Mario Kart Double Dash Walkthrough for Gamecube Game Name: Mario Kart Double Dash Format: Gamecube Submitted By: Edgy Mario Kart Double Dash guide by Edgy. Note: This guide contains many spoilers right from the beginning. If you do not wish to know what you don’t already, then don’t read this guide. General Tips for racing (all characters): TURBO START To get the turbo start, watch Lakitu very closely. When Lakitu swings his arm the third time, just before the green lights appear, press and hold A. POWERSLIDING Powersliding allows you to turn corners without losing any speed. To get a boost whilst powersliding, start turning the direction you want to turn, hold either L or R (doesn’t matter which for they’re not direction related) and keep flicking the stick from left to right. The colour of the sparks produced will change from yellow to orange to blue. Once blue, let go of the L or R buttons and you will boost as if you used a mushroom. RAMPS When going over ramps, you can use your kart to your advantage. To land quickly and avoid any slowdown, hold forward. To land normally, keep the stick still. To stay in the air for longer, hold back on the controller. This is handy for avoiding obstacles but does slow you down. BRACE FOR IMPACT! When an item such as a red or a green shell is heading for your rear, drop an item behind you to block it. This can prove invaluable to your success. SWITCHING DRIVERS This allows for both characters in your kart to gain an item each. Drive through an item box to pick up an item. Then press the Z button to switch the driver and attacker. The driver will still hold a weapon but your new attacking passenger will be able to pick up an item as well. ITEMS Items are fundamental in ensuring success, in both single and multiplayer modes. Although given out at random, there is more of a chance at receiving specific items depending on what position you are in a race. Here’s a chart displaying what you’re normally likely to receive depending on your position: 8th & 7th: Special / Triple mushrooms / Star / Blue spiked shell / Lightning 6th: Special / Triple mushrooms / Star / Blue spiked shell 5th & 4th: Special / Mushroom / Blue spiked shell / Red shell 3rd & 2nd: Banana / Fake item box / Green shell 1st: Banana / Green shell ITEMS GUIDE Now you may know of the items, but not know their full potential. Read on to see what they can do: BANANA: This is a short range defence and offence item. Press forward to and Y to throw it in front to try to make other cars spin out, or place it behind to block shells or stop someone who’s on your tail. FAKE ITEM BOX: Can be used as defence and offence. It tricks other racers into thinking there is an item for picking up. Use it near real item boxes for maximum confusion, or use it to block attacks. It can also be thrown forwards like the banana too. SHELLS: There are three main types of shell. The green shell, the red shell and the spiked blue shell. The green shell travels in a straight line and bounces off walls and items until it hits something. If you’re a keen aim, you can use this to snipe off other racers in the distance, or fire it behind to smash into other racers or block items. Red shells are a common weapon that, unlike the green shells, home in on the closest racer in front of you. You don’t even have to see that racer – it’ll just travel along the course until it finds them. However, if an item or a barrier blocks its path, it will stop and break up. When fired backwards, it acts like a green shell. Spiked blue shells aren’t that common, but do a good job. They home in on the racer in first place. Best of all, they never hit any other barriers and can’t be blocked. Quite frustrating if you’re hit by one, but brilliant if you’re firing one. Just don’t use it if you’re in pole position. MUSHROOMS: Mushrooms are used for increasing speed by giving you a turbo boost. Simple as. You can hold up to three per racer on your kart and all it takes is a simple press of the Y or X button to use them. If you see one on the course, drive over it to get an instant boost. STAR: These make you invincible to other racers attacks and can make other racers spin out on impact. They last for around ten seconds and play the classic invincible music as heard in virtually all Super Mario titles. They also give you a speed boost whilst they’re still active, which is handy when you’re losing. LIGHTNING: A very rare item but incredibly useful. Makes all racers, except for the user, shrink for around ten seconds. Therefore their speed is slow to match. Squash them as you gain the lead and they’ll be forced into even more frustration. CHARACTER SPECIAL ITEMS: These items are specific to their owners, but can be stolen by racers. MARIO and LUIGI Fireball: Shoots a wave of fireballs either forward or backwards depending on the direction you’re holding on the control stick as you press the fire button. If they collide with a racer, the racer’s kart will spin out of control. PEACH and DAISY Heart shield: Once activated, two pink hearts circle the kart. These protect allattacks until the heart power runs out. You can also pick up any shells or bananas along the course. It isn’t invincible to lightning, star or blue shell attacks though. YOSHI and BIRDO Egg: Almost always hitting its target, the egg rolls along the course, the egg rolls along homing in on its target until it flattens them. It causes the target to somersault and drop their items, as well as throwing out three items of its own. When fired backwards, it has the accuracy of a green shell. BABY MARIO and BABY LUIGI Chain Chomp: This attack launches a chain chomp held in either character’s hand. It pulls you along the course until it breaks free and follows the course for a while. It spins out any target it hits and can get rid of course obstructions such as goombas. TOAD and TOADETTE Golden Mushroom: Acts like a standard mushroom but lasts for an infinite amount of boosts over a short period of time. It is extra handy for turning corners at great speed in conjunction with drifting or powersliding. KOOPA and PARATROOPA Triple Stack Shells: Works in the same way as the standard red or green shells, but in triplicate. DONKEY KONG and DIDDY KONG King Banana: Acts like a standard banana except it is much larger. Once hit, it throws out three smaller bananas as well as causing the victim to somersault. BOWSER and BOWSER Jr. Bowser’s Shell: With the same effects as a standard green shell, Bowser’s Shell bounces around the course when either fired infront or behind the kart. It is much larger though and can clear obstructions on the course. WARIO and WALUIGI Bob-omb Blast: Bob-ombs require a lot of skill to cause effect. Throw them and they will explode on impact. However, if you miss a kart, it will wait a couple seconds before causing a large explosion which makes anything in its radius explode. PETEY PIRANHA and KING BOO Shhh! Secret!: This item selects a random special item that other racers would normally use. Hopefully you have learnt what you wanted from this guide, and if you have read something you didn’t want to, I did warn you at the beginning. The Edge.