Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Overview

Former Champion "druvan7" running All-Cup Tour at AGDQ 2016

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a kart-racing game and the fourth main instalment of the Mario Kart series developed and released by Nintendo in November 2003 for the Nintendo Gamecube. It brought new features such as two drivers per kart, special character items and LAN play. There are various game modes including Grand Prix, Versus Mode, Battle Mode and Time Trials. The majority of MKDD speedrunning has been focussed on Time Trials and is known for its fast dextrous technical driving, high skill ceiling, and as of recent years new game-breaking glitch shortcuts.

Early on in Japan many different websites hosted time trial leaderboards, most notably the Mario Kart DD Stadium site where players could submit times, post videos and discuss strats in the bulletin boards for each track. Most of these sites are now defunct.

The main community for time trialling is the Mario Kart Player's Page which has numerous rankings, track standards, awards and weekly news virtually since the game's release. The site's main ranking is the Combined Hz Average Finish, which puts players times on 60Hz (NTSC) and 50Hz (PAL) on the same charts and the rank #1 player being declared champion. The differences between 50Hz/60Hz have been hotly debated since the game's inception and separate charts for 50Hz/60Hz were created in 2006. The Combined Hz charts are today still seen as the main charts. The Player's Page does not allow shortcut times to be submitted. Much of the community discussion for the game has been located on the Player's Page dedicated subforum for MKDD, various MSN & Skype group chats and mostly as of the past decade the Mario Kart Double Dash Speedrunning Discord.

In January 2004, Nintendo hosted an official time trial competition on 4 tracks: Luigi Circuit, Baby Park, Mario Circuit and Yoshi Circuit. This required Japanese players to use a command of inputs at the end of a run to generate a code to be submitted to the competition and verified. The winner was NOBUO on all 4 tracks.

The game was added to Cyberscore.me.uk and features all in-game leaderboards most notably for 50cc and 100cc Grand Prix times that aren't tracked elsewhere. Cyberscore allows shortcut times to be submitted.

The game was added to Speedrun.com with separate leaderboards for glitch/glitchless Grand Prix runs as well as Co-Op runs and an extension page for various niche categories. Emulator times are allowed.

MKWRS.com tracks a comprehensive history of MKDD Time Trial World Records with many related statistics. It tracks overall records only for both Non-SC and SC, with no history tracked for separate 50Hz/60Hz records.

mariokart.video was launched in 2016/17 to provide players with time trial videos from a range of skill levels to learn from.

A spreadsheet dedicated to tracking Shortcut times and record history was created in late 2018 and can be found in the MKDD Discord.

In the late 2010s, modding the game became more feasible and many custom tracks have been created by the community, leaderboards for which can be found on a dedicated spreadsheet in the MKDD Discord.

Starting in 2018, the Global Speedrun Association has hosted various racing leagues and tournaments for Mario Kart Double Dash players.

In July 2022, MKDD was the subject of a Summoning Salt video taking a look at its shortcuts history.

Player's Page

Participation:

Joining the MKDD Player's Page requires a new player to post in the "New Times" topic on the MKDD subforum. Initially submissions were done through Yahoo Groups before its closure in 2019. New players must list their name, country, version (60Hz/50Hz) and personal bests. Also featured is a link to the MKDD-Opedia created by TvL to help beginners learn the games ins-and-outs.

News:

Weekly news detailing players new personal bests, current rankings and new overall, 60hz and 50hz world records, and new players that have joined the site. It is written by Alex Penev usually on the 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd of each month.

Charts:

The charts are divided into 3 main categories: Combined (Any Hz), 50Hz Mode and 60Hz mode. Players can fill out timesheets for both 50Hz and 60Hz but their fastest time regardless of Hz will be on their Combined timesheet. All times are colour coded either green for 60Hz or red for 50Hz.

Average Finish - players are ranked by taking their average leaderboard placement for all tracks (course and fastest lap). The top ranked player is declared the champion (or 50hz/60hz champion if not overall specifically)

World Records - shows a list of each tracks fastest time. Clicking on a track's name will show the full leaderboard for that track.

Standards - goal cut-offs created for each track to indicate the skill level of the respective time raced. The standards are named in increasing skill level: Newbie, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Hero, Titan, Myth and finally God. These skill levels are all further subdivided D through A, apart from the singular Newbie rank, Titan and Myth which have an additional Titan+/Myth+ skill level and finally God which extends to God+1 through to God+10. The first created God standards (Now Titan+) were perceived to be too easy and in August 2005 were reworked up to God+10 to be more challenging. Since the introduction of A-tech in February 2006, all the Gods and now almost all God+10s have been achieved and since then many players have suggested reworking the standards again to accommodate A-tech but no changes have happened yet.

ARR (Average Rank Rating) - players are ranked by their average Standard achieved over every track.

Total Time - players are ranked by their sum of all course & fast lap times

Country AF - like AF but ranking by countries instead of individual players. Getting higher ranked players from a certain country will boost that country's rank.

Summary - shows the no. of players that have achieved certain track standards and breakdown of percentages for each track.

