Mario Kart Super Circuit review

The third installment in Nintendo's hugely popular Mario Kart series, Mario Kart Super Circuit (released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance) is the first to go handheld. Does this change benefit the series? Can the game continue the trend of it's insanely popular predeccessors? And how does it stand up in the series in hindsight, ten years after it's release?

Gameplay

Mario Kart Super Circuit (hereafter referred to simply as 'Super Circuit') is a lot like a combination of 'Super Mario Kart' (1992/93) on the SNES and 'Mario Kart 64' (1996/97) on the Nintendo 64. The gameplay and 2-D tracks bring to mind the original SNES classic, while the choice of items and the emphasis on them mirrors the franticness of it's 3D successor. With that said, the game feels different enough in it's gameplay and control to feel like a new game in it's own right.

Most of the game modes you may well know and love from newer installments like 'Mario Kart DS' (2005), 'Mario Kart Wii' (2008) and 'Mario Kart 7' (2011) are present and acounted for here. 'Grand Prix' pits you against seven computer controlled opponents in a series of four races to compete for the most points and earn yourself a trophy. 'Time Trial' lets you pick a track of your choice and strive to get the best time, with the best times being saved. 'Quick Run' combines both these modes in that you race against seven opponents on a single track of your choice.

If you have some GBA link cables, then you and up to three friends (each needing his or her own GBA system) can frolic in karting fun with only a single copy of the game. Each player controls a different coloured Yoshi, and the four tracks you can play on (while admittedly simplistic) can give everyone a good slice of the game without the need of a purchase.

But it's when each player has his or her own copy of the game that Super Circuit's multiplayer really kicks into high gear. Two players can play through the 'Grand Prix', while the 'Vs. mode' mode lets up to four friends race on a single track without computer competitors. Finally is the infamous 'Battle' mode, where you pick one of four battle arenas and duke it out in an all out brawl to pop alll of your opponents balloons with bannanas and koopa shells before they can pop yours. Mario Kart continues it's trend as one of the best multiplayer series around.

Returning for Super Circuit are the coins, found scattered about the tracks. Collecting them will increase your top speed, while colliding with other racers will cause you to lose some. However, this time there is an added incentive to scooping up as many as you can. If you can get 100 coins or more in a single Grand Prix cup, you will unlock tracks from the original SNES game. This is a great inclusion that keeps that keeps replay value at an all time high.

The cast of eight characters you can play as are the same as those in 'Mario Kart 64'. There are three weight classes to choose from but I reccomend experimenting with each one to find who best suits your driving style. The lightweights, Peach, Toad and Yoshi have great acceleration and off-road manurevrability, but can be knocked around very easily. The Mario Bros, Mario and Luigi, strike a perfect balance of acceleration power and top speed making them a great choice for all-round racers. This leaves the heavyweights, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Wario who have by far the the highest top speed and brute strength, but they suffer greatly in the acceleration and rough terrain departments.
The stats of each character still differ a little outside of these classes; Wario is a bit heavier tha Donkey Kong, Luigi is slightly better at turning than Mario, etc. This means approaching the game with a variety of characters will keep the racing fresh.

The gang's all here!

The tracks newly designed for Super Circuit are wacky and fast-paced with some really solid designs on show. A lot of the Mario Kart status quo courses are here, such as the asphalt-paved road trip that is Mario Circuit, four visits to the lava-filled, thwowp-infested Bowser Castle and of course, everyone's "favourite", the techni-coloured, always challenging Rainbow Road. We are also treated to some really intersting if not a little... random settings, such as the neatly wrapped Ribbon Road (with speed boost pads aplenty) and the deligthfully cheesy Cheese Land. Not two courses feel too similar or repetetive and with the inclusion of all the SNES tracks, you will likely be having a blast in the Grand Prix for months.

In no other game could you claim to have been in a heated race in a world made of cheese, complete with giant mice.

