"Comfortable... We're in the lead Mario... It's the final stretch! Uh oh! Bowser's coming. We've gotta skid to make the finish line Mazza. Quick Mazza drive quick and I'll blow Bowser and his Junior with this shell. Aiming... and... POW! Yes! I got them! Ha ha - Wicked aim! Now we're definitely gonna win..."

"Mamma Mia! Wario & Waluigi have a star! They're coming up really fast behind us... We're right next to the finish line, and they're tyres are turning fast... and... YES! We got through the finish line! Yes! Kiss My Ass Wario! I win!"

Yep! That's how you'll feel with this game. The drivers, the items, the battles, the karts, the tournaments, the crisp sweet graphics, and the... Okay, I'm bragging on... But this game's a must buy!

It features 20 characters... 4 being the secret ones, but I won't spoil you and tell you who they are... You can choose any two characters in the whole list, but I'll tell you the similar players...

First up Mario & Luigi - They're special weapons are fireballs which can leave your bum screaming 'Mamma Mia!' Then there's Peach & Daisy, the sweet princesses. There are also the rugrats, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi. Then there's Donkey Kong, with his nephew Diddy who is a new character to come in to the Mario Kart series, as well as the babies. There's the two devious W's... Wario and Waluigi. The turtles, Paratroopa and Koopa Troopa. Yet again, the beast and arch nemesis of Mazza's here. Bowser, this time bringing his little Jr. Then there's the Birdo and the Yoshi....

All of these classic characters who have been a part of Nintendo for years have come back in an outstanding kart racing game. It's Double Dash tasteful. This new concept in the game is also cool...

Two people on one kart. One shoots, whilst one drives. It's a brilliant concept. The hard thing is, is choosing. Which kart and which character. Now you can choose karts. Not all karts are accessible for all characters. Depending on the two characters picked, a selection is made for the karts that associate with the characters.

The tracks are awesome and inspiring. The best track for me is DK's. On this course, a huge cannon blows you up into the sky and soars you through the air until you have come back onto the ground again, on the other side. There are also goomba's that stand in your way. Piranha plants that try and bite you. And again, the Thwomps in Bowser's Castle. Now you can hit these obstacles as well with the weapons you get. On the tracks the bends are bendy, and makes you have to powerslide to get full speed. There are many shortcuts that have to be found, such as going into secret pipes and popping out the other pipe.

The items, some new... Are amazing! Each character has his or her own special item. Mario has fireballs, Yoshi has a targeting Yoshi egg, and Bowser has a spiky big gigantic sheel. Too big to dodge. The best item I think is a Chomp. A Chomp, drags you faster than usual, and eats anyone in the way.

The boost, bomb, star, fake item, banana, green shell, red shell and blue shell is still in the game. The blue shell is now different though. It flies to the kart near 1st place and the blue shell blows up on the kart. You see it has wings on it so it flies quickly to the kart near 1st place. Good if your last. Bad if you're fast - and 1st. The Ghost item is not on this game any longer. Boo hoo! As well as the maximum boost!

A new feature has come in. If you hit a kart, they drop some of their weapons. If you crash into the dropped weapons, you'll go crashing. There are stars that you can run into though and turn invincible. You can now snatch weapons off others. If you boost into a kart or go to them quickly, if they have a weapon you can snatch it.

The Cups are still the same. Let's see, there's the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the Star Cup and the Special Cup. There is also an all round cup when you play on every track in the game. Cool...

The engines are still here 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and the Mirror Mode (where all tracks turn mirrored). Do not start on the 150cc tracks. The N64 version MK64. May of been pretty easy. But MK:DD is a lot harder.

Now, when you've finished 1p mode single handedly. Unlockedall tracks, all karts, all characters, all battle courses... Then you've completed the game. What else is there to do? Multiplayer...

This, in every Mario Kart game, has made the series legend. The battle modes. Now there's more than one. As usual there's Balloon Battle. In this you get weapons and you have to hit each other. Everytime you do so, you pop their balloon. When all balloons are out. LOSER! Now, you can snatch ballons and add them onto your balloons as long as you've got one less than the maximum you can take. But if you have the maximum amount when you boost into your opponent their balloon just pops.

A new battle is here, called Shine Thief. Here a player must get the Shine Sprite in the Battle course and hide. If this person gets hit the shine is dropped, and a character has to retrieve it again. There is a time limit, and if you hold it all the way through the time until the end you win.

Another battle is all to do with bombs. A star meter is on your screen. Every item is a bomb. You have to keep hitting everybody - but you can't get hit with your own bombs. You must fill all stars up, you see everytime you hit someone, you get a star, but when someone hits you, you lose a star and they get your star.

The courses are okay. But could have been made a lot better. There is Cookie Arena just a circle with blocks. A gamecube - a flat arena where you can't hide. A Block Town, which is alright just with blocks. My favourite Arena Pipe Plaza. This arena has two levels. You can reach the levels by going into a pipe and spitting out of the below or upper pipe. It's cool.

[SPOILER ALERT] The secret arena Luigi's Mansion is massive, but still soesn't compare to Pipe Plaza. There's also Tilt-A-Kart, a flat arena with Mario in squares which tilts like a special stage in Super Mario Sunshine which I find boring.

The game is worth your money and is one of the top essential Gamecube games. The playability and fluidity of the controls may not match previous MK games, however the game still plays like a dream. The reason I say that is the fact that powersliding doesn't work as smoothly. This game is a colourful game that doesn't fail to meet the usual Mario Kart standards.