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System:
Gamecube
Genre:
Racing
ESRB Rating:
Everyone
Release Date:
1- 2003
Racing
ESRB Rating:
Everyone
Release Date:
1- 2003
Publisher:
Nintendo
Developer:
Nintendo
Nintendo
Developer:
Nintendo
MarioMaster
Published:9- 2005
User Views: 855
User Replies: 0
Ah yes, the Mario spin-offs—don’t we all just love them? Mario has taken hold of tennis rackets, golf clubs, basketballs, baseball bats, and soon to be soccer balls, but that is subject to another article. Here we are talking about the Mario with the need for speed—Yes, the Mario with a steering wheel under his belt.
Ah yes, the Mario spin-offs—don’t we all just love them? Mario has taken hold of tennis rackets, golf clubs, basketballs, baseball bats, and soon to be soccer balls, but that is subject to another article. Here we are talking about the Mario with the need for speed—Yes, the Mario with a steering wheel under his belt. To date, the Mario Kart series is the best selling and most popular offshoot of the Mario series, and the latest incarnation is something to reinforce that position.
In numerous successful endeavors over the years, Mario has taken many of his friends to the top with him; that includes Toad, Koopa, Yoshi, Daisy and even Bowser. Now that he enters the ‘Cube, hes going to need a whole nother batch, so in come Baby Bowser, Toadette, Petey Piranha, Paratroopa, King Boo and, of course, the possible pink decedent of Yoshi, Birdo. (Did you know? It’s actually a guy). With the addition to the list of characters comes the upgrade to the karts, and this time they'll be driving two-seaters. That’s right; Nintendo didn’t put two exclamation marks and the word “double” in the title for nothing. Now you’ll be able to race with two of your favorite characters.
Each character has his or her own original kart creation, a special item exclusive to his or her use and a class. The class division is based on weight, with anorectic koopas comprising the lightweight division; heavy-set (to say the very least) characters like Bowser rounding out the heavyweight class and medium-weight characters such as the Mario Bros. occupying the space in between—it’s a perfect system, to an extent. It’s up to you which combination to choose, but be careful: separating pairs like Toad and Toadette will leave you with interesting opposing combinations, including the fire-breathing koopa baddies leader Bowser and the short, plump girl next door, Toadette. Besides from that, the characters you choose will also affect the variety of karts you'll get to choose from.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is one of the best—possibly the best—multi-player games released for the GameCube thus far. One word can describe Double Dash: intense. Whether you fall off the bridge on the last lap or Petey’s head blocks a stray, lethal green shell out of view, slowing you down on the final stretch before the finish line, if it’s close to the end, there'll be a photo finish, guaranteed. That’s what makes the game so great: that feeling you get when you burst off the start, every kart bumping into each other for first place before entering Donkey Kong Mountain’s barrel. It just gets you pumped up, especially when there is more than one person in the room. But at the same time, the game can get into your head and frustrate you. Have you ever slipped on your own banana peel, been stepped on by a dinosaur, run over by a chain chomp, missed your third item in a row on the course or perhaps encountered a wild streak of green shells for your picked-up items that lasted two laps? (Don’t look at me that way; it's happened to me) Yes, it will all happen to you at the least fortunate times, but even when things like those occur, you can’t help but straighten up a little bit and widen your eyes.
And you can enjoy this intense game using four different modes of play. The Mario spin-offs have been known to have some somewhat pointless unlockables such as additional difficulty levels, alternate title screens (included in MK: DD), etc. Well, the modes are what you’ll be unlocking this time around. The Grand Prix mode is equipped with the Mushroom Cup and the unlockable Flower, Star, and Special cups, as well as the all-cup tour, which combines all four. And with the cups come the levels of difficulty, which are separated into the 50cc, 100cc, 150cc kart classes and mirror mode, where they've used some sort of Kamek's magic to switch the course around. Also, you must experience the mini-games, of course, so why not add a scoop of battle mode to the mix? Battle mode has three different types of games: balloon battle, where you shoot items at opponents until their three balloons are gone; Shine thief, in which you must grab hold of a Shine and hold onto it for dear life; and Bob-omb Blast, where the player collects bob-ombs, all the while being careful not to get hit with opposing ones. And, of course, the usual versus mode, which enables three- and four-player action that isn’t available in Grand Prix mode; and Time Trials are included as well, the latter of which allows you to race your own ghost to get high scores on single tracks. If you’re really good, you’ll unlock the ghosts from Nintendo of America employees. This may seem like a game with a lot of depth with all these modes, but you can't help but hope there is more to the game then this. Some more mini-games and courses would've been nice.