It wouldn't be a Mario Kart game without the items and Super Circuit doesn't dissapoint. While it intoduces no new items of it's own, it brings back all the favourites like the red and green koopa shells, the bannana peels, the super mushroom and the dominating lightining bolt. The items never feel too unfair and while there will be the odd occasion where an item smashes you mere yards from the finish line, this is rare and for the most part, the computer fights fair with it's item distribution. Be sure to continue the practice of dangling an item behind your kart to block incoming shells as this will really help you maintain first place.

Finally, there are a few tweaks to the Mario Kart engine in Super Circuit that haven't returned since, but I personally really like. If you shoot a red shell behind you, it will sit on the track until someone drives by it and it will give chase like a homing mine. Perhaps the best perk of Super Circuit is the abitlity to outrun homing shells. If you are going fast enough, you can outrun it long enough for it to simply give up. You can even do this with the dreaded blue shell (punishing skill since 1996).

The controls are super simple, d-pad to turn, A to accelarate, B to break, L to fire items and R to drift. The turning may feel a bit strange and over-responsive at first, but practice it in combination with the hop and drift and you'll soon catch on.

Audio

The game's music is really catchy and memorable. The likes of Sky Garden and Sunset Wilds are particular standouts. While the GBA's sound chip was a little limited, you can tell the composers were determined to get the most out of what they had. The character all have voices for boosting, crashing, etc, and they sound pretty crystal clear throughout. Most of them were recycled from the Japanese version of 'Mario Kart 64', so some sound a little different from what we usually hear. This is especially the case with Luigi, whose voice is actually even higher than Mario's. But this isn't really a flaw, so the audio for Super Circuit is very strong, especially when you consider that the developers were still getting used to the GBA's sound capabilities.

Visuals

Super Circuit is one of the best looking games on the GBA. The game is simply bursting with colour and animation. The tracks are very detailed on road and off, and the character sprites are similar to those in 'Mario Kart 64' which animate fluidly.

Portability clearly wasn't an
issue in the graphics department
as the game looks even better than
the SNES version.





Negative

There isn't much to dislike about Super Circuit. The only complaints I really have is that it would have been great to have a Battle mode (even if limited) for the single pak link mode. Also, when used the Boo item goes after the first place racer and steals some of their coins as well as temporarily lowering their top speed, which is very cheap in my opinion; the item shouldn't have had this abilty. But it's still not as bad as the blue shell in 'Mario Kart Wii'.

History

As well as being the first handheld Mario Kart game, Super Circuit is also the first in the series to not be developed by Nintendo EAD. It was infact developed by Intelligent Systems, who also developed games such as the 'Paper Mario' and 'Fire Emblem' series.

Intelligent Systems managed to sneak in a few nods to the 'Paper Mario' series in some of the tracks, such as the Shy Guy pirate ship in Shy Guy Beach and Bowser's floating Castle in Rainbow Road.

Overall

Mario Kart Super Circuit is a fantastic addition to the Mario Kart series, with clever track designs, balanced gameplay, huge replay value and fun multiplayer modes. It still stands up in hindsight thanks to it's faithfullness to the original SNES game and it's fast-paced portability. You can still find cartridges for under £10, so I definatly reccomend treating yourself to this wonderful Mario Kart.

This Mario Kart still races miles ahead of the rest for the Gold.

F-Zero GX Review

Released on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2003, F-Zero GX boasts all the gameplay and adrenaline-fuelled races of its predecessors and gives it a huge reboot, with new modes, stunning FMV cut scenes, new characters and a huge increase in difficulty...

Story

Not one to step down after winning the previous F-Zero Grand Prix, the bounty hunter Captain Falcon is entering the race once again, as well as his arch nemesis Black Shadow, who aims to erase Falcon once and for all. Is Black Shadow the real menace? Or is there a much more powerful and evil force watching from the shadows?

