Summary:

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a racing game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. The game is the fourth installment in the Mario Kart series, following Mario Kart: Super Circuit from 2001. It was succeeded by the handheld game Mario Kart DS, which was released for the Nintendo DS in 2005.
Similar to previous titles, Double Dash!! incorporates characters from the Mario series and pits them against each other as they race on different, Mario-themed tracks. The game introduced a number of new gameplay features, most notably the inclusion of two riders per kart. Double Dash!! supports LAN play using the Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter, allowing 16 players to compete simultaneously. There are 20 characters to select from in total, with eleven of them being new to the series. A special item for each character has also been implemented.
Double Dash!! was generally well received by critics; it attained an aggregated score of 87 out of 100 on Metacritic. Reviewers praised the graphics and the new gameplay features, but criticized the voice acting. It was also commercially successful, selling over 3.8 million copies in the United States, and over 802,000 copies in Japan.

Gameplay:

Double Dash!! is a kart racing video game in which the player races in a kart against other teams in different courses. The game screen indicates the current standings in a race, the current speed of the player's kart and incoming weapons. Like in the previous installments, players can pick up item boxes to receive a randomly selected item and use it to impede the opposition and gain the advantage. Some items, such as shells and bananas, allow the player to hit others to slow them down, while other items, such as the star power-up, render them temporarily invincible to attacks. This is the only game in the series in which instead of one character per kart, there are two: one to drive, and one to use items; and is also the first in the series where players drop their items when hit by a weapon. The powerslide technique, an action that allows the player to drift around turns, has been improved; players can tilt the control stick while drifting to make sparks appear around their kart. If tilted enough, the sparks turn blue, and the player gains a speed boost known as a "mini-turbo". The rocket start technique, an action that allows the player to gain a speed boost when a race starts is also improved as the Double Dash!!, which can only be done as a team.

--Game modes--

There are four game modes in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Grand Prix, Time Trial, Versus, and Battle. Most of the modes can be played cooperatively, while some can only be played by themselves in single-player races.

Grand Prix – This mode has the player race against seven (or six) teams, which are controlled by the computer, in a series of predetermined courses. The player can choose to race using three different engine size classes: 50 cc, 100 cc and 150 cc. A fourth unlockable class, Mirror Mode, allows the player to race through a mirrored version of the tracks using the 150 cc engine size. Since all karts go faster when using higher engine sizes, the four classes serve as difficulty levels. There are sixteen tracks, divided into four cups: Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special. A fifth cup has the player race in every single track called the All-Cup Tour. The tour always starts with Luigi Circuit and ends with Rainbow Road, but the remaining fourteen tracks show up in random order. After all the human players cross the finish line, the positions of the computer-controlled teams are immediately locked and they are given points based on those eight positions, ranging from zero to ten. At the end of the cup, there will be an award ceremony for the three teams, where they will get a trophy ranging from bronze to gold. No matter which position they earned after each race, everyone will move on because of these new rules.

Time Trial – This single-player mode has the player to finish any of the sixteen courses in the fastest time possible, with the best time being saved as a ghost, a carbon copy of the player's performance that they can race against in later runs. Each character will receive a mushroom, which can be used at anytime during the race.

Versus – In this mode, players can choose any course and race against up to three human opponents with customized rules such as changing the item frequency or the number of laps. If there is only one lap in a race, then the Final Lap fanfare will play when a race begins.

Battle – In battle mode, the player fights against up to three human-controlled opponents using items scattered throughout a battle arena. There is the traditional balloon-popping battle game, in which the player must use items to pop an opponent's three balloons while defending their own. In addition, two new games have been implemented: the first involves capturing a Shine Sprite and maintaining possession of it for a time period, and the other involves throwing Bob-ombs at each other to collect points. As in previous installments, the battle arenas are enclosed, with a varying layout and a replenishing arsenal of items.

LAN play – Double Dash!! also features LAN play using the Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter. Up to eight GameCube consoles can be connected, allowing for 16-player multiplayer races, with two players controlling each kart.

Characters:

Players can choose from a cast of 20 playable drivers. All of the characters have their own special items which are unique to them, like Mario and Luigi with Fireballs; Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong with Giant Bananas; Bowser and Bowser Jr. with Bowser Shells; Yoshi and Birdo with Eggs; Peach and Daisy with Hearts, Wario and Waluigi with Bob-ombs, and Toad and Toadette with Golden Mushrooms with the exception of Petey Piranha and King Boo who use any special item excluding Luigi's Green Fireball and Birdo's Pink Egg. There are 21 karts in all and the character's weight class (light, middle, or heavy) determines the kart in which they can ride as well as their speed, acceleration, and weight attributes.
In addition to the playable drivers, other characters have supporting roles in this game as well. Lakitu reprises his role as the referee, helping racers in various situations such as announcing laps, giving the signal to begin racing and battling with its traffic lights hanging on a fishing pole, and taking teams back on track in case they fall off course. Other supporting characters appearing in this game include Shy Guys, Goombas, Nokis, Toadsworth, Piantas, Chain Chomps, Piranha Plants and more. It should also be noted that this is the very first time that Toadette has appeared in the Mario franchise.

Sources and Citations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Kart_Double_Dash!!

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