Mario Kart Super Circuit
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| Mario Kart Super Circuit | |
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| Developer(s) | Intelligent Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |  July 21, 2001 August 27, 2001 14 September 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone OFLC: G |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Media | 32-Megabit cartridge |
Mario Kart: Super Circuit, known in Japan as Mario Kart Advance (マリオカートアドバンス Mario Kāto Adobansu?), is a video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It combines features from earlier Mario Kart games (Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64) In particular, it features the gameplay mechanics of the latter title and tracks from the former game (unlockable). Super Circuit is also the first Mario Kart game to be on a handheld.
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[edit] Single-player gameplay
As with its predecessors, Super Circuit is a light-hearted circuit racing game. In it, the player races against seven opponents, each a character from Nintendo's Mario series, in small racing karts, upon a series of tracks inspired by the Mario world. Strewn upon the tracks are power-ups to aid the bearer or hinder their opponents, as well as Coins which increase the player's top speed.
[edit] Mario GP mode
The main mode in the game. The player races in a series of "Grand Prix" competitions (Cups), against seven computer-controlled competitors. Each Cup consists of four three-lap races. Each Cup may be approached at a 50 cc, 100 cc, or 150 cc speed, determining the speed and therefore difficulty of the race.
[edit] Super Circuit
The competitions and their tracks are, in order:
| Mushroom Cup | Flower Cup | Lightning Cup | Star Cup | Special Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peach Circuit | Mario Circuit | Luigi Circuit | Snow Land | Lakeside Park |
| Shy Guy Beach | Boo Lake | Sky Garden | Ribbon Road | Broken Pier |
| Riverside Park | Cheese Land | Cheep-Cheep Island | Yoshi Desert | Bowser Castle 4 |
| Bowser Castle 1 | Bowser Castle 2 | Sunset Wilds | Bowser Castle 3 | Rainbow Road |
Each racer's finishing position in each race determines the number of points he or she receives (nine for first, six for second, three for third, one for fourth, and none for a lower placement), and at the end, the player with the most points wins. If the player finishes in fifth place or lower on any given race, he or she loses a life and must restart. The player may also choose to restart a race at any time, at the cost of a life. Upon losing their allocation of three lives in each Cup, however, the player loses and is ejected from the competition.
At the end of the cup, the player is awarded a trophy based on his or her finishing position (Bronze, Silver, or Gold) and a rating based upon how well he or she raced (E, D, C, B, A, One-Star, Two-Star, Three Star, in ascending order) based upon the number of coins collected, their finishing positions in each race, and their lap times.
[edit] Extra
Also, the Cups and tracks from Super Mario Kart for the SNES are available as Extra Cups, through playing well in their namesake. To unlock these cups, first the Special Cup must be unlocked, and then a gold trophy must be won in that cup. Then the player must run each Cup again, winning a Gold trophy and collecting 100 coins or more. The appropriate Cup is then unlocked:
| Extra Mushroom Cup |
Extra Flower Cup |
Extra Lightning Cup |
Extra Star Cup |
Extra Special Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Circuit 1 | Mario Circuit 2 | Bowser Castle 2 | Vanilla Lake 1 | Koopa Beach 2 |
| Donut Plains 1 | Choco Island 1 | Mario Circuit 3 | Bowser Castle 3 | Ghost Valley 3 |
| Ghost Valley 1 | Ghost Valley 2 | Koopa Beach 1 | Mario Circuit 4 | Vanilla Lake 2 |
| Bowser Castle 1 | Donut Plains 2 | Choco Island 2 | Donut Plains 3 | Rainbow Road |
Each race in an Extra cup consists of five, rather than three laps. Also, the track arrangement has changed, due to the number of cups. In Super Mario Kart, there were four cups with five tracks each; in the Extra cups, there are five cups with four tracks each.
Unlocked tracks (Special and Extra Cups) are only available at the speed they were unlocked with. For example, obtaining a Gold trophy in each of the first four Cups at 50 cc unlocks the Special Cup at 50 cc, but not 100 cc or 150 cc. Time Trial mode for the Extra cups is unlocked when the player unlocks 150 cc.
There were a few changes to the SNES courses. Most of the hazards were removed. For instance, there are no flashing Thwomps in Rainbow Road. The backgrounds were re-used from the Super Circuit tracks as well. Some areas and shortcuts on the SNES tracks are now inaccessible due to the removal of the feather item from Super Mario Kart.
[edit] Time Trial
Any track unlocked at 150 cc in Mario GP Mode may be raced upon, alone, with the track's coins and power-ups removed. The player does, however, start with three Mushroom power-ups (see below) which may be used at any time. Normal Cups are raced for three laps, Special Cups for five. A lap-time and total-time record are set for each, to provide a challenge, and the player's best lap time and total time recorded. Upon racing once on a track, the player races against his or her "Ghost car", showing his or her progress on the previous attempt. This may be switched off.
Up to 10 "ghost car" runs may be saved in total, and they can be either be viewed in replay mode or be raced against. This may be useful if a player is attempting to improve his or her fastest time on a given course, for example, by studying and competing against his or her current best run.
[edit] Quick Run
The player may choose any unlocked track, from any cup, and any speed, and race against seven opponents as in Mario GP mode. Coins, the number of laps (three or five), and the items can be toggled on or off.
