Mario Kart Super Circuit

"Living Proof that Drugs and Voice Actors Don't Mix!"

The Mario Kart series is one of my favorite series of all time... well, the first one anyway. The SNES Mario Kart game was an excellent game and one of my favorite racers of all time (and is definitely the most fun to play). However, when Nintendo released Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64, I was very displeased. Where did all the quick tracks go? Where did the simplicity of racing go? Where did the fun go?

Now, Nintendo decided to create an update to the Mario Kart series to the Game Boy Advance. With capabilities similar to the SNES, had tried to recreate the fell and excitement of the SNES again. This time, however, they mixed parts of the N64 version with parts of the SNES version. They took the look and track types from the SNES game, while the speed, lap number, character design, and much more come from the N64 version. They unfortunately used more from the worse version. Fortunately, there was enough taken from the SNES version to make this a definitely better game than Mario Kart 64.

The first thing that borrows from the SNES version was the Mode-7 graphics style. This is where the game is presented on a flat plain that rotates, twists, and turns to make it look 3D. It was used on many games on the SNES including Pilotwings, F-Zero, and of course, Super Mario Kart. I personally love this style and it suits the game nicely, creating colorful (albeit flat) landscapes with plenty of attention to (flat) details. The character models are also quite nice. They are deeply detailed sprites with texture and detail. These sprites are some of the nicest on the Game Boy Advance this side of Golden Sun. The only (minor) complaint I have about the graphics is that some of the items and shells are extremely pixelated. However, the Mario Kart series doesn't need great graphics so that really didn't bother me too much. Overall, these are some of the nicest graphics available on the Game Boy Advance. The graphics didn't need to be overly extravagant, but Nintendo definitely did an excellent job.

The Music in the game is pretty good also. Not overly excellent mind you, but passable and then some. Although, of course, some of the tracks have that lame, cutesy, Nintendo-ized music... alright most of the tracks have it, but it didn't bother me as much as a game like Yoshi's Island did. If you don't like the cutesiness of the music you could just turn it off since its on the Game Boy Advance. The Bowser's Castle tracks are very good with Nintendo *gasp* actually doing a great job with the bass. Overall, this music won't win a Grammy, but it's pretty good for a Mario Kart game.

The Sound Effects are good and they should be, this is Mario Kart. Shells make alright sounds on launch, impact, and prior to impact (in the case of spiked shells). Bananas make you spin, you hear the typical ''spin'' music, simple as that. Now, the voice effects are pretty lame but in a funny way. Almost all the characters in the game sound like they are on drugs. Wario sounds like he's Mario tripping on tranquilizers, Luigi sounds like he's high on marijuana, and Peach must be on ecstasy. Another funny thing is that when they are all shrunk they sound like they are on speed. The only thing I worry about is that how Nintendo, dedicated to kids, picked up voice actors like these. They must be the same people who do Most Extreme Elimination Challenge. Sheesh, don't crazy Japanese people have any decency? The sound effects, on the whole, were definitely a good job, though.

Now we move onto the gameplay which is the one downtrodding this game has. The first part of the gameplay, the control, really isn't that bad though. In fact, it's quite responsive. But then again, this is a Nintendo game, so what did you expect? The Game Boy Advance controller is perfectly suited for the type of play Mario Kart games require. The controls are quite simple and very easy to pick up. Some aspects of the control, like the power slide, is quite hard to master, but in a better way than the illogical N64 version. In case you are wondering what I mean, in Mario Kart 64, you would use the R trigger to power slide into turns, and tap the control stick back and forth to get a power boost. In this Game Boy Advance version, you have to hop and slide, like the 64-bit iteration, but instead of turning back and forth, you just have to turn straight on the course again. The boost that you get for doing this is so measly however, and its definitely not worth it to try it on some of the more difficult turns. This game, like almost all Nintendo games has responsive controls and was done very well.

