Mario Kart: Double Dash

Retr0gamer

So what does everyone think about it?

Played it a bit yesterday. First impressions weren't good. The 50cc championship was far too easy and a bit of a joke. However when I tried the 100cc championship things got a lot more hectic and it began to feel like the mario kart I know and love (i.e. cheating catch up mode cpu drivers and the whole randomness of the items = great fun). Tried the 2 player with my brother and it was brilliant.

At the moment I prefer f-zero in single player but mario kart is the best multiplayer game around. Can't wait to get stuck into the 4-player mode

the_corpo

i'm utterly adoring it

cube feels like it's truly come to life

Shred

Played it for couple of hours last night and I really like it, some very funny moments. Played two player with the GF last night and we had some great fun, we hadn't played MK64 in ages (both of us love it) and it was great craic. Can't wait to have a four player (or 8 player:D ) 'cos that's where MK64 came into it's own. Havin' some people over for dinner tonight so we might give it a test run;)

Definately worth picking up.

Retr0gamer

Was just playing 3-player and it was great fun. The more I play the more I love it. Was great until Praetorian realised he wa so crap he had to go back to playing tron 2.0 because he missed his quicksaves

Then I stopped when his little brother was becoming too good at it

super_furry

Sadly I think I'll be taking this one back and exchanging it for something else. I've had it since Thursday and I've already done everything there is to be done in single player, won everything and unlocked everything and while the multi-player mode is fun, it's no better than the N64's. For a game that's released a full seven years after the previous installment, there's just not enough of an improvement and the whole 'two rider' thing is nothing but a nice gimmick that doesn't really affect gameplay.

still no goddamn 3 player grand prix...unless one person sits on the back of the cart which is no fun.


otherwise it's a great game. Nice feel to it.

honru

Suprising comments, and a remeniscent of what I felt a week after I got Mario Kart 64, a real disappointment in my opinion.

Nintendo seems to be rehashing all its racers and Mario Kart: DD!! seems no different. They should be on a scale of what Amusement Vision did with F-Zero GX.

I have two days left to preorder this (released in the US, this Tuesday) so more comments would be appreciated (I'm likely going to get it anyway). Is the AI good? Is it fast? Are the tracks and battle courses wide/large?

if you didn't like mk64 then you wont like this. imho

Kevok

The ai is pretty good in the higher cc's. They do the powerslide and everything.

Some things that one person finds funny will infuriate another. Personally I was laughing when I got hit by a blue shell as I was about to cross the finish line (It throws you in the air, all forward momentum is lost). Which left me coming 4th.

I was dissapointed with the battle mode at first, only 4 arenas. But there are 2 unlockable ones which it pretty good. And shine thief is quite possibly my favourite of all the modes, with bob-omb blast being pretty cool too.

Pugsley

Love this game, been playing it for 2 days more or less constant, currently wer down to our last trophy (all-stars league), and its 16 tracks.... we have the 50cc and 100cc both done, golds, but 150cc will take quite a few tries Im thinking because 150cc is very hard at the best of times.

the whole 'two rider' thing is nothing but a nice gimmick that doesn't really affect gameplay.

Play co-op then (2 people in your car) and see how much it effects gameplay, thats the way me and a few friends do all the grand prix's. Had a great 4player grand prix last night, 2 carts both doing co-op, on 150cc flowercup, great fun
This game definately races better if you do co-op, one person does the driving the other guy does everything else (he can even punch people off the road and steal their power ups), and in co-op its ure gunner who charges up your powerslide to get a boost of it, so you have to work together quite well.

still no goddamn 3 player grand prix...unless one person sits on the back of the cart which is no fun.

Actually gunning is a personal taste thing, between me and my 5 friends we have 3 drivers (me being one of them) and 3 gunners, some people just love to bash people up without worrying about falling off

Battle mode is good for a laugh now, Bob-omb blast is great fun on luigi's mansion (unlock it by getting gold on mushroom cup on 150cc), and you can play shine thief on any of the open maps and its absolute chaos..... 4 players on the cookie level

Mr E

Hmmm, interesting reviews.

I've decided that alot of people who bought this for single player will be offloading it pretty soon, so I'll grab it second hand.

-Dave.

quank

how can ye have a 8 player game (if u can have one)?

i thought the games looks pretty sweet:cool:

Celtic Tiger

You can have up to 16 players with a broadband adapter. No idea how much these cost though.

