The best reason to buy a Game Boy Advance (Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA))

Member Name: defiler

Product:	Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA)
Date:	15/09/01 (807 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast, Fun, Replayable

Disadvantages: No Kooper Trooper :(

Actually the best reason to buy a Game Boy Advance would be if the shop was giving them away free but until you find an offer like that this game comes close.

Perhaps the most awaited game on the Game Boy Advance, Mario Kart Super Circuit is certainly one of the most fun. The game takes elements out of Mario Kart 64 on the N64 and adds them to the original Super Mario Kart from the SNES, the result is a game with many of the best elements of both games. This game is often given as the reason for the reason the L and R buttons were added to the Game Boy Advance and is easy to imagine that it is true.

This opinion is going to be split into 3 parts. The first part will concentrate on giving a basic opinion on the game, the second part will give more details on things such as characters/tracks/weapons (something many people aren't interested in and may want to skip) and the third part will list changes made to the game since the 2 previous versions (which will probably only interest people who have played these games).

--What it it?--
Super Mario Kart on the SNES was a fast, fun and addictive game which put Mario characters into racing karts and had you race them around tracks. The game differed from many other racing games and led to many clones being produced, few of which came close to matching the playability of the original game. The game differed by going for fun rather than realism and giving you a variety of weapons to use against your opponents. The game also had a great multiplayer mode and was easily one of the best multiplayer games on the SNES at the time.

After the success of this game Nintendo went on to release a sequel on the N64, this game made a wide range of changes, improved the graphics and sound and resulted in a very fun game. Unfortunately though a few of the changes made led to the game being considered inferior to the original by many people, while some of the changes to the game made it mor
e fun some of them actually reduced the playability of the game.

Mario Kart Super Circuit seems to acknowledge the faults in Mario Kart 64 and tries to get back the original and classic feel of Super Mario Kart, coins have been returned to the game and the control of the karts has been changed to be more similar to the original game as well as a variety of other things. The game does however introduce some of the appreciated changes made in Mario Kart 64, many of the new weapons have been added, characters play more like the N64 characters than the SNES ones as well as other things. The result is a game that feels improved over the original Super Mario Kart.

The basic idea of the game is that you choose from one of 8 Mario characters such Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong and Toad, you then take this character and use them in whatever type of race or contest you are taking part in. Usually this is a race in which you have to complete 3 laps of a course in as quick a time as possible, either on your own (Time Trial) or against 7 other opponents (GP). As well as the race mode you have a multiplayer battle mode in which you have to hit your opponents 3 times using whatever weapons you can find before you yourself are hit 3 times.

--Game Modes--
There are 3 single player modes of playing and 2 multiplayer only modes.

In single-player modes you can either take part in a GP which consists of 4 races in which you are given points based on your performance and aim to do as well as possible against 7 computer opponents or you can race against 7 computer opponents on a single track of your choosing or you can race alone on a track of your choosing in an attempt to gain as fast a time as possible.
Multiplayer modes are nearly identical to single-player modes but also adds the ability to play in battle mode in which the objective is the hit other players with items rather than to win a race. Most multiplayer games require multiple cart
ridges but the game also has the great feature of allowing a limited multiplayer game to take place between 2-4 players using only one cartridge.

--Courses--
There are 20 brand new courses in this game, each is well designed and fun to race on. Courses have been designed so that they work well on the Game Boy Advance, provided you are in a well lit place you should have no difficulty in spotting holes in the floor, the location of coins or other things important to play the game well. The courses all seem to be of a fairly short length making them quick to play with a lot of action while you do so.

--Racing--
Racing is more similar to Super Mario Kart than Mario Kart 64, coins have been returned which, when collected, improve the speed of your kart, control of the kart is also more like Super Mario Kart.

Basic control is very much like any other racing game, you can accelerate, brake, steer side to side or reverse. The controls for these basic movements is the same as found in practically every other racing game too. Probably the most famous “advanced” movement in the game is drifting around corners which uses the R button, this lets you turn sharply without slowing down and was one of the best uses of the L and R buttons on the SNES controller in Super Mario Kart.

