Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
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| Mario Kart: Double Dash!! | |
| Missing image Mk_doubledash.jpg Mario Kart: Double Dash!! U.S. Box cover | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) | November 18, 2003 |
| Genre | Racing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E), PEGI: 3+ |
| Platform(s) | GameCube |
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. It combines features from earlier Mario Kart games (Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64). The game features the ability for two players to ride on a kart: one to drive and one to throw weapons. It was one of the most popular console games of 2003. Although Nintendo does not have online support for the game, you can connect up to four GameCubes together using a LAN to have up to 16 players in one game. Double Dash has five different cups and new karts to unlock.
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Characters
All of the characters have been featured in other popular Nintendo games. Each character also has special weapons like Yoshi's exploding egg or Wario's bomb. There are 190 possible character combinations (1).
Mario - the classic Nintendo character
Luigi - Mario's brother
Peach - The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom
Daisy - The princess of Sarasaland
Bowser - the Koopa King
Bowser Jr. - Bowser's child
Wario - Mario's greedy counterpart
Waluigi - Luigi's greedy counterpart and Wario's brother
Baby Mario - from Yoshi's Island
Baby Luigi - from Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong - a talking gorilla
Diddy Kong - DK's monkey sidekick/nephew
Koopa Troopa - a green turtle
Koopa Paratroopa - red flying turtle
Toad - a humanoid mushroom of his race
Toadette - Toad's best friend
Yoshi - a green cute dinosaur
Birdo - a pink creature with a large mouth & can shoot out egg bombs
Petey Piranha - an oversized piranha plant from Super Mario Sunshine
King Boo - the king of Boos
Tracks
Mushroom cup
- Luigi Circuit
- Peach Beach
- Baby Park
- Dry Dry Desert
Flower Cup
- Mushroom Bridge
- Mario Circuit
- Daisy Cruiser
- Waluigi Stadium
Star Cup
- Sherbet Land
- Mushroom City
- Yoshi's Circuit
- D.K. Mountain
Special Cup
- Wario Coliseum
- Dino Dino Jungle
- Bowser's Castle
- Rainbow Road
All-cup Tour
- All of the above tracks in one cup in a random order (apart from Luigi Circuit, which is always first, and Rainbow Road, which is always last)
Difficulty Levels
- 50 cup (easiest)
- 100 cup (medium difficulty)
- 150 cup (hard)
- Mirror cup (hardest; all tracks are reversed)
Battle Mode
There are three battle mode options: Balloon Battle, Shine Thief, and Bob-omb Blast. The stages on which you can battle are Cookie Land, Block City, Luigi's Mansion, Nintendo Game Cube, Pipe Plaza, Tilt-a-Kart.
Items
The available items are split into three types, with few exceptions.
- Projectile: can be fired ahead of the player (by hitting X or Y) or behind (by pulling back on the control stick while hitting X or Y).
- Stationary weapon: can be fired ahead of or behind the player. Stays stationary once it hits the ground.
- Performance booster: helps the current player. All boosters can also be used as weapons when used correctly.
Standard items
- Green shell - simple projectile. Breaks after several collisions with walls or other non-racer obstacles.
- Red shell - homing projectile. Can be fired either ahead or behind the racers. Homes in tightly on the nearest player at the time of use, less so when fired behind. Breaks on a single non-racer collision or when thrown over ramps.
- Spiny Shell - homing projectile. Blue with spikes, but sized similarly to green and red shells. Homes in quickly on the current leader and causes a large explosion which can take out nearby racers.
- Mushroom - performance booster. Boosts the player's speed greatly for a short time. Necessary to clear some (optional) jumps.
- Triple Mushrooms - performance booster. A set of three Mushrooms, used the same way.
- Banana - stationary weapon. A banana peel. Collision causes the racer to skid and lose control of the vehicle for a second. Unlike in Mario Kart 64, the player cannot regain control under any circumstances; forward momentum, however, is not affected nearly as much.
- Star - performance booster. A gold star - the Invincibility Starman. Collision with any racer will cause them to spin out; collision with any weapon will immediately nullify that weapon. Invincible racers receive a speed boost similar to the mushroom.
- Thunderbolt - global weapon. On use, all other racers will shrink approximately fourfold, and slow down greatly. Usually only given to the racers in last place. Rare.
- Fake Item - stationary weapon. Similar in appearance to item blocks. Turns brick red when a player approaches. Causes the player to stop completely and launch straight up.
Special items
- Fire Balls (Mario/Luigi) - projectile. A set of 5 orange (Mario) or green (Luigi) fireballs. Collision causes the racers to spin out.
- Heart (Peach/Daisy) - performance booster. A set of 2 pink hearts surround the racers (similar to the triple shell items in Mario Kart 64); collision with most weapons on the course will give that weapon to the racers.