Now when we talk about during the race, the gameplay can get kind of screwy on you. By this I mean many strange things can happen that hamper the playing experience greatly. For one example, on one of the courses, a Bowser Castle stage, one of the computer characters will probably get stuck on one of the turns. How it happens, I don't know, but it usually happens to Yoshi or Toad. Well, when this happens, that character will keep bumping the wall while you race away with the character on his or her (or its...?) first lap. Then when you finish and finally end the race, you can look at the results of all the racers on the end-race screen and amazingly, the idiot racer who kept bumping into the wall finshed only a few seconds behind the racer in front of him. Unless the racer had godly powers and could make every other lap around three seconds long, this would never happen. Another thing I displeased was the total lack of any new, cool items. You get all the same as Super Mario Kart like the green shell, red, the boo, the banana, the cool lightning, the star, and the mushrooms. From Mario Kart 64 there's the three green shells, the three red shells, the three mushrooms, and the dastardly spiked shell. Unfortunately they did away with one of Super Mario Kart's awesome items, the feather that made you jump really high (this was absent in Mario Kart 64, also). From Mario Kart 64 the golden mushroom that let you use it tons for a short period is also gone, but that was kind of dumb, however. In case you are new to the series, and don't know what the items do, the green shells are basic projectiles that can bounce off the walls (though in this iteration, they bounce only for a few bounces) and hit enemies. Red Shells do the same, except they contain a homing ability to lock on racers, but lack the ability to withstand walls. One weird thing about the red shell is that it stays behind you for a while, and doesn't really attack you at once. This is kind of stupid to input, but they did for some reason. The spiked shell is a variation on the red shell, where when someone is in 7th or 8th place they launch it and it hits all the racers ahead of them ending with the guy in first place. The lightning bolt does similar to this, in that it is a come from behind item, but it shrinks all the other racers, and you can pass them. The banana lets you try to trip up another racer. The star makes you invincible, fast, and can knock out the other racers. Lastly, the mushroom is a boost.

Another gripe I had, which was a major one, was that all the racers were on a set lineup. It's nigh impossible to change that order, unless you whack the guy behind you at the last second, it will stay the same lineup the whole time through. Even then, usually there will be a miracle come back from the guy. In conclusion, these gripes can really get on your nerves, greatly diminishing the scores.

For track design, the new courses are so uninspired, I'm surprised Nintendo let them through. You have your desert levels, and some more raceway levels, and tons more of really stupid courses. Some courses like Cheese Land (yes, Cheese Land) and Ribbon Land feel out of place in a Mario game; Ribbon Land definitely looks like it's from Rayman or something. The lap number is only 3, which is a lot worse than 5. It makes it semi-harder to come back with 5 shorter laps, and if you have 3 laps you have really long laps to make it easy to come back. I said new laps up there, because if you meet certain criteria in the game you can unlock all the levels from the SNES version (the best version). This makes the best unlockable in the Mario Kart series. However, with the altered physics of this version, it doesn't really make this one the same as it was on the SNES, but this is still a great unlockable since these levels are a welcome change from the new ones. Some of the shortcuts from the SNES levels are missing from this game because of the lack of a feather item.

The best thing that Nintendo did, in my opinion, was balance out all the racers. By this I mean in the SNES version Yoshi and the Koopa Troopa were better than everyone else; in the N64 version Yoshi and Wario were much better than everyone else. Mario and Luigi were always absolutely terrible. However, in this version they are awesome racers, with Luigi being my personal favorite. Kudos to Nintendo for tweaking these factors in this game.

The Lasting Appeal to this game is mediocre in my opinion. It is more of a single player affair than the other games. Sure, there's still battle mode, VS mode, and cooperative GP mode; but with the need of separate Game Boy Advances and Link Cables, it's really not worth all the money you put into it. Fortunately, there's a stripped down VS mode available for single kart play. The one saving grace this game has is the ranking system, which lets you try to beat all your records of coin collecting and speed. It is really the only decent value it has on replayability.

Overall, in conclusion I would have to say that I am quite the fanboy of the SNES version, as you can tell by this review. If you are new to the Mario Kart series, you should definitely try this game out. If you are a seasoned vet, like myself, you may be a little disappointed, but this could still be a good pick up if you liked the N64 version (even if it be for the crazy voice overs!). Nintendo should go back to the roots of Mario Kart and make it more like the SNES version. Fortunately, the new Mario Kart for the Game Cube definitely looks like it could restore the series to its former glory.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/03, Updated 05/27/03