Throwback Thursday Mario Kart Double Dash

Throwback Thursday Mario Kart Double Dash

Robert Knuckles

Drive, Drift, Speed Up, Crash, Switch!!!!

        Those are some of the words I use to describe this throwback game which is Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

        With the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe coming  soon I feel as though now would be the right time to talk about one of my favorite Mario kart games which is of course Double Dash!!. Mario Kart Double Dash was released on the Nintendo Gamecube on Nov. 17, 2003

        Now the Mario Kart series has been around for two decades with the first Mario Kart game called Super Mario Kart being released in 1992. Mario Kart has always been known for its crazy racing; fun courses and of course the items which pretty much make Mario Kart for what it is.

        As a fan of the series I have liked every Mario Kart but Mario Kart: Double Dash has always been one of my standout favorites which I still play to this day with my friends. Now let’s dive in and talk about this wonderful game.

        Double Dash!! Was the first of the series to feature 3D graphics and of the course the biggest one is having two drivers in one kart one driving and one using items. Double Dash was also the first Mario Kart to feature a of lot new characters to the series such as Waluigi, Daisy, Birdo, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi and many more. Players could make a team of the Mario Bros. but can also choose to have Mario work together with Bowser.

        Another feature that they used in Double Dash and future Mario Kart games are the weight classes. There are light, medium and heavy characters. Lights karts have great acceleration but their top speed is not great. The advantage light karts have is that they don’t lose a lot of speed when they go off course. Medium karts have average acceleration and top speeds so of course they share attributes from lights and heavy. Heavy karts don’t have great acceleration but their top speed is great and they can send light and medium karts away if they run into them but if heavy karts go off course they lose a lot of speed.

        Players have to be careful of what characters they pick with the new weight class. Characters cannot ride in karts that are smaller than they are. Two light characters ride a light kart, two medium characters ride a medium kart, two heavy characters ride a heavy kart but if there’s a light character mixed in with a medium character they’ll ride the medium kart or if a medium character is mixed with a heavy character they’ll ride the heavy kart. You probably get it by now.

        An interesting game play feature that Double Dash has is that characters have a certain special item. The Mario Bros. can throw fireballs, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can throw a giant banana. There are so many more specials players can try out. Another cool thing is that if you have two different partners you can have double the special item. Players also have to be careful because in this game they can have their item taken away if a player uses a mushroom running through another racer or by someone using the star item.

        Now Double Dash has some interesting courses. Rainbow road had to be one of the toughest rainbow roads throughout the series but the favorite course is Baby Park. The smallest course that goes around in an oval with seven laps which makes it the craziest track ever especially playing it with four players making it a crazy blue shell frenzy.

        Now of course with a Mario Kart game there’s a grand prix where players will have to play in order to unlock new karts, courses and characters. The most annoying speed in the grand prix is of course the mirror mode. Which we all know how much we can’t stand it due to annoying computers and blue shells. Oh how we love the blue shells.

        Battle mode is a lot of fun as well. Balloon is the same as in the N64 version but Double Dash features capturing the Shrine Sprite where players hold the Shrine Sprite for a certain amount of time and another new feature in battle is called Bob-ombs where players throw bob-ombs at each other to get a certain amount of points but players will lose points if they get hit by a bob-omb which make it fun and crazy.

Another great addition is the ability to play co-op where players can work together and have one person driving and the other person using the items

        In the end Mario Kart Double Dash!! Is one of my favorite Mario Kart games to this day. I loved the roster the game play especially with the ability to drift and get a little speed but the multiplayer is where it’s at. Playing with four people it’s anyone’s game unlike the Wii version where people can crush the competition easily.  For anyone that has a GameCube I would definitely recommend Mario Kart: Double Dash.

Throwback Thursday NBA Street

Throwback Thursday NBA Street

Robert Knuckles

It’s been awhile since I've done a Throwback Thursday game. I apologize with the delay with school and all but I’m back with another classic with NBA Street.

Now I’m not a sports game fanatic but NBA Street is one of the only sports game I really enjoy.

NBA Street was released for the PS2 on June 18, 2001 and released on the Nintendo Gamecube on Feb. 17, 2002. It was developed and published by EA games

This game features NBA players from the 2001-2002 season, that was a golden year era for myself especially after watching that 2001 All-Star Game. You have favorites such as Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Chris Webber and so many more. Michael Jordan makes an appearance as well in this game as well. Granted there are only five players on each team. There are also made up characters called Street Legends who are inspired by real people for example Street Legend Stretch resembles Julius Erving and you also have a white boy named Drake who acts hood but is actually from the suburbs. There are plenty of other unlockable characters in this game.

NBA Street features three on three basketball with street rules. Fouls don’t exist in this game. Two point field goals are one point and behind the three point line are worth two points. There is no time limit but there is a time limit with possession of the ball. Players that score up to 21 points win the game but you have to win by two.

Now while playing players can build up meter for their game-breaker. Game-breaker is build up by scoring but mainly doing special maneuvers such as faking out defenders, dunks, alley-oop, block shots and so much more. Once players build up their meter they can perform their game-breaker. Players can either shoot the ball or dunk the ball. It increases your score and it also decrease your opponent's points all well.

Players can create a player and use them in the mode City Court. An arcade type of mode where players face NBA teams in certain regions and face the Street Legend of that region. After every win players have the option of taking one player from the losing team or gain more points for your created player to increase their stats

Now City Court’s PS2 version is a bit different from the Gamecube’s version. Now the objective is still the same but in the PS2 version Michael Jordan helps the player by being on their team but he’s also the last boss to beat. Where in the Gamecube version he’s not helping out the player but Jordan is still playable on the Washington Wizards that is if the player chooses that team

There are also cheat codes. Before the game starts players have a time limit to make certain patterns for example players can have pictures of a basketball,basketball,turntable and shoe this makes players use the NBA ball. There are even more cheats where players can’t do alley-oops, no dunks and so much more. In this generation you can go to any website and get the cheat.

In the end NBA Street is so much fun. If you love basketball this is a must have or if you love sports in general I would pick this game up as well. The music is good and you get that street vibe from playing this game. A guy like me that isn't too much into sports games but I can make an exception for this game. It's a shame that we haven't seen this game re-leased as a downloadable game on the current game systems. You're better off buying this online or at an old school game store. The rating I would give this game would be an 8 out of 10.