Video Game / Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Double the players and twice the dash!

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is the fourth installment of the Mario Kart series, released in 2003 on the Nintendo GameCube.

Changes from the previous installments include, most noticeably, the fact that players must choose two characters per kart, which means that two players can also play as one kart. To accompany this, the roster consists of 20 characters divided into 10 pairs, over twice as many as previous games, with eight pairs available from the start and two pairs being unlockable.

One character drives and the other character guns, being able to use items and steal them from others. The driver can hold an item in reserve, and the two can switch out at any time. Every pair of characters shares a special item that is exclusive to them (save for King Boo and Petey Piranha, who can use any special item). This is also the first Mario Kart game to allow the player to select different karts independent from their characters; each kart has unique stats and is divided into one of three weight classes, based on the weight of the heaviest character selected.

This game expanded the Battle Mode as well, introducing Shine Thief and Bob-omb Blast in addition to the standard Balloon Battle mode; these modes would be brought back in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, along with the ability to hold two items at once. Unique to this game is All-Cup Tour, which is a fifth cup in which every course must be completed in a random order, always beginning with Luigi Circuit and ending with Rainbow Road.

As an aside, this game is the first Mario spin-off to cross over with the Donkey Kong Country franchise via the inclusion of Diddy Kong. It's also the debut of Toadette, a pink Toad girl who acts as Toad's partner.

See also Gensou Skydrift and Crash Tag Team Racing, two other Racing Games with similar tag-team mechanics.

Drivers

(* denotes a character newly introduced to the series)

Starting Roster

• Baby Luigi*
• Baby Mario*
• Birdo*
• Bowser
• Bowser Jr.*
• Daisy*
• Diddy Kong*
• Donkey Kong
• Koopa Troopa
• Luigi
• Mario
• Paratroopa*
• Peach
• Waluigi*
• Wario
• Yoshi

Unlockable

• King Boo*
• Petey Piranha*
• Toad
• Toadette*

Tracks

• Mushroom Cup
  • Luigi Circuit
  • Peach Beach
  • Baby Park
  • Dry Dry Desert
• Flower Cup
  • Mushroom Bridge
  • Mario Circuit
  • Daisy Cruiser
  • Waluigi Stadium
• Star Cup
  • Sherbet Land
  • Mushroom City
  • Yoshi Circuit
  • DK Mountain
• Special Cup
  • Wario Colosseum
  • Dino Dino Jungle
  • Bowser's Castle
  • Rainbow Road

Battle Tracks

• Cookie Land
• Block City
• Luigi's Mansion
• Nintendo GameCube
• Pipe Plaza
• Tilt-a-Kart

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This game provides examples of the following tropes:

