Mario Kart: Double Dash

18 months of waiting for it. 18 months of milling around, playing second class racers, waiting for its arrival. 18 months of waiting for updates, scouring for screenshots and praying for a release date. 18 months? Pfft. I’d have waited 18 years for a game this good to come along.

The 2 players per kart gimmick has failed to water down this hell of a racer – in fact, it has little to nothing which influences the gameplay, apart from adding a little bit of spice when it comes to selecting your partnership. The fact that it is only your kart which has any bearing on your weight, speed and acceleration is something of a let down for me – exploring strange partnerships like Baby Mario and Bowser don’t hold no interest to me, as it shall be no different to a DK/Bowser Partnership.

The one thing that different partnerships do have is different specials, and choosing your team basically comes down to which specials you’d like to have. Choosing a good team with a good set of specials can be vital to your survival.

Kart designs is one highlights of the game – they look good and have their unique characteristics. Bowsers kart is typically, a slow starter, but as the race progresses, it picks up speed, whilst being one hell of a heavy vehicle, where as the paratrooper kart is a quick starter, good turner, but will lose if it ever comes toe – to – toe with one of the heavy weights. In the end, it all comes down to horses for courses, or, rather, karts for courses, with each of the vehicles being more suited to individual courses, which comes in handy in time trial mode.

The game itself is everything you’ve ever come to expect from a Mario kart game – it’s fast, it’s frantic and it’s one hell of a lot of fun. God can’t help you when you’re out on the tarmac – but a red shell might. Winning a race often comes down to more luck than skill, especially on the harder difficulty levels, but those with ultimate power-sliding and those that utilise their weapons correctly should be able to overcome any destruction that may occur. 150cc is one hell of a beast to try and beat, especially with the boosts the opposition get – if you’re in first place for most of a race, you can almost guarantee that you’ll get hit by around 3 blue shells and 5 red shells, and just scrape 2nd place – it’s almost better on 150cc to be a less able driver.

Multiplayer has to be the best feature of the game, however, and with a few friends and a Saturday afternoon you can whittle away the time whilst blowing each other to pieces with bananas, bombs and stars. Balloon battleis as good as always, whilst newcomer Shine Theif almost steals the spot light from the old favourite, with its capture the flag style, and frantic gameplay, it’ll soon be a fan favourite. Bob-omb blast has its merit, but pales in comparison to the others.

Overall, Mario kart is a must have for any GC owner, and a must play for anyone who’s ever loved the SNES original. Million seller? You bet.

4 and a half Pacs out of 5