RPGamers Network > Reviews > Game Reviews > MarioKart: Double Dash!!
One of the clearest examples of this conundrum lies in the MarioKart series, of which MarioKart: Double Dash!! is the third entry. The SNES original, Super MarioKart is hailed by many as one of the greatest games of all time. While technically dated nowadays, it's not hard to see why. The game, which featured eight playable characters (including the seemingly long-lost D.K. Jr) and twenty different tracks, managed to hook countless gamers with its simple, yet surprisingly deep karting controls and novel yet thoroughly playable track design, as well as an excellent battle mode. Then came the N64's creatively titled MarioKart 64, which refined the track design and controls, but was dismissed by many as either a rehash of the original, or a disappointment due to the slightly slower gameplay, the much larger battle arenas, or the floatier vehicles (as an aside, it actually remains my personal favourite in the series).
With MarioKart: Double Dash!!, Nintendo have played around with the formula a bit more. There are a number of noticeable changes, with the new two-character kart system being the most obvious. Many people have already slammed the game for reverting back to the simplicity of the earliest MarioKart battle arenas (which are actually about as big as the ones in the first game), or for the new feel of the controls. Some people will never be happy with the series. Yet while the new feel does take some getting used to, and there are definitely a few changes that feel like a bit of a let-down, MK
D doesn't fail to deliver incredibly addictive one and multi-player experiences. The new control system is more than a mere gimmick and the tweaks to the system that we've waited for easily outweigh the few disappointments. Give this game a try, and it will take some getting used to, grow on you, then become very hard to put down.
MarioKart: Double Dash!! features:
- Sixteen playable mascot characters, plus four unlockable ones
- Sixteen tracks spread out over four cups: Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special Cup
- Two-player-per-kart system that enables co-operative play
- Character specific power-ups
- Over twenty karts (including unlockable ones) catering to three different character weight classes
- Four modes of play: Grand Prix, VS, Time Trials and Battle
- LAN support: link up to eight GameCubes together on separate TVs
- Progressive scan for people with HDTVs, and DPLII support
Gameplay:
The easiest way to describe the gameplay in MKD is to talk about what's changed since MarioKart 64. After all, you probably know by now that the game generally centers on picking mascot characters to race karts against each other. The basic modes of play remain unchanged: Grand Prix lets one or two karts enter a tournament against other, bot-controlled karts. VS mode lets two to four human-controlled karts go head-to-head in the tracks of their choice. Time Trials allow a single player's kart to race around the track of their choice, aiming to achieve the best race and lap times. Battle Mode lets two to four karts take each other on in a range of modes, generally centered on attacking each other with various items.
So what's new? The obvious change is that now every kart needs to be manned by two characters. The classic characters, such as Mario, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser, all make a return, backed up by the likes of Baby Mario and Luigi, Daisy, Diddy Kong, and others. Karts exist in three weight classes, although the weight class is decided by the heavier of the two characters you choose (so picking Bowser and Baby Mario is the same as Bowser and DK: you'll need a heavy vehicle either way). In each weight class exist a variety of vehicles with slightly different handling, weight, acceleration and top speed: a nice change over the last two games. Each pair of players also have a unique item they can use on the track, in addition to the generic items all characters can use: Mario and Luigi have fireballs (and Luigi's are green), Bowser and Baby Bowser have giant shells, and so forth. You can select one player from two different teams to access two special items, so if you choose Wario and Donkey Kong, Wario will occasionally get bombs and DK will get the odd giant banana. This automatically adds a layer of strategy to character selection, as finding a good balance between two different special items can be very important. Controls for the new karting dynamic differ depending on whether one player controls both characters in the kart, or two players each control one character apiece. With one player, A accelerates, B brakes, X or Y triggers items, the control stick steers, L or R enables a slide, and Z swaps the front and back characters in the kart. Power-sliding, which requires the player to press and hold L or R, alternate between flicking the control stick away from and towards the turn a few times until blue sparks come from the wheels, then release L or R, has been streamlined and made more accessible than in previous MarioKart games, although it has arguably been made a little too easy: wiggling the control stick willy-nilly will generally produce the same effect. Still, it's less frustrating than in previous games.
