Mario Kart: Super Circuit Review
Warning: Do not drink and drive. It could be deadly. Well, tell that to our fat little plumber. He just won’t stop putting the pedal to the metal. Mario is behind the wheel in his newest racing game called “Mario Kart: Super Circuit.” Remember the good old 16 bit days when we played “Mario Kart” on the SNES? Then we had Mario Kart 64, which was a kick ass game for its time. But Mario Kart has evolved even more and now it can be played on your GBA.
First of all, how can we have a Mario game without our favorite characters such as Wario, Luigi, Yoshi, and many more? The nine characters all have there own weaknesses and strengths. For example, Bowser has the least speed but the best control. Peach has the best speed but the worst control, so you would have the most chance of crashing with her. They are all designed really well. You can see their faces and cloths clearly. The AI is also very good in this game. The computer wont just let you win. Just when you are about to cross the finish line the computer might hit you, spinning you out of control and costing you to lose first place.
Once you reach the main menu everything goes just as planned. There are three modes to choose from: Mario GP, Time Trial, and Quick Run. You can choose the difficulty of the game too. It is fairly easy. No sea monkeys and no problems. There is a great variety of cups to choose from, each with four exciting tracks. During the race you are awarded with points, and the player with the most points wins in the end. What is fun about this game is that it never gets boring. Even if you are the champ and beat all the tracks there is still more to do.
The mini games are always fun. In Time Trial you race against the clock to finish the track. You can set records for your time, but the draw back is that you can’t enter your initials. When you set a record it would just say the name of the character you were playing with. So if both you and your friend use the same character like for example Mario you wont know who set the record because it would just say Mario. In the beginning not being able to put in your initials becomes a problem again. There are no save files!! You just play! When I borrowed the game from my friend there was no new file to start. I don’t care about my friend’s game; I want to start from scratch but I cant do that.
The controls are simple. “A” is gas, “B” is brake, “R” is jump, and “L” is to shoot your pick-up. But it’s not that easy. You must learn how to maneuver your characters. In some places there are sharp turns where you need to think fast.
The best part of the game is that you can attack your enemies. You may remember this from games such as Mickey Mouse’s Speedway. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit there is a great variety of pick-ups to choose from, each with there own special abilities such as a banana peel that can trip your enemies. You can also pick up speed boosts.
There are twenty fully detailed tracks with amazing graphics. Each one is so different. You can ride along the sandy beach or evil castles, and some tracks actually have rain. You can see the rain hitting the ground just as in real life. The background is very detailed, and you will see all kinds of objects that match your track. There are always obstacles that try to keep you from wining, which include tracks that might have puddles on the ground that make you slip. On the beach there are crabs walking around that that stop you if you hit them, and in some tracks you can even fly out if your going to fast. In the beginning there is even a flag that waves and a wheel that spins, that’s how great the graphics are.
If you want to race your friend and throe banana peels at him at the same time then this is the game for you. If you have only one cartridge then don’t bother. You can choose only one player witch you both use and there is only one track witch really sucks. Overall this is a great game. Don’t rent it: buy it. The only problem is that you cant start new games but that shouldn’t be a problem for all you greedy people. Remember not to drink and drive and wear a helmet while playing this game.
Visuals: 8
Sound: 8
Originality: 7
Replay: 9
Overall: 8