User Reviews
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 Super Circuit Super Fun |  4.5
0 comments |
by  Insanity Prevails
from , Staffordshire, England | Dec 7, 2008 |
When a certain plumber hit the SNES in something that wasn't a platform adventure he created quite a commotion and laid the groundwork for all future games of that genre to come. For the fans, there was nothing quite like Super Mario Kart. Strap Nintendo stars into karts, hand them enough weapons to fight off several armies and let them loose on the various tracks the game had to offer. It sounds so simple but it was that mad gameplay that won the hearts of many Nintendo gamers. After a somewhat mediocre outing on the N64 it seems the Mushroom Kingdom crew are back for another stab at the genre they practically defined. Even more interesting is that this is Mario Kart's first entry to be played 'on the go'.
From first looks the game does indeed look impressive. While obviously not capable of the 3D polygons its big brother N64 version could manage, the game nevertheless looks pretty sweet, making use of some impressive graphical tricks to make the most of the hardware of the GBA. The tracks themselves are perhaps a little flat, but the scenery really makes them come alive. In their attempts to emulate 3D racing action, the backdrops will rotate around as you turn, creating a real sense of a fully crafted 3D track without the 3D.
The drivers have been designed well too, bearing all the finer details and character traits you would expect from them by now. The features are typically exaggerated in the usual Mario styled manner now associated with the games and the colours in general are vibrant and well done. There are even some neat little touches, like drivers leaning into corners as they turn. The only real gripe I have is the lack of reaction to weapon hits. Unfortunately, every single weapon will simply cause a kart to spin out, which isn't as impressive when a star powered offence force should ideally be sending targets skyward.
The music is also typical of the series. Much of it is the kind of cheery chirpy music you'd expect from it, offering the type of pleasant tunes to hum along to as you burn rubber across the various tracks. Sound effects are solid, so you'll know when you're the victim of a shell attack and character voices sound good enough to compliment the experience.
When playing the game, the first thing to hit me was just how different it handed from the N64 version. Having been used to karts that were easy to get around any corner, it came as a surprise that I had to work harder to make it around even the Mushroom Cup circuits. The karts are certainly responsive, but there's been a certain refinement to the system where you can't simply charge through every corner at full speed anymore.
Power sliding is also a completely different mechanic here as well. Rather than wiggling directions while sliding, the power for a boost is built up automatically over a 2 second period as you slide. Again, it's harder as now you can't powerslide around every single corner and snaking (a technique for gaining powerslide boosts down straights) isn't really possible here. This takes some getting used to, as the timing of entering a slide becomes all that more important.
The track design plays a part in the overall difficulty as well. Far from forgiving, the track layouts here are tight and harsh. It's now all too possible to be fighting over the same piece of tarmac as your rivals and this makes blocking the path with your own kart a much more viable method (unless they're ready to fire a shell up your exhaust). Corners are no longer wide sweeping curves either. Sliding becomes key to victory as even the early tracks will throw difficult corners at you, whether they are sharp ninety degree turns, hairpin bends or a series of quick turns in succession. Even before getting to anything else, the track design is amazing enough to challenge you with just getting around them.
The hazards don't end with corners though, as many of the game tracks have their own obstacles to worry about. The track sidelines tend to feature some form of obstacle, such as trees or canes, to stop your kart if you should plough into them. Things get even more hazardous on later tracks, when you have to drive around deep water holes, lava pits, shy guys and even having the edges of a track lead to a falling off hazard should you stray too far. Needless to say, you're going to be quite occupied with things.
Then we have the computer controlled karts, who are probably the best set of computer opponents I've ever seen from a Mario Kart title. They are vicious and aggressive, making use of most opportunities to get ahead of you while rarely coming off as totally cheap. Players with the skill will likely keep themselves ahead of the competition.
The weapon set is also probably the best the series has offered us thus far. Generally these are the weapons we saw in MK64, but with some tweaking. You can fire shells off as missiles, gain temporary increases to speed with mushroom boosts, render yourself invincible with a star or strike everyone else at once with lightning. There is a lot of variety in here, and some have neat uses in here. Red shells can actually be planted for the next kart to pass by and a ghost not only steals an item by slows down first place (if the user is not in first). The great thing is that the consequences of getting hit are not that severe, so it's possible to recover quickly enough to take the fight back to them.