Overall the game is good. No complaints about the racing, four player versus is great fun. Although it does feel rather slow after playing F-Zero for 2 weeks but thats to be expected

Biggest dissapointment has to be the battle mode maps. MK64 battle mode is my fave mp game of all time and this is just such a let down. I haven't unlocked the other 2 maps yet (heres hoping they are an improvement). The 4 it starts with are too small and simple and they are a step back from the 3d maps of MK64 imho. Plus they are over way too fast. I wouldn't even class the GC level as a map, I mean its basically a square :mad: Why couldn't they have just thrown in the MK64 maps, it would have made such a difference. And also whats with removing the suicide bombs. It was such a laugh hunting down someone who killed you in MK64 and gave the players something to do when they were out.

Retr0gamer

Single player mode definitely doesn't have the lastability of snes mk. I'd love if they had the mk64 battle maps.

If you want a single player racer get f-zero. It's too random. However for mp get mario kart. The randomness adds to the fun (in mp you'll laugh when you get hit inches before the line, in sp the joypad will be out the window. Shine thief is an absolute blast.

The cpu seems to cheat a bit with perfectly timed lightnings and the kart that won the first race always coming first.

Tusky

Only problem I have with it is that the tracks seem very short... v.v.short

DiscoStu

hard to sum up really, i do like it yet i also intensley dislike it in equal measure.
track design is uninspired with the exception of dk mountain. the handling is ropey to say the least(i actually find it easier to keep a car under control in grand prix legends than mkdd). it is far to loose to allow you to avoid the myriad of seemingly random weapons flying around each track which in turn removes any real need for skill, you simply need to be very damn lucky to get anywhere in 100cc or 150cc(50cc is a joke, far to easy).
the coop mode is quite frankly rubbish and slightly pointless. the computer handles the punching people better than another person and removing control of the powerups from the driver only reduces thier effectivenes against the huge onslaught of computer controlled uber accurate green shells and other far to abundant weapons.

multiplayer also seems a bit iffy to me. first off classic battle mode dosent work on a multi layered map. that was shown quite clearly to be the case in mk64. it needs a free flowing open map without cul de sacs or other features that break up the flow of play. shine steal has the most potential of the multiplayer but needs at the very least 4 players. it would be fantastic over lan play with a full 16 player complement but where oh where do we buy our broadband adapters nintendo? good job pimping the "link 8 gamecubes" yet not making the hardware needed available to the vast majority of its customers, typical NoE nonsense. finally what is wrong with a vertical split screen, or even an option to have it either horizontal or vertical? everything looks horribly squashed and looks even worse on a widescreen tv.

even with all its problems though, it is above all fun. it will frustrate, you will curse an awful lot, you will want to put your foot through the tv, your wavebird will live up to its name as it flies out the window and you will want to make your gamecube a gamesquare after a stupid green shell hits you just as you cross the finish line stopping all forward movment while little baby mario goes flying past robbing you of the gold in the championship. its not Super Mario Kart, nothing ever will be and unfortunaly Mario Kart Double Dash suffers trying to live up to its lofty heritage. think of it as the matrix reloaded/revolutions only not as ****

Praetorian

Retro is one of those guys that gets a new game, masters it, and then thinks he's great when he brings it over and destroys you at it

Mario kart, good fun and nice game play if slightly limited. Dated graphics. 8.5 / 10

F-Zero, difficult although maintains a high level of fun. Lovely looking! 8.8 / 10

Finished Tron 2.0 last night halleluia!

rainbow kirby

RAINBOW ROAD IS TOO ****IN EASY! anyone agree with me on this one?
Still though, i LOVE this game. its just such ridiculously good fun... especially in multiplayer. shine thief rocks, especially when you grab the shine with 2 seconds to go in 4 player... dk mountain rocks. anyone else noticed that when you go flying out of the cannon with peach or daisy on the back of the kart you can see the royal bloomers of peach or daisy? tis hilarious...and the way whoevers on the back of the kart shakes their fist when they hit someone with a shell?

Retr0gamer

Retro is one of those guys that gets a new game, masters it, and then thinks he's great when he brings it over and destroys you at it

Thats no excuse since your little brother started to beat me in it by the end of playing it

If Gamespy is to be believed the Yanks are only getting this today.

