Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

"Why the name Double-dash? Oh... that little insignificant boost..."

First, ten years ago, there was Super Mario Kart for the good ol' Super Nintendo. It was the first racing game to put something liek "weapons" laid on the tracks so you can attack you oponents. It was tremedously succesful and it sold more than a million copies. It was one of the best racing games of all time... until 1996. In that year, for the new N64, Mario Kart 64 was released. It was an excellent game (very alike to SMK) but with all the power of 3D. Then, the Gameboy Advance was released, and Mario Kart Super Circuit too. It was more or less a mixture of Super Mario Kart (the "2D" graphics and the Super Nintendo style) and Mario Kart 64. (The character like Wario and Donkey Kong and the new items) Now, some years later, Mario Kart DD appers for the Gamecube... better than before? Let's see...

Graphics - 7/10
A lot of people will disagree with me, but I didn't like the graphics very much. I don't know... I must admit they're pretty good, but I simply didn't like them. I think that they were too plain... there are no textures or cool lightning effect or good-looking shadows... all the colors are bright, yes, but too plain. No variations in color tones or nothing... I don't know... too plain. (Plus, the sky looks like a wall that has clouds painted on it.)

Gameplay - 10/10
The high point of the game. The gameplay is magnificent. The "weapons" you can use... the way you use your karts (or cars)... and the best change is that now you can use two characters at the same time. One throws stuff and the other drives. That is pretty cool and makes the game feel more dinamic. Its really a good change and makes a good game even better.

Unlockables - 9/10
"Unlockables?!" you must be thinking. Yep, unlockables. Its the first time in all the Mario Kart history that one of the game in the series has unlockables. (Which, of course, it's a great thing.) You can unlock various tracks (for the 1-player mode AND the multiplayer) and some characters, like.... well... I'm not gonna tell you, hehe. I'm glad that Nintendo finally realised that racing games are great, but racing games with unlockables are excellent.

Music and Sound - 8/10
The music is more or less chidlish, and the Bowser Castle theme doesn't sound as spooky as the theme for the N64 version. Overall, is good music and its apropiate for the game, though. There is little sound in this game, but the sound of the motors of the cars and the voices (which are few, actually) are okay. Overall, the sound and music is... apropiate.

Kart and Player variation - 9/10
There are a lot of karts and characters in this game... and, at last, there are unlockables for the first time in a Mario Kart game! There are more or less 16 characters and a lot of karts, which makes the game very varied. Even if you have to use two, there are a lot of characters. The normal characters are Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi (at last) Yoshi, her counterpart (can remeber her name) Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong (yay!) and others that I can't remember. There are more or less four players to unloc, four karts to unlock and four tracks to unlock. Overall, the kart and character variation is good.

Multiplayer - 10/10
Oh yeah... there is nothing like a Mario Kart multiplayer. All the multiplayer on all the Mario Kart games have been excellent, and Double Dash is no exception. The grand prix mode is simply great, especially if you play it with four players. The battle mode is great too and everything concerning multiplayer is addicting. The one feature than even IMPROVES the multiplayer is the LAN mode, which permits to play as 8 PLAYERS, yes you read well, 8 PLAYERS. Can you imagine that? Of course, you must buy a modem, but it is worth the effort. Overall, the multiplayer is excellent.

Cooperative mode - 7/10
Not too adictive, really. Its pretty kewl, of course, and you can even play with two people in cooperative mode and the other two separatedly, but its a bit too complicated. I really prefer to play a multiplayer match normally. Its too complicated to play as cooperative, because the two players can confuse themselves because one of them has to throw the items and the otehr has to drive. The complicated thing is when the players change places, it gets a little confusing to change from throwing items to drive... the controls change a lot. The cooperative mode is pretty good, but the LAN mode, the racing mode and the battle mode are inmensly superior.

Level variation - 7/10
Another "average" feature. The roads in this game aren't as varied as in the previous versions. For example, the Yoshi, Luigi and Mario circuits are ALMOST THE SAME. They even have the same music! They're too common, too... just a road and some grass in the sides. Also, there is no Boo Circuit in this game! Oh well... the game is fun to play, but if I were the developers, I would have put more varied circuits...

Load times - 10/10
Eh... none? Oh well... that's a good thing Nintendo developers have and thats a thing is very rare in DVD based games. I think Sony and the others should learn....XP Not even with all the characters and tracks that the game has it has to load one single second.

Difficulty - 9/10
The first tracks, of course, are more or less easy and the whole game is VERY easy to finish in the 50cc difficulty. But when you reach the 150cc difficulty.... oh man. You're gonna get really frustrated. The other competitors get really tough and they throw at you like fifty shells per track. The AI in the 150cc mode is incredibly intelligent and hard. I must admit that in the final difficulty, this game gets really difficult. Definitely not a game that you're gonna finish in a weekend... yep.

The name - 3/10
I don't know if this counts... but well... whatever. There is the boost when you pres the A button the moment the light turns green at the start of the race, but when you play in cooperative mode and the two players do a boost at the same time, its a double dash. Oh man... almost no one plays cooperative mode and its such an insignificant part of all the game... and don't know why they put that name. I personally don't like the name too much and I think that they should have influenced in something else to name the game. I don't know if thsi counts on the overall mark for the game, but it's definitely something I didn't like of the game.

Final comment:
In conclusion, thsi game is a very good game, it has an excellenty multiplayer, a LAN option, varied karts and characters, NO loading time, good difficulty, and a lot of unlockables. but I would have liked it even more if it had more varied levels and more "realistic" graphics. Overall, is one of the best racing games for the Gamecube, but honestly I enjoyed playing Mario Kart 64 a little more. Final score: (not average) 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/16/04