Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

(Redirected from Mario Kart: Double Dash)


Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a racing game made by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. It is the fourth Mario Kart game.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Developer(s)Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development Tokyo Development Department
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)
  • Yasuyuki Oyagi
  • Futoshi Shirai
  • Daiji Imai
Producer(s)
Designer(s)Tsuyoshi Watanabe
Programmer(s)Kenji Yamamoto
Artist(s)Junji Morii
Composer(s)
  • Shinobu Tanaka
  • Kenta Nagata
SeriesMario Kart
Platform(s)GameCube
ReleaseNovember 7, 2003[1] EUNovember 17, 2003[1] AUS
Genre(s)Kart racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

New things have been added in this game. The most popular change is that you can play as two characters at a time. If you have a special cable for the Nintendo GameCube, you can plug it in to play against up to 15 people. Nine characters returned, while 11 new characters appeared. A special item for each character has also been added. Lots of people liked Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Its score on Metacritic was 87 out of 100. People liked the looks and the new characters, modes etc., but people did not like the character's voices. Lots of people liked this game. 3.8 million Mario Kart: Double Dash!! CDs were sold in the United States, and more than 802,000 Double Dash!! CDs were sold in Japan.

Gameplay

Double Dash!! is different to the other Mario Kart games. You can now use two characters at a time. One drives and the other one uses items. You can not put an item at the back of the kart as a shield against shells, so you will have to quickly move away from them instead. This is the first game where the characters lose their items when they get hit. Players can also steal items from other characters. If a character makes blue sparks, they get a small boost (called a mini-turbo).[2]

Up to four people can go against each other in this game. As well as the other games, the race tracks have lots of twists and turns and things to try to drive away from. There are some mini-games in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Double Dash!! lets 16 people play against each other if one of them has a special type of cable.

There are twenty playable characters. Eleven of them are new to the series. Characters have their own items/special abilities. The characters speed, acceleration etc. depends on the weight. There are 16 race tracks. There is also a "150cc Mirror Cup". In Mirror Cup mode, you are still playing the normal game but looks like you are looking into a mirror and playing Mario Kart (minus your own face).[3]

Development

Double Dash!! was first shown in 2001. People saw Mario and Luigi driving their karts on a flat floor for seven seconds. It was being made and was basically Mario Kart at the time.[4] In April 2003, Nintendo showed pictures of the game and said that the game would be called "Mario Kart: Double Dash!!".[5] In 2003, some people were able to play a demo of the game (not all characters and tracks were in it). New things, like having two characters drive one kart, had been added.[6] A new demo with some new things was shown at the Games Convention in August 2003.[7] In September, Nintendo showed people a nearly complete and more sped up version of Double Dash!!. The Gamers' Summit also said that the game would be out in North America on the 17th of November, 2003.[8]

The guys who made the game struggled to come up with new stuff the fans would like. Kiyoshi Mizuki, the main director, had a hard time with was how to hook new fans into the game; he decided to make it as simple as possible. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto gave the staff some pointers about stuff to put in the game the best they could. He let them pick out how they wanted to do the graphics.[9]

The staff wanted to let people play online but the technology was not good enough for that yet. They also wanted to do something with a Game Boy Advance connection for this game, but they decided Double Dash!! did not fit anything like that. They wanted to make sure the really good plaers and the not-so-good players were all able to have fun with this game, so they took out things like not slipping when you hit a banana.[9]

The game music was made by Shinobu Tanaka and Kenta Nagata.[10] A lot of the main Mario voice actors came back for this game, like Charles Martinet as Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi; Jen Taylor as Princess Peach, Toad, Toadette, and Birdo; Deanna Mustard as Princess Daisy; Kazumi Totaka as Yoshi; Scott Burns as Bowser; and Dolores Rogers as Bowser Jr.[11]

Tracks

  • An asterix shows that the track reappears in Mario Kart DS.
  • A plus sign shows that it reappears in Mario Kart Wii.

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 Circuit (*)
  • DK Mountain (+)

Special Cup

  • Wario Colosseum
  • Dino Dino Jungle
  • Bowser Castle
  • Rainbow Road

Reception

 
Review scores
Publication Score
Edge 5/10[12]
Electronic Gaming Monthly 9.83/10[13]
Game Informer 9.25/10[14]
GameSpot 7.9/10[15]
GameSpy      [16]
GamesRadar      [17]
GameZone 9.7/10[18]
IGN 7.9/10[19]
Nintendo Power      [20]
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
Metacritic 87/100[21]

Most people liked Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and it sold a lot. This game got the "Multiplayer Game" award from ITV's Game Stars in 2004.[22] It's sold about 4.67 million times around the world, 3.8 million in the United States,[23] and over 802,000 in Japan.[24] The NPD Group says Double Dash!! was the best-selling game of November 2003.[25] It's also the third best-selling GameCube game in Australia.[26] In October 2006, the NPD Group said this game sold seventh best for the GameCube in the United States.[27]

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS" (PDF). Nintendo.co.jp. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  2. Alfonso, Andrew. "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Guide – Basics". IGN. Archived from the original on 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  3. Alfonso, Andrew. "Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ Guide – Secrets". IGN. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  4. "Mario Kart for GameCube". IGN. 2001-06-06. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
  5. "Mario Kart Double Dash Revealed". IGN. 2003-04-23. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  6. Lewis, Cory D. (2003-05-14). "E3 2003: Hands-on Mario Kart: Double Dash!!". IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-01-27. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  7. Schneider, Peer (2003-08-21). "GC 2003: Playing Mario Kart". IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  8. Mirabella III, Fran (2003-09-17). "NGS 2003: Mario Kart: Double Dash!!". IGN. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  9. 9.0 9.1 "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - the Interview!". Computer and Video Games. 2003-11-03. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
  10. "Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ Info". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  11. "Full cast and crew for Mario Kart: Double Dash‼". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  12. "Mario Kart: Double Dash!". Edge (Future Publishing): 98. Christmas 2003. 
  13. "Mario Kart: Double Dash!". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis): 230. December 2003. 
  14. Leeper, Justin; McNamara, Andy. "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! review". Game Informer. Archived from the original on January 15, 2004.
  15. Davis, Ryan (November 13, 2003). "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  16. Williams, Bryn (November 1, 2003). "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! review". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 17, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  17. Elston, Brett (April 13, 2006). "Mario Kart: Double Dash!!". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on February 13, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  18. Bedigian, Louis (November 17, 2003). "Mario Kart: Double Dash Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  19. Mirabella III, Fran (November 11, 2003). "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! review". IGN. Archived from the original on March 3, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  20. "Mario Kart: Double Dash!". Nintendo Power (Nintendo): 154. January 2004. 
  21. "Mario Kart: Double Dash!! reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  22. Radd, David (2004-04-19). "United Kingdom: Game Stars Awards (GCN)". GameDaily. Archived from the original on 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  23. "US Platinum Videogame Chart". The Magic Box. 2007-12-27. Archived from the original on 2007-01-06. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  24. "GameCube Best Selling Ranking". Shrine of Data Sales Database. 1997-11-05. Archived from the original on 2005-02-25. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
  25. Thorsen, Tor (2003-12-17). "Monthly NPD console game sales chart: November 2003". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  26. Vuckovic, Daniel (2006-10-16). "The Best Selling GameCube Games - Australia's Choice". Vooks. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  27. Hatfield, Daemon (2006-11-13). "Best-Selling Games: October 2006". IGN. Archived from the original on 2007-12-22. Retrieved 2008-02-28.

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