| Product: |
Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA) |
| Date: |
25/09/02 (154 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Great environments, Great sounds, Extordinary in multiplayer
Disadvantages: none
Owners of the super Nintendo entertainment system (snes) will already be familiar with the concept that is Mario kart. There have been several stages of this game as it moves through the various consoles Nintendo has brought out. Life for Mario kart started on the snes. For those times it was cutting edge and was one of the reasons for owning a snes. After its debut and with the release of the Nintendo 64, Mario kart 64 was released. This game "wow"ed us all with its superior polygon based graphics and terrain. It still had all the style of the original and the classic racing and battle modes. The latest addition the series is Mario kart super circuit. It already had a long line of successful title behind it and people wondered if it would offer anything that the snes version hadn't as it looked essentially the same in the early released screenshots.
Well to sum it all up, it delivers much more!! This game is truly an awesome addition to the series and arguably one of the reasons why you should own a gameboy advance and could well be the better of the two previous titles.
To start with the game still contains all the game options of the original 2 games. These include a grand prix mode, time trial and quick race modes in single player (multiplayer play is explained later on). The game has been designed beautifully and the menu's are coloured and animated, for example when picking your player pressing one of the top L or R buttons makes the character jump or fire a turtle. After selecting your player watch in awe as you see him zoom away and the screen fade to black. With such attention to detail it is hard to fault this game at any stage. The background music is also of a high calibre. Plugging in your headphones reveals the awesomely invigorating stereo sound which pumps bass and tune-full-ness into each ear. After selecting the single player menu you can choose to play in grand prix mode. This puts you with 7 other computer-cont
rolled cars against each other. You can select your skill in terms of CC. The lower the CC the slower your car travels and the easier it is to race. Selecting from 50, 100 or 150 CC lets you control your skill and allows a perfect introduction to your tier. Each additional CC becomes more interesting. You can select from one of 8 characters and each character has their own unique handling style and acceleration due to their weight. The heavier people having slower acceleration but can slide and carry a greater speed around corners. They're also useful for barging other smaller users off the road.
Finally you begin your game. From the instance you start the game you will realise how smoothly the game plays and without any skipping of frames it keeps a fast and furious pace throughout your race. As you begin your race you'll also notice (those of you who have played the previous two titles) that it is a cross between the previous two titles. The squares on the floor from the snes version have been replaced with nicely animated cubes as in the N64 version. Also the aid of slipstreams has been included. On a straight getting behind a car will cause you to slowly increase your speed up to the back of that car. This is amazing and will try to get you to pull nicely timed overtaking manoeuvres. The computer-controlled cars are not stupid; their artificial intelligence is amazing. Watch as they pull into other cars slipstream and pull out at the last moment to overtake you. Also watch and smile as they try to block you from overtaking them. Each character maintaining their different style of racing. Add to this the varied and amazing environments you race through, which will challenge you for years and make every race you have unique. This gives the game an incredibly long life span and will remain in your collection indefinitely. Watch as your character glows slightly red when you run over gate with lava underneath.
Time trial mode enables yo
u to
concentrate on getting the best time and offers 2-player action with just one gameboy as you take it in turns to beat each other's time. The best lap is shown as a ghost when you race again on the level and allows you to actually physically see your target. You can also replay the time trials you have set in the past or connect to another gameboy and share your best times with a friend.
You'll find the environments varied and the amount of tracks are plentiful with 4 tracks in each cup and their being 4 cups and if that's not enough after you have completed the game you get all the original tracks from the snes version!
BUT WAIT...
It gets so much better if you have a friend with a gameboy and you have a link cable. You wont need 2 carts but the version with you get with only one cartridge is not anywhere near as good as if 2 cartridges are present. Plugging your gameboys together and going to single cart allows 2 or more players to easily link-up with one cart. Then there is the choice of 4 tracks to choose from. There is no character selection screen and the 4 tracks get tiresome. Also you'll notice that there is no slipstream function and the game smoothness is heavily limited. For the maximum multiplayer experience I suggest that every player gets a copy of the game and you use the multipack link up option. This allows all the original game modes to be played in multiplayer. With 4 players you can all participate in a grand prix or take a single race with just the 2,3 or 4 of you playing. There is also the addition of battle mode where all the players are in an arena and have 3 balloons attached to them. By using objects you collect you need to burst each other's balloons. The person with the most balloons at the end of the game wins and it's a fight to the death, ie until all your balloons have popped. Its amazing how much fun this game mode can be with 4 of you and the arena's are just as varied
in their
environment and the fluidity of 2-4 player mode using multipack linkup is still as perfect as single player mode.
Summary
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There's nothing like overtaking, cornering, flying through environments, running through speed ups / jumps, battling and fighting with one another to give you an immense feeling of playing. Who needs violence and what's more, it's in your hands to take with you everywhere. This game is unflawed and unrivalled on the Gameboy advance, the best racing car game and unique at that. (5/5).
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