Released in late 2003, this was the GameCube’s effort for the Mario Kart series. And it was surprisingly disappointing. Or are we wrong? Let’s take a look.

Mario Kart: Double Dash

We goddamn love this series, make no mistake. It’s pretty much the most perfect gaming idea ever.

And, to be clear, Double Dash!! is a good game. The first console release since Mario Kart 64 in 1997, Nintendo threw a bunch of new ideas into the mix.

But there is something a bit bland about it. Whereas the more recent Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017) is a masterpiece and, we’d say, one of the best games of the last decade.

Can’t get it right every time, eh? We think the main problem here is there are only 16 tracks. Super Mario Kart (1992) had more than that.

But it’s also a bit flat. You race with a partner—two characters in one kart. That’s a novel idea, but the main issue for us is the lack of challenge.

We’ve come across some individuals online claiming Double Dash!! is the best Mario Kart game. There seems to be a sect of gamers who abandoned Nintendo after the GameCube as the company apparently wasn’t about “hardcore” gaming after that.

So they claimed to us Double Dash!! is renowned as the best game in the series. Yet it clearly isn’t. It’s fun, we were disappointed at the time, but we had our time with it.

Mario Kart 64 we also find a bit overrated, so it’s as if the series was running out of steam around the early 2000s.

To Nintendo’s credit, it resulted in the 2008 epic Wii version. Which is brilliant. And then Mario Kart 8, which is one of our favourite games of all time.

DK Mountain is on there, which we absolutely love. And it went over to the Wii version.

And the usual multiplayer options are there. Unquestionably, Mario Kart works best as a multiplayer game.

By which, we mean you need other human people with you.

Preferably in your living room. Otherwise, over the internet and blasting away and enjoying things.

Double Dash!! tries fun new stuff which were an interesting development. By the courses are a bit crap. The game disappointing.

It’s a thing with Nintendo, you expect genius with whatever they do. And this didn’t deliver. And there’s now a misguided sense of it’s the best title from some folks.

Well, it isn’t. It’s an okay game. Great fun in multiplayer. But the series has advanced so thoroughly since 2004.

Nintendo has a reputation for not reacting to new and popular themes in gaming.

And it’s done that with modern titles. The idea Double Dash!! is the last bastion for Nintendo at its previous best is moronic.

Play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The next one should be even better. Don’t hinder yourself with the GameCube title.

Fun, but forgettable. Which is what Nintendo obviously realised. As it abandoned most of the ideas the title presented afterward. Uh huh huh.