I’ve been playing Mario Kart: Double Dash!! with my fiancée, and we are driving the All-Cup Tour on Mirror Mode. We were tied with another kart for first place going into the 15th race, which was Bowser’s Castle (and we all knew that Rainbow Road was going to be the last race – argh!). We figure if we can just beat that one kart, then we’ll have a 2-point lead going into the last race. So we start the race, and POW! a Double Dash start. We take an early lead. We round the tight U-turn and head down the stairs toward the lava-jump shortcut and POW.
A blue shell. We are deposited by the crane, and POW.
A red shell. We get rolling, and POW.
Rear-ended by a green shell. We’re now in 5th place.
We accelerate over the jump to find a minefield of bananas. We slip and slide through them, make the turn, and begin walking through the karts in front of us. Fourth place, third place… second… and then on the lava-jump right before the long uphill spiral, ZOT.
Lightning! We are deposited in front of the jump ramp again and POW.
A red shell. POW. Rear ended into the lava.
Eighth place. We finally make the jump. For another lap and a half, this utter CRAP continues to rain down on us (including the seventh-place car using a red shell on us, rather than on the car in front of him!), and we limp across the line in a shameful eighth place.
We won Rainbow Road, by the way, and our close competitor ended up fourth. Here’s my question: does the GameCube actually cheat? Does it dole out extra acceleration to large, cumbersome karts, or give the last-place kart a blue shell to “hold on to” until you’re in first? Or am I just focusing on the negative here?
p.s. It seems like the large karts are always able to pull past my Red Shell Kart at the start, even with a Double Dash start–but I’ve got the best acceleration in the game! What gives?