With two players in one kart, duties are generally divided between the two. The player in the driver's seat accelerates and steers, while the rear player controls items using A, B, Y or X (some items can also be thrown forward or backward, such as shells, and this is easier to do in this situation than with one player). The rear player can also press L or R to attack to the left or right of the vehicle. Power-sliding is executed with the front player pressing L or R and the rear player handling the flicking of the control stick. The front player can pass items to the rear player with Y or X. Both players press Z simultaneously to swap. Players can perform a "Double Dash" at the start of a race if both players press A just before the green light, giving the kart a good speed boost. Overall, controls are generally tight, responsive and intuitive, and the new two-character-to-a-kart concept quickly begins to feel completely natural.
Track design, on the other hand, is at times a mixed bag. While the earlier tracks are clearly easier to accommodate for the newcomer, some of the tracks feel like they lack variety, mainly in Mushroom and Flower cup. Once you hit Star Cup, things start to get much more rewarding (and challenging), with Special Cup tracks like Bowser's Castle and the returning Rainbow Road becoming immensely tricky, but also incredibly fun to play. There's a reasonable mix of tracks at the end of the day, but the game feels like it really needs a few more tracks to really fill things out. Past Special Cup, there's the All Cup Tour, which puts all sixteen tracks into a single Grand Prix, but this doesn't quite remedy the problem. The tracks generally lack shortcuts to discover, too, which is a mild disappointment.
Barring that, Grand Prix sports one or two nice changes. The points system has been changed: now all players except 8th place get points, which makes the system feel fairer. Computer A.I. is considerably better: computer players will hang onto bananas and such to drop behind them when a shell is approaching, shove your kart out of the way to grab item boxes, and make good use of power-sliding. However, the blue shell, making its return in airborne form to home in on the leading player, tends to irritate on the 150cc and Mirror modes (the two toughest speed classes). Computer players will get insanely happy with these little blighters, often hitting you with one on the home stretch and costing you first place, which can feel a bit cheap.
Time Trial and VS are unchanged (although VS now allows players to go 2 vs. 2, which can be a lot of fun). Battle Mode, on the other hand, now sports two new variations. The classic Balloon Battle returns, where players must use items to hit each other, with each player being able to withstand three blows (players no longer turn into bombs after this, though, which is a shame). The new Bob-omb Blast is a similar deal, but players only have bombs at their disposal. Shine Thief is a lot of fun: players must try and grab the shine located in the arena and hang onto it until time runs out. Again, the main drawback is in the level design rather than the play concepts: the battle arenas are all rather simplistic and come off as unimpressive in comparison to the epic arenas of MarioKart 64. Luigi's Mansion is a better arena, actually offering players a few places to go. The Nintendo GameCube arena on the other hand is a single, open square, and the novelty of playing on a giant GameCube wears thin quickly.
The last big twist is that MarioKart: Double Dash!! now has LAN support for up to sixteen players on eight karts in VS mode. In some ways, this trumps online play in that being surrounded by fifteen friends in the one area can be wildly entertaining, although the requirement of a separate TV and GameCube for each team of two (rather than two teams to each TV) is perplexing.
Graphics:
Bright and colourful is the best way to sum up MKD's visuals. While not as impressive as something like Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the visuals are fairly smooth and suit the game nicely. The tracks are all fairly distinct in their visual presentation, but generally all rely on a palette of very bright colours. Progressive scan support is included.
Sound:
While less distinct than its predecessor, MKD sports a fairly enjoyable soundtrack that is best described as fitting for the game. Most music is not intrusive, while some tracks, like the Dry Dry Desert tune and the bride-of-Satan feel of Bowser's Castle are quite fun. The results screen music in Grand Prix after a win is downright catchy. Sound effects are neither here nor there, while the voice samples are extremely entertaining without being too over-the-top. Hearing Baby Bowser after losing a match never fails to crack me up. Lastly, you've got DPLII support for those who have the appropriate gear. Nintendo didn't skimp there.
Closing Comments:
Despite a few problems here and there, MKD sits up amongst my personal favourite multiplayer experiences. A generally tight package overcomes the few shortcomings of the game (occasional bland track design and some minor technical hiccups), but I'll expect something meatier from Nintendo the next time this series gets a look-in.
My Overall Score: 8.4/10 (Not an average)
| Game Stats | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Racing |
| Platform | GameCube |
| Format | DVD |
| # of Players | 9+ |
| Released Jap | 11.07.2003 |
| Released US | 11.18.2003 |
| Released EU | 11.14.2003 |
| Aprox. Length | 10-20 hrs. |
| Reviewer Rankings | |
| Battle System | 9.0 |
| Gameplay | 8.0 |
| Music | 8.0 |
| Originality | 7.0 |
| Plot | 7.0 |
| Replay Value | 8.0 |
| Sound | 9.0 |
| Visuals | 7.0 |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Overall | |
| 7.9 | |
MarioKart: Double Dash!!
