In this review, we smash through the item boxes in the Game Boy Advance game Mario Kart Super Circuit. We find out how well this racing game plays.
This game was released in 2001 and is another instalment in this series.
We have a little familiarity with this series. Previously, we played the original Super Mario Kart for the SNES. That game got a great score. From there, we tried Mario Kart 64. That game also got a great score. So, we thought we’d try this game to see if it continues that trend of getting great scores.
There’s no real storyline with this particular game within the gameplay itself. You just race as one of 8 characters. Those characters are Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Toad, Donkey Kong, and Bowser.
Unlike previous iterations of this game, this game actually shows simple stats for each character. Those stats revolve around speed and wight. Weight suggest grip on the road while speed revolves around mostly acceleration. Bowser, for instance, has poor acceleration. His one star definitely shows it. Top speed, however, is a different matter entirely. Still, you do get some information about each character before the race. Of course, you won’t get a full feel for how characters race until you actually take them onto the courses.
While different attributes for different characters have been in previous instalments, this is the first time we’ve seen an actual display of information in this series.
Like other instalments of this game, there are different difficulties in this game. In this game, there is 3: 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. 50cc is basically the easiest difficulty. The karts are slower which enables you to make turns more easily. Additionally, opponents are much easier on your. 100cc is the medium difficulty. This mode features faster karts and opponents are a bit more aggressive. Finally, 150cc is the hardest difficulty. You really have to manage your speed and opponents will pick you apart if you’re not careful.
From there, you get a choice of five cups (up by one cup from the previous game). In this game, you can choose between the mushroom cup, flower up, lightening cup, star cup, and special cup. Naturally, course difficult goes up with each up. For the first time, there is a locked cup. You need to win the other cups first.
Coins make a return in this game. You generally start off with at least two. Pick up coins on the road and you’ll be able to drive just a little bit faster. In this game, though, coins also serves as a method of defence. If an opponent rams into you, you lose a coin. Fall off the course, and you lose two coins. Hit various traps on the course and you could stand to lose even more coins.
The thing is, if you run out of coins, then a simple nudge from an opponent will cause you to spin out. So, it is hugely important to have at least one coin in your inventory.
Item boxes make a return in this game as well. While it was just squares on the road in the SNES version, this game carries over the N64 style of delivering items. Simply smash through an item box and a random item generator will give you one of a host of weapons. These weapons include the invulnerability star, green shell, heat seeking blue shell, mushroom boost, and the lightening bolt. The odds of getting better items or worse items depends on what position you are in.
If you are in first place, you might be lucky to get a red shell. Otherwise, you’re probably going to wind up with a green shell or a banana peel.
Meanwhile, if you are in the back of the pack, you might be more likely to get your hands on stars, lightening bolts, and blue shells. Nothing is guaranteed of course, but that can have an impact on your strategy.
Notably absent is the golden mushroom and the banana peel bunch.
A new difference in this game is the fact that you get ratings after making it to the award ceremony. To get better ratings, you need to beat every race. This, however, isn’t enough. In addition, you need to also collect as many coins as possible on the course. If you get first place in every course and accumulate 100 coins, you’ll get at least an “A” rating. There are, of course, other ratings you can get in the game as well. Still, coins and finishes determine your rating. You can unlock things if you get good enough ratings as well.
One way to think about this game is that it’s basically a hybrid between the SNES version and the N64 version. You basically get the look and feel of the SNES version with the flat ground and walls, but the sounds and 3D sprites that the N64 had (to a degree).
The other thing to keep in mind is the fact that this game has a less arcade style feel to it. If you were expecting the tight handling of the N64 version, then you’ll be in for a surprise. This is because momentum will factor into your turns in a big way. Even in the 50cc cup, if you hit corners at full speed, you’ll likely find yourself sliding all the way across the track. So, there is some subtle elements of simulation involved here.
It’s not Gran Turismo style of course, but it does inch a little closer to that style of racing. So, instead of thinking about how close to the edges of the road you can go, you’ll more likely be thinking about how hard you want to hit turns and try and slide accordingly so you wind up on the exit of the turn in a reasonable position.
The only thing with that is that it takes a bit of getting used to this slightly different style of racing. It’s not a huge learning curve, but that curve is certainly present even though the different CC difficulties are present. As you advance to the later CC’s, that hint of realism becomes much more apparent.
One thing I do like about this game is the difficulty. If you are new to the series and don’t have a lot of experience playing racing games, you can do reasonably well in the 50cc cups until you get a better feel for the game. If you need to bump up the challenge, the harder difficulties will certainly give more experienced players a good challenge. So, it manages to be both welcoming to new players and challenging to the experienced players. This is definitely a nice balance to see (and a balance that isn’t always achieved in games in general).
The other point to make is that if you don’t have another player to play against, then this game winds up being a little thin on content. In fact, you could easily play through as far as you can in about two to three days. It really depends on how much emphasis you want to put into beating the top times in time trial mode.
Still, I will say that this game delivers some pretty solid entertainment all around for a handheld of its time. The expanded features, however minor, gives a little added flavour to the overall game. With the added hint of realism, this game does have an added bit of a learning curve, though this isn’t too steep. Additionally, if you only play in one player mode, the game can be a little thin in content. Even then, though, this game does offer a couple hours of entertainment. It’s a pretty solid game in that regard.
Graphics in this game are definitely a strong point here. While many handheld games focus still on 2D action, this game manages to squeeze out every last bit of horsepower in the system to deliver a quasi-3D game without sacrificing too much in the graphics department. The effects are decent, but the environment is certainly well done. There’s even the added variety in the different environments on offer here. So, an excellent job here.
In terms of audio, this game borrows heavily on melodies found in other Mario games. Some tracks will definitely be familiar to players who have played previous games in the series. The only downside to the pretty solid music is the fact that it can get a little lost in the mess of sound effects in this game. Still, speech samples do make up for it a fair bit, so it winds up being a pretty decent effort all around.
Overall, this game squeezes every last bit of juice out of the system and presents probably as good of a third person perspective game as you could hope for for a game of its time. It has very solid gameplay, though it takes a bit of getting used to and the content quantity might be a bit on the lean side. Graphics are probably the games biggest strength here as it winds up being a third person perspective game that actually looks quite decent. On a system like this, that is impressive. Audio has its strengths and weaknesses, but came out reasonably well. So, an overall very solid game worthy of a try.
Overall
Furthest point in game: Beat 50cc, 100cc, and the mushroom and flower ups on 150cc. Lost on the lightening cup, though.
General gameplay: 20/25
Replay value: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 78%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
