Platform: GameCube

Developer: Nintendo EAD

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: November 17th, 2003

Genre: Racing

Nerd Rating: 9.5 out of 10! 

I suppose I shall get the biggest “gimmick” or change out first, each vehicle now fits two characters. This feature allows for players to create tactic-based “teams,” due to each character having certain stats and benefits. One example of these “stats and benefits” would be Bowser, who, since he’s large, can drive the heavier karts. The heavier karts are able to push smaller ones out of their way as well as steal their items. Bowser also has a special item which is a super large spiked shell. Should you choose to try to master each combination of characters and karts, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has seemingly endless replayability. 

The double-character kart obviously carries into multiplayer as well, allowing two players to team up in one kart. This tactic offers the ability for the rear player to attack the kart next to him in order to make them drop their item and lose control, and it also allows a bigger starting boost if both players press A at the appropriate time. Most of the time, I end up opting to play solo against my friends instead, due to the benefits of co-op being slim. I should mention that it is possible to switch who is driving and who is throwing items by clicking “z” simultaneously.

One thing that Mario Kart: Double Dash!! does superbly is adding new things to the series. Due to the fact that all karts have to fit two people in this game, almost every single kart is brand new to the series, and some of them are really interesting. Even while newer games allow you to mix-and-match karts with wheels and what not, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has my favorite karts in the series.

Most of the tracks included in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! are also brand new to the series, and the ones that aren’t have been upgraded. There’s very few tracks that I downright dislike in this title, and I find most of them to be awesome additions to the series. In case you were wondering, my favorite new tracks are Daisy Cruiser, and Mushroom Bridge, both part of the Flower Cup.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! also adds some more fun to the battle mode by offering two new ways to play it – Shine Thief and Bob-omb Blast! Shine Thief is a competition to hold a “shine” from Super Mario Sunshine until the end. The shine can be stolen by you whenever someone hits you with an item, uses a mushroom to ram into you, or attacks you from the side. Bob-omb blast, which is probably the most fun in my opinion, is much like the normal balloon battle but with stars in place of balloons and only explosions as items.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has a total of 20 characters, 11 of which are new to the series, and one of which is new to the Mario franchise all together; Toadette! You start out with 16 characters, or 9 groups, and you must unlock the final two groups. You also start out with 8 karts out of a total of 21. Out of 16 racing tracks, you start out with 12, and finally, you begin with 4 out of 6 of the battle tracks. All of this leaves quite a bit to unlock.

Graphically, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has aged extremely well, giving even Mario Kart Wii a run for its money. The frame rate held up excellent, and I have not run into any bugs of any sort in my gameplay. Furthermore, the soundtrack is very nice and I wouldn’t mind it being on my personal iPod one bit.

My only problem with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is the fact that you can only play battle mode with another human, as AIs have been disabled for it. While this is not so much a problem for me since I have kids in my family, it could prove to be quite disappointing for a player who doesn’t have someone to enjoy the game with. This is truly the only downside I have noticed while playing the past few weeks, and as such, I highly recommend this title to fans of the series or genre. Having played every Mario Kart released in America on a console with the exception of Super Mario Kart, I can honestly state that Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is my favorite game in the entire series.

I thought this looked awesome.