By: NintendoReviewed By: AtomicBlue
There really is no pleasing some people. It happens with virtually every game that gets a few follow-up titles. You'll get some gamers complaining about one game, and then when the sequel attempts to rectify things and alleviate gamers' problems, you end up annoying a whole new branch of so-called devotees.One of the clearest examples of this conundrum lies in the MarioKart series, of which MarioKart: Double Dash!! is the third entry. The SNES original, Super MarioKart is hailed by many as one of the greatest games of all time. While technically dated nowadays, it's not hard to see why. The game, which featured eight playable characters (including the seemingly long-lost D.K. Jr) and twenty different tracks, managed to hook countless gamers with its simple, yet surprisingly deep karting controls and novel yet thoroughly playable track design, as well as an excellent battle mode. Then came the N64's creatively titled MarioKart 64, which refined the track design and controls, but was dismissed by many as either a rehash of the original, or a disappointment due to the slightly slower gameplay, the much larger battle arenas, or the floatier vehicles (as an aside, it actually remains my personal favourite in the series).
With MarioKart: Double Dash!!, Nintendo have played around with the formula a bit more. There are a number of noticeable changes, with the new two-character kart system being the most obvious. Many people have already slammed the game for reverting back to the simplicity of the earliest MarioKart battle arenas (which are actually about as big as the ones in the first game), or for the new feel of the controls. Some people will never be happy with the series. Yet while the new feel does take some getting used to, and there are definitely a few changes that feel like a bit of a let-down, MK
D doesn't fail to deliver incredibly addictive one and multi-player experiences. The new control system is more than a mere gimmick and the tweaks to the system that we've waited for easily outweigh the few disappointments. Give this game a try, and it will take some getting used to, grow on you, then become very hard to put down. MarioKart: Double Dash!! features:
- Sixteen playable mascot characters, plus four unlockable ones
- Sixteen tracks spread out over four cups: Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special Cup
- Two-player-per-kart system that enables co-operative play
- Character specific power-ups
- Over twenty karts (including unlockable ones) catering to three different character weight classes
- Four modes of play: Grand Prix, VS, Time Trials and Battle
- LAN support: link up to eight GameCubes together on separate TVs
- Progressive scan for people with HDTVs, and DPLII support
Gameplay:
The easiest way to describe the gameplay in MK
D is to talk about what's changed since MarioKart 64. After all, you probably know by now that the game generally centers on picking mascot characters to race karts against each other. The basic modes of play remain unchanged: Grand Prix lets one or two karts enter a tournament against other, bot-controlled karts. VS mode lets two to four human-controlled karts go head-to-head in the tracks of their choice. Time Trials allow a single player's kart to race around the track of their choice, aiming to achieve the best race and lap times. Battle Mode lets two to four karts take each other on in a range of modes, generally centered on attacking each other with various items. So what's new? The obvious change is that now every kart needs to be manned by two characters. The classic characters, such as Mario, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser, all make a return, backed up by the likes of Baby Mario and Luigi, Daisy, Diddy Kong, and others. Karts exist in three weight classes, although the weight class is decided by the heavier of the two characters you choose (so picking Bowser and Baby Mario is the same as Bowser and DK: you'll need a heavy vehicle either way). In each weight class exist a variety of vehicles with slightly different handling, weight, acceleration and top speed: a nice change over the last two games. Each pair of players also have a unique item they can use on the track, in addition to the generic items all characters can use: Mario and Luigi have fireballs (and Luigi's are green), Bowser and Baby Bowser have giant shells, and so forth. You can select one player from two different teams to access two special items, so if you choose Wario and Donkey Kong, Wario will occasionally get bombs and DK will get the odd giant banana. This automatically adds a layer of strategy to character selection, as finding a good balance between two different special items can be very important. Controls for the new karting dynamic differ depending on whether one player controls both characters in the kart, or two players each control one character apiece. With one player, A accelerates, B brakes, X or Y triggers items, the control stick steers, L or R enables a slide, and Z swaps the front and back characters in the kart. Power-sliding, which requires the player to press and hold L or R, alternate between flicking the control stick away from and towards the turn a few times until blue sparks come from the wheels, then release L or R, has been streamlined and made more accessible than in previous MarioKart games, although it has arguably been made a little too easy: wiggling the control stick willy-nilly will generally produce the same effect. Still, it's less frustrating than in previous games.
