.

MK8D would be perfect if only battle mode wasn't such a mess. If they could just take MK64 battle mode and implement it exactly as is in MK8D, it would be perfection.

My brain says 8dx, wii and DD are all good enough that I don't think I could pick between them. My heart says OG is the GOAT because it's what I played the most and I still think it has the best battle mode.

I grew up on Double Dash, but MK8D offers so much choice and variety that nothing else comes close - at least for pick-up-and-play casual games.

64 for nostalgia, 8dx for map selection/visuals/characters

Mechanically I like 64. I'd like a few more tracks, particularly for the battle mode. The later versions add far too much cruft for my tastes.

Gotta be Wii for me for the reasons you suggested. Great atmosphere and level design

But something about playing long, grinding balloon battles on DS with 7 other people on the school bus will always stick with me

MK7 has been my favorite, especially with the CTGP-7 mod.

DD is responsible for Baby Park, and the amount of mayhem that has gone down on that track is ridiculous.