Mario Kart Super Circuit was the first Mario Kart game
for a handheld system. Being on a gba, they couldn't make the 3d track like
Mario Kart 64, giving them fewer options. But that definitely doesn't
make this a bad game. 



 
 So, this Mario Kart isn't much different from the rest. It's a karting
game, with gimmicks on each track, items to mess with others, and coins to make
you go faster and avoid getting knocked around.



 
 So there are a few game modes in Mario Kart Super Circuit. First, there
is GP mode, where you race at one of five cups, and do four races in a row.
There are three difficulties: 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc, progressively
getting harder each time. 



 
 The second game mode is time trials. Here, you race all alone on the
track, or against a ghost, and race around it three times. You get three
mushrooms during this race.



 
 The next one is the verses mode. Here, you can pick between the
three difficulties, if you want to do 3 or 5 laps, if you want to use
items, and if you want to use coins or not.



 
 And then there are some multiplayer options. You can do versus, or do the
battle mode, where you attack others, and try to be the only remaining player
left with balloons, which are used as lives. Unfortunately, it's impossible to
do this mode on Vizzed, and nor have I ever played it, so this won't be put
into consideration for the overall rating.



   In this addition to the Mario Kart franchise, there
are a total of eight racers, like in the previous two, all distributed into
different weight classes. Mario and Luigi are the medium size. They are average
at everything, but don't have any real advantages. Toad, Peach, and Yoshi are
in the small class. They have good acceleration and speed, but poor control and
weight. Then Bowser, Wario and Donkey Kong are the heavy weights. With great
control and weight, but suffer in the speed
and acceleration department.







Gameplay: 8.5 - The gameplay itself is good. Not
as good as some other Mario Kart games, but still really fun to play. The
controls seem a bit loose, especially with Yoshi. Drifting can be a really hard
thing to master, but once you get the hang of it, you can become a pro. In this
Mario Kart game, many of the tracks have some kind of shortcut. Some are small
ones, like the small hole in the wall in Luigi Circuit, and some are huge, like
the Ribbon Road one. Some of these aren't really meant to be in the game, so
that brought down the rating a little bit. And a random thing that you can do
in this game: if you press select, you honk your horn.



Graphics: 9.5 -  The graphics are good for a gba game. Although there is the
regular bright colors, like pink Mario, but all the tracks, enemies on the
tracks, and the backgrounds all look very nice. One small thing I liked about
them was in the Bowser's Castle tracks, when you are on the grates right over
the lava, you character looks red, like the lava's brightness showing off on
you. Just the plain fact that it makes the characters look 3d is a big plus. I
haven't found a Gameboy Advance game with better graphics than this game.



Sound: 9 -  I love the music in this game. Some of the biggest standouts in
the game are Cheep Cheep Beach/ Shy Guy Beach, Bowser's Castle, and Mario /
Peach / Luigi Circuit. Pretty much every track's music has a nice low bass tune
in the song, which I think sounds amazing. I don't think there is one song from
the new tracks that I didn't like.



Then the sounds that the characters make are good too. The only problem I had
was that if you get hit multiple times after, let's say a red shell, then it
gets a little annoying hearing Mario saying "ow ow ow ow ow" over and
over. But overall, very good sounds in this game.



Addictiveness/depth: 9.5 - Like every
Mario Kart game, there is a huge amount of replay ability. With 20 new tracks,
and also having every track from the original Super Mario Kart (although they
don't have any of the obstacles), making 40 tracks in all. This alone can keep
you playing for a long time. Another thing that makes the gameplay so long is
that to get a triple star on every cup, you along with placing first every
time, you also need to collect a good amount of coins. Plus, with the time
trial mode, getting a good time can be very fun to get also, and showing off
you great ghost records to your friends.



story: N/A - As in every Mario Kart game, there is no story to it. You
race for no particular reason.



Difficulty: 8 - Now, I remember thinking when I was a kid that this was very hard. The
SNES tracks were almost impossible to win, and Donkey Kong and Bowser seem to go twice as
fast as everybody else (those two will be good if you are Mario). But now, it
doesn't seem as hard to win races, although once you get to 150cc, you will be
struggling to stay in first sometimes. But when it comes to getting stars, it's
really hard. You need to win every race in order to get every star, and you
need tons of coins. On my cartridge version, there are still some cups
that I haven't gotten even one star on. This will keep you coming back again
and again. In my opinion, this is the hardest version of Mario Kart out there.

Overall:
9.1 - This game is a truly great game. It has some of the best
graphics that the Gameboy Advance has to offer, in my opinion, the best overall
soundtrack for a Mario Kart game, and a humongous game. This game will
keep you coming back again and again, and the difficulty will always keep you
on your toes. If you haven't played this game, you
should definitely try it now.