Mario Kart Double Dash!! Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 4/15/2020)

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Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre(s): Racing

Platforms: GCN

Release Date: November 7, 2003

Racing games were never my thing. Many racing games just seemed like simulations to me, quasi-realistic exercises in giving the player the experience of driving cars that they can't afford in real-world places that they've never visited. Kart racers, however, are a tad more up my alley. They may be cartoony and targeted for children, but only means that their design deviates away from the bland realistic racing games that don't quite catch my interest. I'm sure everyone knows that the Mario Kart franchise dominates this racing game sub-genre by a considerable margin. Everyone has their favorites, mostly Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart DS, or Mario Kart 8. For myself, however, it's hard to beat the unadulterated mayhem of Mario Kart Double Dash!!

I'm not sure if I'm saying this because this was my first Mario Kart game, and nostalgia is clouding my judgment, but I've played many subsequent Mario Kart games since. I can say with utter certainty that my love for this game isn't due to perpetual nostalgia goggles. This Mario Kart entry is unique, for better or worse, depending on your general attitude toward this game. This game was the black sheep of the Mario Kart franchise for years because of all of the new features. The "double" in the title refers to having two characters in one kart, which is precisely why this game is as manic. Two characters in one kart simultaneously bring forth so many unique aspects of this game that add to the rampant chaos that I love about this game. The characters are paired off reasonably (Mario with Luigi, Donkey Kong with Diddy Kong, Yoshi with Birdo (?)), but you can customize your character pairings with whoever you want. Each character pairing has its particular item that varies in usefulness. My favorites are probably the Bowser shell or Wario/Walugi's bomb because you can get both items when you're in first and grief the shit out of the racers behind you. I think it's hilarious. Some people argue that this is the most unfair Mario Kart game because of the double amount of items one can have, but the madness envelops me. Sure, it's unfair that there are twice the amount of bananas and red item boxes on the tracks, and there are so many overpowered special items, but no one plays Mario Kart to simulate a leisurely stroll. Mario Kart Double Dash!! It is like the Mad Max of Mario Kart, and you have to play relentlessly to win. Besides, the blue shell is by far the most unfair item in all of the Mario Kart games, and it's in every subsequent Mario Kart game after this one. Why does the blue shell get a pass?

The 16 tracks in this game are spectacular and vary in size, and all have a smattering of obstacles. My favorite track is DK Mountain, probably due to being excited by the giant cannon that propels you up to the mountain. Other track highlights are Baby Park, Wario Colosseum, and Daisy Cruiser. This game also has my favorite iteration of Rainbow Road. The narrow tracks and sharp turns in Rainbow Road make it the most challenging one, but that makes it all the more epic in scale.

Mario Kart can be inherently unfair no matter which game in the franchise you're playing, so why would my favorite be the most unjust out of all of them? I can understand why so many people don't care for this game, but as the cliche states, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." When I was playing Mario Kart 8, I was strolling around the track (on 150cc, mind you) in the first place, wishing for a bomb to come out of nowhere and make me do a double flip 20 ft in the air like in this game. Maybe I'm a Mario Kart masochist, or perhaps I just need some unpredictability in my Mario Kart to make it more interesting.