| Product: |
Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA) |
| Date: |
24/06/04 (129 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Good laugh, Its Simple
Disadvantages: No lasting classic, Single player isnt overly impressive
Mario Kart: Super Circuit:
Nintendo have really been pushing their Game Boy Advanced and SP consoles recently, I personally have an Advanced because I do not play in the dark and have no purpose for the light that will set you back an extra £20-35.
Mario a classic character from the platform serious has picked up so many ?friends? over the time and some of them race in this game against each other, it?s a simple first over the line wins. But things are never has simple as a normal race with power-ups available around the track to try and knock your opponents of track and slow them down.
Made by Nintendo so a very high reputation comes with this game and with this reputation comes expectations, but can then successful console game come across well on the hand held.
~ Power Ups. ~
> Weapons:
Green Shells, fire a shell in a straight line if it hits someone in front of you it will cause him or her to skid, it is very hard to use.
Red Shells, like a green shell but it well home in on the person in front of you.
Triple Green Shells, 3 green shells spin around you protecting you from other people?s weapons but you can fire them off one by one using the trigger button.
Triple Red Shells, 3 red shells spin around you protecting you from other people?s weapons but you can fire them off one by one using the trigger button.
Spiked Shell, it will automatically find the person at the front of the race and really hit them hard causing them to skid a lot.
Banana Peel, drop it on the track for other people to drive over and spin.
Lightening Bolt, makes everyone else go small, make sure no one has just used a star because it will protect them. When they are small they drive a lot slower.
> Speed:
Mushroom, short burst of speed.
Tripl
e Mushroom, 3 mushroom to be used one by one.
Star, speeds you up, protects you against weapons, and if you hit people then they will skid
Ghost,
speeds you up, you go invisible and if you drive through people they get haunted by boo and slows them right down.
~ Buttons. ~
D-Pad: Steer
B: Break
A: Accelerator
Left: Trigger (Use Weapon)
Right: Jump
Start: Pause
Select: Nothing
~ Screen Layout. ~
Top Left is the coin amount this shows how many coins you have collected, more coins in the Grand Prix modes the better end ranking you get. Top Left just in is the lap count tells you have many total laps have to be done and the lap you are on. Centre is the weapon box shows you what weapon you are currently holding, use trigger button to use. Top right is overall time you have taken. Down the left is the order of the top 4 in the race. Bottom left is your current position, bottom right is a map of the track with dots for the players position?s the flashing one is the race leader.
~ Single Player. ~
Just need a Game Boy Advanced or Game Boy SP plus the game cartridge in the game slot.
Three options you are presented with are ?Mario GP? (standing for Grand Prix), ?Time Trial?, and ?Quick Run?.
After picking a game type you are faced with 3 options 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, this is relating to the game speed a slower game will be easier for new comers to navigate because you have a lot more time to react to turns in the track plus do not really need to break ever on 50cc where as 150cc break turns are needed all the time (I advice the logically progression up the speeds).
Then you get to pick your character ill come back to that in a minute.
- Mario G&
#80;: This is the best-ranked racer over 4 races wins; you get points for where you finish. First get 9, Second 6, Third 3, Forth 1; if you finish out the top 4 then you have to retry the race using up a life. Get 3 lives to last you the 4 races.
The cups available to you are:
> Mushroom Cup: includes the race courses of:
Peach Circuit, a fast track with no traps j
ust lovely green grasses both sides of the track, lovely blue skies, and the occasional castle pops up in the background.
Shy Guy Beach, a pleasant drive around a beech only trouble you come across are crabs just do not bump into them really.
Riverside Park, a forest level looks like Donkey Kong is finally at home, watch out occasionally weird animals pop up from the holes in the ground and you can fall of the sides of the bridge into the water. If you are about to hit one of the animals hit and hold break until a music mark comes above your head should stop you skidding and wont slow you down as much by far.
Bowser Castle 1, the easiest of Bowser?s castles mainly because it has sides up all the way around, the only trap to watch out for is flame balls coming up from the lava when you are hopping over the holes just stay central and you should be fine.
> Flower Cup: includes the race courses of:
Mario Circuit, a simple track a lot like Peach Circuit a plain race track nothing to watch out for, a good trick is when you come to the start finish line there is a little off road on the right use that and there is a turbo pad at the end.
Boo Lake, nothing to complex again, be careful of the edges the walls blocks go one by one as you hit them plus one big hole in the centre of the track as you go around but isn?t hard to dodge just go around.
