Mario Kart: Double Dash news

[GreenShirT]

Nintendo have said that Mario Kart 64 will not be included in teh demo disk when DD is preordered.
Although I suck at it Mario Kart is fun, thoughts?

[red13n]

Alright, question...How can you suck at Mario Kart?

[Razola]

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Note that the game DOES have two exclamation marks) will be coming with a demo disk if you pre-order it.

While the Zelda bonus disk was cool, this was probably done to ensure that those who hated the cell-shaded look would buy the game. Mario Kart really has no controversy of that scale and thus Nintendo is just offering a small treat for those who pre-order.

EDIT: It's very easy to suck at Mario Kart if one person you play with ALWAYS gets the item they need. I hope the character-specific items will reduce the randomness a bit.

[GreenShirT]

It is also easy to suck as I have never owned a Mario Kart game so the times I have playe dthem have been at someones house who owns the game.
Not owning the game means I am not used to the controls or the best way to play etc so compared to all the other people playing against me I do infact suck.

[Razola]

It seems that Mario Kart is actually supporting sixteen players. The max number of karts is eight, which means two players per kart.

That sounds like fun. Fun doesn't even do that justice. Maybe...fun +.

[Entropy]

I love Mario Kart to death. I'm familiar with all the games and I enjoyed the 64 version so much. When does it come out anyway?

[Razola]

It ships November 17th in the United States.

There are also two new multiplayer modes:

Shine Thief has one player carrying a shine. The other players must bump or attack that player to steal the shine. Whoever has the shine when the time runs out is the winner (NOT who carried it the longest).

Bomb mode has each character carrying up to 5 bombs (10 per kart). Earn points by bombing a player and lose them by getting bombed (you're immune to your own bombs). The first player to get 4 or 5 points wins. You can chuck bombs (hold it to throw farther) or drop it behind you (delayed fuse).

EDIT: Balloon and VS. mode still exist. Grand Prix is also now co-op since you can have 2 players controlling one kart.

[Legends-Kuja]

Nick is already running tips on this game... can we say "EARLY?"

I'd like this game... for Christmas

[Thy]

I 've seen the character selection screen with all the characters. They are:

(Spoilers)

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Daisy
Yoshi
Birdo
Baby Mario
Baby Luigi
Toad (secret)
Toadette (secret)
Koopa Troopa
Flying Koopa Troopa
DK
Diddy
Bowser
Bowser Jr.
Wario
Waluigi
King Boo (secret)(From Luigi's Mansion)
Petey (secret)(From Sunshine)

That's 20 characters!

I know a lot of people that were sad that toad wasn't in it. And after having Toad in a small part of Melee, people felt Nintendo was giving Toad the boot. Welsome back Toad. I really wish they had E. Gadd though. . His voice was awesome. iT just got on your nerves so much it was funny.

(end)

[Zup]

Who the heck is Toadette!?!

[Last Exile]

A promo version came out in game storesin Australia last week. I played it for 10 mintues and loved it! I used a combo of Peach and Diddy Kong on a race and won it, so that felt pretty good.

It will definitely be a hot number this Christmas.

[ILikePokemonP]

Bad news for people in Pal regions...

Sorry the bonus disc is only available in the US for the NTSC release.
We should ship the games so they arrive on the release date if you chose
air express or express post.

Regards,
Alison Venning
www.dvdcrave.com

*Bangs head into brick wall*

[kurai]

The Mario Kart series has always been one of my family's favourite games, and after viewing footage and reading about the game these past couple days, it seems that it will only get better. The tracks really do look beautiful, and so do the karts and drivers in action, it looks more fluid than any other game I've seen on GC, I'd say. The character design seems very nice, I'd probably prefer the Mario design in this game over the one they used in Mario Sunshine, but it probably just looks better because of the lower polygon usage which I am more accustomed to.

Lots of little things seem to have changed about the game, the tracks seem much more interactive, everything looks pretty, items changed and removed, however I am not sure how good some of the changes will be. Apparently they have removed the capacity to hop, and items can no longer be held behind the kart to stop enemy fire, they must be dropped and timed correctly to stop the projectiles. It seems these changes will make gameplay alot more difficult, but actually getting hit by items seems to be alot less damaging than in previous games. Altogether it seems that the recent Nintendo games have been more difficult than they usually are, which is a good trend. The high amount of unlockable things in this game also seems quite excellent. I can't say that I mind all that much about similar characters being unlocked, as you can customize the two people in your kart you could gain the benefits of say, Toad/Bowser, or Toadette/Mario, which seems like it would be an entirely different kart, both available in the same race, so I realize my initial complaints about that weren't that applicable.

There's a torrent of some excellent footage available here, and an excellent overall site about MKDD here.