A curious change from MK64 are the coins. Your kart starts the race with a number of coins based on your starting position (between 2 and 5 coins). As you race you will find more coins scattered all along the track, and driving over them will pick them up. Getting hit, either by a weapon, a hazard or simply bumping into other karts, will cause you to lose coins. Touching another driver with no coins will cause a spin, so they act as a line of defence. This adds another layer of challenge to the game.
There is a massive 40 playable tracks for the racing modes of the game. You start off with 16 and then gain another 4 when you unlock the special cup. In addition to these 20 new tracks you can also gain access to another 20 retro tracks, which are taken straight from the original SNES title. For long time fans, there's potential for some nostalgic fun as you tear along the classic Mario Circuits and Bowser's Castles with the mechanics and features of Super Circuit. Generally most of the challenge in the SNES tracks comes from the track layouts themselves as they are mostly devoid of hazards aside from falling off the track. FYI, you're not a karting champion until you can get around the SNES Rainbow Road without braking or letting off the gas.
When it comes to modes of play, Super Circuit offers a healthy collection of game modes. Grand Prix is the main single player option, where you choose a cup and then race all four tracks of that cup in sequence. Players are awarded points based on their finishing places in each race. However, a player can only advance to the next race if they finish in the top four in the previous one. Fail this and you will have to rerun the race, but on each grand prix attempt you only have three retries available to you.
At the end of a grand prix cup your place is determined by the total points you earned and a trophy awarded for the top three finishers. In addition, players are also ranked on their performance for things like time taken, coins collected etc. I'm not entirely sure what the specific criteria is for rankings though, as there are times that it has come across as totally random to me. I might make some mistakes in one cup attempt and be given triple stars still, while in another I seem to drive almost perfectly and only get two stars.
For the solo player there are also two other options. The quick race allows the gamer to take on the computer in simple races on any open track. You can tweak a few gameplay options like whether coins and weapons are used, but otherwise this is a quick version of the GP. Time Trial sends you out on your own to set best time records on open tracks. It makes the ideal opportunity to practice your racing skills. The game also allows you to save up to 10 TT ghosts (where a ghostly version of your kart will retrace the same route you took the same way you did), which is handy for challenging your best times. You can even send ghost data to a friend with the game too.
For multiplayer gaming there are the versus and battle options. For versus, think of quick race but with all human opponents and you're pretty much there. Naturally there's a level of intensity in facing human opponents that the computer can't provide, so feel free to laugh at your friend when you zoom past him at the finishing line to snatch first.
Battle changes up the gameplay entirely. The goal is not to race to the finish but to make use of those various weapons to pound the opponents into defeat. Each kart has three balloons and will lose a balloon each time they are struck or fall into a hazard. The track design for the battle arenas doesn't really feel all too impressive though, as they come off a little featureless and flat. Still, being able to unleash a storm of attacks on the other players in said arenas is still a lot of fun to do.
Super Circuit may well be the best iteration for the series yet. It bears all the hallmarks of the series and provides a very challenging experience. For a zany over the top weapons filled karting experience, you may not do much better than this game. |
| 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Ready, Get set, Kaboom! |  3.5
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by  Marooned Chic
| Sep 2, 2008 |
Mario and his friends are having a great time shooting each other with shells, bumping the other near the edge of cliffs, and oh, racing. This game is all about racing. Unlike other games wherein you can only see cars and buildings, this game has cute Karts and lovable, huggable characters. Unfortunately, you can't customize the looks of Mario and the others because if you do, that's called blasphemy. There are five cups on the game and on each cup, there are 4 tracks. You are free to choose whether you want a grand prix (you'll race all the tracks of a certain cup), quick run (you're free to choose a single track you want to race on) and time trial (also a single track, but here you're alone). If you completed a track on time trial, the next time you race there again you'll race with a ghost and that ghost is yourself! I think it's cool because if you want to see how you've improved, save a lot of ghosts and race against them. There are eight characters in the game and each time you restart you'll have to choose a character, select what kind of race you wanted, choose a speed (50 cc, 100 cc and 150 cc), choose a track and you're off to go!
