There are 23 playable characters in Itadaki Street DS (if the male and female avatars are counted as one character): Eleven from the Mario series and eleven from the Dragon Quest series. Players are also able to create and customize their own characters that can be played as. Although only four of the characters from both series are playable to begin with, the others can be unlocked by playing through the Tour Mode of the game. Additionally, there are also three Support/Guest characters that players can summon with the help of a card, but are not playable.