During a race there are several opportunities to gain a weapon or accessory that can help you in the race. These are more plentiful than in the original Super Mario Kart where you tended to only find 1 or 2 per course, instead you can tend to find at least 2 even on a short course and can often find more than this. Once collected these items tend to regenerate very quickly rather than disappearing for good.

--Graphics--
The game is bright and colourful so you should have little problem in seeing things. To compare it with other games it is most like Super Mario Advance and luckily not at all like games such as Castlevania whic
h required an extremely well lit area to properly play. Having said that if you aren't in a well-lit area you may have a bit of difficulty in making out small objects such as holes in the track or coins. The backgrounds look detailed and appealing, characters and objects appear good and movement is smooth rather than being jumpy.

--Sound & Music-
If you hate cheerful catchy music you are probably going to hate the music in this game, if you have ever played any Mario game at all you will probably know exactly what to expect from the music in this game. The music is definitely not the sort of thing you would listen to outside the game but really does add to the atmosphere, it might get on your nerves eventually but most of the music seems to be the sort of thing that blends into the background without interfering with your playing.

Some of the music has been kept from previous Mario Kart games, finishing a race for example has the same sounding tune as seen in previous games, most of the music seems either new or redone however.

The sound effects aren’t annoying at all and fit the game well. Characters don’t feel the need to constantly utter a catchphrase in this game and the sound for each character isn’t overused for once. Other sounds such as picking up coins, collecting an item or bumping into something sounds clear and tends to go for a more comical than real sound which fits the game well.

--Difficulty--
Anyone used to other Mario Kart games will find the difficulty of this game about the same, perhaps a little harder in places. The game has a faster feel to it than previous games and as such it can sometimes be a bit easier to mess up and fall behind all the other racers.

The game provides 3 engine classes which are basically the games difficulty. Courses are much easier to race at 50cc than at 150cc for example. New players should start on 50cc and then progress to 100cc once t
hey are used to the game before finally going on to 150cc for the best challenge the game will provide.

If you are quite a bit behind all the other racers the game does tend to help you a little bit, you are more likely to get a good item such as lightning if you are in 8th place than if you are in 1st for example, overall the game aims to make it so that if you fall behind a lot it is hard to get to the front again but not impossible.

Eventually though (if you play the game enough) you will get used to every course at the top speed, at this stage you will start to beat the computer in almost every single game and the only true challenge you will get from the game is to either try and get a top lap time or play against a few human opponents.

One thing the game has introduced to the GP mode is ranks, these range from *** to E, even if you have won the GP you can still often get a low rank such as D or E due to poor performance in the races combined with a bit of luck which meant you still won. The ranks are a great idea as they keep you playing in order to try and get a better rank than the last time you played, getting an A is only a matter of time once you get to know the courses well but anything above this is extremely difficult to get and provides a challenge. I've been playing the game for a while now and am still unable to get a 3 star ranking in anything, 2 stars is the highest I seem to be able to manage so trying to get the top ranking will probably be something that will take you a very long time.

--Manual--
The manual is of good quality and tells you everything you need to know about the game. It gives you information on each course, character, controls and many more things. While it is only 23 pages long (the English part anyway) it does contain everything you will need to know, there is no colour used inside the manual though but the pictures look clear enough in black and white.

--Cost--
Whil
e I have put the cost of the game down as £27.99 this is just the price I bought it from, this is the cheapest I have seen it for sale and the price often goes up to £34.99 in many shops. Due to the popularity of the game however there are several stores that have some sort of offer on this game, the popularity also means that the game will probably take a long time to come down in price though.

