Mario Kart : Double Dash

[Nexxi]

August 21, 2003 - The Mario Kart series has always held a special place in the hearts of Nintendo fans. Whether it was the N64 or, years before that, on the Super NES, there really is no other Nintendo series that so perfectly embodies that one of the most important elements that can make a game great, is the human one. Mario Kart alone is a fun game. Mario Kart with two (or on N64, four) becomes a pleasant curse that prevents you from turning off the game and partaking in less important activities. Like sleep, or eating...

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! hopes to continue that tradition and so far, the deck seems to be stacked in favor of Nintendo's upcoming GameCube racer. Not two, four, or even eight players -- 16 players is what Nintendo of Europe says will push the human factor in the new Mario Kart over the top. While a four-player mode is available via split-screen, gamers who want to aspire to such big numbers will of course have to own a lot of GameCubes, TVs, broadband adapters, and copies of the game. But it sounds fun, doesn't it? We'll have to take NOE's word for it, as the setup shown at today's Games Convention only featured a four-player linked LAN mode (and we've seen eight before). But if the game delivers on its promise, we might just have to convince the other IGN employees to bring all their consoles and TVs to work -- and we'll finally have a reason to use the #16 setting on our Wavebirds.

 

We've already told you about the strategic two characters per kart setup, the return of everyone's favorite race-altering offensive items, and the clean graphics engine, but there are probably more important things on your mind. How does it play? Did Nintendo and improve it over the games initial -- and let's not sugarcoat it -- disappointing showing? Is it faster?

 

Yep, it's faster. Though only slightly sped up over the last version we were able to sample, the 150CC karts in the demo shown at GC 2003 feel faster than the same class in Mario Kart 64. Alas, the track design of the stages we were able to sample is also far wider (no doubt in order to accommodate the large number of players), which still means that the game feels slow in comparison with most other action or mascot racers out there. Perhaps it's a product of the fact that companies are striving to make racers faster and faster to deliver that extra adrenaline rush, perhaps it's that the game is still waiting to get a little bit of that extra oomph to make it as fun with one or two players, as it is with eight.

 

But there is more to this version than meets the eye. What makes Double Dash!! instantly more fun to play for us longtime gamers is the addition of the now classic Mario Kart 64 skid boost. Press L or R in Double Dash and sparks will fly out of the back of your kart. Turn while holding the button and you will create a fiery trail and you will start to skid. Now push the stick repeatedly left and right while skidding into a turn and let go, and flames will shoot out of your racer's exhaust and give you an additional speed boost to help you overcome the competition. The great thing about this feature is that you finally have a purpose while you're waiting to catch up with your next opponent. You'll try to skid for every little turn, just to get the boost. There is currently no visual clue that you're doing things right, like in the N64 version, but perhaps Nintendo is still adding it for the final release.

 

In addition to the new skid control, Nintendo finally made good on its promise of character-specific weapons. Expect to see Yoshi's egg rolling around on the track when you're up against everyone's favorite dinosaur, for example. There is one special weapon per character, and there's plenty of new stuff in addition to the standard shells and bananas. How does a chomping Bowow or a triple fireball sound to you?

 

Okay, so we've got our control depth back, it's a bit faster, and thanks to the skid boost, you've got more to do while you're chasing or fleeing from the next player, but there is of course one important piece of the puzzle missing: the battle mode. Luckily, Nintendo did not disappoint us.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the non-networked GameCubes on the showfloor featured a four-player split screen demo of the now classic battle mode. Although it looks like there may potentially be a few more modes in the final game (there's an awful lot of room on that selection screen), Mario Kart: Double Dash!! will feature the Balloon Battle, as well as an all-new Bob-omb Blast mode.

 

 

 

In Balloon Battle, each player drives a kart with three balloons attached to it around a battle arena. The rules are simple: every time you get hit by an opponent, you lose a balloon. The last man standing wins. The demo featured two levels to try out the new karts (the handling is different from Mario Kart 64, so it'll definitely take you some time to get used to things and perform the same quick turns and nasty attacks you're used to). The first level is known as Pipe Plaza and is basically an altered version of the two-level stage in Mario Kart 64's battle mode. There are ramps in this square arena that lead up to those grid walkways (you know, the ones Mario can usually hang on to). The walkways in turn connect to horizontal green pipes that warp you from one end of the level to the other.

The other stage is simply called the GameCube Stage and it's just that: a GameCube serving as the basis for the stage. Players fight for survival on the completely obstacle free top of a GameCube console. It's all about driving skills, fleeing from turtle shells, and retaliating the worst way possible. While it may be chaotic in Balloon Battle, once you check into this stage in Bob-omb Blast, you'll be shocked by the mayhem that ensues. Bob-omb Blast has players collecting bombs instead of power-ups. The bombs appear in those same "?" blocks also found in the main modes. Collect more than one bomb and your kart's two occupants will start to juggle the explosive items on top of each other. If you've got 10 bombs, you'll be juggling a rather tall and precarious looking tower. But hording the bombs isn't the name of the game, either. At the press of a button, you'll hurl the bomb at your opponent, causing an explosion that will earn the attacking player one star. The player who gets to three stars wins.

 

Needless to say that four-player battles are great fun to play (although Bob-omb Blast tends to get a bit disorienting with all the explosions going off on the tiny screen -- but we're eager to see the Battle Mode LAN-style, where that nasty little Fran Mirabella finally can't peek at the other players screens again to find out where everyone's hiding.

 

So far, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! looks promising, but can still use some more tweaking in the speed and track design department. The graphics engine is more than ready, running smoothly at all times, with nice cartoony effects, and great player animations (sometimes the second player gets dragged behind the kart after a hit, for example). We're hoping that Nintendo will be able to pull it off and make Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as fun for one or two players as it is for 16 rich kids with networked systems.

 

 

IGN

 

 

 

 

Hvis dette spill blir halvparten så bra (eller bedre) som Mario Kart 64, frykter jeg for meg å mine venners fritid og skolegang.

:-?

"Balloon Battle" anyone?

[tankbug]

jeg har en kamerat som anmelder spill. han testet det på ei gamcube-messe i oslo, og han syntes det var helt konge. ser fram til det ja

[Niskivara]

Akk, så lenge til november....