Now, you are likely familiar with all of the items that the previous Mario Kart installments had. Yeah, I’m talking about the tasty mushroom, the homing red shell, the drifting green shell, those annoying banana peels and the wretched lightning bolt. Well, yes, they’re all featured in this game since you’re probably wondering, but that’s beside the point. Remember Dry Dry Desert, the Paper Mario town full of thieves? It’s a course in this game, but that, too, is beside the point. It’s time for you to become a master thief like them. Whenever you’re cruising through one of the various tracks and catch up really close to your pink and green dinosaur buddies, give ‘em a good whack with your throwing character, the item-user on the back of the kart. If your character is bigger, he’ll send them flying, and you might gain a spare mushroom that your friend had not used—and won’t be using in the future. Also, if you pummel opposing karts using a mushroom or an invincibility star power-up, it will have a similar effect on them and earn you the items they had been carrying. There are countless little things like that Nintendo has bunched into Double Dash’s game-play, and that’s what makes the game so great.
To be honest here, the audio qualities of MK: DD aren’t the greatest of all. Sometimes all that is needed to set you off after a bad race is that repetitive whistling signaling that you suck. But it’s not all that bad, there is a list of about ten songs featured in the game’s soundtrack, all action packed to fit every course. Also, the voice acting is great and matches every character. From Mario’s “I’m-a gonna win” at the end of the race after being hit by Bowser's giant spiked shell, to the strange grunt Birdo makes when you pick him to be your character, it’s all great. Also, the sound effects the items make are notably sound. When a lightning bolt hits, you’ll be sure to hear it; and when you use a mushroom, you’ll definitely hear your engine roar.
Moving on to graphics, the game just gets better. Although the characters are two-faced (And I mean it—losing face, winning face), the only time you see it is when your character does a victory lap or a lap of shame while you’re checking out the scores. But, the karts are beautifully designed and fit the distinct images of the specific characters they are designed for perfectly. The courses make you feel like you’re in the game, from the jungle trees in Dino Dino Jungle to the Piranha plants waiting to chomp you up on the sidelines of many of the other courses. Everything seems to be moving and animated perfectly, even the trees if you’re that picky. And when your character goes to drift—yeah, it’s not just on the box art—you’ll see sparks. Well, it’s not the most realistic game, but it’s the best approach Nintendo can take with the characters it concerns.
The depth of this game is what’s really incredible, but at the same time not. It’ll have you coming back time after time, craving after craving even after finishing it. The difficulty is matched perfectly for a one- or two-rental completion, but it doesn’t matter. One day you’ll just have the craving to smash somebody off Rainbow Road with a shell or maybe stack up five or six banana peels on Donkey Kong Jungle’s bridge. It’s one of the only multiplayer-based games that I’ll play alone, and that’s saying something. If you want you can even set up the LAN if you have a broadband adapter and play with eight people on two different televisions, which is sure to be one of the most fun gaming experiences anyone could have. But on the other hand, as mentioned above the list of modes is small and will be overused quickly. If you haven’t already bought this game, I highly suggest doing so. It’s a classic in the making, especially for hardcore Mario fans. I know, it’s been at $49.99 since its 2003 release, but that should make you want to buy it more. Don’t wait for a price drop; I don’t see one coming soon.
| Depth |
8.5
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| Although there is no story mode, the perfectly designed difficulty makes it challenging for a master to beat the highest mode; that’s what keeps gamers coming back to it. |
| Gameplay |
9.3
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| Intense and incredible to say the least, it definitely matches the classics and adds to them, making itself a classic. |
| Graphics |
8.8
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| It’s no Final Fantasy, but everything is beautifully put together and portrays the Mushroom Kingdom to the fullest. From the karts to the courses to the characters, it’s nothing to complain about. |
| Replay Value |
0
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| Sound |
8.3
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| Some of the songs may be a little annoying, and the sound effects made a tiny bit bland, but the majority of this section is very well done, especially the voices. |
| Overall |
9
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| Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a definite classic in the making. Wait a few years; this will be one game to remember. Any gamer would say it’s in the top two racing games. |
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