• All the Worlds Are a Stage: The All-Cup Tour pits all drivers in a race across all tracks seen in the four standard Cups (Mushroom, Flower, Star, Special). The order of the tracks is randomized, but it always starts with Luigi Circuit (Mushroom) and ends with Rainbow Road (Special).
• All Your Powers Combined: Petey Piranha and King Boo have access to all of the Special Items, which are normally exclusive to just one pair of racers.
• Amusement Park: Baby Park consists of a compact racetrack surrounded by several other attractions. Due to its short length, drivers have to accumulate seven laps (five in Mario Kart DS) to win.
• Artifact of Attraction: The Shine Sprite in Shine Thief serves as this, being a very conspicuous object that is the key to victory. Human players have a strong tendency to congregate around the Shine and to follow closely behind the Shine holder, often resulting in them getting in each other's way and enabling the Shine holder to escape.
• Artifact Title: From this game onward, many karts don't look like such at all, being modeled after train wagons, baby strollers and fancy convertible cars to name a few examples.
• Artistic License – Paleontology: The sauropod in Dino Dino Jungle has a horn on its nose. No known sauropod had a horned nose, though there is a cryptid that is often described as such.
• Ass Kicks You: When Peach and Daisy hold items, they attack light-weight racers like this instead of punching them like they usually do.
• Athletic Arena Level: In addition to having the usual Mario and Luigi Circuits (plus a Yoshi Circuit shaped like the hosting character), as well as Waluigi Stadium which has a more diverse take on a monster truck circuit than Wario Stadium from Mario Kart 64, the game also has Wario Colosseum as part of the Special Cup. It's a long, intricate mechanical circuit whose road combines parts made of asphalt with chainlinks, and features a huge Globe of Death in its center.
• Awesome, but Impractical: On one hand, the Parade Kart has the best stats among the other karts in-game and can be used by any character regardless of their weight; on the other hand, not only will the AI cheat much more than usual, but said vehicle is also incredibly wide, making it a poor choice for item evasion.
• Big "NO!": Mario and Daisy let off a huge one whenever they get hit by a Spiny shell or fall off the track.
• Bat Family Crossover: The first Mario spinoff to integrate the Donkey Kong Country cast into the extended Mario cast, as it included Diddy Kong as a playable character.
• Big Boo's Haunt: Used on the battle course Luigi's Mansion. It consists of a large central hall, a small network of corridors in the basement, and a curved route that takes drivers to the roof. It plays the same background theme as that of Bowser's Castle (in 8 Deluxe, it uses a remix of the Luigi's Mansion racetrack theme from Mario Kart DS instead).
• Boring, but Practical: Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa's unique items are Triple Green or Red Shells. Unlike other games in the series where anyone could get them, Triple Shells are limited only to these two (and King Boo and Petey Piranha). While they're certainly not as unique as the other characters' special items, they're by far the most useful, and they show up nearly as often as regular shells to boot. This essentially turns most races between two human players into "whoever picks the Koopas wins".
• Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: Lakitu fishes racers out of pits, water, lava, or any other hazard which may be sitting under the tracks.
• Bottomless Pits: Like the other installments, this game features several tracks with large holes that the player can fall into, requiring Lakitu to rescue them at the cost of precious time and placement.
• Breakout Character: Toadette. Double Dash was her first-ever appearance in the series, and she was initially only created because Toad needed a partner, and she was unlockable (meaning she's mostly absent from most of the game's promotional materials). Despite this, she quickly became popular among Mario fans in general and would eventually go on to feature in the mainline series as a playable character come Super Mario Run, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
• The Bus Came Back: Koopa Troopa, one of the playable racers from the original Super Mario Kart, returns after being missing from 64 and Super Circuit.
• The Cameo: Donkey Kong, Jr., of all characters, appears as one of the crowd members in Waluigi Stadium.
• Canon Foreigner: An unusual example that doesn't happen in the main game itself. Saint Elimine will appear if you link up the bonus disk to your Blazing Blade copy to get her to give you items.
• Car Fu:
  • Found in the battle modes. This game is also the first one to have "Bob-omb Battle", which is where karts would attack each other with nothing but Bob-ombs. It was unofficially brought back in Mario Kart 7 through an internet custom group, and then brought back for real in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
