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Whether you're an ardent fan of the Mario Kart series
or a first-time player, Super Circuit is a must-have for GBA owners.
While it's actually the third game in Nintendo's popular
racing series, Mario Kart Super Circuit is more of a remake of the original
Super Nintendo game than a sequel to Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64. This is
to be expected, since the Game Boy Advance hardware that Mario Kart Super
Circuit runs on is essentially the same as the Super Nintendo's. The end result
is a game that not only visually resembles Mario Kart, but also sounds and plays
just like one of the most memorable racing games of all time.
Anyone who has played either of the previous Mario Kart games (or any of the
kart spin-offs that this series has spawned) will be instantly familiar with
Mario Kart Super Circuit, as it retains the same style of play and the same
gameplay options as those of its predecessors. The game's core lies in the
single-player Mario GP mode, which will take you through a series of races
across such famous Mario locales as Bowser's castle, Boo Lake, Peach Circuit and
Shy Guy Beach. In all, there are 16 tracks spread across four different
"cups" of varying difficulty, much the same way that the races in
Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 were divided up. There's even a hidden cup with
four extra races that you can unlock if you win the previous four series of
races.
You'll blast through these events with one of the Mario universe's most
memorable characters - Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Wario, or
Donkey Kong - all of whom are divided into three distinct weight categories. The
lightweights, which are made up of Yoshi, Peach, and Toad, accelerate quickly
but have a low top speed and can be easily knocked around by others. The big
guys, such as Bowser and Donkey Kong, are slow off the line, and their speed is
drastically affected if they venture onto grass or dirt, but they can use their
size to easily push others around. Naturally, Luigi and Mario represent a
perfect balance between either extreme.
These characteristics translate well in the actual game, and you'll definitely
note some differences between the three classes and their distinct advantages
(or disadvantages) of racing on the game's different track types. For fans of
Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, playing the game on a handheld system will take a
few minutes of getting used to, as the shoulder buttons are a little difficult
to master. But the learning curve is short, and after a few laps, playing the
game will seem second nature to you.
All these tracks are fairly short - it doesn't take any
longer than one minute to lap most of them - and they're littered with obstacles
and enemies whose sole purpose is to slow you down. Just racing well won't
guarantee a victory, though, as you'll also have to contend with the seven other
racers on the track who, like you, will make full use of various items such as
the green turtle shell, the boost mushroom, and the infamous homing red turtle
shell to their advantage. These weapons are as easy to use now as they were back
on the Super Nintendo version of the game, and while a skilled shot will be able
to precisely pick off a nearby racer with a green shell, for example, simply
pressing the "fire" button at any time, no matter what weapon you
have, will almost always ensure a hit sometime during the race. Turtle shells
will continue to ricochet across tracks, and banana peels will stay put for the
duration of the race until an unfortunate kart crosses their path. This adds an
element of uncertainty that will put all but the best drivers on an almost even
plane, and that always keeps the competition close and immensely fun. And just
like its two predecessors, Mario Kart Super Circuit has three levels of
difficulty - 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc - that offer plenty of incentive to replay
the Mario GP mode after you've finished it the first time.
But while the single-player aspect of Mario Kart Super Circuit is both robust
and commendable, it's the multiplayer portion of the series that has given these
games their notoriety. Mario Kart Super Circuit will let up to four players
compete with each other on a single track, or two players can enter a Mario GP
campaign and compete against other computer-controlled characters. There's even
the coveted battle mode, which pits players in an arena-type setting where the
goal is to be the last person (or kart, in this case) standing. Or rather, the
last kart with the most balloons left unpopped. And through its single-pak
support, Mario Kart Super Circuit will let you hook up to three other Game Boy
Advance units together, even if you're the only one with the game. Granted, the
game's multiplayer options are limited at this point - you can race as only
Yoshi, and you have a choice of only four tracks - but the fact that this mode
was included in Mario Kart Super Circuit adds a significant amount of value to
the game.
Since it's essentially running on Super Nintendo hardware, Mario Kart Super
Circuit looks and sounds a lot like its 16-bit brethren, if not a little better.
The colour palette used in the game, in classic Nintendo fashion, is bright and
crisp, and all the tracks have detailed backgrounds and various foreground
sprites that do a good job of keeping up with the scaling and rotation of the
ground itself. Additionally, the bright colours will save you from twisting and
tilting your Game Boy Advance for optimum lighting - as with Castlevania: Circle
of the Moon, for example. Most of the sound effects are also taken from the SNES
version of the game, although a little bit of speech has been added to each of
the characters.
Ultimately, Mario Kart Super Circuit does many things right and few things
wrong. Whether you're an ardent fan of the Mario Kart series or a first-time
player, Mario Kart Super Circuit is a must-have for owners of the Game Boy
Advance.
Difficulty:
Easy
Learning Curve:
about a half-hour
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