The cups vary by difficulty, of course the first one is the easiest and the fifth is a special cup that you could unlock after beating the four with a golden trophy in the grand prix. Oh, after you've raced in the grand prix, there's a short awarding ceremony for the first, second and third. You'll also see your rank, it could be a triple star, double star, single star, A, B, C, D, and E being the lowest. Your rank varies with the score of your place in the race, the time you finished it and most importantly, the coins you gathered. Yes, the coins are very important if you want to have a high rank. The tracks are so much fun, examples are Luigi Circuit (the rainy and slippery circuit), Bowser Castle (the fiery castle with large smashing heads, lava swimming pool and fireballs), Shy guy beach (with coin eating slippery crabs and vast waters that could drown you) and my favorites: The sky Island, the very popular Rainbow Road and the scary ghost filled Broken Pier. After you have finished all the five cups of the 50 cc, 100 cc and 150 cc with a golden trophy, high ranks (preferably star ranks) and a lot of coins, a special cup would descend! Just press R or L on your GBA and the old tracks would divert exposing new cups and new tracks. The tracks there are 3 times harder, I think? You could also connect your GBA using a connector (no wi-fi yet) and have battles. The battles are shooting each other with shells until the three baloons above their heads have popped. The last man standing is the winner.
They paid great attention to the details because the tracks looked really good and also the characters (Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser, Wario and DK). The audio on each track is also good and I really enjoy the entire game play. There are also several weapons that you could use in the game that would help you be the number one. My favorites are: The red shell (it's like a homing bullet that will target your opponent, the star (protects you from bumps and makes opponents fly when you hit them), the banana peel (very very slippery) and the mushroom (booster).
The controls aren't that hard to use too. The game lasts long because achieving high ranks on a cup is very hard and everybody would do their best just to try and see the special tracks which is really fun. For me, Racing never gets boring. There are also a lot of secret shortcuts that one must discover and try.
I find this game addictive, thumb hurting, opponent cursing and laughing develishly (there are a hundred ways to ambush an opponent). I like how the game works but I don't like the fact that it's hard to drive, shoot opponents, jump over obstacles and gather coins all at the same time. So I guess practice could do you good but don't overdo it or else your thumb might look like a worn eraser.
I definitely would recommend this to other players, it's totally fun. |
| 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Mario Kart: Race to the Top | 4.5
0 comments |
by  skittles07
from , WI, | May 28, 2006 |
THE GOOD:
- Characters
- Difficulties
- Courses
- CoinsTHE BAD:
- Not Much SUMMARY:
This is the first Gameboy Advance Game I ever bought. It was a great investment and I am very glad that I bought it.
The game has 8 of the better know characters in mario such as: Peach, Wario, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Toad, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong. Every character has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example Bowser is a 1 for acceleration but a 5 for weight. He won't accelerate very quickly but you won't be able to hit him off the course easily either. Toad is a 5 for Acceleration and a 1 for weight so he is easily pushed around if you can catch him.
As will most Mario Kart games there are 3 difficulty of races. The 50cc is the easiest. Your car and the opponents go slower in this difficulty for easier maneuvering and more reaction time. 100cc is the next step up and you and the opponent move a little faster. 150cc is the hardest difficulty where you and your opponent go quite fast and you need a little skill to actually win this one.
There is quite a large number of races in this game. There are 5 cups with 4 races in each cup. So that is 20 races under each difficulty. Also you can unlock another 20 races under each difficulty later on in the game.
Now some people may not like the coin system but i like it because it adds challenge to the game. You have to collect coins while racing and the more coins you have the faster you will go and the better your rating will be at the end of the race. |
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| Not the flawless best GBA title it's made out to be, but good nonetheless! | 4.5
0 comments |
by  Galacticdramon
from , , | Jul 9, 2005 |
THE GOOD:
Everything other than the Coin System!THE BAD:
The Coin System... SUMMARY:
The game has very good Graphics and Sound quality, and the gameplay is almost second to none!
The game features eight famous Characters from the Mario Brothers Series (Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Bowser/King Koopa), each with their own strengths and weaknesses in the statistics of their vehicles.
For example, Mario is an all-round Character, whereas Princess Peach accelerates quickly, turns well and can move over rough terrain quickly, but has a low stop speed and is easily knocked around by the heavier Characters. By contrast, Bowser enjoys the advantages of being faster and heavier than anyone else in the game, but his acceleration, turning speed and performance over rough terrain leave something to be desired.
The only problem with this system is the lack of balance. Virtually all of the Courses can only be beaten with a near-lowest possible time if the player uses one of the Heavyweight Characters. Once the player has learned how to steer and avoid rough terrain and collisions with them while being able to "Boost Start" in every race, their disadvantages disappear, leaving them virtually flawless for the races. This means that the lighter Characters will end up being used less for most of the Courses.
The Courses are very well-detailed, and the unlockable SNES Courses are quite well-represented. However, Thwomps, Pipes and the Feather Item have all been removed.
