Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a 2003 kart racing video game created and released by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the fourth main game in the Mario Kart series. Like earlier games, Double Dash!! lets players control characters from the Mario series as they race against each other on 16 tracks themed around the Mario universe. The game added new features, such as allowing two players to ride together in one kart.

Double Dash!! was released in November 2003 and received praise from critics for its graphics, new gameplay elements, variety of characters and items, arcade style, and track designs. However, some critics had mixed opinions about the game's audio. It was a commercial success, selling over 3.8 million copies in the United States and more than 802,000 copies in Japan. It is the second best-selling GameCube game of all time, with about 7 million copies sold worldwide, following Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Gameplay

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a racing game where players control characters from the Mario series. Each kart has two riders: the front rider steers the kart, and the back rider uses items. Players can pair any characters, such as Mario with Luigi or Mario with Bowser. In single-player mode, one player controls both riders, while in co-op mode, two players each control one rider. During races, players can accelerate, steer, reverse, brake, drift, switch positions, or use items and power-ups with the controller. The game supports up to 16 players in eight pairs on a local network.

Characters and karts are grouped into light, medium, and heavy classes. A character cannot ride a kart smaller than their class. Light karts have low top speeds but accelerate quickly and handle off-road terrain well. Heavy karts have high top speeds and can push lighter karts when they collide, but they accelerate slowly and lose speed on rough terrain. Medium karts balance speed and acceleration.

Players collect items and power-ups by hitting Item Boxes scattered on tracks. Items are chosen randomly and can help players or hurt opponents. Some pairs of characters have unique items, like Mario and Luigi, who can throw fireballs. Single Item Boxes give an item to the back rider, while Double Item Boxes give items to both riders. If a player crashes, their items fall onto the track, and any player who hits them gets the item immediately. In co-op mode, the back rider can steal items from opponents by pressing a shoulder button.

Players can drift by pressing a shoulder button while turning, allowing them to take tight turns without losing speed. Sparks from the kart’s tires change color during drifts; if sparks are blue when the drift ends, the player gains a short speed boost. At the start of a race, pressing the acceleration button when Lakitu’s signal turns green gives a speed boost. If both players in co-op do this at the same time, they get an even bigger boost.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has four game modes: Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, and Battle. In Grand Prix, players race in Cups with four tracks each. Points are given based on race finishes, and the top three racers receive gold, silver, and bronze trophies. Players can enter their initials if they set a new time record. Time Trial is a single-player mode where players race laps to set the fastest time. They can compete against a "ghost," a recording of their best time. A ghost cannot be created if the race is too slow or not faster than the current ghost. In Versus mode, two or more players race on any track, with the race ending when all but the last player finish. Settings like item frequency and laps can be adjusted.

Battle mode includes three multiplayer games on arenas. In "Balloon Battle," each player starts with three balloons. Losing all balloons eliminates a player, and the last remaining player wins. Balloons can be stolen using the same method as stealing items in races. In "Shine Thief," players compete to hold a Shine Sprite when a timer ends. The player holding the Shine Sprite at the timer’s end wins. In "Bob-omb Blast," players gain points by hitting opponents with Bob-ombs and lose points if hit. The first player to reach three or four points wins, depending on the number of players.

Development and release

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! was first shown at E3 2001 as a seven-second video clip. The clip showed Mario and Luigi driving their karts on a 3D surface with bumps and no background. At that time, the game was still being developed, and its working name was Mario Kart. In April 2003, Nintendo shared the first pictures and details of the game and announced the title as Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. At E3 2003, players could try a playable demo of the game. New features, such as allowing two characters to drive one kart, were added. An updated demo with more changes was shown at the Games Convention in August 2003. In September, Nintendo held a Gamers' Summit for reporters, where a nearly finished version of the game was displayed. The Gamers' Summit also announced the North American release date as November 17, 2003.