  • A Mushroom boost allows you to steal an item from a kart that you ram while going at high speed.
  • A heavier kart will shove a lighter kart out of the way if the receiving kart is going too slowly or holding still. However, a lighter kart will end up bouncing off a heavier kart instead.
• Cartoon Juggling: Some characters, when holding onto Double or Triple Shells or Mushrooms, will juggle them in one hand, whether they're driving◊ or in the backseat◊.
• Cheerful Child: Toadette, who made her debut in this game, is a very cheerful character. In practice, she's similar to Daisy.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Koopa Paratroopa has not appeared in any Mario Kart games since this one. Hacks of Mario Kart Wii reveal that he was once considered for inclusion in that game (same with Petey Piranha, who would ultimately have to wait until Mario Kart Tour), but since he didn't, the absence has been upheld to this day.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: From lowest player number to highest, the order is red, blue, green, and yellow. In LAN multiplayer, players five through eight get magenta, orange, cyan, and purple.
• Comeback Mechanic: All Mario Kart games will bestow more powerful items the further behind a racer is. But this is at its most potent here, as characters now have powerful special items.
• Competitive Balance: From this game onwards, the vehicles' stats matter as much as the character inside it. This requires further explanations about vehicles' different characteristics:
  • The real speed stat of the game is acceleration; it also works as a recovery stat after having been pushed off-road or hit by an item.
  • On the other hand, top speed actually is more comparable to a power stat, being the privilege of Mighty Glaciers and Glass Cannons.
  • Mini-turbo, being on a line between acceleration and top speed, can be considered a magic stat: it is always Fragile Speedsters' weapon to compensate their low top speed, but it can also be Glass Cannons' power to increase their performances on the road; along with the latter, some heavyweight vehicles also have this power in Mario Kart Wii and are the slowest to start to compensate.
  • Weight is between power and defense, as it is as useful to push opponents to the side and to protect yourself from said attacks.
  • While not standardized, off-road is a recovery stat, being often linked to acceleration; however, other types of characters have this power without being so quick and/or actually being too heavy to be considered "fragile", making it a defensive stat for them.
  • Handling and drift can be considered agility stats.
  • Traction (also called grip) describes the stability of the vehicle and reveals its true efficiency on tricky environments; this is the strangest example, being a bonus for the lightest characters, but also for the heaviest vehicles in Mario Kart 8. Like off-road, it can be an agility stat for the former and a defensive one for the latter.
• Console Cameo: There's a battle course that takes place on a Nintendo GameCube.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Goo-Goo Buggy and Rattle Buggy have a Smiley Flower from Yoshi's Island on the sides.
  • The Rank A mansion from Luigi's Mansion can be seen in the background of Luigi Circuit. The actual mansion itself appears as a battle arena as well.
  • The Dry Dry Desert course naturally occurs within the realm of the same name from Mario & Wario and Paper Mario 64.
  • Tilt-a-Kart, an unlockable battle arena, takes place on a giant 8-bit Mario sprite from Super Mario Bros., and the environment the stage takes place in resembles that of the secret levels from Super Mario Sunshine. The opening to the stage's theme even uses the opening notes of the iconic overworld theme from the original game.
• Cool Car: Starting from this game, all karts have unique designs, fitting the personality and traits of the characters they're associated with. There's also a secret vehicle with a beautiful golden design: the Parade Kart, which is driven by Toadsworth in the awards ceremony; it's available after you complete the All-Cup Tour in Mirror, and any character can drive it regardless of their weight.
• Co-Op Multiplayer: The concept of two characters per kart allows this, with each one being controlled by a different player.
• Cruise Episode: The level Daisy Cruiser appears in this game as well as Mario Kart 7. Features include a pool, a tunnel and moving tables. It is also in Mario Super Sluggers, though not as a kart racing level.
• Death Mountain: DK Mountain is a large stage in which the drivers hop onto a barrel cannon to be shot towards a large gray mountain and then go back to the start line to complete each lap. It returns in Mario Kart Wii as a Nostalgia Level.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: The controls in this game differ slightly from most other games in the series.