[edit] Multiplayer gameplay
[edit] Mario GP mode
Up to two players may progress in this mode. It works identically to the single-player Mario GP, except that there are two human players and six computer-controlled ones.
[edit] VS mode
Similar to singleplayer Quick Run mode, with two to four human players, and no computer-controlled ones.
[edit] Battle mode
Two to four players are placed in specially designed battle arenas, strewn with power-ups. Each player has three balloons attached to their kart, and each time he or she takes a successful hit (from an offensive item or aggressive ramming), he or she loses one. Upon losing the last, he or she is taken out of the game. The last player standing wins.
[edit] Ghost trade
Up to two of the player's "ghost car" saves may be copied to another player, and up to two received in return. These may then be raced against in Time Trial mode or viewed as replays as though they were the player's own. This may be useful in attempting to better a friend's best time at a given track, or to show off a player's skill.
[edit] Characters
There are eight first playable characters, each with his or her own kart, drawn from Nintendo's Mario series.
There are also differently colored Yoshis, which are only available in single-pak multiplayer (Similar to Shy Guys in MKDS).
[edit] Power-ups
Various power-ups are placed upon tracks in Mario GP, Quick Run, Battle, and Vs. modes. As in the previous Mario Kart games, the power-ups are items based on the Mario universe. All of the items from the original Mario Kart, minus the Feather, appear in this game.
- Mushrooms grant the player a momentary boost of speed.
- Green Shells travel in straight lines, ricochet off of walls, and can be launched forwards or behind.
- Red Shells, when launched forward, follow down the center of the track until they approach the next racer in front, at which point they home in and collide with that racer (which is different from previous Mario Kart games). They can also be dropped stationary on the track behind the player, and will home in on the next racer to approach them.
- Banana Peels cause a kart to slip and eventually spin out. However, there are ways to prevent spinning out, press/hold B as soon as you slip, and you wont spin out.
- The Starman provides increased speed, defense against all attacks, and the ability to make other racers crash by colliding with them.
- Boo renders a player invisible, and circles around the racer in first place, causing them to lose speed. The player using the Boo also steals an item from a random racer.
- Lightning Bolts cause all other racers who aren't invincible at the time to shrink to half size, slowing them down for a set amount of time. The player who used it can then run over the shrunken players and cause them to spin out.
Some of the items originally introduced in Mario Kart 64 also return for Super Circuit:
- Triple Green Shells and Triple Red Shells orbit the player and can be launched individually.
- Spiny Shells pursue down the center of the track, knocking over any karts which get in the way, until colliding with the racer in front.
- Triple Mushrooms are found only in Time Trial mode. Players get one set of triple mushrooms at the beginning of every Time Trial race. There are no other items in that mode.
As in Mario Kart 64, most attack items can be trailed behind the player before being thrown or used.
[edit] Advanced Driving Techniques
- Tricking/Ticking - This is the technique discovered soon after the game's release. The technique takes advantage of a programming glitch. The outcome is that you can maintain a faster speed (speed approximately the speed of mushroom boost) and also not lose speed over off-road sections of the tracks. The method of executing this is to drive towards a stationary part of the course, press "L" to boost towards the object, and then as you are about to make contact, press "R" to hop into the object. After that, quickly release the "A" button. You will maintain your speed boost for a much longer period of time. Initially, this was mastered by "tricking" off trees or rocks around the game. Later, it went as far as clipping walls and barriers of the track. Ultimately, as you can watch in the WR (world record runs) videos, it is possible to drive a whole course while continuously "tricking".
This technique is used for the WRs but is frowned upon by some players as it takes away from natural driving and is ultimately a programming flaw being abused. This is also the stand taken by www.mariokart64.com/mksc - the players page.
- Water slides - This is a technique where if you hop sharp sideways onto a piece of water and let go of all buttons for a split second then the kart slides "out" and is quicker than normal driving through water. This tech also works for Snow and all of the WRs will be using this.
- Counter-steer blue boost - It is in the manual that you can boost around corners by holding R for a short time while turning. There is a way of activating this boost quicker for less tight turns. The way to do this is to flick very quickly in the opposite direction to the turn you are about to take, then to turn as normal. The flicking to the other direction seems to count as the time holding the turn down and therefore allows you to boost quicker. There are descriptions of this on GameFAQs, the players page and forums.
[edit] Reception
Mario Kart: Super Circuit was extremely well received by the press and public alike. Those frustrated with Nintendo's policy of remaking older games for the GBA were pleasantly surprised that not only had Nintendo released a brand new Mario Kart game, but that most of the courses from Super Mario Kart had been included instead of being released as a separate port.
[edit] Trivia
- This game was featured in the movie Son of the Mask.
- Luigi, Wario, Peach, and Toad's voices in this game were originally used in the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64.
- If you play a single pack game, all players will be a different color of Yoshi. Player 1 is Green, Player 2 is Red, Player 3 is Blue and Player 4 is Yellow. Also, only four courses can be played in single pack mode; Mario Circuit 1, Dount Plains 1, Ghost Valley 1, and Bowser Castle 1.
- The characters and 2D models are based on the same models from Mario Kart 64.
[edit] External links
- Mario Kart Super Circuit at MobyGames
- Mario Kart Super Circuit at GameFAQs
- Mario Kart Central / Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- MKSC Player's Page