Cheese Land, little more complex now the track is very windy and you have to be careful of blue
cactus that walk across the track hit them and you will skid, you can use the music note method mentioned before.
Bowser Castle 2, first hard level but shouldn?t present any large problems, be careful of the lava falls really don?t be tempted to stray to far of course for the power ups. But turbo pad lay in easy to use spots.
> Lightening Cup
Luigi Circuit, hard for a start level, the track is pretty easy to ride around no big turns. Watch out for the spots of light on the floor ride o
ver these and you will skid don?t use the music note method just press the jump button just before and you should clear them easily.
Sky Garden, looks like a scene out of jack and the beanstalk. Big track in the sky no hazards to watch out for but no sides to the track so you can fall off.
Cheep-Cheep Island, a long level around a beech level watch out for the long way around because at times the track splits into two, watch out for crabs on the track again and the odd hen.
Sunset Wilds, first track with some good laughs on it, weird tent things if you hit you get a shy-guy tagging along for the ride slows you right down, all you have to watch out really is the tents.
> Star Cup & Special Cup I want to keep these a secret as these present the most problems for you and its good coming over things yourself rather then having everything spoon fed to you.
> Time trials, is trying to get lap records, it records your best attempt and you can race against it next time around a good way of telling if you are doing better, I get really competitive against my mates for best lap times.
> Quick Run is just practice laps.
~ Joint Playing. ~
If you have more then one game boy enough games for each one and a joining cable to connect the games. The options you get is just a normal race a one off race on a selected track, a grand
prix like those on single player, or battle mode where you have to hit your opponents with weapons bursting balloons taking off their lives.
~ Characters. ~
Mario (Speed: 3, Weight: 3) an all round player good speed and good at using weapons.
Luigi (Speed: 3, Weight: 3) same as Mario just looks green
Peach (Speed: 5, Weight: 1) top speed here but the weight means that they have a very poor use of weapons; they don?t hit opponents as hard. Also the low weight means you will lose a lot of ground if hit by a weapon.
Toad (Speed: 5, Weight: 1) same as Peach just looks like a mushroo
m.
Yoshi (Speed: 4, Weight: 2) Easiest player to use, good speed and the 2 weight means he can reasonable use weapons.
D K (Speed: 2, Weight: 4) slow but great use of weapons.
Wario (Speed: 2, Weight: 4) same as D K
Bowser (Speed: 1, Weight: 5) slowest racer but packs a great punch with weapons, plus isn?t fazed too much by weapons, plus you can race without worrying about bumping into anyone. Hard to use but advanced players can utilise him very well.
~ Graphics. ~
It is on a Game Boy so do not be expecting miracles, but in my mind its as good as the N64 version for graphics. The good thing about Mario is that it is completely cartoon so realistic graphics are not needed at all. In short they are good for a Game Boy but not great for today?s standards with 128bit consoles. No glitches in the graphics, but the landscapes are really not detailed so the characters look pretty good.
~ Sound Track. ~
That lovely repetitive music that reminds you of the great game past. Its all very happy in the typical Mario style but it is a Game Boy people very rarely have their volumes turned up anyway. In public places it is
annoying hearing the same 20 seconds of music over and over, and in my house I have music on all the time I am playing.
~ Tips. ~
Do not overly use break just realising the accelerator works just as good and slows you down a lot less.
Use mushrooms on home straight its hard to turn during the speed kick plus if you are right behind someone when you use it, it will make them skid.
If have a red shell and you are about to over take someone do not use it to over take them but just as you pass them realise it to hit the next person.
When people use weapons against use shows it behind you for a bit if you have a shell or banana in storage use it then hold the trigger button and it will protect you.
~ Fun Factor. ~
This is not a serious game it really is for those whom
enjoy a simple bit of fun playing not too much thinking needed. If you do have mates with the game you can be competitive but its hard to take it seriously normally end up just laughing a lot at each others misfortune.
~ Appeal. ~
It appeals to people whom like simple racing games, not many other crowds.
~ Gameplay. ~
Has had me playing for hours now, take it every weekend I have to make my 2 hours train journey twice keeps me pretty much hooked into it until the end of the journey when I am normally tapped on the shoulder by a train worker and told its end of the line.
~ Value. ~
It is still retailing between £25 and £30 it really is not worth that, it has had me hooked but not a lot of people I know it does not have the wide appeal the consoles ones have because its easier to have multiple player which Mario Kart is great for, single player not really worth it.
Have a nice day
© David Clark
(Any questions e-mail or add me to msn: DavidJamesClark@hotmail.com)
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