  • Items are used with the X and Y buttons instead of the Z/L button, and both the L and R buttons can be used to drift.
  • In other games in the series, the Rocket Start is triggered by pressing and holding the A Button starting at a certain point during the countdown (usually on 2). In this game, you can only trigger it by pressing A just as the countdown reaches 0.
• Dog Walks You: Baby Mario and Baby Luigi's special item in this game is a Chain Chomp that pulls the kart along for a while and sends any racers it hits flying; every so often it goes careening forward without any semblance of control.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The game features an example that crosses over with Canon Immigrant for Fire Emblem. The bonus disc that was included in pre-order copies of the game (included in special packages of the Nintendo GameCube) includes transferrable content for the Game Boy Advance game Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. The transfer process is taken in-universe by Elimine, who considers these contents to be her "sacred gifts". She was later introduced slightly over 18 years later in Fire Emblem Heroes via a post-release event.
• Easter Egg: If you press the item button when you don't have an item in your possession, you'll honk the horn. It doesn't do anything other than making your gunner do a pose. That is, unless there is another racer in close range, in which case they will perform a Quick Melee attack.
• Everyone Has a Special Move: Each pair of characters has a Special Item which is exclusive to them, barring Petey Piranha and King Boo (who have access to all of them), Peach and Daisy (who can steal items), and everyone in Battle Mode (which has no limits):
  • Mario and Luigi have Fireballs in red or green, which are thrown in a Spread Shot of five and cause anyone hit to spin out. Any passengers in a vehicle hit by them also suffer from burnt rears, leaving them incapable of doing anything for a brief moment.
  • Peach and Daisy have the Heart. When used, it summons a barrier made of hearts around the vehicle, which not only protects them from up to two weaker items (Spiny Shells, Chain Chomps, and Bob-ombs can bypass this) thrown at them or left on the track, but also makes the passenger pick up the item they were protected from, letting them use it themselves.
  • Yoshi and Birdo have Yoshi's Egg and Birdo's Egg. These chase down the next racer in front like a Red Shell and make them flip when hit, and subsequently break open and disperse three random items onto the track (pulling from Green Shells, Red Shells, Bananas, Fake Item Boxes, Bob-ombs, Stars, and Mushrooms).
  • Baby Mario and Baby Luigi have the Chain Chomp, who dashes forward while pulling their kart ahead by the chain, slamming anyone unlucky enough to be in its path out of the way. It eventually breaks loose and briefly runs along the track afterwards.
  • Toad and Toadette have exclusive control over the Golden Mushroom, which lets them spam it for a large number of Nitro Boosts within a limited timeframe.
  • Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa have the Triple Green and Triple Red Shells, exclusive to them in this game alone. They behave like the normal shells, except you get three of them to throw.
  • Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have the Giant Banana, a large angry Banana Peel which can be thrown forward or dropped behind them, after which it sits on the track like a normal Banana. Anyone who hits it spins out for an extended period of time. If it's triggered, it splits into three normal Banana Peels.
  • Bowser and Bowser Jr. have Bowser's Shell, a large shell that looks like the one Bowser wears. It behaves like a Green Shell, moving along the track and bouncing off of walls, but it's much bigger and hits hard enough to temporarily knock the passenger off of the backseat.
  • Wario and Waluigi have the Bob-omb, which can be chucked ahead or dropped off behind them. It sits on the track for a brief moment and explodes after a timer or if anyone gets close, launching them into the air and knocking the passenger down temporarily.
• Fireballs: Mario and Luigi's special items, thrown in a spread which inflicts a Rump Roast on anyone they hit. They would disappear from the series until their return in 7, where they become part of the Fire Flower as a standard item.
• Foreshadowing: The Daisy Cruiser can be seen in the background of Peach Beach, which is the third track in the next cup. Coincidentally, they both share the same music.
• Gimmick Level: Baby Park and Wario Colosseum avert the usual "three laps per course" convention by having a different amount of laps each; Baby Park is seven laps due to it being a small oval, while Wario Colosseum is only two laps long on account of it being so long.
• Glass Cannon:
  • The Bullet Blaster (which, fittingly, looks like a Banzai Bill) is the lightest vehicle and the most vulnerable to off-road, but its top speed is comparable to the heaviest karts and it still gets great mini-turbos after drifts.
