Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

"The best Mario Kart game yet!"

There are some video game franchises that can do no wrong and are completely bullet proof. Examples of these series are the Metroid series, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, and the Super Mario Kart series. Every single game in this series has been praised by the video game industry and has been top-sellers. Nintendo has made a Mario Kart game for almost every Nintendo console. Now, the Gamecube has come out. And now it is time to release another (yes you guessed it!) Super Mario Kart game! And like most Super Mario Kart games, this one blew me away! The graphics are incredible, The courses are awesome, and the characters look great. Mario Kart: Double Dash is another home run by Nintendo and is a must for anyone who owns a Gamecube.

Gameplay: 10/10
The gameplay in Double Dash and every other Mario Kart game ever made is the most important part of the game experience. The courses, the items, and the great characters are what have made the Super Mario Kart series the legendary series it is today. I love the courses in this game! They are all very fun and very different from each other. There are a lot of cool shortcuts and secrets in some tracks much like most Mario Kart games. My personal favorite course is Donkey Kong Island in the Star Cup. In this course you race up a mountain and then you fired out of a cannon to an island and race down a steep decline! It is really cool. But, I thought that there could have been more courses. In every single game there are 4 cups with 4 tracks. We have Gamecube now! Can't we have at least 5 or six tracks in each cup? I mean come on! Well, at least the multiplayer is still very good. Every single Mario Kart game has something that we can all rely on: awesome multiplayer. In Double Dash, you can play the classic modes like versus race or balloon battle. But in this one, there are two new modes: Shine Thief and Bob-Omb Blast. Shine Theif is kind of like “Kick the Kid with One Shoe” or “Capture the Flag”. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I do know that it is really fun. What you have to do is find the shine sprite and keep until time runs out while the other players are trying to hit you with items so they can steal the shine sprite for themselves! In Bob-Omb Blast you have a meter with three or four stars in it. What you have to do is use bombs to blast your enemies. When you hit an enemy one star is filled. But when you get hit, a star is taken away from you and you have to try to get the stars back. The multtiplayer in this game is so good it shines. The battle arenas are pretty cool. In one of them you fight on top of a giant Gamecube. There were some flaws though with the battle arenas though. This is Gamecube right? Then why can't there be more battle arenas? And why are they so small? Well, besides that, the multiplayer is still solid and promises hours of fun. There are more gameplay modes also. You can also do the time trial mode which is featured in every Mario Kart game. This is a mode in which you are timed in how long it takes you for you to complete a course. This mode is for the type of gamer who likes to make and break records. There are also a few new characters that you can use like Waluigi, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, and Baby Bowser. But, where is Shyguy? That doesn't really matter, there are still lots of cool characters. Also the characters get their own cars instead of these default karts. For example, Donkey Kong rides in a large kart that looks as if it was made from a tree stump and Baby Mario rides in his own little stroller. I liked the idea of custom cars for the characters. But the thing that really separates Double Dash from the rest of the Mario Kart series is the new co-op mode. You can choose two characters and have them on one car. One person can be driving and another can be handling using the weapons and even steal items from other racers if they are lucky. This makes playing a cup in co-op mode with a friend really fun. Overall, the gameplay in Mario Kart: Double Dash is simply stunning. This is one of those games where you just start to have fun once you start playing it.

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics were probably the feature that blew me away the most in Double Dash. I loved the way the courses looked. They all looked very different and lively. The attention to detail on some courses like Waluigi Stadium, Wario Coliseum and Rainbow Road are insane! In Waluigi Stadium you races others in a dirt course filled with jumps, rings of fire, and giant piranha plants. Wario Coliseum is a cage/ball that you race in. And Rainbow Road is a large rainbow-colored road in some kind of dream world. In all of these the graphics are flashy, vibrant, and very detailed. Also, the characters in this game look very well done. They look shiny and detailed. You have Bowser with his shell covered with giant spikes and Mario with his hat and signature mustache. The graphics are so good; they even made the menu screen look really good, which is really cool because most games have these still, and lifeless menu screens. But the menu screens in Double Dash positively shine! These are some of the best graphics on the Gamecube! The people at Nintendo truly outdid themselves in this great game!

Control: 10/10
This game controls like a dream! They are so simple; anyone can figure them out! I don't think that there has ever been a Mario Kart game with bad or complicated control. Which is good, because there have been tons of racing “sims” that try to make the experience as close to the real thing as possible by making the car difficult to steer. Since Mario Kart 64, there have been three Gran Turismo games along with tons of racing “sims”. Still, Mario Kart has kept their simple control style that we all love. It is very easy to switch characters and use weapons. You will have the controls down before the first lap is over.

Sound: 10/10
The sound in this game is incredible! I love the music in this game! The sound effects in Double Dash are also incredible! The music for Double Dash perfectly suites each course and are very catchy. You will be humming along with the music in only a matter of time. The sound effects are really cool too. Bowser's evil growl, Mario's laugh, and I love the chain chomp's wild bark. The Mario Kart series has always had great tunes and this is no different. The sound quality in Double Dash is awesome!

Replay Value: 10/10
There is a lot of replay value in Double Dash. Probably the main reason is because the game is so fun; it keeps you coming back for more! There aren't a whole lot of extra courses (that is if you count the Special Cup), not many new characters to activate or any new play modes. The main reason that the replay value is high in this game is because it is so fun! The fun courses, characters, and weapons make this one the most fun game out there!

Game Length: 6/10
This is the Achilles' heal of the game. The Gamecube is a very advanced system, and can handle a lot; and yet there aren't lots of things to do before you will be done with the game. Like I said, there are only 4 cups with 4 tracks and there are no new tracks to unlock unless you count the special cup as a secret cup. It would be cool if there was a career mode like in Gran Turismo filled with tons of new tracks that you can unlock. But game length doesn't really matter that much if the replay value is so high. So, you probably won't care very much because you will find yourself playing the courses over and over again.

Overall, I think that Super Mario Kart: Double Dash is one of the most fun games on the Gamecube. The graphics are so good they positively shine, the controls are tight and easy to master, the sound is clear and catchy, and the game itself is the most fun racing game today. I love the courses and the way they are designed. The weapons are really cool and the characters are very fun and unique. Do not rent this game, buy it! This is one of the best Gamecube games money can buy. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/09/08

Game Release: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (US, 11/17/03)