Have to agree with discostu about the randomness of the cpu weapons. They are really beginning to annoy me especially since theres no retry option if you f*ck up. However the randomness works to it's advantage in multiplayer.

Rainbow road is a little easy in this game. When we first used princess peach in DK mountain we all had a great laugh when she went through the cannon

Kairo

Originally posted by rainbow kirby
RAINBOW ROAD IS TOO ****IN EASY! anyone agree with me on this one?
Still though, i LOVE this game. its just such ridiculously good fun... especially in multiplayer. shine thief rocks, especially when you grab the shine with 2 seconds to go in 4 player..

Rainbow Road is crazy. Its all very random..first time playing the track was on 100cc in a grand prix with two players, and I somehow managed to come first with no hassle. Every other time I play it now, I can't stop falling over the edge. Don't remember what combo/kart I used either.

Funnestest game I've played in a long time!

Shred

Had a four player on Saturday night, man it was brilliant fun we had such a laugh. I will say some of the tracks are a bit small though.
Believe it or not, I also had my first experience of Super Monkey Ball in four player mode (played it in two player previously) - we absolutely pissed ourselves laughing - tears were rolling down our faces:D

ondafly

love the game - with only 1 gripe, no Ghost level/haunted house level !

Jip

Does anyone have Diddy Kong Racing ? Much better than Mario Kart 64 and I still have the tune from it in my head and I haven't played it in years.
I only played DD the weekend for about a half hours so I can't really give a judgement on it, looks very nice though and I think having a driver and passenger is more than a gimmick, it can't be used well when you stock up on weapons.

Retr0gamer

I'm not the biggest fan of Diddy Kong Racing.

Advice: Feck mario kart. Just got my copy of viewtiful joe yesterday and it's brilliant and a much better single player game than mario kart.

rainbow kirby

Originally posted by Kairo
Funnestest game I've played in a long time!

Amen to that. Toad's special is cool, the golden mushroom. tis great in 150cc mode when coming 4th on the last lap...

deadduck

played it for a while yesterday, good in 1 player, brilliant with 2 or more. i think it's more like the snes mk than the 64 version ( which is a good thing in my opinion)

honru

I still haven't pre-ordered the game yet (released through Amazon this Thursday), but I still don't know whether its worth getting or not.

Before the game was coming out I was hoping that it would be set up on one of those gaming kiosks in HMV. Luckily, they added it today so I had an extensive (15 minute) playtest.

At first, it seemed pretty cool. I mean, its Mario Kart. But after awhile, I got the feeling that it just wouldn't be able to hold lastability-wise. The amount of options added to that doubt.

I rarely made use of that two-character mechanism that was so hyped up before (now I realise that this is because it is [pretty much] the only distinguishable feature in this new Mario Kart), and it really made me question its importance. The control was a little wonky aswell. Multiplayer looked cool, but if I'm deciding on getting a game the single-player must be more than commendable.

Plus, after completing F-Zero GX, this just wasn't as exciting; tame, if you will. It's fun, but I had much higher expectations.

I think Nintendo really should have used this title to launch itself into the online-gaming foray; its the ideal game. Without that and a larger step-up, its essentially Mario Kart 64 updated with the technical advantanges only the Gamecube can achieve (over the Nintendo 64).

I did have a go of DK Mountain though and its a great track, see why its getting mentioned in reviews.

I don't think I have a choice over not getting it though (Zelda bonus disc), unless 1080: Avalanche doesn't turn out to be a rehash too.

Ste-

Not sure if this was posted already but anyway.

http://cars.ign.com/articles/456/456713p1.html?fromint=1

Roller Toaster

I made the mistake of buying both DD!! and F-Zero on the same day. F-Zero blows my mind away, it's absolutely brilliant and wonderfully exciting with some truely fantastic and original levels. I played it for 5 hours straight the day I got it and then later on in the evening I stuck in Mario Kart. Oh. This is fun...enjoyable in short bursts and very colourful but it just doesn't compare to F-Zero in any real way. I played a good bit of multiplayer today, it was fun enough but nothing special although I will say I found the two player co-op system great fun. I've just unlocked the special cup now and I'm on to 150cc races now...I think I'll go back to F-Zero for the time being, I just have to wipe that smile off Black Bull's face.