  • The Green Fire is a more moderate example, having the best top speed of middleweights, but average mini-turbos. It is also the slowest to start in their category and one of their lightest vehicles.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: And Bowser Jr., too. Also, in this game, you can actually pair up Mario with Bowser, taking the trope to its logical conclusion.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: The Parade Kart, a fancy gold car which is used to carry the winners in the award ceremony at the end of each Grand Prix, and is also the last playable kart to be unlocked and the one with the best overall stats.
• Green Hill Zone: Mario Circuit is set in a generally natural area around Peach's Castle, with flowers and trees on the roadsides and a dirt road halfway through the track. There's a nice little Chain Chomp you've gotta dodge, too.
• High-Speed Missile Dodge: The Red Shell can be dodged by doing a mini-turbo boost at the right moment. The shells will chase you down, then "hover" for a second behind your kart, and then speed up to ram into you. Just as it does so, it breaks the homing effect, meaning that ending your power slide drift (with the added drift boost) is enough to make the shell pass behind you at an angle instead of striking the vehicle.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Toadette made her debut as Toad's counterpart in this game, and has since made appearances in not only a variety of spinoff Mario titles, but also the core games. In the context of Mario Kart, this game has brought characters that would since become staples, such as Daisy, Waluigi, Diddy Kong and Bowser Jr.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Bowser Jr. bawls his eyes out and throws a tantrum if he places 4th or lower in a race.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The Parade Kart can be used by any driver/passenger combination, has the speed and weight of a heavy kart and the acceleration of medium kart.
• Iris Out: Occurs whenever you fall off a very high track, right before Lakitu rescues you.
• Jungle Japes: DK Mountain, befitting the track of the prime primate, is set in a jungle near a volcano. Hazards include grass around the track that's slow to drive on, rocks rolling down a hill, and a rickety wooden bridge above a river.
• Lampshade Hanging: The instruction manual remarks "Baby Mario and Mario...together in the same game?!?" in regards to both versions of the plumber being playable as separate characters.
• Lethal Lava Land: Bowser's Castle has lava as a hazard, though it generally behaves like water if you fall in.
• Level Ate: The game introduces the battle stage Cookie Land, a circular course modeled after a large vanilla-and-chocolate cookie with caramels of different colors. It makes a return in Mario Kart Wii as a Nostalgia Level.
• Lightning Bruiser:
  • The Barrel Train is the heaviest lightweight (on par with middleweights), has a better acceleration than shown on the screen and a top speed comparable to heavyweights.
  • The Parade Kart is an odd example; despite being a heavy vehicle with a good acceleration and top speed, it can be driven by a driver of any weight.
• Literal Ass-Kicking: When characters are on the receiving end of an incendiary attack, they hop around yelping with smoke emanating from their posteriors.
• Living Statue: This game's version of Bowser's Castle features a statue of Bowser that periodically spits giant, exploding fireballs.
• Mad Bomber: This is the main concept of the Bob-omb Blast mode, introduced in this game. The only item available for use is Bob-ombs, so all characters throw them at each other during the whole round until only one remains.
• Marathon Level: The All-Cup Tour is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A semi-randomized cup consisting of every race in the game (It always starts with Luigi Circuit and ends with Rainbow Road, but the rest of the tracks are played at random). For individual racetracks, there's Wario Colosseum, whose length means that you only have to complete two laps around it instead of the usual three.
• Master of All: The Parade Kart has the best-combined stats of all vehicles and can be driven by any character regardless of their weight. Some are better in one stat but lower in the others (Bowser's has the highest top speed, but takes a while to get there). The AI compensates for this by cheating like crazy any time this cart is used.
• Metropolis Level: Mushroom City is a racetrack taking place in a busy city at night. The track has several different roads for racers to take, though they all lead to the same place. The roads are also crowded with other vehicles that cause racers to spin out if hit. To a lesser extent, there's Mushroom Bridge, which is geographically located in the same city as the other track, except this one is next to the sea (hence the name, as the layout goes through a large bridge near the end); this track also appears in Mario Kart Tour as a Nostalgia Level.
