Sorry if this is old news, and/or if someone else has posted it.

Has anyone else heard that the bonus disk that you receive if you pre-order MK: DD!! will have Mario Kart 64 on it? I think it's a bit of an updated version, though...

I think that would be really cool, even though I already own Mario Kart 64. It would be cool playing it on GameCube!

quote mariokart: dd official website

Apparently tongues are wagging down at ECTS, and we've heard reports from folk down there on our behalf that some of the Nintendo reps are more than happy to shout about what's on the bonus disk when you pre-order... Whilst Nintendo of America are being tight-lipped on their standard email responses, the guys in London say it's going to be just like the Zelda pre-order bonus - a remake of the N64 version! Yay!

quote Satokasu Suki

Sorry if this is old news, and/or if someone else has posted it.

Has anyone else heard that the bonus disk that you receive if you pre-order MK: DD!! will have Mario Kart 64 on it? I think it's a bit of an updated version, though...

I think that would be really cool, even though I already own Mario Kart 64. It would be cool playing it on GameCube!

quote

August 21, 2003 - The Mario Kart series has always held a special place in the hearts of Nintendo fans. Whether it was the N64 or, years before that, on the Super NES, there really is no other Nintendo series that so perfectly embodies that one of the most important elements that can make a game great, is the human one. Mario Kart alone is a fun game. Mario Kart with two (or on N64, four) becomes a pleasant curse that prevents you from turning off the game and partaking in less important activities. Like sleep, or eating...
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! hopes to continue that tradition and so far, the deck seems to be stacked in favor of Nintendo's upcoming GameCube racer. Not two, four, or even eight players -- 16 players is what Nintendo of Europe says will push the human factor in the new Mario Kart over the top. While a four-player mode is available via split-screen, gamers who want to aspire to such big numbers will of course have to own a lot of GameCubes, TVs, broadband adapters, and copies of the game. But it sounds fun, doesn't it? We'll have to take NOE's word for it, as the setup shown at today's Games Convention only featured a four-player linked LAN mode (and we've seen eight before). But if the game delivers on its promise, we might just have to convince the other IGN employees to bring all their consoles and TVs to work -- and we'll finally have a reason to use the #16 setting on our Wavebirds.

We've already told you about the strategic two characters per kart setup, the return of everyone's favorite race-altering offensive items, and the clean graphics engine, but there are probably more important things on your mind. How does it play? Did Nintendo and improve it over the games initial -- and let's not sugarcoat it -- disappointing showing? Is it faster?

Yep, it's faster. Though only slightly sped up over the last version we were able to sample, the 150CC karts in the demo shown at GC 2003 feel faster than the same class in Mario Kart 64. Alas, the track design of the stages we were able to sample is also far wider (no doubt in order to accommodate the large number of players), which still means that the game feels slow in comparison with most other action or mascot racers out there. Perhaps it's a product of the fact that companies are striving to make racers faster and faster to deliver that extra adrenaline rush, perhaps it's that the game is still waiting to get a little bit of that extra oomph to make it as fun with one or two players, as it is with eight.

But there is more to this version than meets the eye. What makes Double Dash!! instantly more fun to play for us longtime gamers is the addition of the now classic Mario Kart 64 skid boost. Press L or R in Double Dash and sparks will fly out of the back of your kart. Turn while holding the button and you will create a fiery trail and you will start to skid. Now push the stick repeatedly left and right while skidding into a turn and let go, and flames will shoot out of your racer's exhaust and give you an additional speed boost to help you overcome the competition. The great thing about this feature is that you finally have a purpose while you're waiting to catch up with your next opponent. You'll try to skid for every little turn, just to get the boost. There is currently no visual clue that you're doing things right, like in the N64 version, but perhaps Nintendo is still adding it for the final release.

In addition to the new skid control, Nintendo finally made good on its promise of character-specific weapons. Expect to see Yoshi's egg rolling around on the track when you're up against everyone's favorite dinosaur, for example. There is one special weapon per character, and there's plenty of new stuff in addition to the standard shells and bananas. How does a chomping Bowow or a triple fireball sound to you?

Okay, so we've got our control depth back, it's a bit faster, and thanks to the skid boost, you've got more to do while you're chasing or fleeing from the next player, but there is of course one important piece of the puzzle missing: the battle mode. Luckily, Nintendo did not disappoint us.





One of the non-networked GameCubes on the showfloor featured a four-player split screen demo of the now classic battle mode. Although it looks like there may potentially be a few more modes in the final game (there's an awful lot of room on that selection screen), Mario Kart: Double Dash!! will feature the Balloon Battle, as well as an all-new Bob-omb Blast mode.


In Balloon Battle, each player drives a kart with three balloons attached to it around a battle arena. The rules are simple: every time you get hit by an opponent, you lose a balloon. The last man standing wins. The demo featured two levels to try out the new karts (the handling is different from Mario Kart 64, so it'll definitely take you some time to get used to things and perform the same quick turns and nasty attacks you're used to). The first level is known as Pipe Plaza and is basically an altered version of the two-level stage in Mario Kart 64's battle mode. There are ramps in this square arena that lead up to those grid walkways (you know, the ones Mario can usually hang on to). The walkways in turn connect to horizontal green pipes that warp you from one end of the level to the other.
The other stage is simply called the GameCube Stage and it's just that: a GameCube serving as the basis for the stage. Players fight for survival on the completely obstacle free top of a GameCube console. It's all about driving skills, fleeing from turtle shells, and retaliating the worst way possible. While it may be chaotic in Balloon Battle, once you check into this stage in Bob-omb Blast, you'll be shocked by the mayhem that ensues. Bob-omb Blast has players collecting bombs instead of power-ups. The bombs appear in those same "?" blocks also found in the main modes. Collect more than one bomb and your kart's two occupants will start to juggle the explosive items on top of each other. If you've got 10 bombs, you'll be juggling a rather tall and precarious looking tower. But hording the bombs isn't the name of the game, either. At the press of a button, you'll hurl the bomb at your opponent, causing an explosion that will earn the attacking player one star. The player who gets to three stars wins.

