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Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Review - Gamecube

Mario Kart has been a game that many of us have enjoyed from the days of the SNES. Mario Kart 64 was when the franchise truly made its mark, and from there it has only progressed to greater things. Mario Kart Super Circuit on the GBA was the best game on the GBA for most of its lifespan while it was the leading handheld system, and now there’s a Mario Kart for the GameCube for Nintendo fans to once again enjoy. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! takes a different approach to the other games though, as there are two people on a kart! This provides for some exciting matches, and even more exciting clashes as you battle it out in the traditional 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc to win all the cups.

Gameplay

There are four different cups in Mario Kart: DD – Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup and of course Special Cup. Special Cup is an unlockable, but a Mario Kart game wouldn’t be a Mario Kart game without a Special Cup! Each cup has four different races, and in order to win a particular cup you’ll need to score around 30 points. You get 10 points for a win so if you can win three out of the four races, then chances are you’ll win the cup.

All up there are twenty characters including the unlockables. Each character has their “match”, for instance Mario has Luigi, and baby Mario has baby Luigi, however this might not be the best match for a kart. You may find that you like to team up Donkey Kong with Peach, or maybe Toad with Bowser. The 21 different karts will allow you to create the perfect machine to compete against your friends. You can have the power of Donkey Kong, the speed of Toad, and drive in Mario’s kart for an ultimate Nintendo kart of might.

Items are aplenty in Mario Kart: DD. There are the traditional items including the mushroom turbo boost, the green and red turtle shells, the star, the banana, the upside-down question mark, and of course the dangerous blue shell. For those unfamiliar with Mario Kart, you gain an item by driving through a question mark in a cube. In Mario Kart: DD however, the items can also be lying on the ground if they have been hit out of a character. This means if you’re given the perfect run, you could end up running over mushrooms from the start of the last lap right to the end; or you could end up hitting bananas non stop! All the characters have a special item they can pick up, however you can only pick one up if you get a double item.

When you get a double item, you have to switch to the other character on the kart while racing by pressing the Z button if you want to use it first. The whole two-characters-on-a-kart design actually (continued next page)