• Minsky Pickup: Baby Park's music begins with this musical fanfare. It is replaced by the classic Super Mario Bros overworld music's intro (which itself is also based on Minsky's) in Tilt-a-Kart.
• Musical Nod: The second half of Rainbow Road's theme has the same melody as the second half of Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road.
• My Future Self and Me: This is the first game in the Mario Kart series where Baby Mario and Baby Luigi participate, co-existing alongside their adult equivalents. You can even pair Mario and Baby Mario, as well as Luigi and Baby Luigi, when choosing your characters to race.
• Nerf: The Fake Item Box was nerfed from due to it now being red as opposed to real item box's blue, making them much easier to tell apart. In Mario Kart 64 they were the same color, with the only difference being that the question mark in the fakes was upside down.
• Never My Fault: When Wario gets 4th place or lower in a race, he says, "I lost, to a bunch of losers!"
• Nitro Boost:
  • The Mushroom item, as per the series standard, gives a boost when used. Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City also have a car that dispenses a Mushroom onto the track if someone rams it. The Golden Mushroom, which gives you however many boosts you can get in ten or fifteen seconds, is the Special Item of Toad and Toadette in this game.
  • When playing in co-op, if both press the A button as the pre-race countdown reaches zero, the usual boost that you get becomes a Double Dash which is much more powerful than the standard boost and has a blue flame instead of red.
• Object-Shaped Landmass: Yoshi Circuit is a racetrack along the perimeter of a Yoshi-shaped island.
• Oddball in the Series: Double Dash!! has many unique elements that make it different from any Mario Kart game before or since:
  • Most obviously, the two-driver-per-kart mechanic is a feature that has only been seen in this game.
  • Character-specific special items are also exclusive to this game. On top of this, certain items that are standard items in other games, such as the Bob-omb, Triple Shells, and Golden Mushroom, are special items here. While Mario's and Luigi's Fireballs remain technically exclusive to this game, as do their Baby versions' Chain Chomp, they got successors with the Fire Flower (Mario Kart 7 and onward) and the Bullet Bill (Mario Kart DS and onward) respectively.
  • Unlike other games in the series, the rocket start is triggered by pressing A just as the countdown reaches zero, not by pressing and holding it at some point during the countdown.
  • You can't drag items behind you, meaning that the only way to defend yourself against oncoming items is to throw one behind you and hope they collide.
  • Until their return in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Shine Thief and Bob-omb Blast battle modes were exclusive to this game. The All-Cup Tour (where characters race on all the game's tracks in a row) remains exclusive, although the ability to do 32 races in the VS mode of Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8 can simulate the experience to a major extent.
  • In terms of characters, it is the only home console Mario Kart game where Toad is an unlockable character, though this was most likely done so as not to spoil Toadette's debut. Also, Paratroopa remains exclusive to this game, while Petey Piranha was for nineteen years until his return in Mario Kart Tour. In addition, until the release of Mario Kart 8, this was the only game where Daisy and Baby Luigi were available from the beginning rather than being unlockable characters (the same also applies to Bowser Jr. in the case of Deluxe).
  • On the production side of things, it is the only installment to have no involvement from the series' usual director Hideki Konno.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: The music from Bowser's Castle and Luigi's Mansion incorporates an eerie-sounding pipe organ, befitting their ominous environments.
• One Curse Limit: Only one attack can take effect at a time. A kart spinning from a banana peel might shrug off Lightning strike shrinking and a dozen Red Shell hits. On the other hand, anything (besides Lightning) that's powerful enough will override a lesser effect. You can get catapulted by an explosion, rolled by a Bowser Shell, or knocked back by a Mushroom-boosting or Starred kart.
• One Stat to Rule Them All: While top speed has its importance, acceleration remains the core stat because of the mini-turbos it gives to vehicles. See Glass Cannon for further explanations.
• Palette Swap: All of the karts for any "normal" character pairs who share a weight class essentially share a model, typically with a few color, texture, and/or model changes to make the kart more relevant to the other racer.
  • Mario and Luigi have the Red Fire and Green Fire. The former is red and blue while sporting Mario's M on its front and wheels, while the latter replaces the red parts with green ones and puts Luigi's L in the M's place.
