In this review, seat belts become optional in the GameCube game Mario Kart: Double Dash!! We find out how well this racing game plays.
This game was released in 2003 and continues this series.
We first played the original Super Mario Kart for the SNES. That game got quite a great score. Next up, we tried Mario Kart 64. That game also got quite a great score. Finally, we played Mario Kart Super Circuit. That game got a pretty solid score. So, we thought we’d try this game to see if it does a good job to continue the series.
This game doesn’t necessarily have much of a storyline. Still, it does carry a lot of features over from the N64 title.
One feature is the cup system in championship mode. The cups are: Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special. Additionally, the difficulty system is also carried over. Players can choose between 50cc (easy), 100cc (medium), or 150cc (hard). In each cup, there are four courses. The difficulty of each course varies depending on the cup, but each track is unique in each cup.
What is somewhat unique in this game is the fact that many aspects can be unlocked. To unlock a number of things, you’ll have to win each championship. You have to win the Star cup at 150cc to unlock the Special Cup. If you get all gold on every cup on every difficulty, you’ll unlock the All Cup Tour.
The All Cup Tour is somewhat unique to the series at this point given that no other game in the series prior to this release did this. The All Cup Tour shuffles all the games tracks and turns the cup into one long 16 race marathon. While documentation I’ve seen says otherwise, you have to win all gold on every championship mode to unlock mirror mode. Mirror mode reverse the track left becomes right and right becomes left). Having a silver and bronze sitting in the records with everything else gold, I couldn’t help but notice mirror mode never unlocked. This suggests that you not only have to race, but win gold as well.
In the races themselves, basic features have remained largely unchanged. The item box will give you a random item. These items can range from a banana peel all the way up to a blue shell which targets whoever is in first place. One thing has been adjusted in this, though. If you remember the SNES title, you might recall computer opponents lobbing special weapons at you. Peach has the shrinking mushroom and Bowser has the fireball for instance. Now, for the first time in the series, you can obtain special weapons.
In a design adjustment that seems quite similar to Vigilante 8‘s weapon system, a special weapon is unique to the character you have on board. Yoshi has the opponent seeking egg while Mario has his fireball attack for instance. For most weapons, a hit means that the opponent will also drop either items or traps. Traps can include a banana peal or a green shell. Other items can be beneficial like a mushroom for boost or even a star for temporary invulnerability. Three items will pop out on contact, so you need to pay attention what those items are. While not exactly novel, it is an adjustment that seems to be a long time coming and finally fully realized.
At the end of a championship race, you’ll be awarded championship points based on your placement. First place gives you 10 points. Second place awards you 8 points. Finishing last means you get no points. Additionally, the free lives system has been removed. So, a poor placement doesn’t mean that you are forced to spend a free life just to retry the race. Instead, you simply get that option if you do poorly. The racer with the most points at the end of the last race wins.
Of course, the big feature that gives this game its name is the fact that you play with to characters. With 8 players on the course, you have a whopping 16 playable characters to choose from. On the kart selection screen, you can choose your first character. Right after that, you get to choose your second character. The combination largely dictates top speed and weight. After that, you get to choose a kart which tells you what your acceleration is on top of it all. The combination between the three selectable features affects your final stats ranked on a 5 star system.
The two character system is featured throughout the entire game and not just identifying stats of your kart. The two characters will also be able to hold two weapons at once. Whenever you crash through a double item box, both characters will then be able to hold an item. Once you use one, the characters will switch, permitting the next character to use that item right after. Unfortunately, you can’t just get two single item boxes to add up to two items in your inventory at a time. It absolutely has to be the double item box. If you have one item already, the double item box will simply add the second item to your inventory.
As mentioned, you can unlock a host of different things along the way. Many of the unlockable items are new karts for you to try. Many of those karts, however, are multiplayer only. You can also unlock the special cup, all cup tour, and mirror mode as well, though that takes a fair bit more effort.
In addition, there is a time trial mode that allows you to simply race the track against the clock. A return feature is the staff ghost. Unlike the N64 title, though, every track has a race ghost if you get a good time.
There are a number of multiplayer battle features as well.
