Mario Kart: Double Dash / Strategy and Tips

Troopa's Best Tip
My best tip for any game is to just spend a lot of time with it. If you want to be good, you have to play, play, and play. The more you play a game the more you get the feel of it, and after that it will seem like you're part of the game. I heard once that if you spend 10,000 hours playing something, you'll be an expert at it. Spend 10,000 hours playing basketball, and you could probably join the NBA. 10,000 hours is a long time, but you get my point. Play some Mario Kart and have fun!

Best Kart
You should experiment to see which karts work best for you, but most people have success with the Barrel Train, Bullet Blaster, Toad Kart, or Toadette Kart.

Best Drivers
In my opinion, using Troopa with a Toad or a Baby is the best choice. Troopa's will frequently get their special triple shells, even when they're in 1st place. Toad's mushroom is nice to have, and if you fall behind it's good to have a Baby's Chain Chomp to pull you ahead and cause havoc. When picking your drivers you have to remember that the size of your drivers determines which karts are available to you. Bowser won't fit in Toad's Kart for example. You should try all the drivers to see what suits you best.

Time Trials
To become one of the best in time trials takes a lot of practice, and you probably have to be a little psychotic too. My best advice to you if you're serious about your time trials is to check out our Movies and watch how the experts do it. To become the best, learn from the best. You should also join up with the crew at MarioKart64.com.

Power Slide
Power sliding has always been an important part of Mario Kart. Hold the L or R button while going around a tight turn to do a power slide and get around it faster. Power slides can also be used to avoid items thrown at you, but this will take some practice to master.

Start Speed Boost
At the beginning of a race wait until you hear "GO!" and then push A to start accelerating. Practice this, and if you time it right you will get a rocket start at the beginning of the race.

Double Dash Boost
This can only be done in co-op play. If both players press A when the light turns green, you'll perform a Double Dash Boost which is even better than the normal starting speed boost.

Mini Turbo
You must know how to do this to become an expert in Mario Kart Double Dash. When you start a power-slide, hold the L or R button (whichever one you use) and tilt the control stick in the opposite direction of the turn. You should see red sparks from your tires. Then quickly tile the control stick back towards the turn, and then away from the turn again. You should see blue sparks. Let go of the power-slide and you will receive a mini turbo boost.

Co-op Mini Turbo
To do this, the driver must begin the powerslide using the L or R button. Then the player in the back must use the control stick to tilt back and forth until the tire sparks turn blue. Let go of the powerslide, and enjoy your boost.

Slide Attack
If you are playing co-op, the rear player can press L or R to do a slide attack which can steal items from other karts. It's also helpful in keeping you on the track if the driver is about to fly off on a level like Rainbow Road.

Stealing Items
To steal items, the rear character can't be carrying an item. There are three different ways to steal items from other karts. If you want to steal an item, but are already carrying one, have both characters switch positions. If you touch a star and hit a kart, you'll steal an item. If you hit an enemy kart when you use a mushroom, you'll steal an item. And in co-op mode, do a slide-attack into a kart to steal an item.

For more info than you could ever want or need, also check out GameFAQs.