page_title: Mario Kart: Double Dash
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Mario Kart: Double Dash / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Cropped from this image
context_page_description: Mario Kart: Double Dash, stylized as Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, is a racing game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and published by Nintendo for the GameCube in 2003. The game is the fourth installment in the Mario Kart series and the third for home consoles after Mario Kart 64. It was preceded by Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance in 2001 and was followed by the handheld game Mario Kart DS, which was released for the Nintendo DS in 2005.
  Similar to the previous titles, Double Dash challenges Mario series player characters to race against each other on Mario-themed tracks. The game introduced a number of new gameplay features, such as supporting co-op gameplay with two riders per kart. One player drives the kart, and the other uses items. It is the first game in the series to use 3D polygon graphics for the racers, as opposed to sprites. Players can switch at any time. Double Dash is the only game in the Mario Kart series to allow cooperative gameplay so far. Double Dash supports LAN play using the Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter, allowing up to 16 players to compete simultaneously.
context_section_description: Double Dash!! was first shown at E3 2001 as a seven-second video clip. The clip featured Mario and Luigi driving their karts on a bump mapped 3D surface with no background. At the time, it was early in development, and the working title of the game was simply Mario Kart. In April 2003, Nintendo released the first pictures and details of the game, as well as revealing the title to be Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. At E3 2003, a playable demo of the game was available. New features, such as having two characters drive one kart, had been implemented. An updated demo with some new additions was shown at the Games Convention in August 2003. In September, Nintendo held a Gamers' Summit for the press, in which a nearly complete and more sped up version of Double Dash!! was displayed. The Gamers' Summit also announced the North American release date to be November 17, 2003.
  The development team struggled in devising gameplay features that would be enjoyed by the fans of the series. One of the hardest tasks chief director Kiyoshi Mizuki was assigned to do was to attract people who had no prior experience with the series; he decided to make the gameplay as simple as possible. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto presented the staff with a variety of opinions which they in turn would have to incorporate into the game the best way possible. Miyamoto let the team decide which graphics they wanted to use without restrictions.
  Connectivity to the Game Boy Advance was discussed as an opportunity among the developers, but they eventually agreed that Double Dash!! was not suited to these connectivity ideas and decided to exclude it. It was desirable to narrow down the gap between the ability of veteran and novice players. Therefore, gameplay features like the ability to escape the banana were removed; the staff wanted both veteran and novice players to enjoy themselves.
  A special edition of the game was also released, which included a bonus disc containing demos and gameplay videos of other games released around the time, including Mario Party 5, F-Zero GX, Sonic Heroes, Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokémon Colosseum, and Kirby Air Ride, among others. The special edition disc also includes exclusive digital content that could be transferred to the Game Boy Advance title Fire Emblem via the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable.
  The game's soundtrack was composed by Super Mario Sunshine composer Shinobu Tanaka and Mario Kart 64 composer Kenta Nagata.
caption: Shigeru Miyamoto provided a number of opinions to the development team.
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