With two players in one kart, duties are generally divided between the two. The player in the driver's seat accelerates and steers, while the rear player controls items using A, B, Y or X (some items can also be thrown forward or backward, such as shells, and this is easier to do in this situation than with one player). The rear player can also press L or R to attack to the left or right of the vehicle. Power-sliding is executed with the front player pressing L or R and the rear player handling the flicking of the control stick. The front player can pass items to the rear player with Y or X. Both players press Z simultaneously to swap. Players can perform a "Double Dash" at the start of a race if both players press A just before the green light, giving the kart a good speed boost. Overall, controls are generally tight, responsive and intuitive, and the new two-character-to-a-kart concept quickly begins to feel completely natural.
Track design, on the other hand, is at times a mixed bag. While the earlier tracks are clearly easier to accommodate for the newcomer, some of the tracks feel like they lack variety, mainly in Mushroom and Flower cup. Once you hit Star Cup, things start to get much more rewarding (and challenging), with Special Cup tracks like Bowser's Castle and the returning Rainbow Road becoming immensely tricky, but also incredibly fun to play. There's a reasonable mix of tracks at the end of the day, but the game feels like it really needs a few more tracks to really fill things out. Past Special Cup, there's the All Cup Tour, which puts all sixteen tracks into a single Grand Prix, but this doesn't quite remedy the problem. The tracks generally lack shortcuts to discover, too, which is a mild disappointment.
Barring that, Grand Prix sports one or two nice changes. The points system has been changed: now all players except 8th place get points, which makes the system feel fairer. Computer A.I. is considerably better: computer players will hang onto bananas and such to drop behind them when a shell is approaching, shove your kart out of the way to grab item boxes, and make good use of power-sliding. However, the blue shell, making its return in airborne form to home in on the leading player, tends to irritate on the 150cc and Mirror modes (the two toughest speed classes). Computer players will get insanely happy with these little blighters, often hitting you with one on the home stretch and costing you first place, which can feel a bit cheap.
Time Trial and VS are unchanged (although VS now allows players to go 2 vs. 2, which can be a lot of fun). Battle Mode, on the other hand, now sports two new variations. The classic Balloon Battle returns, where players must use items to hit each other, with each player being able to withstand three blows (players no longer turn into bombs after this, though, which is a shame). The new Bob-omb Blast is a similar deal, but players only have bombs at their disposal. Shine Thief is a lot of fun: players must try and grab the shine located in the arena and hang onto it until time runs out. Again, the main drawback is in the level design rather than the play concepts: the battle arenas are all rather simplistic and come off as unimpressive in comparison to the epic arenas of MarioKart 64. Luigi's Mansion is a better arena, actually offering players a few places to go. The Nintendo GameCube arena on the other hand is a single, open square, and the novelty of playing on a giant GameCube wears thin quickly.
The last big twist is that MarioKart: Double Dash!! now has LAN support for up to sixteen players on eight karts in VS mode. In some ways, this trumps online play in that being surrounded by fifteen friends in the one area can be wildly entertaining, although the requirement of a separate TV and GameCube for each team of two (rather than two teams to each TV) is perplexing.
Graphics:
Bright and colourful is the best way to sum up MK
D's visuals. While not as impressive as something like Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the visuals are fairly smooth and suit the game nicely. The tracks are all fairly distinct in their visual presentation, but generally all rely on a palette of very bright colours. Progressive scan support is included. Sound:
While less distinct than its predecessor, MK
D sports a fairly enjoyable soundtrack that is best described as fitting for the game. Most music is not intrusive, while some tracks, like the Dry Dry Desert tune and the bride-of-Satan feel of Bowser's Castle are quite fun. The results screen music in Grand Prix after a win is downright catchy. Sound effects are neither here nor there, while the voice samples are extremely entertaining without being too over-the-top. Hearing Baby Bowser after losing a match never fails to crack me up. Lastly, you've got DPLII support for those who have the appropriate gear. Nintendo didn't skimp there. Closing Comments:
Despite a few problems here and there, MK
D sits up amongst my personal favourite multiplayer experiences. A generally tight package overcomes the few shortcomings of the game (occasional bland track design and some minor technical hiccups), but I'll expect something meatier from Nintendo the next time this series gets a look-in. My Overall Score: 8.4/10 (Not an average)
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