Mario Kart is an institution on Nintendo consoles. This is one of their franchises that gets one installment per console, and it continues selling gangbusters throughout the hardware’s run. This series is basically considered the front runner in the genre which it practically invented. With that said I haven’t always been the biggest fan of the franchise. There are a few installments which I think are good, but not great. That might sound okay but when you’re talking about one of Nintendo’s premier franchises it’s surprising. Mario Kart: Double Dash for the Nintendo Gamecube. Today we’re going to take a look.
Like I said I don’t think any Mario Kart title is a bad game per se. Some just aren’t as good as the others. In the case of Mario Kart: Double Dash it’s big problem was that it was released in a time when Nintendo was experimenting with their franchises. We had Super Mario Sunshine (which threw a water pack on the plumber’s back) as well as Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (with it’s cel-shaded cartoon based art style). Nintendo could have just released a new Mario Kart with more items, courses, and characters and called it a day.
Unfortunately they didn’t. I’ll get to that part in a bit. Let’s start with the basic gameplay. Mario Kart: Double Dash is a 3D kart racer that follows the basic premise pretty closely. The grand prix mode has you competing against seven CPU controlled opponents running three laps around a series of four courses. There are four separate cups and each has different tracks. You must place in at least fourth place to move on to the next match, and score differently based on your placement when completing the final lap. Of course it’s not just racing. One of the main focuses is in collecting item boxes which grant you a random tool and each has their varying effects. If you’ve played Mario Kart before then you get the drill.
So now we get to the major change I mentioned earlier. Mario Kart: Double Dash lives up to it’s name. What I mean is that you have to use two characters instead of just one. What I mean is they both ride in the kart. You can switch between secondary and primary by pressing the Z button, but it’s a strange and largely unwelcome change in my opinion. It just seems unnecessary. This feature doesn’t add anything meaningful to gameplay, and on the contrary, makes the experience a bit less fun overall. It’s ultimately superfluous, and that’s not something a pick up and play needs.
On the bright side this does lend itself to some additional customization options. Characters have their own stats for acceleration, top speed, and weight. Having two characters to choose from more finely tunes your racing style. In my opinion the best addition to the franchise here is the option for selecting the kart you would like to use. These also have their own ratings in the aforementioned categories, and so for the first time you could really fine tune your play style. You can even hold two items at once now, and some item boxes are even stacked. You do have to swap between characters to use both of them because each holds their own. It takes some getting used to, and I don’t think this adds anything meaningful to the experience.
Another really neat aspect is the fact that the character roster is gigantic when compared to previous Mario Kart installments. Previous titles had eight available racers, but Double Dash features a whopping twenty. You have all of the classics like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad, Wario, etc. Added to the lineup are Diddy Kong, Daisy, Waluigi, Toadette, King Boo, Petey Piranha, Paratroopa, Birdo, and baby versions of a few of the characters. Honestly the line-up is fine, but it’s clear Nintendo kind of ran out of characters to push.
I mentioned items earlier but let’s take a closer look at these. Mario Kart: Double Dash includes most of the classics. You have various colors of shell (with different basic functionality), speed boost mushrooms, hazardous banana peels, super stars, lightning bolts, fake item boxes, and more. Most of the classics return here, and you can still find stacked versions of most of them. The big new feature here is that there are character specific special items. Mario and Luigi can throw a line of fireballs, Peach and Daisy have a heart icon which blocks attacks, DK and Diddy can leave a giant banana peel in their wake, and there’s of course more. Again this makes character selection more unique and I like this fact.
Unfortunately the rubber banding AI makes it’s not so triumphant return here. This has always been one of the biggest issues with Mario Kart and I’m still not sure why Nintendo hasn’t addressed it. Basically your AI opponents will always manage to keep up pace with you. This is so that you can’t just leave them in the dust, but it’s infuriating. No matter how well you race the CPU controlled characters will always keep up. It’s frustrating and a true design flaw in my opinion. Also, you only get the good items when you’re behind. While in first place you’ll only get green shells and banana peels. Come on, I want super stars and lightning bolts when I’m leading the pack.
Multiplayer has always been a huge focus of the franchise. In my opinion Double Dash doesn’t move this meaningfully forward. You can play with one other player in the grand prix which is fun (and something previous titles have offered) but the highlight was always battle mode. When fighting other players you can either compete to knock out each others balloons in a variety of arenas, or compete to see who can hold the shine sprite the longest. The former is the basic battle mode we’ve come to expect from Mario Kart, but the latter is new. They’re both pretty decent overall.
The main problem with battle mode, and honestly it’s a constant theme with Double Dash, is that the level designs just aren’t that interesting. Here they’re mostly less interesting versions of previous battle courses. In the main game the stages are more simplified than they were in Mario Kart 64. Luigi Circuit, Peach Beach, Waluigi Stadium, Baby Park, Yoshi Circuit, and Bowser’s Castle are just plain not that interesting. The high points are Mushroom Bridge, Daisy Cruiser, Mushroom City, and DK Mountain. Still, I wouldn’t say these are more interesting than what Mario Kart 64 had. They all feel short and too simple. Given that this is the fourth installment in the franchise the level design is just disappointing.
The worst offense however is that there’s almost no sense of speed here. No matter which characters you choose, or even the vehicle it feels like some of the characters you play as could move faster on foot in their own games. It’s really bizarre to me. Sometimes (especially when going uphill) I notice that there are some real problems with pacing. I know that go karts aren’t the fastest vehicles, but this is the first (and only) time in the series where it feels like you’re really putting along. This is surprising given the fact that even on lesser hardware it felt like your characters were speeding around corners and moving rapidly on straight aways. There’s no sense of that here.
Even the graphics are pretty underwhelming. Again, keep in mind that this was an era where Nintendo wasn’t pushing fidelity. While the game is obviously an upgrade from the past iteration it looks noticeably worse than other more technical Gamecube titles released in the same era. What I will say however is that the game is bright and colorful. In an era where video games were pushing browns and grays Double Dash was a breath of fresh air. Additionally it runs at a constant sixty frames per second. There’s absolutely zero slowdown no matter what mayhem is happening on-screen. Unfortunately the soundtrack does fare worse. The music is all the bubbly but forgettable Mario Kart fare we’ve come to know. Classic renditions of Mario music would have been better at this point.
