| Product: |
Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA) |
| Date: |
14/03/02 (151 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Good music, well used SFX., Nice use of the GBA's Mode 7 technology., Not really easy like it's N64 predecessor.
Disadvantages: Can get boring without friends to play with.
Mario Kart Super Circuit is quite possibly the most anticipated games from the first generation of games for the GBA. We've had some pretty spectacular games like Tony Hawks 2 and Fire Pro Wrestling, but none of these has the pulling power that Shigeru Miyamoto's latest masterpiece has.
First shown at the 2000 Spaceworld (Nintendo's annual tradeshow) the game has continued to impress ever since. Although it didn't quite make the launch of the GBA, it was well worth the wait. The final product is THE best game out now for the GBA and probably won't be surpassed for a long time.
*****
This is the third in the Mario Kart series, the first being released in 1993 for the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). It used the SNES' revolutionary Mode 7 engine and was the first in its genre; Kart Racing. Five years later the game was updated for the 64-bit era for Nintendo's new console The N64 (Nintendo 64). The game featured improved graphics but was still the same game at its core albeit with some minor niggles like the cheating AI.
Mario Kart Super Circuit has taken the best features from its predecessors and managed to squeeze them into a tiny cartridge, while adding it's own features, fixing some discrepancies form the previous features and enabling you to play it wherever you like.
If you are unfamiliar with the MK formula here's a little rundown. You race in a number of different cups, each with four races over VERY different terrains. It could be ice or it could be normal tarmac or you might find yourself in a jungle setting. You race either three of five laps depending on the cup against seven other competitors. To help you out in the races you can collect golden coins which speed your (sic) kart up and weapons like the red shell which homes in on the nearest kart or the mushroom which gives your kart a speed boost.
There are three modes of play in MK: SC. Mario GP, Time Tr
ials and Battle mode. They're self-explanatory.
In MK: SC there is eight familiar faces for you to race as, Mario and Luigi who fit in the Middleweight category. Princess Peach, Yoshi and Toad, who fit into the lightweight category and Bowser and Wario who fit into the Heavyweight category.
In the 30 courses in the game you will race around deserts, alien planets (alien cheese planets to be precise), past rivers, in jungles, through snow and on slippery, treacherous ice.
The game uses a rating system which is based on the following criteria:
How well you did in the four tracks.
How many coins you collected.
How fast you went round the track.
Items used.
The ratings are ***, **, *, A, B, C, D or E. To get the *** star rating on every course is extremely hard and it is not known if anyone has accomplished this feat yet. For 15 *** you are rewarded with a new title screen.
Graphics
Amazing. That's all I can say about the graphics in this game. This is one area of the game that no one can fault. The game menus are surprising good which is rare for a racing game, which usually have boring, generic menus. All the buttons are animated and you hear a rev of an engine when you choose an option. The character select screens show the faces of the characters and when you choose a character you get a spinning 3D model of the character, really excellent.
For the actual races themselves, Nintendo have used an advanced version of the SNES' (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) Mode 7. Mode 7 is a system that makes games appear to be 3D when they are not. Games on the SNES that used this system were: F-Zero, Mario Kart and Turrican. The items that you use against your fellow racers, (shells to hit your opponents, lightning to shrink them, banana skins to make them skid) are all animated sprites which also give the illusion that they are in 3D.
This is a first generation GBA game
and all ready Nintendo have produced graphics of this calibre, who knows what kind of GBA games we will be playing in two years time.
Sound
This being a portable console you would've thought the music would be nothing more then plinks and plonks like on the GB and GBC, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you put on some earphones and plug them into your GBA, you will hear great tunes. They're very catchy and a lot of them use guitars and are not synthesized like on the SNES Mario Kart. The music changes from track to track and each matches the mood of the track you are racing on. The ghost house track has spooky, tingly music, while the Mario Raceway track has fast, upbeat music.
For sound effects, you have the usual revving of the engines and the screeches or the tires as you power slide around a tight corner. Also, each character has their own (annoying) little catchphrase. The weapons all have their own sound effects, you use the shrinking lightning weapon and you hear a great crash as lightning hits all of your opponents and shrinks them down.
Multiplayer
This is where the game shines. There are three different multiplayer modes. Grand Prix, VS and Battle. In Grand Prix you and your friend race in any of the cups you have unlocked and you have the computer characters racing with you as well. In VS mode you do the same as GP mode, except for no computer opponents just you against a friend. In Battle mode you and upto three other players must use weapons to destroy each others balloons. You each have three balloons and the last person left with balloons wins. Top play any of these multiplayer modes you must have a LL (Link Lead) and four cartridges for battle and Gran Prix mode. If you only have one cartridge then you can still have multiplayer VS mode but you only choose from four tracks and one character (The green dinosaur himself, Yoshi).
This is where you will spend most of your time
playing (unless you don't have any friends then……tough!) and it really justives the £34.99 price tag that the game carries.
Longevity
So….will you be playing this game in a years time? The answer is YES! The game is not like an RPG where once you complete it you never want to go back, it will last you forever. The TT mode (Time Trial) will make you want to keep coming back trying to shave another couple of seconds off your already brilliant time. You will always want to humiliate you friends in the multiplayer modes. This really is a desert island game.
Difficulty
This isn't an easy game. It will take you weeks maybe even MONTHS to get *** in every cup and in every class. If you ever do this, you truly are a MK:SC master.
Summary:
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