  • Peach and Daisy have the Heart Coach and Bloom Coach. The Heart Coach is pink, purple and adorned with hearts, while the Bloom Coach is shades of orange and has flowers on it instead.
  • Yoshi's Turbo Yoshi and Birdo's Turbo Birdo are the least clear-cut, as the face on the front is replaced entirely, going from Yoshi's big nose to Birdo's snout and bow. However, the rest of the karts' designs are shared, as the chassis and the tires have the same design in different colors; a green body and red tires for the Turbo Yoshi, and a pink body with purple tires for the Turbo Birdo.
  • Baby Mario's Goo-Goo Buggy comes in various shades of blue, while Baby Luigi's Rattle Buggy is in green.
  • The Toad Kart is blue with a Super Mushroom emblem, while the Toadette Kart is pink with a 1-Up Mushroom emblem.
  • Koopa's Koopa Dasher is a kart based on his own green Koopa shell, and adorned with a K on the front and wheels. Paratroopa's Para-Wing is instead based on his red shell, replaces each K with a P, and also adds wings on the sides.
  • Petey Piranha's Piranha Pipes are based on the traditional green Warp Pipes, and have orange shocks and red handlebars. King Boo's Boo Pipes are gray with red shocks and purple handlebars.
• Palmtree Panic: Peach Beach, which takes the drivers through a sandy beach inhabited by Cataquacks. It returns in Mario Kart Wii as a Nostalgia Level.
• Pipe Maze: Pipe Plaza is a battle course where you can move between warp pipes to strategically attack your opponents (or escape from their attacks, depending on the case). It's also available in Mario Kart DS as a Nostalgia Level.
• Prehistoria: Dino Dino Jungle is a track filled with big ferns, bigger trees, and even bigger dinosaurs. It returns in Mario Kart 7 as a Nostalgia Level.
• Quick Melee: Hitting the weapons button while empty-handed and driving right beside another racer will result in the passenger pulling the kart to the side and delivering a short ranged but helpful bash attack.
• Randomized Title Screen: Lakitu has a different item at the end of his fishing rod at the intro of the game.
• Remember the New Guy?: This trope is seemingly invoked by Daisy, who constantly says "Hi, I'm Daisy!", as if to beat her name into the heads of anyone who has never heard of her. A more obvious example is Toadette, who made her debut in this game without much acknowledgement by the rest of the cast.
• Rump Roast:
  • The game treats this as sort of a status effect in game, as touching any fire obstacle, or getting hit by either Mario or Luigi's fireballs will cause the character in the back to catch fire on their buttocks, preventing them from using any items.
  • An interesting glitch with Daisy can get her stuck in her "butt on fire" animation if she is in the back of the kart and hit by a fireball that knocks her into a warp pipe before this animation finishes. She will be stuck in the back, jumping in place trying to extinguish her burning butt for the remainder of the race, unless she is bumped into or takes anymore damage.
• Running Gag: Most of the shortcuts in the game oddly involve Warp Pipes. For example, Peach Beach and Mushroom Bridge both utilize Warp Pipes in their shortcuts.
• Scenery Porn: Like previously mentioned, the graphics from this game surpass any from the others up until the arrival of Mario Kart Wii.
• Secret Character: This game is the first in the Mario Kart series with unlockable characters. Toad and Toadette (the latter of whom makes her debut in this game) are unlocked by winning the Special Cup on 100cc, and King Boo and Petey Piranha are unlocked by winning the Star Cup on Mirror Mode. Also, the gold Parade Kart driven by Toadsworth during the ending cutscene can be unlocked as a drivable kart by winning the All-Cup Tour in 150cc. Notably, this is the only home console Mario Kart game where Toad is an unlockable character.
• Sequence Breaking:
  • On Waluigi Stadium, it is possible to launch yourself in the air by driving up the side of the wall at the corner after the long straight with Piranha Plants on the side, leading into a straight that runs underneath the zipper jump at the end the lap. If you manage to launch yourself close enough to the zipper jump, you can fool the game into thinking that you fell down from there and Lakitu will you place you down in front of the zipper jump, skipping the next few corners in between and saving several seconds over driving round normally.
  • On Bowser's Castle, if get by a blue shell down by the finish line, you can launch yourself high enough to get placed by Lakitu at a high-up section further along the course, skipping around half the track. You can pull this off intentionally by grabbing a blue shell in a lower position in the race, then launching it while in first place so you hit yourself in the right spot.
• Shaped Like Itself: The track layout of Yoshi Circuit is shaped like Yoshi himself.
• Shifting Sand Land: Dry Dry Desert is a vast desert with ruins and pyramids that decorate the background. There's also a large sand sinkhole that must be avoided at all costs, as falling onto the center will get the careless driver eaten by a large Piranha Plant.
