Double Dash!! Mirror mode question

I’m tearing my hair out working to unlock all the extras in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and keep seeing references to Mirror Mode. Having played Gran Turismo 3 and enjoyed the “reversed” tracks, where you drive around them in one direction and then later encounter the same course run backwards, I was sure this was what they meant. Then another possibility occurred to me: what if it was the course, as seen through a left-to-right mirror?

So my question: is Mirror mode the same tracks driven widdershins, or are the tracks themselves flipped about the Y-axis, so that traditionally right-hand turns are now left-hand turns?

Either way, I’m going to play this game until my thumbs fall off and my eyes start dripping blue sparks.

It’s the latter. Everything appears reversed (mirrored), except for the control, obviously. It’s a pain in the ass, but fun as hell.

Not only that, but I think the difficulty is stepped up a bit from 150cc.

I guess this means I can practice high-speed power slides in both directions on Baby Park once I unlock it, then. Useful! Thanks a heap, DuderDude.

Yumblie, I haven’t played it yet, so I have no reason to doubt you. However, I suspect that playing through all four regular Cups and the All Cup Tour at all three difficulty levels–in the regular direction–has probably conditioned you to expect things to be a certain way. That expectation is probably contributing to the difficulty increase (but they may also have toughened up the AI – more last-lap blue shells, more lightning power-ups dropping when you get a good item or start a power slide…)

The trick to getting things like that unlocked in a game is to live in a college dorm and leave the game in the lounge. I think it took us about 20 hours from the time I bought the game to unlock everything.

And the last thing you unlock, the Golden Car, is a huge disappointment. It turns like a dump truck on valium. Of course, we still beat all the modes with that car, too, as a matter of pride.

walrus (:3= (and anyone else who wants to pile on) – just out of curiosity, what was your preferred car for Special Cup? I’m working on the assumption that mistakes on Special Cup are grievously expensive, and so acceleration is my best friend, and therefore using the red turtle car (The Koopa Paratroopa Coupe?). The extra-tight turning radius is useful, too; I find that there are turns that I don’t absolutely need to power-slide if someone has left bananas on my line through the turn.

I go for acceleration too. The big heavy cars have the speed… but the race is over before you’ve reached full potential… btw-its 'spensive for the wires… but linking multiple cubes and screens is a riot.

My dream team for many of the tougher races was Toad and Paratroopa in Toad’s car. When in a jam, Toad’s super mushroom item comes in handy, and Paratroopa’s 3 red shells comes up pretty often. For the courses in special cup with all those nasty turns and obstacles, good turning and decent accelleration are what really shine.

Is there any trick to using the bob-ombs? Specifically, a way to control their timing? For the record, my team of choice is the babies, and a kart with a 4 or 5 acceleration. I keep forgetting about the koopas’ shells, though; they could be very useful.

Sort of. If you throw the bombs ahead of you, they’ll explode in 4 seconds. If you drop them behind you, they’ll explode in 2 seconds. However, if a bomb lands near someone whether you threw it or dropped it, it’ll explode instantaneously.

Am I nuts, or is using both babies (Mario & Luigi) a waste of a slot in your car? That is to say, don’t you get the best synergy from combining two skills? For example, why not use Baby Mario (chain-chomp, a good attack with the ability to put you ahead of the pack) with Bowser Jr. (bowser shell, which, when dropped to the rear keeps anyone from catching up to you)?

By the way, my fiancée and I beat Special Cup on 150cc after a grueling series of item-based defeats on Rainbow Road. We’d be in first place for the Cup and in front of the pack on Rainbow Road, and then in the third lap, right as we’d start the double-hairpin, here it comes, right up our tailpipe: blue shell! Three red shells! Lightning during a slide turn! … and bang, we’d be in eighth place. We decided not to tempt the machine, and lagged right behind the spot we needed to get the cup, and saved up our red shells. When we hit that last straightaway, we gave them a taste of their own medicine, and then luckily grabbed three 'shrooms for the final set of spiral turns. We fired them off 1-2-3 and came across the line in 3rd. w00t!