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Videogame Source : GameBoy Advance |
Mario Kart Super Circuit |
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9.1 |
| Sounds |
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9.4 |
| Replay |
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8.7 |
| Gameplay |
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9.1 |
| Overall |
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9.0 |
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Review
by
Andy787 |
Oh how I loved Mario Kart on the
Super Nintendo. Back when I was younger I wasn't able to
purchase the insane amounts of games I'm prone to do now, so one
game every few months wasn't uncommon for me. Life went on as
normal and I basically asked for a new game after I got all of
the fun out of my current one. But when I got Mario Kart for
SNES, this rule changed for a while. A long while. I must not
have bought a game for a good six months. I played the game,
bettering my times continuously, smattering many a friends'
blood, disemboweling their corpses and collecting their severed
skulls to construct my throne of Mario Kart destruction. Well...
it went something like that.
Anyway, early when I heard Mario Kart was coming out for
Gameboy Advance, I was very excited to say the least. Now I
could finally take my beloved game on the road, and continue
slaughtering my poor friends even whilst we were going to school
or some other normally Mario Kart-less activity. But not so said
Nintendo, when they decided Mario Kart would not be a launch
title. At least they didn't push it back TOO far, and now here
it is, finally in the palm of my hand, eager to be played, and
played, and played, and played some more. Well good friends,
that it has, and now that I've put in ample play time, I've come
to tell you the tale of it's beauty.
Graphics: The graphics in this tiny little racer are
simply beautiful. It's quite the title to show to your friends
and it's really a great example of the possibilities to be had
on the Gameboy Advance. The theme here, as in most Nintendo
games, is to be as vibrant and fun as possible. The menus are
very lively, with animations in the background and nice bubble
icons that move in and out.
The character models are also very very nice, almost as good as
the Nintendo 64 version's characters (they're almost exactly the
same, except the GBA's lower resolution). All of your favorites
(except Koopa Troopa, sadly) are here, from Mario and Luigi,
Bowser to Wario, and Toad and Peach, and of course Donkey Kong
and Yoshi thrown in for good measure. They animate nicely as
well, bobbing back and forth depending on which direction you're
turning.
The actual levels are done extremely well also, using the Mode 7
effect found in the SNES version to great effect. The levels
actually look better on the GBA version because they have
animated backgrounds (such as a Shy Guy boat on the horizon of
the Shy Guy Beach level). Other cool touches are the moving
ocean on some levels and the nice lava bubbling around in the
Bowser's Castle levels (there are 4 of em!). The levels are also
quite detailed, with many different surfaces for each level
(like water, mud, steel, sand ect), and things like trees,
puddles, ice, penguins, snowmen (yes, snowmen) and even rain and
snow make the levels come alive. There are also some fun little
cameos, including wizards, mice, shy guys, bombobs, Koopas, and
Boos.
Sound: The sound is also excellent. If you know Nintendo
games, you know they can come up with some really nice, fun
stuff, and Mario Kart is no exception. I'm very happy how most
of the songs turned out, I was expecting the normal digitized
sounds found in most portable games (ie, F-Zero Advance), but
what's here is very clear sounding music very much like the
music in the console Mario Karts. You've got your basic Mario
songs (one is even from the moon stage in Mario's second Gameboy
adventure, which is very cool), the Bowser songs from various
Mario games, and even a great Christmas-like song for the snow
level. Everything is very enjoyable and fun to listen to.
The sound effects are also done nicely. There's the nice screech
sound when you peel out, the ''boing'' when you jump, the ''bing''
when you pick up a coin, and of course all of the great little
effects for the special weapons. If you've played Mario Kart for
SNES, you should know what to expect here.
Gameplay: The gameplay is also easier to describe if
you've had the pleasure of playing the SNES version. If not, do
NOT expect anything even resembling realistic (and since when
would anything that has Mario attached be realistic anyway? :P
). However, if you love yourself some racing that has nothing to
do with anything realistic, you're going to have a lot of fun
with this little sucker.
