Entry 7- Mario Kart Double Dash

 Welcome back fellow nerds, we are now on entry 7 of this blog! There are not many entries left to go after this and while it will be sad to say goodbye to the blog, it has been a nice little experience I am glad I got to try out so thank you to those who decided to stick along with me if you have. Anyways, let's dive in to our game of discussion today. Today we will be discussing Mario Kart Double Dash for the Nintendo GameCube released in 2003.

Now Mario is a character that needs absolutely no introduction regardless on how familiar one is with the gaming industry. Ever since he was created in 1981 by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto he has become a cultural icon spawning hundreds and hundreds of games for countless systems and platforms for over 40 years, not to mention the countless amount of merchandise, TV shows, movies, and theme park attractions that have been created as a result of the series success. The reasons for his success boil down to many factors but the key one here is how accessible and easy it is to pick up a Mario game for newcomers, as well as the many different kinds of gaming genres Mario tackles from platforming games, to party games, to sports games, and of course arguably his most well known genre for casual gamers, racing games.

The Mario Kart series started in 1992 for the Super Nintendo and has since become one of Nintendo's most successful franchises. Each Nintendo system that has come out since then has had a brand new Mario Kart game released for it and you can bet that they will always be part of the top 10 best selling games on each system. These games are fun and addicting regardless how well one knows Mario. Newcomers will enjoy the games because they are easy to pick up and play, and they are bright, fast and colorful. Hardcore gamers will enjoy it because of the competitiveness of the gameplay and attention to detail and references from Mario games prior that make fans smile. Out of the 14 Mario Kart games that have released, there is one game in particular that many fans wish would see a return to the series as its formula has not since been replicated in later installments. That particular entry is Mario Kart 4, aka Mario Kart Double Dash.

Mario Kart Double Dash is considered to be one of the best and most unique entries in the series for multiple reasons. In past Mario Kart games only one character per player could be chosen, but in this entry you can now select two characters per player. The idea here is that one character drives while the other collects items to throw at other players, preventing them from getting ahead in the race. There are a total of 20 characters to choose from with nearly 200 combinations selectable of which teams you want to use. The neat thing about it is depending on the characters weight classes, the types of vehicles one can select will vary and it really shows which  teams work best for some players while other teams work more for others. Of course there are already signature pairs the game gives out: Mario/Luigi, Peach/Daisy, Wario/Waluigi, Yoshi/Birdo etc.. But its honestly much more interesting seeing how many random combinations one can make, such as Daisy/Waluigi, Baby Luigi/Wario, Diddy Kong/Yoshi etc... Characters this time around also get special vehicles that are themed to them as well as special items that can only be accessed by said characters, and depending on which ones the player finds the most effective will help make them figure out which ones to go with as their main choices.

The gameplay and modes are very simple but they are also very effective. The controls include A to accelerate, B to break and reverse, Y and X to use items, Z to switch positions and using the control stick to change directions. The grand prix mode allows players to pick a cup tournament and race each other for four races. Whoever gets the most points in the cup wins. Then there are the two main multiplayer modes which allow you to race in regular races, or play battle mode and compete in different arenas with three minigames. There is also time trial modes for single players who want to test their ways around the different courses and see if they can beat developer's times/ghosts. This game does experiment with the amount of how many people can play thanks to LAN adapter capability, which allows for Four TVs and Four GameCubes connected together to play up to 16 player! While this sounds a bit complicated and tedious to set up in todays world of easily accessible online multiplayer, this was a huge deal back in 2003 as games prior had nowhere near that huge of an experiment. For a more simplistic version, players could also share controllers with one person doing the driving while the other throws the items, and the players can take turns switching throughout the race. Either way you go about it, there is a lot of fun and replayibility to be had with this game.

Now, how does the game look and sound nowadays? While the games character models have definitely aged compared to Mario Kart 8 and how high quality that game looks, they looked really good for the time and were impressive for being the first fully 3D character models in the series, but now they honestly look more balloon like, as if they were floats for a Macy's Parade. The courses on the other hand look so much better and still look great today, even if they do not have the HD graphics one can find on the Switch. The courses all have different references to various Mario games and spinoffs from before it: From Mario Sunshine to Luigi's Mansion to Donkey Kong Country to Yoshi's Island and many many more. Each course is also accompanied by a memorable soundtrack composed by Shinobu Tanaka and Kenta Nagata. There are 16 courses overall and while the selection is smaller compared to the later entries, some of the most memorable tracks debut in this game such as Waluigi Stadium, Daisy Cruiser, Mushroom City, DK Mountain, Baby Park and many more. Of course what Mario Kart would be complete without Bowser's Castle or Rainbow Road. This game has some of the most memorable iterations of those two stages both musically and aesthetically. Many of these  courses would later be reused in the retro cups in the later games much to the delight of fans.

Overall for my final thoughts, I absolutely consider this one of the best racing games of all time as well as one of the best GameCube games of all time. I spent hours of my life from childhood to adulthood racing my sisters and our friends and cousins during sleepovers and holiday events. The game just has so much charm that pretty much anyone can walk into it and have a great time with it. It is a shame that later entries have not implemented the double character selection element since then, but hopefully we will one day see a return to it. I give this game a 9.5/10. An absolutely iconic game that I recommend for anyone. Unfortunately outside of playing on an emulator or on  the authentic GameCube and Wii consoles (copies are much more pricy nowadays even used) this one is a bit more on the expensive side if you want to collect, but believe me it is absolutely worth it.

Thank you guys for reading and please join me next time as we enter the 8th and final entry for this blog where I talk about a game that is truly special to me, but until then stay nerdy my friends! Iron Pearl Out!