One thing I did find about this game is the fact that RNG plays a huge role in how well you do. On 50cc, you simply have computer players that largely let you win. In fact, if you do well enough on a track, you might even lap an opponent or two. For 100cc, the game largely has you even with the opponents. A bad bounce or an unlucky turn can cost you a fair bit, but you do have plenty of chances to make up ground if you make those mistakes early on.
150cc, however, is largely dependant on luck more than skill for success. You can very easily get an otherwise clean run, but it’s more than possible to be limping across the finish line in last place anyway. The AI and difficulty is largely stacked against you with successful item shots costing the opponent a second at most. Meanwhile, a simple spinout can cost you 4 or more places as well as a nearly insurmountable deficit to make up if you want to finish in the top 2 positions.
In my experience, a computer opponent has about a 2 and a half second lead. Three red shells and a banana peel was not enough to slow that opponent down for an overtake. Also, red shells can be rendered ineffective if a computer opponent takes a soft left or right turn, but it’s impossible to evade them for you if you don’t have something like a green shell or a peel to get it off your tail. Also, you can very easily have the entire competition gang up on you, causing you to tumble around all the way down to not just last, but far back from 7th place in the process with chains of attacks. So, 150cc could really be considered largely unfair for non-speedrunner players.
There are rare moments where luck does go into your favour on the hardest difficulty. With a quarter of a lap to go, A blue shell took out first and second. I happened to get two red shells last minute and nailed third and first to just squeak out a win. While it felt great to win a race under those circumstances, it did highlight the fact that this game is less about skill and more about luck in a lot of circumstances.
Still, harder difficulty aside, this game can be quite enjoyable. It’s surprisingly effective to enjoy the game again when you simply fall back to the easier difficulties where the races are much more fair to the human players.
This leads to the other complaint about the game: how different things are unlocked. In order to unlock the all cup tour, you have to beat all the other cups on all difficulties including 150cc. After that, you can challenge the all cup tour on any difficulty of your choosing. To me, it would make much more sense if you unlocked cups in their respective difficulty instead. If you beat all gold on all cups on 50cc, it makes more sense if you can just unlock the all cup tour on that difficulty instead of how the unlock system is now. Basically, just steal the level unlock system from Goldeneye 007 and this game would be better off.
Generally speaking, this game does carry over a lot of features from the previous 3D instalment. So, there is plenty to enjoy in this game as it is. Some of the added features do give this game an interesting new take on an old formula. This includes the double character feature as well as the special weapons that are finally available. Unfortunately, the unlocking system could have been better and the harder difficulties seem more dependant on luck than skill. Otherwise, it’s actually a rather enjoyable game.
Graphics winds up being a strong element in this game. There are plenty of great animation sequences such as the win animations, lose animations, and characters getting damaged by items throughout. They really give this game a lot of life that was decidedly lacking in the pseudo-3D versions. The movement of item boxes, the special effects, and the well modelled layout of the tracks really helped give this game a great overall polished quality to it. Ultimately, it’s a great game in that regard.
For a lot of instalments of Mario Kart, audio also winds up being a big positive for the game. It’s actually quite surprising that this game doesn’t exactly live up to the positive reputation from previous instalments. In Mario Kart 64, you had the big show style of the raceway tracks, the chaotic sounds of the jungle, and the soft rock style music on Rainbow Road to give the game an epic climax.
In this game, the musical range is much more narrow to the upbeat acoustic style of music with occasional splashes of orchestral elements. Those orchestral elements somehow sound like they are largely held back, though. Ultimately, I can’t really think of one track that really stands out to me in this one. The voice samples and sound effects, however, are quite well done and do pick up some of the slack. So, a good all around effort, but considering the games reputation, a bit disappointing.
Overall, this game does manage to deliver on some good quality entertainment. A vast majority of this is thanks to the efforts of its predecessors more than anything else. This game does bring a double character system to the table which does mix things up a bit. Unfortunately, apart from the special weapon system finally introduced, it’s hard to really think of much that allows this game to really break the mould. The higher difficulty depends more on luck than skill and the unlock system could have been better. The graphics are great and the audio is decent all around. So, a great game all around, but perhaps thanks in large part to the momentum carried over from the previous N64 title.
Overall
Furthest point in game: All gold up to the all cup tour. On All cup tour: gold on 50cc, silver on 100cc, and bronze on 150cc.
General gameplay: 21/25
Replay value: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 80%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