Gameplay

Staying true to the previous F-Zero games, F-Zero GX (hereafter referred to as GX) sees you racing around futuristic environments at speeds that can break the sound barrier.  There are many ways that you can approach the game, courtesy of a variety of modes that outnumber even those presented in F-Zero X. Of course, you have the standard Grand Prix, in which you pick a cup, choose a machine and pilot, and take to the tracks. After 5 races, whoever has earned the most points (judged on individual placement) wins 1^st place. This mode is the standard for almost all racing games, simply because it works and GX is no exception. The Time Attack mode lets you pick a machine and race on a track of your choice, with the best times being saved. The Vs. Mode see’s you and up to three friends on any track without computer controlled opponents. Struggling on a certain course in the Grand Prix? Practice Mode has all you need and more to hone and fine-tune all your high speed racing skills. New to the series is the Customize option, which allows you to use tickets you’ve earned in the Grand Prix, to purchase new machines and pilots, as well as custom machine parts in the shop. Perhaps the most interesting new addition here is the Garage, in which you can use your custom parts to build your own machine from scratch, or you can customize a pre-built machine to your own liking.

One thing I should mention about this game is that while the Grand Prix is easy enough on the Novice difficulties, the Expert and Master modes are insane. The computer players will relentlessly attack you in groups and boost at all the right times to make sure you’re left in the dust. For some races in the Master mode, if you want to rank in the top 6 (out of a possible 30) then you have to be near perfect, and no I am not joking. This game can be so unforgiving at times it’s unreal. On the subject of difficulty, one final mode, Story, shows really brutal game design. The mode has you following the story of Captain Falcon, told through great looking FMV cut scenes that bring the F-Zero universe alive like never before. In between these, you take control of
Captain Falcon’s machine, the Blue Falcon and complete various missions, such as collecting items on a track, dodging obstacles and keeping your speed above a certain limit. There are only nine chapters making up this mode, but completing them all will take much longer than you might think as the missions are difficult, very difficult. With the exception of the first chapter on the normal difficulty, you will likely be trying these missions over and over again. There are three difficulty levels, Normal, Hard and Very Hard. After you’ve seen how challenging these missions are on the Normal difficulties, you may find it hard to believe that there are even more difficult levels. On the Very Hard setting, these missions borderline on near-impossible. I can honestly say that your worst nightmare in this game comes in the form of Chapter 7 on Very Hard. This mission is the hardest thing I have ever beaten on any game I have ever played. Even when I did beat it, it was partly down to luck (dumb CPUs driving off cliffs).

 So, overall GX’s gameplay offers many modes and customisation for your racing enjoyment and the controls are sublime, which is a necessity in a game this fast.

Audio

The music in GX is a joy to listen to and really helps pump adrenaline into the races. It ranges from guitar solos to trance metal and techno. Particularly worthy of mention is that each pilot has his or her own theme song, and all of them are unique (albeit cheesy) and help you to connect to your character. Big props to the composers on this game; they really went all out to provide a smashing soundtrack.

The voice acting during the cut scenes is hardly first rate, but it’s still funny enough to listen to. Captain Falcon does sound a little boring, but it’s great to hear a Nintendo protagonist talk at all.

Visuals

GX boasts perhaps the best graphics on the Gamecube. Each track is highly detailed, as are the pilots and their machines. The GameCube’s processing power really shines through here. 

The cut scenes during the Story Mode are really well animated and mirror the likes of animation from Pixar. It really does immerse you in the world of F-Zero.

History

GX was released alongside an arcade twin called F-Zero AX. You could take your memory card to one of these machines and unlock new characters and machines for your home console game. Unfortunately, only a few made it over seas, so tracking one down is very difficult. But never fear, you can still unlock these features in GX without the arcade machine. All you have to do is beat all the Story Mode chapters on the hardest difficulty...

Negative

The only real problem I think anyone would have with GX is its sheer difficulty. The Story Mode is so un- relentlessly brutal, that some just won’t want to dedicate hours upon end to beating it. Some players will be able to beat the challenges thrown at them, but some just won’t get it. The key is to approach with a positive attitude. It’s very, very difficult, but not impossible. I know this because I’ve beaten it (yes I know, I’m insane).

Overall

F-Zero GX is a fantastic racing game with great gameplay, intricate tracks, stellar music and lots of replay value. If you can overlook the difficulty then definitely give this game a purchase. It can found at most game shops or online for around £8.00; a complete steal for a game this good. 

It’s defiantly the best F-Zero game so far; too bad we never got one for the Wii...      9.7/10