Other:

Aside from the charts, the MKDD Player's Page also features links to the MKDD subforum, an Awards page including Player of the Month/Year awards (discontinued), Matchups to see how two players' times fare against each other, Rivalry page to show matchups of more than two players, Women's Leaderboard and Past Champions for Any Hz and 60Hz.

Techniques

Drift - The kart will enter a drifting state after the R or L button has been pressed and a certain turn threshold has been met. If the threshold hasn't been met the kart's wheels will have smaller trickling sparks and not enter the drift state. Drifting can increase a kart's acceleration and is useful on its own during lakitu drop boosts such as the Mushroom Bridge shortcut fast lap.

MT (Mini-turbo) - An MT is performed by holding the R or L button, charging to orange then blue sparks by shifting the analogue stick, then releasing the trigger button to gain a temporary boost in speed. The kart will slightly shift outwards when initiating a drift; players will direct the analogue stick slightly before pressing the trigger button to control the kart better. Failing to charge an MT is referred to as a Dropped MT or Missed MT (sometimes a Missed MT might be further distinguished as missing a drift entirely)

MT Speed - The speed which a player can consistently charge MTs. Generally a player's MT speed will increase over their career, and a player's MT speed will in part inform their racing lines. Executing faster MTs can allow players to drive more optimal lines and space better. On Co-Op mode the charging speed limit is removed.

Spacing - Chaining MTs in the most effective way to optimise speed. Because the speed boost from MTs get cancelled by reinitiating another drift, players have to learn the timing of MTs instead of spamming them. Depending on a player's current MT speed, the usual timing of spacing MTs is not always beneficial in some sections of tracks which might require shorter MTs for a better line or approach. The tendency of not accounting for this is sometimes referred to as Overspacing/Underspacing.

SWB (Sideways Boost) - A SWB is performed by directing the analogue stick to the opposite direction of the kart during the release of an MT, giving the player some temporary sideways momentum.

SSMT (Straight Stretch Mini Turbos) - Sometimes meaning the Non-A-tech method of MTs during a straight section of the track, alternating between left and right MTs. The method becomes more effective as a player's MT speed increases and masters kart control with the analogue stick. Can also refer to A-tech MTs on straight sections.

Fast Drop - On some tracks where the kart will be falling, players can make the kart fall faster by pressing the trigger button. Tilting the kart forwards/backwards during an airtime section can also be effective. Players will often charge an MT during these sections referred to as a Mid-Air MT.

A-Tech - The part of momentum control provided by releasing the accelerator (A button). The current momentum of the kart, how long and when the accelerator is held and let go for, analogue stick movement, timing/length of an MT/drift and other minutiae can all impact the A-tech effect. Generally players are recommended to start learning it after reaching Expert/Hero standard where it is typically simplified as "Releasing A during an MT" to practise keeping the kart straighter on straight sections like on Mushroom Bridge and Peach Beach. Players will eventually start to master the technique as they begin to intuit its effect, analyse top players and learn variations such as Fancy A-Tech, Smooth A-Tech, Half A-Tech, Swag Strat, A-less MT, Full A-Tech, A-tech Hop. Though some top players knew the effect of releasing the accelerator - and was used in limited fashion by player Leuca in June 2004 - it wasn't until February 2006 that the technique was fully formed and refined by player JSX fundamentally changing how the game would be played at top level. A visual cue for releasing the accelerator is a small puff of light grey smoke from the Barrel Train's chimney.

R-Tech - Repeatedly pressing the R or L button in a specific fast rhythm in order to exceed the kart's usual turning radius. Useful on the spirals on Rainbow Road and Wario Colisseum but also in short bursts round sharp corners such as the advanced strat on Baby Park. The rhythm depends on 60Hz/50Hz and is sometimes quoted as "3 frames held, 8 frames let go" for 60Hz. The technique was discovered by Andre W in June 2004 after mimicking a similar technique in F-Zero.

L-Tech - Repeatedly pressing one trigger button whilst holding down the other. Similar to R-Tech, less effective but easier to grasp and usually done before learning R-Tech.

Z-Tech - Switching characters by pressing Z. Once joked as a meme or used for style points, Z-tech became a reality in 2021 after becoming useful in Grand Prix mode when it was discovered that players can prolong the duration of a Golden Mushroom by repeatedley switching characters.

Braking - Rarely done except for in conjunction with R-Tech/L-tech to varying degrees of effectiveness. Most commonly on DK Mountain before the shortcut and Wario Colisseum spiral. Not always needed by top players.

Analogue Control - The basis of driving a desired line as well as directing and controlling the kart during, before and after MTs in conjunction with many of the techniques above, such as leaving the stick neutral when releasing an MT or applying SWB. Players will intuit many minute analogue stick movements learned from refining muscle memory and analysis to drive the best lines. Top players will also be able to incorporate intricate movements whilst charging an MT for better kart control.

Shortcuts

Waluigi Stadium: Bowser Castle: ...

Time Trial Champions

Overall:

60Hz:

World Records

Luigi Circuit: ...

Custom Tracks

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