--Conclusion--
Out of every Game Boy Advance game I have seen so far this is easily the best. It maintains the fun feel of the other Mario Kart games and plays extremely well on the GBA, there is little I can fault in the game and I would recommend this to anyone that has any interest at all in this type of game. Some people may however feel that paying around £30-35 for what is basically a remake of quite an old game as a waste of money, people who didn’t enjoy previous Mario Kart games will also probably hate this too.
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--Characters--
Characters are identical to those found in Mario Kart 64, this is the same as those found in Super Mario Kart with Kooper Trooper being switched with Wario, a stupid change in my opinion seeing as Kooper Trooper was always my favourite character.

Characters are divided into 3 different categories, heavy, medium and light. Heavy characters have slow acceleration but high top speed, light characters have high acceleration but low top speed and also tend to find turning easier, medium characters are something in-between. Each character is slightly different to others in the same category but the differences are much more minor than those between different categories.
The Heavy category consists of Wario, Donkey Kong and Bowser. I'd say that this category is more for experiences players than new ones, the characters are often more difficult to control and you need to avoid hitting things as it will take a long time to get back to top speed.
The Medium category
consists of Mario and Luigi. This category is suitable for both new players and experiences players, the characters have no real advantages but also no disadvantages.
The Light category consists of Princess Toadstool, Yoshi and Toad. While the medium category is often recommended to new players I personally find that these characters are the easiest to control when you first start playing, experiences players may want to try a different category though in order to try and increase their fastest lap times.

--Items--
Items are one of the most important things in the game, without them you will probably lose the race. Items are also the luck part of the game, the racing depends on how good you are at playing the game but what item you get depends on how lucky you are.

Items come in a variety of forms, you have shells that can be fired at another kart, banana skins that can be dropped in the hope someone will run into it, stars that make you invincible for a while, mushrooms that give you a temporary speed boost, a ghost to steal another players item or if you are really lucky lightning to strike all the enemies at once.

Items have changed since past Mario Kart games, they are just as useful as they ever were but because the races are shorter the items also tend to have shorter lasting effects. Stars for example will no longer make you invincible for as long, when people are struck by lightning they will recover quicker etc. Most items also seem to have been given added "intelligence" or extra uses, in past games for example red shells would just head straight for the opponent in front no matter what was in the way often making them useless, in this game however they will swerve around certain obstacles.

--Tracks--
In total there are 20 tracks, these are divided into 5 different cups of varying difficulty. The Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special cups return from previous Mario Kart games with a new cup call
ed the Thunder cup (with an icon of a lightning bolt for some reason...) has been added. Mushroom is the easiest cup to complete and is recommended to new players. Flower and Thunder seem to be of similar difficulty to each other, tougher than Mushroom but easier than Star. Star is the toughest out of the first 4 cups but can easily be beaten with a bit of practice. Once you win the first 4 cups you unlock the Special cup, this is supposed to be the most difficult and can take a while to complete, especially at the top speed.

While no tracks from previous Mario games are used in the 20 new tracks you often get remakes of popular tracks from the previous games. Examples of this are the Bowser Castle tracks, the Mario Circuit one or Rainbow Road.

As well as the basic tracks you can apparently unlock the tracks from Super Mario Kart, as I have yet to do this myself I am not certain it works however I've read it in a number of places and based on the fact that there has usually been a secret to unlock in previous Mario Kart games think it is probably true.

--Single Player Modes--
-Mario GP-
Mario GP is probably the best single player mode, racing on a track by yourself in an attempt to get a top time isn't really that much fun for long but racing against 7 other drivers and trying to win a race is.

To start with you choose your character, a speed to race at and a cup, then the GP starts. Each GP consists of 4 races, in order to pass from one track to the next you have to finish within the top 4 drivers, the top 4 positions receive points based on how well they did. After you finish all 4 tracks you will receive a trophy if you came within the top 3 racers and a ranking based on how well you did in each race (even if you won each race you may not get the top ranking).

-Quick Run-
The quick run mode is a single race on a track played in Mario GP mode. Rather than picking a cup you pick an individua
l track and try to do as well as possible in the race. No information is saved about how well you did but it is a great way of practising a track that you are having difficulty completing in the GP. The mode is also made better by the fact that you are able to adjust a few options such as the number of laps or whether items and coins are turned on or off.