[Razola]

Having two similar characters is purely for multiplayers purposes. While not everyone will get character X, at least two people will (since using two characters that are similar is fairly pointless).

The item changes are obviously an attempt to remove the heavy luck factor of Mario Kart. No longer can you rely on getting a banana peel or green shell to save you while in first place.

I'm also glad that the triple shells have been weakened and made as an item unique to the Koopa Troopas. Triple red shell was just insane. A shield and an absurd arsenal.

[classy_cat18]

I just hope they kept the spiked shell. That was the coolest item ever! That and the lightning bolt. Overall, I will enjoy playing the game over and over and over and over...

[Razola]

Spikey is in.

EDIT: N-Gamer has exclusive movies of the game for those of you who have BitTorrent. It's a bit of a wait, but it's well worth it. The movies are just like race replays, unlike other sites who have background noise drowning out the sound. Quality is above average as well. It's about 10 minutes of goodness, so check it out.

[Last Exile]

Yeah, they kept both.

Waluigi's bomb is bloody annoying though. You can lose the race from one hit from that, no problem!

Originally posted by classy_cat18
I just hope they kept the spiked shell. That was the coolest item ever! That and the lightning bolt. Overall, I will enjoy playing the game over and over and over and over...

[en0miz]

I can't wait for this game... I was going to get it for Christmas, but I decided to just use my birthday money instead. (: I also didn't read much about this game like I do for most games I usually anticpate, so playing this with all the surprises will be fun. *random tidbit* My favorite driver is Yoshi. :>

[Razola]

Here's a list of the items that are open for all characters. Descriptions won't be listed unless it's new to Mario Kart, and changes to old items will be noted.

Mushroom
Triple Mushroom
Banana Peel (Can't hold it behind kart anymore)
Green Turtle Shell (Can't hold behind kart anymore. You can lay it on the track like a banana peel, but you can't fire it backwards anymore. Think Super Mario Kart.)
Red Turtle Shell (Can't hold behind Kart. Doesn't impede victims as much. Homing isn't as good as in MK64: a power slide around a corner can get rid of it many times. Whever you are the target of a red shell, an indictacor will pop up on the bottom of the screen to tell you what direction it is coming from. Can lay behind you on track. Will chase the first kart that passes it. Same function as in Mario Kart Super Circuit)
Star (Characters hit by the user will drop whatever items they were holding. If the user's rear character has no item, he/she will steal the item of any kart that has an item)
Lightning (Characters effected will now drop whatever items they are holding)
Fake Item Block (Easier to distinguish from normal item blocks. Beside having the upside ?, it's also red)
Spiny Shell (No longer goes on the track. Flies above other karts and explodes like a bomb on the lead kart. The explosion is quite large, and any karts caught in it will be in a world of pain.)

Here's the Character exclusive weapons. Note that in Battle Modes these are open to all characters:

Mario/Luigi: Fireballs. Throws five fireballs ahead, which bounce 1 or 2 times off walls. Mario's are red, Luigi's are green.

Yoshi/Birdo: Egg. Is like a red shell in that it homes in on a player, but when it hits it leaves three random items on the ground. Not blocks, but specific items. If it's a mushroom on the ground it's like a 1-time boost pad. A turtle shell on the ground is like any normal shell (get hit). Both shells are white. Yoshi's has green spots, Birdo's are pink.

Donkey/Diddy Kong: Giant Banana Peel. Works like a regular peel, only bigger. Besides being harder to avoid, when hit the peel will split into three normal banana peels.

Peach/Daisy: Heart Shield. Sort of like the triple shells in Mario Kart 64 and Super Circuit in that they block shells and other attacks. The twist is that your rear character gets whatever item was blocked by the shield.

Koopa Troopa/Paratroopa: Triple red or green share. Work just like single shells, you just have three of them. Unlike previous games, these do not protect you from attacks. Both koopas get red and green shells.

Bowser/Boswer Jr.: Giant Shell. Puts a giant shell on the track. And when I say big, I mean BIG. Slowly bounces around the track, sometimes stopping for a few moments. Can hit multiple karts before leaving.

Baby Mario/Baby Luigi: Chain Chomp. Acts a like an offensive mushroom, giving a speed boost while hurting anyone that gets in there way. At some point the chomp detaches from the kart and goes on its own for a few moments.

Wario/Waluigi: Bo-bomb. Throws the bomb, which sits there for a few moments before it creates a fairly large explosion. Serious damage to anyone caught in the explosion. Short distance and can hurt the user if they are in the explosion.

Toad/Toadette: Golden Mushoroom. As far as I know, same as in MK64.

King Boo/Petey Pirahna: Have no special item, but can get the special items of all the other characters.