Mario Kart Double Dash

image from Mariokart.com

Media: Nintendo GameCube
Price: $89
Reviewed by Jei

For all those people who played games back in 1997 – 1999, remember that kart racing game that took the world by storm known as Mario Kart 64? Well its back and better than ever in the form of Mario Kart: Double Dash.

Why the Double Dash? Well it’s no longer a single racer affair, instead each player has the privilege to pick any two drivers and any kart for racing mayhem. That’s right, you too can put enemies Mario and Bowser in the same kart.

I guess the question is, is it better than its predecessor? The answer is a simple yes, and I’ll explain why
Obviously, its graphics have improved, actually it’s more like a revolutionary step from Mario Kart 64. Now it displays actual polygons rather than animated sprites in the old version (think of animated .gif’s in a 3d world). The eye candy doesn’t stop there as each race track is filled to the brim with bright colours and wonder while the life is breathed into the characters as they’re animations are second to none. From the characters switching places to watching them watch another kart getting blown across the track will make all Nintendo fans feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Play wise, it’s very fun to play. I couldn’t put down the pad for about 3 days straight. In this game much different from the last, is this focus on drifting. Yes Drifting. So all you Initial D fans will feel right at home as you pull a 60km/h drift around the tight corners. Another focus is to battle the other races with tracks quickly becoming battle fields.

Overall a very polished game. With the only draw back where you can’t have the grand Prix mode for 3 or 4 players, however this is compensated by the fact that you can hook up 2 GameCubes and play with up to 8 human players. Now how cool is that.

8.5/10