• Ship Level: Daisy Cruiser is set on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. The race goes along the deck, around a pool, and into the dining room, where the ship's sway sends tables sliding back and forth across the room. An alternate path also allows racers to enter the engine room, where cargo is being held in shipping crates, before being shot out of the ship's exhaust pipe back onto the deck.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Sherbet Land (not the same one from Mario Kart 64). There are several Shy Guys sliding and dancing on the ice, and care is required to drive across those parts without clashing with them.
• The Smurfette Principle: Averted for the first time in the series. Before Double Dash, Peach was the only female racer in the series. This game introduces Daisy, Birdo and Toadette, with Daisy never missing a single non-arcade installment since then.
• Socialization Bonus: In two player mode only, if both drivers are holding a type of mushroom, and both press the item button at the same time, they will perform the titular Double Dash. The same applies to the Rocket Start at the beginning of each race. Two players in the same kart also allows the player in the back to perform a swipe by pressing the L or R buttons, depending on the direction. Along with causing racers to spin out, it'll steal items, and can also be used to help reorient the kart.
• Sore Loser: Bowser Jr. is the only character who reacts poorly to getting anything below 1st place, in direct contrast to the rest of the cast including Bowser himself. If you outright lose a race, the kid goes ballistic, sobbing hysterically and slamming his fists in a tantrum.
• Spiteful A.I.: From this game onwards, AI drivers have been known to launch items backwards at you when there are racers in front of them that they would theoretically benefit more from targeting.
• Steel Drums and Sunshine: The music for the tracks Peach Beach and Daisy Cruiser, which take place on a beach and a cruise ship respectively, have steel drums playing the main melody, accompanied by guitar, maracas, and drums.
• Stock Sound Effects: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's voice clips are recycled from Donkey Kong 64, albeit pitched down.
• Stone Wall:
  • Piranha Pipes and Boo Pipes have the best off-road for heavyweight vehicles and while the former has a good top speed, the latter's acceleration is comparable to lightweights. However, they suck where their counterpart shines and both mini-turbos are mediocre.
  • Waluigi Racer is a moderate example: it is the second heaviest middleweight car with Turbo Yoshi and its off-road is comparable to the lightest vehicles, but its top speed and acceleration are only average and its mini-turbos are mediocre.
• Take the Wheel: Drivers can actually switch off during races, where one character takes the wheel, and the other handles the items.
• Taunt Button: While racing, pressing the "use item" button with no item in hand causes the driver to honk and the passenger to taunt.
• Technicolor Fire: While Mario's fireballs are in traditional shades of orange and yellow, Luigi's come in a vibrant green and yellow-green palette.
• Unlockable Content: Past installments in the series were very humble as far as unlockables go (in Super Mario Kart, the unlockables are the Special Cup and then the 150cc difficulty mode; in Mario Kart 64, it is just Mirror Mode, known in the game as "Extra"; in Super Circuit, it's the Special Cup (twice, once for Grand Prix and VS., and again for Time Trial), and the 20 SNES tracks). From Double Dash onward, however, the unlockable content has increased in both quantity and variety within each installment, including characters, Cups (including the aforementioned Special), vehicles and, once again, Mirror Mode.
• Wacky Racing: Not only can you make bizarre teams to race with, but the chaos of the items is doubled due to both members of a team being able to hold onto them, as well as the use of the Purposely Overpowered special items.
• Wealthy Yacht Owner: Starting from this game, Princess Daisy owns a luxury cruise ship known as Daisy Cruiser. It has appeared as a race course here as well as in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart Tour and the Booster Course Pass DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and can also be seen in the background of other courses from Double Dash!! onwards.
• Wingding Eyes: Some characters like Yoshi, Birdo, Koopa, and Paratroopa will get X-eyes when they get hit by an item or get their kart backflipped by a Blue Shell, Bob-omb, or Bomb-Car.
• Your Size May Vary: Petey Piranha's size is much smaller than seen in Super Mario Sunshine, though he's still larger than everyone else. Notably, the camera actually zooms out when you play as Petey because of his huge size.

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