Mario Kart: Double Dash

"Team up for twice the fun!"

- Box art

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a kart racing video game released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. It is fourth installment in the Mario Kart series. Like the other games in the series, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a frantic, arcade Kart racer that features various Mario characters racing each other on various tracks, using weapons and power-ups to either impede your opponent's progress, or improve yours. It supports 1-4 players in competitive or co-op play. It can even be played co-op with 8 players over LAN. The biggest new addition to the game, compared to previous games in the series, are the two-person karts. One character drives up front while the other handles the weaponry in the back. The weight of the two characters, and the position they are in can affect how the kart controls. The combination of characters also determines what Karts are available for the player to use.

Hopping is not an ability in the game. Instead, players power slide, bringing the blue sparks to get a slight boost around turns. There are also new multi-player battle modes as seen below, new tracks, and new weapons such as the Chain Chomp. It is one of the few GameCube games that is primitively playable over LAN.

Game Modes

 * Mario GP - Where you race eight computer controlled racers.
 * VS' - Where you race human players.
 * Battle
 * 'Balloon Battle' - The traditional battle mode, where players have 3 balloons strapped to their kart. When hit, whether by a shell or bomb, they lose one balloon. Whoever runs out of balloons is out of the game. Last kart standing wins.
 * Get the Shine - A Shine Sprite appears on the field. Whoever reaches it first gets it, and must hold on to it for 60 seconds. If they are hit by other players, they drop the shine, and anyone can pick it up. The timer restarts, though it will gradually become less. The person with the Shine when the timer hits 0 wins.
 * Bob-omb Battle - The only weapons are stacks of Bob-ombs. Players toss them recklessly at each other. Whoever throws the most bombs at opponents throughout the time, wins.

Track Listing
When beginning the game in Grand Prix mode, you can select one of three races including the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and Star Cup. Each race has four tracks. After winning a gold trophy on the Star Cup at 100cc, you will unlock the Special Cup race.

After winning a gold trophy on the Special Cup race at 150cc, you will unlock a special All-Cup Tour in all three modes. It features all 16 tracks beginning with Luigi Circuit and ends with Rainbow Road. The other 14 tracks are placed in a random order.

After winning a gold trophy in the All-Cup Tour, you will unlock a special Mirror Mode. The tracks and animations will appear in reverse, however, the controls will not change. Mirror Mode will always be 150cc mode.

Winning a gold trophy on All-Cup Tour in Mirror Mode, the Parade Cart will be unlocked.

Characters

 * * denotes an unlockable character.

Items

 * Red Shells
 * Green Shells
 * Spiny Shells
 * Mushrooms
 * Bananas
 * Fake Item Boxes
 * Specials (equipped to each pair based on their theme)

Karts
There are 21 different carts that you can use in this game. However, most of these karts must be unlocked before you can use them. Each of the 20 characters has their own themed kart.

Just like characters, karts are divided into three weight classes. The weight class of your kart must match the weight class of your heaviest character. (Sorry, you won't be able to see Bowser and Wario stuffed into the baby carriage.)

Additionally, you can unlock the parade kart that first place winners ride on during the award ceremony. This kart can be used by characters in any weight class.

Unlockables
The game contains several unlockable items including karts, races, characters, and battle stages. By winning a gold trophy in each of the following races, you can unlock the following items: