One of the first Game Boy Advance games we ever got (since it came with the console), Mario Kart Super Circuit is still one of the games I go back to most frequently. It’s fun and addictive, and has pretty good replayability too.

** Warning – you are entering a review by someone who views reading the manual as the absolute last resort. Therefore some information may be slightly inaccurate due to me thinking I’ve got it right when really I haven’t… **

You start off selecting your race type (single race, duel over a link to another GBA, or compete for a Cup), select your engine size (which determines how fast you’ll be moving as well as the overall difficulty – I think!), and track . There are 20 tracks in all, 4 per Cup (the last set has to be unlocked by winning the 4th Cup). Each set of tracks is slightly more difficult than the last. You can play as any one of eight characters from Nintendo games – Mario himself, Luigi, Toad, Peach, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Bowser, and Wario. Each has their own Speed and Weight rating – speed is obvious but weight presumably affects how well you can block / knock other drivers. The sound effects are excellent and some of them are also very funny.

On to the racing itself… with attractive graphics and some suitably racy jazz-funk music in the background, we’re ready to go. Each track is nicely detailed and has a unique feel to it, and indeed requires its own methods to win. Not only do you rave (button A = accelerate, button B = brake) but you can use some slightly underhanded methods to aid you in the race. This is because you can pick up power-ups along the way – things to throw at your opponents, banana skins to drop so that they skid on them, turbo-boosts, etc. Without these it would have been a decent enough racing game but the power ups make it so much more interesting! The only slight quibble I have with the controls is that to activate your power-up you use the key on the top left of the GBA, which is fine in itself but I keep finding that this button is far enough away to make it awkward keeping proper control of the kart at the same time. Nothing enough practice won’t solve, of course… :-) There are also coins to be collected in true Mario style, though to tell the truth I haven’t really worked out what they actually do, they don’t seem to affect the race very much.

If you’re competing for a Cup, you need to finish in the top 4 of each race to progress. You have 3 lives, so you have more than one chance to finishish in the top 4 – lose all 3 lives however and it’s game over. At the end of each race in the cup you are shown your race points and the overall leaderboard, and you get a Gold, Silver, or Bronze trophy for finishing the Cup season 1st, 2nd, or 3rd – which considering you have to finish in the top 4 of each race to continue, will be most of the time. You are also given an overall ranking from *** down to E, and although I can easily win some of the Cups I don’t seem to get a very good rating… (perhaps it’s something to do with those pesky coins I mentioned earlier?!?) At the end of each Cup your performance is saved (if it beats the best you’ve achieved so far in that competition.)

Overall, Mario Kart Super Circuit is a fine arcade racing game which is great for a quick race or a more involved attempt at winning several Cups in a row. Great graphics and sound FX together with fun (and at times intense) gameplay make this a real winner.
Mari

Final Ratings
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Graphics: - 86% - bright, colourful, generates a genuine feeling of speed

Sound: - 88% - lively music and sound effects

Playability: - 85% - easy to play…

Longevity: - 77% - … not so easy to master

Replay Value: - 87% - always good for a quick racing session

Value For Money: - 74% - I think all Game Boy games are overpriced when new, but second-hand it could be a real bargain

Overall Rating: - 83% - a very fun arcade racing game with enough features to keep you going for a long time


See also my review of the Game Boy Advance


Recommended: Yes

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