The development team had difficulty creating gameplay features that would please fans of the series. One of the hardest tasks for chief director Kiyoshi Mizuki was to attract people who had never played the series before. He decided to make the gameplay as simple as possible. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto shared many opinions with the team, and they had to choose the best ways to include them. Miyamoto allowed the team to select the graphics they wanted without limits.

Developers considered adding connectivity to the Game Boy Advance, but they decided it was not a good fit for the game and removed the idea. It was important to reduce the difference between skilled and new players. Features like the ability to escape bananas were removed to help both experienced and new players enjoy the game.

A bonus disc was given as a reward for pre-ordering the game in North America. The disc included playable demos of F-Zero GX, Mario Party 5, Sonic Heroes, Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It also had video trailers and allowed players to unlock extra content for Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade on the Game Boy Advance using the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable.

Reception

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! received mostly positive reviews from critics, according to the website Metacritic. Nintendo Power gave the game a perfect score, calling the graphics "3-D perfection" and the controls and game mechanics "as good as any GameCube racing game." Bro Buzz of GamePro said the gameplay remained "fast and furious." Justin Leeper and Andy McNamara of Game Informer praised the feature of having two players on each kart. McNamara said, "Letting players control two different characters is fun in single-player, but adding a friend on the back of your kart in multiplayer makes the game more exciting." Bryn Williams of GameSpy called Double Dash a "great-looking, great-playing game that most gamers will like." Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer said the game was one of the "finest pieces of electronic entertainment ever made." Louis Bedigian of GameZone said no other GameCube racing game was as "spectacular" as Double Dash. Andrew Pfister of GMR said, "Mario Kart: Double Dash is the most fun you'll have with a game this year, and maybe even next year." Electronic Gaming Monthly said the game's "pure, exciting fun will make you feel happy."

Reactions to the music were mixed. Ryan Davis of GameSpot and Skyler Miller of Xplay said the music was upbeat, with Davis noting some tracks were in the styles of ska, swing, and big band. Leeper and Bramwell said the music was catchy, and Bramwell and Jonathan Metts of Planet GameCube liked that the soundtrack had original songs instead of reused music from the series. However, Metts and Fran Mirabella III of IGN said the music was simple and not impressive, and Metts thought the use of whistling was unusual. Electronic Gaming Monthly also said some music was not very good. Chris Sell of PALGN said the music was okay but not as catchy as earlier Mario Kart games. Bro Buzz said the audio was "safe and sweet" but felt it was becoming too familiar. Leeper, Davis, and Metts warned that character voices were repeated, with Metts noting that each character had only one line for winning. Mirabella and Sell said the game's Dolby Pro Logic II support helped players hear when opponents were near.

Double Dash received some criticism. Ryan Davis said he was "a little disappointed" with the game's limited features, as it had been seven years since Mario Kart 64. Fran Mirabella of IGN called the game a "mediocre effort" for not improving much from its predecessor. G-Wok of GameRevolution said the single-player mode lacked depth and the tracks were "bland."

In its first seven weeks, Double Dash sold 1 million copies, making it the fastest-selling GameCube game at that time. By July 2006, it had sold 2.2 million copies and earned $105 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 12th best-selling game for PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube between 2000 and 2006 in the U.S. The game sold 3.8 million copies in the U.S. and over 802,000 in Japan. It received a "Gold" sales award from ELSPA, showing at least 200,000 copies sold in the UK. According to NPD Group, Double Dash was the best-selling game in November 2003. It was the third best-selling GameCube game in Australia and was re-released there as Players Choice. Joystiq reported in 2009 that the game sold nearly seven million copies worldwide.

The game won the "Multiplayer Game" award from ITV's Game Stars in 2004. It also received the GameCube Video Game of the Year award from the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA). During the AIAS 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Double Dash was nominated for "Console Racing Game of the Year."

In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked Double Dash 63rd in its list of the 100 greatest Nintendo games. In 2021, Kotaku ranked it as the second best Mario Kart game, praising its two-player co-op mode and track design.