The thing that this game has going for it though, is that even
though it's an arcade-like racer, it still has some excellent
physics (as far as fake physics go). The turning is nice and
tight even without mashing the button in, so those hairpin turns
aren't your biggest enemy anymore (koopa shells fill that duty
nicely). You're also able to pull of small jumps to get past
small obstacles such as puddles or ice. Finally, there's the
speed dash turn thingy. It really isn't very useful anymore
considering none of the levels require sharper turning than a
good press of left or right on the d-pad.
Now on to the weapons. The weapon assortment is mostly like the
N64 version, which is a good thing considering the N64 version
added some very useful weapons. The one thing I wish they
would've kept from the SNES version though is the feather. The
feather gave you a much higher jump than the normal one, which
opened up many shortcuts in the levels (which were fun to find,
and also very helpful). Anyway, they still kept the best of the
essential weapons so it's ok. I'll give you a little run down of
some of the weapons found in the game;
-First, there's the normal green koopa shell. This is the most
basic weapon, pretty much like a missile that only shoots in one
direction (so you better be a good shot!)
-One of my favorites, the red koopa shell is your equivalent to
a homing missile. It's a good idea to keep one of these on hand
if you're in the lead.
-Next we have the banana peel. Now have you ever seen a cartoon
before? What does a banana peel do in cartoons? That's exactly
what it does here :)
-Another of my favorites, the boo buddy is very effective if
you're in second and just can't seem to pass the leader. Not
only does the boo buddy steal his current weapon, but it also
slows him down for a limited time, and makes you invisible for a
limited time. What payback!
-Finally, arguably the best weapon -the starman. This sucker
makes you invincible for a limited time and makes your speed
increase significantly. It also knocks anyone you touch off
course, so this baby can make or break many a race.
No that's not all, there are quite a few more, including better
versions of the green and red shells (instead of getting one at
a time, you can get three!) among others. However the weapons
sound, take my word for it, everything is balanced out very very
nicely.
Anyway, there are 4 modes of play, 3 for single player, and of
course the multi-player mode. The modes for single player are
Mario GP, Time Trial, and Quick Run.
Mario GP is the main game for single player. You first choose
what CC you want to play in (either 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc, the
higher the tougher), then choose your racer, and finally choose
a cup to race for (the cups are a series of 4 races, you win the
bronze cup for 3rd, silver cup for 2nd, and of course, gold cup
for 1st). Once you have gotten a gold in each of the four cups
(Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Lightning Cup, and Star Cup) you open
up the Special Cup to play in. Other than the Special Cup, you
can also open up more very cool levels -the SNES originals! Not
only do you get plenty of original courses, you also get the
excellent SNES courses =) To unlock the SNES courses all you
have to do is collect enough coins in a circuit, then you press
L or R when choosing your course, and viola! New tracks!
Time Trial mode is essentially the same as Mario GP, except
you're not unlocking anything, your goal is to beat your current
high score. The time trial mode may not seem like much, but it's
definitely helpful when nobody's around and you want to
practice.
Finally, Quick Run is pretty self explanatory. You choose your
cc, racer, and circuit and you race. Simple as pie.
Now, the multi-player. This will definitely be the biggest
multi-player game as far as portables go for me and my friends.
I'm saying will, because unfortunately for me (or for them,
really), none of my buds have the game yet, so I can't really
give you any details about the multi-player, other than there's
a mode to play off a single cart with limited options or the
full game with 4 carts. As soon as I see 'em again, I'm
definitely going to try out the single cart mode though. I've
heard good things =)
Replay: Well the difficulty is much easier than the SNES
brethren, but the Mario GP mode should last a week or so. After
that, the Time Trial mode is pretty much only limited by how
much you try to improve. Finally, the multi-player sounds
extremely fun (finally you get your own screen!), and should
definitely last a long time. All I can say is I wish there were
more characters to unlock =( All in all, this is an excellent
package, and truly one of the Gameboy Advance's finer moments.
Pros: Excellent fast-paced gameplay, beautiful graphics
and sound
Cons: Some textures seem a little pixilated on GBA's
screen, could've used some more unlockables
.:. Andy787 |
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