Needless to say that four-player battles are great fun to play (although Bob-omb Blast tends to get a bit disorienting with all the explosions going off on the tiny screen -- but we're eager to see the Battle Mode LAN-style, where that nasty little Fran Mirabella finally can't peek at the other players screens again to find out where everyone's hiding.

So far, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! looks promising, but can still use some more tweaking in the speed and track design department. The graphics engine is more than ready, running smoothly at all times, with nice cartoony effects, and great player animations (sometimes the second player gets dragged behind the kart after a hit, for example). We're hoping that Nintendo will be able to pull it off and make Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as fun for one or two players as it is for 16 rich kids with networked systems.

Do you guys even read the first post ? Thats what this threads for! You can find most information on MK in the first post, including that article there

The Japanese Nintendo website store says the estimate release is, only 15 days before the American. November 1, 2003. Wierd. Usually the Japanese version would be released way before the English.

new track info

now there is a course called Mushroom Bridge

and 2 battle feilds Pipe Plaza (multilevel)and Nintendo Gamecube(a battle on the top of a gamecube) have screenshots

thanx
MKDD.co.uk

This game is a long way from being released. November 17th is the release date for North America.

quote DragoniteBallZ

I sucks the phony item box isn't gonna make a return.

I dont know if this has been said yet, but they now have confirmed that there is a Waluigi Stadium



look closely at Wario's and Birdo's head picture on the very left, you can see the head shots changing too!!! 9just some weird notices)

good news

after looking at a video and screenshots and the track maps

i can say that mushroom bridge and mushroom city ARE two different courses!


for those who didn't know yet first i looked at a mushroom bridge screenshot in the picture thread (it has a street with a bus to the left and bowser jr with a big green shell and stars to mark the road dividers) and looked at the map

then i looked at a video with the mushroom city and checked its map and the maps are completly different so they are different courses

This message was edited by Pyrazor on Sep 04 2003.

This message was merged with other messages by DragoniteBallZ (moderator)

Well since this an information thread, I thought that I might post this up for anyone who doesn't know about this. MKD is going to be a 16 player game or so they say in www.cube.ign.com.(It'll be a real coincidence if you can find people with 4 tvs, GCNs, MKD games, and broadband adaptors)

Nah there's no online play in that article only 16 player which well still seems to be a rumor.

It's posted on IGN though, so I'm not so sure.

bom-omb-The bomb can be fired forwards or backwards, and once it hits the ground it explodes taking any nearby karts with it.

egg-The egg homes (like a red shell) and once it hits, it hatches three normal items, one of which may be a (dangerous) green shell

pink hearts(replacing the royal mushroom)-The three hearts circle around the Kart and protect Peach and Daisy from weapons, much like triple shells in MK64.

tri-shells-The Koopa Bros are the only ones that can get triple shells, the red ones are naturally homing, but rarer. They do not circle around the kart.

and bowser shell can be shot forward and backwards

Mario's and Luigi can fire their (5) fireballs forward and they'll bounce along until they hit a kart, and then they'll change direction.
Does that mean they never disappear, even when they hit a kart???

The three hearts circle around the Kart and protect Peach and Daisy from weapons, much like triple shells in MK64.
I dont know about u guys, but this item just sucks And wat happened to the golden mushroom???

The Bowser shell can be fired forrwards or backwards, and continues to travel, destroying numerous karts, for about 10 seconds.

I like this item

The Koopa Bros are the only ones that can get triple shells, the red ones are naturally homing, but rarer. They do not circle around the kart.
how could they have possibly taken this out of the regular items

The egg homes (like a red shell) and once it hits, it hatches three normal items, one of which may be a (dangerous) green shell.
Come, on!!! We already have 3 homing weapons. they should have made it like the eggs start wobbling around the course

The weakest weapon, the Kong's banana is similar to the normal banana weapon, spinning out one kart then vanishing.
How feakin dumb is that. Make it shoot out mini bananas around the course, or line the track so that you automatically makes you get hit.

The bomb can be fired forwards or backwards, and once it hits the ground it explodes taking any nearby karts with it.
I might not fully understand if how big the explosion range is. but if it is small, then they should make the bomb walk around for 5 sec. until it hits a kart or just blows up

The Chain Chomp pulls the babies along (at higher speed) for 5 seconds, knocking over any karts in it's way.
I like this one

All in all, nintendo has kind of disappointed me/ so-so

hmmmmmmmm.....

okay lets see
1. i got this from MKDD.co.uk
2. the fireballs do disapeer (IGN has a new video where mario uses it and gets hit by it)
3. i think the tri shell for koopas is okay cause with the double dash system their just three shells and no protection
4. as for my avatar, i was aiming for something else but ya gotta love yoshi

and to make an important side note

TODAY IS SEPTEMBER 5TH, THERE ARE NOW 73 DAYS UNTIL THE OFFICIAL USA RELEASE OF MARIO KART DOUBLE DASH




This message was edited by Pyrazor on Sep 05 2003.