Mario Kart: Double Dash!! [GC]

Today in downtown San Francisco, CA, Nintendo held a Gamers' Summit for the press. It is day one of two and the publisher focused on touting its first-party lineup; tomorrow third-parties will get more space to show their products. The two big-name titles to show up in updated form were the NST-developed 1080: Avalanche and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, which is developed internally at Nintendo's Japanese headquarters.

Last July, Nintendo held a similar event where it showcased its summer titles, including F-Zero GX and Mario Golf. Mario Kart showed up, but it was still the E3 2003 version. As reported, that version was definitely too slow and incomplete for anyone to really tell how the much-anticipated mascot racer would turn out. So here we are just two months later and Nintendo has carted -- pardon the pun -- in a whole new, updated version for the press to play.

And play we did.

Features

• One of the most popular games franchises ever -- new and improved for GameCube
• Huge cast of mascot characters including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, and many more
• Two-player per kart dynamic: switch to hold more items than before
• Character-specific power-ups; Yoshi rolls his egg, Wario can toss bombs, and the whole cast has new tricks
• Several modes of gameplay: Grand Prix, Time Trials, and Battle
• Multiplayer mayhem -- one to four-player Battles and regular races; plus, two-player cooperative support for Grand Prix!
• LAN play lets you use an Ethernet cable to link two to eight GameCubes on separate TVs
• Supports Logitech steering wheel controller
• Progressive scan supported
• Pro Logic II enabled
• Planned November 17, 2003 release
• Rated E for "Everyone"

Double Dash!! is easily one of the most anticipated titles in the history of GameCube. It's brand new and packed with more features than its predecessors. Everything from the three new Grand Prix cups to the three Battle mode types is completely fresh. We've previously discussed the general game mechanics, so we'll spare repeating that, but with a more complete version on display at this recent Gamers' Summit there is definitely a lot more to the picture.

Let's get the obvious point out of the way: the speed. Few people deny, including Nintendo executives, that the E3 2003 build -- the first playable version shown -- of MK: DD was too slow. Whether played at 50cc or 150cc, the pace of the game was alarmingly sluggish. The wider tracks only heightened this sensation. The beloved power slide was also missing. Nintendo promised these problems were on its radar and that they would be resolved before the game's release this November.

Good news is they weren't kidding. This seemingly near-final build of Mario Kart for GameCube is indisputably faster than the previous build. No longer are you distracted by the pace. Instead, your focus can be directed where it should be: strategizing item pick-ups, managing sharp turns with the power slide, and gunning for first place every time. To us, it felt comfortably quick. In other words, sure we wouldn't mind seeing its pace bumped up just a little faster, but it's also at a point where it feels right. Like a Chomp-Chain has been lift from atop our crushed expectations, there is now plenty of room to breath; Double Dash!! can be fully enjoyed for the same addictive gameplay its forefathers standardized.

With that settled, let's move on and discuss the different modes that were on display. We'll start with Grand Prix. Nintendo pretty much gave us access to the entire gameplay experience here. The catch: nothing could be unlocked. They didn't want any secrets getting out, but a company representative noted, "There are many, many secrets in this game." They left it at that, but, hey, that whets our appetite. We're hoping they've left enough behind closed doors to keep the single-player experience worthwhile. As for Grand Prix itself, we had access to the 12 tracks. They include the following:

Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Star Cup
Mushroom Cup	Mushroom Bridge	Sherbert Lane
Luigi Circuit	Mario Circuit	Mushroom City
Baby Park	Daisy Cruise	Yoshi Circuit
Dry Dry Desert	Waluigi Stadium	DK Mountain

We checked pretty much all of them out. The track designs pleased in almost every regard. Every track had something unique about it that demonstrated a different part of the gameplay. Waluigi Stadium, one of our favorites, was an MX-style course with slowly-rotating flame propellers and Piranha Plants jutting out horizontally to block your way. Another, Yoshi Circuit, was filled with twists and turns -- a perfect level for pros to show off their skills. Then there was Daisy Cruise, which had players rounding the edges of a giant cruise liner. Unique, indeed.