Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Each mascot has a ride that handles and accelerates differently, yet the controls for each racer feel very tight and precise. The highly detailed, cartoony locales of Mario Kart Super Circuit show visuals that are both very sharp and fluidly animated. Though not nearly as fast, Mario Kart Super Circuit looks better and can be more intense than the vaunted F-Zero launch title.

If you perform well enough and collect enough coins in a tournament, you can unlock a plethora of bonus tracks--some of which are from older console Mario Kart titles. The fun multiplayer options include head-to-head racing and a balloon battle mode, in which you blast other racers with power-ups in a huge arena until there's only one driver left. --Mark Brooks

Pros:

• Bright graphics that are both fast and fluid
• Multiplayer battle mode is loads of fun
• Many, many tracks!

• May be too cute for some

I'd also like to mention that this game blows away Konami's Krazy Racers. I own both games, and wish that I had saved my money and bought only Mario Kart. Mario Kart has so much more depth that it puts Krazy Racers to shame. Mario Kart is the best game I have played for the GB Advance so far (Castlevania COTM is a close second).

If you're looking for a great, challenging go-cart racing game, don't waste your time with the Konami clone: wait for a month and buy Mario Kart Super Circuit- you'll be glad you did!


Fantastic game, but it comes with a warning   January 5, 2002
Mark Lee
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Happy New Year everyone! I just received a Game Boy Advance as a Christmas present. I had some doubts about the Mario Kart series going hand-held, but, as a big fan of the series, I still decided to make this game the first of my new Game Boy Advance collection.

What a surprise! This game is actually just as good as its predecessors! With vibrant graphics, crisp sound, lots of tracks (so far I've discovered 24), tight play control, and all the characters from the past two Mario Kart games, the GBA Mario Kart is sure to keep the series alive and well!

The best all-new features in this game would have to be the never-before-seen tracks. They are remarkably imaginative and beautifully detailed (especially Sunset Wilds), and although they're not very long (the longest one takes about 2 minutes and 45 seconds to complete 3 laps), they're loaded with obstacles that range from the quicksand traps of the Yoshi Desert to the blind mice of Cheese Land. Also, the play control is not only precise and varied among the weight classes, but you can even feel it getting more difficult among the more difficult tracks. In Yoshi's Desert, for example, you can actually feel the quicksand trying to pull you in, so it gets even harder to maneuver around the already tight turns.

But let's not forget about the things we already know and love about the Mario Kart series. Some tracks are a blast from the past, too! After all, no Mario Kart game would be complete without Rainbow Road! Plus all your favorite characters are back, too: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser are once again racing for the finish line! And the items are back, too--you can once again drop banana peels, shoot your opponent with a shell (green, red, or blue), blast ahead of the pack with a mushroom or a Super Star, become invisible with a Boo, and zap your opponents with a lightning bolt!

So run, don't walk--or better yet, drive--to the nearest video game store and pick up this game! I'll see you at the finish line!

P.S. The "warning" that I mentioned is that this game owes a lot more to Super Mario Kart (for the SNES) than it does to Mario Kart 64. The tracks are very 2-D, just like an official race track. Therefore, fans of Mario Kart 64 might miss the hills and jumps of the Wario Stadium, or the mountains and valleys of Choco Mountain and Yoshi Valley.


Mario Kart Super Circuit   December 29, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Mario Kart Super Circuit is a great deal. With 20 courses, different modes, fun characters, and super graphics, Super Circuit is the best GBA racing game ever. Special feature is 1 cartridge can play up to 4 players with just the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable (too bad it's not included). There's eight different characters including Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Wario. The controls are simple with attacking items that can make yourself defensive and a sudden burst of speed. Others can make enemy racers lose items and crash. In Mario Kart Super Circuit, there's different cups, Mushroom (easy, Flower (medium), Thunder (hard), Star (advanced), and last but not least the Special Cup(win all four cups to compete in the Special Cup.)

1(worst) to 10(best) rating scale

Graphics 9
Character 10
Game Play 9
Difficulty 8
Overall 9


Mario Kart Super Circuit   December 2, 2001
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Mario Kart is awesome. It's very similar to the super nintendo and 64 versions so if you didn't like them don't get this game. The graphics for it are amazing. They're much better than the super nintendo version. And they're probably as good as the 64 version. It also has an excellent frame rate.
The game has three difficulty levels: 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. 150cc is pretty hard so you probably won't be able to win those very soon after buying the game.
First you choose single or multiplayer (only with two to four gba's). Then you choose Mario GP, Time trial, or Quick Run. The time trail does have ghosts like the other Mario Karts. Quick run does't count for anything. Mario GP is the main type of game in Mario Super Circuit. In a Mario GP you choose a difficulty level then a character (Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess, Toad, Wario, Donkey Kong, or Bowser). Then you choose a cup: mushroom, flower, lightning, star, or special(unlock by getting a gold in the other four). Each cup consists of four races which are all different from the ones in the other two versions.There are two new boo races and four new bowser races. There are 20 races, all new. Also in each cup of each difficulty level you get a medal(bronze, silver, or gold) and a rating (***, **, *, A, B, C, D, or E) based on how many coins you picked up. I love this game. There are endless posibilities. It is really hard to get a good rating so you can almost always do better. The best rating I've ever gotten was one star. Go buy this game. I recommend it for all ages.


Easily the most addictive game for the GBA.   March 23, 2002
Ben Rowland (Toronto, Ontario Canada)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

One of the reasons I dug my old SNES out of storage was to play Mario Kart again. It was more fun than should be legal. Now there is "Super Circuit", a game very similar, but with a few differences, to the SNES classic.

The track designs are upgraded, with more of a 3D feel to them. The Bowser's Castle areas look more like those out of Mario 64 than Mario Kart. The rich texturing and colorful animation take full advantage of the GBA's capacity (which is more powerful than the SNES, believe it or not). Too prevent the total deja-vu for older games, the track layouts are different, with more tracks, different objects to use both offensively and defensively, and a host of new challenges. This is a major plus because I beat the old Mario Kart in evey way possible. It is nice to have some new fun with an old concept.

The music is superb, and the sound effects are classic Mario. As usual, you have a bunch of characters to choose from, including Mario, Luigi, Princess, Bowser, DK, Toad and others. A nice addition is that each character is rated according to speed and weight, so you can be more informed about which racer to choose. The controls are easy to master, and allow for fluid control while driving on the circuit. For gamers on the go, I cannot think of a more fun game.

Overall, this is one of the benchmark games for the GBA, and one that ensures many hours of fun and quality game time. Anyone who has played the older Mario Kart will adore this, gamers new to it will love it just the same.