t13monkeys's Full Review: Mario-Kart Super Circuit for Game Boy Advance
The first time I played F-Zero Maximum Force on the GBA I was blown away by the sheer speed and framerate of the game. It was totally unlike the SNES version. The controls were ultra sensitive and the speed was cranked up extensively. But after 3 minutes “testing” the game at Best Buy, it lost its freshness. F-Zero was no more than the SNES in graphics, and the gameplay was simple and dull.
Mario Kart Super Circuit on the other hand is enough of an innovation over the original to make it worthy of a purchase. It does not simply pull back the original SNES cartridge and compress it into a handheld format. Mario Kart SC is a good honest attempt by Nintendo to revise a game completely rather than leave it in its over-played form.
The Cool
Yoshi and Co. are faster than ever.
Maybe it’s the smaller screen, but Mario Kart never seemed quite this fast. Laps take mere 20 seconds to finish, and races only around a minute. This is especially great since races don’t take as long to finish, making it ever so useful for getting in a quick race while riding the bus. As a result of the speed, the turns tend to be really sharp and edgy. The controls are incredibly sensitive, a tiny bit too much on a turn and your car will skid off the road. Even trickier are the short-cuts in the races, which sometimes can be a super-narrow path only a half a centimeter wide on your display. The speed is nonetheless a positive however, nothing adds more to a racing game than more adrenaline!
Coins, Red Shells, Spiked Shells, and Lightning Bolts
Coins boosts your top speed in this game even more, making racing more exciting by making dodging and bumping essential. Careful bumps and nudges into your fellow teammates can knock of a few coins, but they can do the same to you and possibly even knock you off track. Coins are placed on really narrow paths and can be quite tough to nail. Subtle as they may be in a slight boost of top speed are very crucial.
Weapons are kept fully intact in this game, and the killer red-shell Aka “Big Red Homing Missile” is ever present, along with Lightning Bolts and all the other standard cool fighting tools. Sadly due to the lack of buttons on the GBA, the designers made the fire button the L button which is sort of odd if you are used to the original. Not really a drawback or anything, but detracts from the game’s feel.
The AI Smacked Me Up
Artificial Intelligence in Mario Kart SC is tweaked up a bit. The computer-controlled players, especially in the 150CC races, are definitely ticked off. They not only attempt to bump you off the course, they run up to you and unload all their weapons. Some pretty careful driving is needed to really distance yourself from the pack in order to get the win.
Tons of Secret Courses
Besides having a beautiful interface that allows you to really get a nice glimpse at the GBAs color management, there are tons of nice secret courses stashed throughout to be unlocked in the time trial mode as well as the championship mode. It’s not a mere one or two extra courses but in fact around twenty or so extra courses, keeping the single player tedium from spreading in.
Multiplayer – Battle Mode Returns!
Mario Kart SC shines in multiplayer mode. Single player tends to get tedious after all, since the game is similar to the Mario Kart we’ve been playing on the SNES over 8 years ago. Hence if you don’t have friends with Game Boy Advance units and a link cable, this may lose some of its cool factor almost immediately, dropping this game’s rating to around 3 stars. Multiplayer is a must! Multiplayer keeps this game lively, allowing you to compete for better time records with your friends by using the “ghost exchange” mode. Also Battle Mode, which I have spent countless hours on, involves racing in closed tracks, gathering weapons and firing them at each other. The first to score three hits is the winner. Given the variety of weapons and styles of play, battle mode is 100% the best feature on the Mario Kart but cannot be used unless your friends own this game. Make sure then before you purchase this game that everyone around you is packing a GBA. Or buy them early Christmas gifts…
Now, while Mario Kart SC is a great game for all the above it has a few elements of ugliness attached to it.
Mario Kart SC Could Have Been Cooler
The standard problem with GBA games is that they don’t create a new exciting way to play games and by no means make your life more advanced. Mario Kart SC fails really to innovate in its design, but does inject some juice into a beloved classic. If they had added a few more weapons, some more track variety, and some more multiplayer-type duals, it would have been perfect. There are only a total of 8 racers to choose from, and that especially could have been improved on. Wario was the only real addition to the team.
Bottom Line
Hands down the best racing game the GBA has to offer. However keep in mind without every tapping into the multiplayer features this game warrants a lowly 3-stars. You can and will get tired of running down the same tracks, firing the same weapons and skid-braking through the same turns. It may last a week or two in terms of freshness but single player gets tired quickly and is not worth $34.99 for. Make sure you pay the right price for this game and try to get it around $30.00 not the retail value which few GBA games I feel really deserve. Multiplayer pulls this game up drastically if you have friends around you willing to share in on the fun.
What’s next for Nintendo? Maybe a Smash Brothers Melee for GBA…
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