To win, one must survive. To survive, one must dash. To dash, one must eat many bean burritos… okay, I made that last one up, but in the world of Must Dash Amigos, every little helps to get the upper hand, even if you have to suffer from intestinal discomfort from eating too many burritos!

Must Dash Amigos is the debut battle racer from miniBeast studios, a Mexican themed local multiplayer where you ‘must dash’ to win. Is Must Dash Amigos fresher than freshly prepared guacamole, or will it cause more pain than a three day old spicy enchilada? Find out in our review, after the break!

Must Dash Amigos
Nintendo Switch
Developed by miniBeast Studios
Published by miniBeast Studios
Released: 5th December 2019
Review copy provided by miniBeast Studios

Must Dash Amigos is simple: you survive, you win. It sounds easy, but don’t let that bright and cheery Mexican aesthetic fool you, this game can be pretty tough, though this does not detract from the amount of fun there is to be had! The game is primarily a multiplayer experience with three different modes to choose from in multiplayer mode, all of which are pretty self-explanatory: Race, Battle, and Tourney.

Race will pit you and up to three other amigos against each other in a race. These aren’t your usual races however, you aren’t trying to get to the finish line before everyone else, instead you are trying to be the last survivor. As players dash around the various tracks, the camera will move with them… if you get left behind, you die. It wouldn’t be a quirky racer without items, and Must Dash Amigos sure does deliver. Break open any piñatas on your desperate attempt for survival will reward with power-ups such as the Bomb-e-Granate, Flaming Burritos and, of course, Tequila; Sounds like a food fight I’d want to be a part of!

Items aren’t the only thing to be concerned about, there’s also a lot of angry cattle out there who’ll try to mess up your game. A simple stampede will just nudge you out of the way, but wear their patience too thin and a deadly stampede will rampage through the dirt to determine the winner… sometimes the stampede will declare itself the winner if it comes down to a tie.

Battles are a tad different, instead of racing for survival you’ll have to collect points the old fashioned way… by beating the refried beans out of each other. Just grab some piñata items and go crazy. Tourney is the perfect combination of both modes to see who the head honcho really is. There are various tournies which combine various locales from Race and Battle. The better you do, the more tourney points you get, and it should go without saying that the one with the most points at the end is the grand luchador! This mode is perfect for a warmup for a game night.

As far as stages go, there’s a decent amount of variety. There are four main regions: Desert, Jungle, Islands, and City. In Race, each region has three unique areas, and Battle has two for each reason. It’s a decent amount, though one or two more regions couldn’t hurt. As for playable characters, the cast is a tad lackluster with only four to choose from. Sure, each one has four different outfits, but we definitely need a larger roster over here.

Honestly, the multiplayer mode is a hell of a lot of fun… when you’ve got people to play with you there and then. Unfortunately the only multiplayer platform is through local play; there’s no network features to be seen here. Additionally, it’s a bit of a shame that there are no bot players, this would’ve been the perfect way to fill up a party of one, two, or three. It would’ve been interesting to offer the opportunity to play with more players at once; just imagine an eight player brawl filled with burritos, nachos, and guacamole!

If, like me, you are a bit of a loner, there are a couple single player modes too: Time Trials and Challenges. Time Trials simply get you to beat your best time in any of the Race locales. Challenges are a bit more interesting however. These present you with specific conditions for each of the Race locations, with a specific challenge reserved for each one. There are three different types of challenge in all. Master Catcher challenges you to try and catch the mystical piñata before time runs out. In Danger Dodging, you’ll have to be hot on your feet before the stampede takes you off yours, just complete a lap before they catch you and you’ll be fine. Double Trouble, my favourite, has you controlling two characters, both have to finish a lap, but if either of them die, you fail the challenge. These are actually fairly difficult and should provide a few hours of aggravated fun.

The presentation of Must Dash Amigos is very bright and colour, I absolutely adore the Mexican flavour, from the iconography to the music. Though there’s very few of them, the characters are still pretty charming and hilarious; just try running into a minefield of evil crabs… well, they’re not really evil, just very annoyed racetracks have been built over their breeding ground. Though the game runs pretty much flawlessly, there are some issues regarding quality of life, the main one being that, if you want to change characters, modes, or stage at the end of a match, you have to go all the way back to the title screen first. It would’ve been a whole lot better offering more than just Rematch or Exit on the results screen.

Must Dash Amigos is a very charming title, and I do commend the team from miniBeasts for their debut release. Multiplayer is a lot of fun with some very crazy gameplay, it’s also very easy to just pick up and play and a really polished experience. Unfortunately I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed with the amount of content available in general, especially at its price point of £15. If the developers decide to update the game with new stages, characters, bots, and maybe even an additional mode, it would honestly be perfect, and I would be more than happy to modify my review in response. Either way, I am very excited to see what the future holds for Must Dash Amigos and miniBeast Studios… once again, congratulations on your first release!

Final Score – 3.5 out of 5

Must Dash Amigos is out now for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC.

Leon Fletcher

I am a huge Nintendo fan, hence why NintyBuzz exists. I especially love all things Zelda and Metroid. NintyBuzz was started by me back in the Summer of 2014, it started out mainly as a hobby, though the site has gradually grown, and I hope it grows for many years to come!