The biggest problem with the game is the Coin system in the Grand Prix Mode. It can lead to an unnecessary amount of frustration while attempting to get ahead of a pack which you will probably end up being ten seconds behind on the final lap as a result of this.
Still, the Time Trial Mode and the Single-Pak/Multi-Pak Link-Up Modes are very entertaining, as is the Quick Race Mode.
Overall, I highly recommend this game! |
| 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Mario Kart Super Circuit | 4.5
0 comments |
by  Super Vegeta
from , , UK | Feb 26, 2005 |
THE GOOD:
You can unlock all the original tracks.
Multi-player with link cables is fun.
All your favourite Mario characters roled into one game.THE BAD:
It lacks a little in the graphics department.
No unlockable. SUMMARY:
Mario Kart Super Circuit is quite a good game but i just don't think that it's quite as good as the other Mario Kart games that they have released. The controls are nice and simple for easy gaming and there really cool when playing on multi-player which is also a great deal of fun. The levels are pretty good and there is a way to unlock all of the original levels which is really cool. There is 8 characters you can choose from from all your favourite Mario games. The sound on this game isn't to bad and changes too suit the level but i just don't think that the levels are large enough.
Overall i'd say it's a pretty good game but i'd stick to the othe Mario Karts personally. |
| 3 out of 6 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Mamamia!!! | 3.5
0 comments |
by  Freak 2345
from , ON, Canada | Dec 1, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
OK graphics for the GBA. Character Design is good because you are use too them. FUN MULTIPLAYER!!. Enough tracks for a little while. Easy to get into and its very addictive AND fun. OK audio.THE BAD:
What? No unlockable characters!? Mamamia!! Only 20 tracks. Can be very Easy!!!! the controls are kinda bad don't you think? You don't really need to drift do you? And a so-so audio including some of the voice-overs like Wario at times. SUMMARY:
Overall I say its a preety good game with some notacible flaws. VERY easy to get into. For some reason I think it's going to sell preety well. Nintendo should be proud. But whats with the weird voice-overs espacially Wario. And there are some weird ones like when Yoshi hits a guy he says"WOOOOOOO" or something like that I can't remember... But I do recomend it for you racing nuts out there. This is Freak 2345 out once again......Agravating cliffhanger.. Hey you weren't supposed to hear that!! Stop IT!!! |
| 4 out of 8 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Mario Kart Super Circuit |  4.0
0 comments |
by  just 2 xtreme
| May 29, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
graphics, all the original mario characters to choose from.THE BAD:
u need so much just to have a 4 player game. SUMMARY:
I liked this game but it was not as good as the n64 mario kart. There are more tracks than the n64 version though.
But i do think this game is a great buy for any one with a GBA as it is great fun especially when you link up with your friends and have a multi-player game.
thanx for readin
from
JuSt 2 xTrEme |
| 3 out of 7 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Mario Kart To Go! |  4.7
0 comments |
by DCRage
from , , | Feb 3, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
All 8 original racers included. Over 30 total tracks. Good multiplayer options.THE BAD:
Controls are a little stiff on GBA. Seems to be missing some of the N64's humor. SUMMARY:
Mario Kart Super Circuit is essentially a portable version of Super Mario Kart from the old SNES. The original 8 return on new tracks with the original SNES tracks available as an unlockable option.
The gameplay is more like SNES MK rather than MK 64-you have to collect coins to go faster during races. All the items are still available, but when you use them, the karts only spin out and there's less voice dialogue, which was a big reason why the N64 version was so much fun to play. Multiplayer racing returns for players with multiple GBAs, and you can even play with just 1 pak (if you don't mind 1 track and only Yoshi)!
If you can live without some of the humor and/or want a slightly more intense karting experience, then this one is worth picking up. |
| 3 out of 7 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Racing |  3.0
0 comments |
by  Gotenks
from , ON, Canada | Oct 31, 2003 |
THE GOOD:
Well i found reall nothing that great about this game. the only thing that was good in this game would be the levels cause they are amazing.THE BAD:
Well how you control the characters and the speed of them. I hate the graphics also they are terrible and there's nothing really good about it. SUMMARY:
i found nothing really good in this game maybe the levels but that's mainly all i kinda of hate this game but i would still play it anyways if i had no choice though.
i think they could of made this game a little bit better than how they made cause they could of made the charcters as fast as everyone.
Anyways i guess since there isn't anything else to say but i give this a three out of a five.
Also i wish we didn't have to type 750 characters worth for a reveiw. |
| 3 out of 8 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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