Double Dash!! is a kart racing video game in which the player races in a kart against other teams in different courses. The game screen indicates the current standings in a race, the current speed of the player's kart and incoming weapons. Like in the previous installments, players can pick up item boxes to receive a randomly selected item and use it to impede the opposition and gain the advantage. Some items, such as shells and bananas, allow the player to hit others to slow them down, while other items, such as the star power-up, render them temporarily invincible to attacks. This is the only game in the series in which instead of one character per kart, there are two: one to drive, and one to use items; and is also the first in the series where players drop their items when hit by a weapon. The powerslide technique, an action that allows the player to drift around turns, has been improved; players can tilt the control stick while drifting to make sparks appear around their kart.