- Yoshi's Egg / Birdo's Egg (Yoshi / Birdo) - projectile. A green (Yoshi) or pink (Birdo) egg. Collision causes the player to crash, and spills 3 random items onto the track. This weapon has certain homing abilities, although not as powerful as the abilities of the red shell.
- Chain Chomp (Baby Mario / Baby Luigi) - performance booster. A giant Chain Chomp, attached to the current vehicle. Collision with the Chain Chomp causes a spin out. The Chain Chomp pulls the vehicle along the main path at an increased speed, with no input from the player. The Chain Chomp eventually stops pulling the racer, returning control to the player without warning.
- Triple shells (Koopa Troopa / Koopa Paratroopa) - projectile. A set of 3 green or red shells. Works the same as single green and red shells. Note that the color of the Koopa who gets the item has no effect on the color of the shells, for example, the green Koopa can get both green and red triple-shell power-ups.
- Giant Banana (Donkey Kong / Diddy Kong) - stationary weapon. A giant banana peel. Works the same as a normal banana, large size notwithstanding. Collision also causes 3 normal-sized bananas to appear.
- Bowser's Shell (Bowser / Bowser Junior) - projectile. A giant shell, spiked and colored like Bowser's own shell. Works like a green shell, with the difference of longevity: Bowser's shell lasts for a given time, regardless of collisions. Collision with movable obstacles (the cars in Mushroom Bridge, for example) and racers do not destroy it or change its trajectory. When players are hit by Bowser's Shell, they lose any items they may have had. Since a head-on hit from Bowser's Shell will cause the player to be pushed back, this head-on hit is often known as "being rolled."
- Bob-omb (Wario / Waluigi) - projectile. A standard Bob-omb: a black spherical bomb with brown feet and white eyes. Explodes about 3 seconds after being thrown. All racers caught within the blast are launched upwards, including Wario and Waluigi (and anybody who steals their Bob-omb — see below), and even racers who drive into the bomb's fallout can spin out.
- Golden Mushroom (Toad and Toadette) - performance booster. A racer with the golden mushroom can obtain a boost equivalent to a normal Mushroom as many times as they wish to, for a period of about 10 seconds from their first boost.)
(Note: Although special items can only be obtained by the characters they are assigned to, if a player is holding a special item another player can steal it by colliding with the player holding the item while under the influence of a Mushroom.)
Shortcuts
- Mushroom City: after going around the first curve, go straight past the fork in the road and off to the right will be a thin, pink shortcut
- Yoshi's Circuit: 1) In the beginning there will be a shortcut ramp going over water. You can only go across it by using a mushroom or a star. 2) About halfway through the course will be an underground shortcut below the track and off to the side. If a player wants to use it the player must drive off a cliff and land on the edge of the shortcut (which is only possible with a mushroom or star).
- Mushroom Bridge: 1) Halfway through the course will be a hill off to the right. Go up and over it to cut across the track, however, the ground isn't very good to drive on and will take approximately the same amount of time as driving on the road. This effect is removed while under the influence of a mushroom or star. 2) When a player gets to the bridge he/she can go to either the left railing or right railing and use accelerators to boost themselves to the top of the bridge, however, it is very easy to fall off, which would cause a loss of time greater than simply driving on the bridge, so many players avoid the rails. 3) In the very beginning, off to the right is a passage that leads the player in two 90 degree angles and through a warp pipe. It is a time waster but if the player is in 8th usually the player will get good items.
- Daisy Cruiser: About 3/4 of the way through the course will be a hole, which leads to an underground chamber. In the chamber is a pipe that will suck the player out and back onto the course.
- Dino Dino Jungle: 1) After leaving the cave that leads to the bridges you can turn right, there's a alternative bridge with boosters. 2) In the cave part of the course is a ramp going over a cliff. The player can only get across it using a mushroom or a star.
- Bowser's Castle: In the part of the course where fireballs are being shot at you there is a hair-pin turn. When done correctly, a player can cut across the turn by going over lava, however, it is very easy to go flying off the other edge of the lower road or simply not make it to that road.
- Peach Beach: 1) There will be a separate route in the beach area that goes over water. 2) After starting the course there will be a sharp turn. If the player head left instead of right, the player will be sent through a pipe and back the way he/she came (this shortcut is a big time waster and should only be used to get items).
- DK Mountain: After being shot up the mountain you enter the grassy section below, after the first full 180 turn you can turn sharply to the right and jump over the abyss (this takes a little practice).
External links
- Official Site (http://www.mariokart.com/)
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!! at Nintendo.com (http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=m-Game-0000-652)
- Mario Kart Double Dash world records page (http://www.mariokart64.com/mkdd/)
- Warp Pipe (http://www.download.com/Mario-Kart-Double-Dash-Warp-Pipe-v0-3-5-Beta-for-Windows/3000-7524_4-10283628.html?tag=lst-0-1)- an application for Windows to play Mario Kart: Double Dash!! onlinefr:Mario Kart : Double Dash