Mario Kart: Double Dash

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Players: 1 – 4
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Platform(s): Gamecube

Score: 8

Review by: Tim Harris

            It's Time to Burn rubber with "Mario Kart: Double Dash"

Mario. No matter who or where you say this name, everyone knows who your talking about. I've always been a fan of Mario. Especially Mario Kart. Back when it was on 64, I spent countless hours in my room. My mom was happy when they brought it to GBA. I could play it outside. Now it's back and better than ever on the Gamecube. Double Dash is the most fast paced Mario game ever. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't F-zero with a Mario license. It's a fun, wacky racer that anyone of any age group can enjoy. All your Mario favorites are here. Mario, Luigi, peach, Yoshi ect. But this game actually improves on an already terrific game.

Double Dash allows not one, but two character vehicles. Which means, aiming the items is much less tedious. Because of this, Double Dash is able to take multiplayer racing to a whole new level. While you drive your buddy can throw items. Also, each character has there own unique ability, which makes using different partners much more fun, than using the same character over and over again. Also players can switch jobs in the race. Which means if you're tires of driving, your pal can take over for a while. Another thing I like is that system link that you never use, can finally come in handy. You can link up another GCN to yours and have 8 people playing at once. The hard part is having a room with two TVs next to each other.

The battle games are much improved this time around, with bigger better arenas, and the system link only makes it that much better. Trust me 8 people in battle mode is a ton of fun and Now the downside. As great as this game is it gets old pretty fast. The races become repetitive, and while there are a lot of tracks, It just gets old. Mario Kart, like Smash Bros, is a party game. It's a heck of a lot more fun, with more people. And while single player is fine, the average gamer will start to lose interest. Finally there's the fact that there's no online play. This game would've have been so much better if you could go toe to toe with players around the world. But all this aside, Double Dash is a fantastic game that anyone can enjoy. I'm giving it an 8.