-Time Trial-
The Time Trial is simply an attempt to complete 3 laps of a course in as quick a time as possible with no interference from other players. While this may not sound very fun in comparison to the other modes of playing it does have an appeal to it as the top times are saved giving you a goal to attempt to beat. It is a great way of trying to find the best way of racing on a track without having to worry about opponents for a while. You can also save ghost data of a track, this will mean that the next time you race on the track you will find yourself racing with a ghost of your former race, this ghost will go through the exact same race you did last time and can help encourage you to try and beat your time.

--Multiplayer Modes--
No matter how great a single player game is you can never beat a multiplayer experience with this game. The challenge of racing against human players and being able to see their reaction to things is far better than facing a computer opponent which can only provide so much challenge to you. Luckily the game provides a large number of multiplayer modes, more in fact than the number of single player modes, so if you can find another person with a Game Boy Advance who is willing to play against you, do so.

-Mario GP-
2 Players only. This is identical to the single player Mario GP but you will be racing with another human opponent and 6 computer opponents. To continue to the next race only one player needs to qualify within the top four positions. Both players need their own game cartridge.

-Vs-
2-4 players. This is a sing
le race on a single track against 1-3 human players. Racing takes place exactly the same as it would in a GP except that there are only 2-4 players and you choose a single track rather than having to race four tracks at once. All players need their own game cartridge.

-Battle-
2-4 players. This isn't a race at all but instead gives each player 3 balloons, whenever a player is hit they lose a balloon and the objective is to burst other players balloons while keeping your own. This is an extremely fun way of playing and can provide a great challenge if you are playing against people of a similar ability to you. Races take place on 1 of 4 special battle tracks rather than the normal tracks, these are designed to keep players close together and provide a constant stream of powerups. All players need their own game cartridge.

-Single-Pak Multiplayer-
2-4 players. This is a great feature of the game and one that is certain to please many people, you can play a limited multiplayer game of Mario Kart using only one game cartridge. The game is limited by only allowing you to race on one of four special tracks, every player plays as Yoshi rather than being able to choose a character and the game will take longer to load due to having to send all the information to players without a cartridge but it does allow a limited game to take place and is great for allowing other people to experience the game without having to buy it. Racing takes place exactly as a Vs game would.

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--Comparison to Mario Kart 64--
*Coins have been added which, when collected, increase the possible speed of your kart.
*The multiple banana skin and super mushroom powerups have been removed.
*Control of karts feels easier.
*New tracks have been added which replace the Mario Kart 64 ones.
*You can now choose to have a random character rather than have to pick.
*Cups now give you a rank as well as a posit
ion once finished, even if you win a cup you might have a poor rank due to poor performance in the races.
*There are now 5 cups rather than 4.
*Tracks tend to be shorter and played faster, to make up for this items tend to have shorter durations.
*Graphics have been made worse due to the limitations of the Game Boy Advance.
*Sound and music is changed in many places with only a few bits the same.

--Comparison to Super Mario Kart--
*Kooper Trooper has been replaced with Wario.
*Extra weapons have been added from Mario Kart 64.
*The feather and coin items have been removed.
*New tracks have been added, the old tracks from Super Mario Kart are only available after completion of all cups with a good rank.
*Cups now give you a rank as well as a position once finished, even if you win a cup you might have a poor rank due to poor performance in the races.
*There are now 5 cups rather than 4.
*Tracks tend to be shorter and played faster, to make up for this items tend to have shorter durations.
*Graphics are improved in ways but remain similar.
*Sound and music is changed in many ways, some is kept though.

These are just the changes I have noticed and I have probably missed out many of them, feel free to point out any I have done so I can update.

Sorry for such a long opinion, I split it into 3 sections and broke each section down into separate headings so that people could just skip bits that they weren’t interested in. In case you haven’t guessed I quite like this

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