Mario Kart Super Circuit
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| Mario Kart Super Circuit | |
| Missing image Mkscbox.jpg Mario Kart Super Circuit box art | |
| Developer(s) | Intelligent Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) | July 21, 2001 (JP) August 27, 2001 (NA) September 14, 2001 (EU) |
| Genre | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
Mario Kart Super Circuit, known in Japan as Mario Kart Advance (マリオカートアドバンス), is a video game developed by Intelligent Systems 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).
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Single-Player Gameplay
As with its predecessors, Super Circuit is a lighthearted 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.
Mario GP Mode
The main mode in the game. The player races in a series of "Grand Prix" competitions (Cups), against eight computer-controlled competitors. Each Cup consists of four three-lap races. Each Cup may be approached at a 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc speed, determining the speed and therefore difficulty of the race. The competitions and their tracks are, in order:
- Mushroom Cup (Peach Circuit, Shy Guy Beach, Riverside Park, Bowser Castle 1)
- Flower Cup (Mario Circuit, Boo Lake, Cheese Land, Bowser Castle 2)
- Lightning Cup (Luigi Circuit, Sky Garden, Cheep-Cheep Island, Sunset Wilds)
- Star Cup (Snow Land, Ribbon Road, Yoshi Desert, Bowser Castle 3)
Each racer's finishing position in each race determines the number of points they receive (9 for first, 6 for second, 3 for third, one for 4th, and none for a lower placement, and at the end, the player with the most points wins. If the player finishes in 5th place or lower on any given race, they lose 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 their finishing position (Bronze, Silver, or Gold) and a rating based upon how well they raced (E, D, C, B, A One-Star, Two-Star, Three Star, in ascending order) based upon the number of stars collected, their finishing positions in each race, and their lap times.
An additional Cup is unlocked upon receiving Gold trophies for all of the other Cups:
- Special Cup (Lakeside Park, Broken Pier, Bowser Castle 4, Rainbow Road)
GBA_Mario_Kart.png
Also, the Cups and tracks from Mario Kart for the SNES are available as Extra Cups, through playing well in their namesake. To obtain these, first a Gold trophy must be won in the normal Cup, then it must be completed with 100 coins in total collected. The appropriate Cup is then unlocked:
- Extra Mushroom Cup (Mario Circuit 1, Donut Plains 1, Ghost Valley 1, Bowser Castle 1)
- Extra Flower Cup (Mario Circuit 2, Choco Island 1, Ghost Valley 2, Donut Plains 2)
- Extra Lightning Cup (Bowser Castle 2, Mario Circuit 3, Koopa Beach 1, Choco Island 2)
- Extra Star Cup (Vanilla Lake 1, Bowser Castle 3, Mario Circuit 4, Donut Plains 3)
- Extra Special Cup (Koopa Beach 2, Ghost Valley 3, Vanilla LAke 2, Rainbow Road)
Each race in an Extra cup consists of five, rather than three, laps.
Note that 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 50cc unlocks the Special Cup at 50cc, but not 100cc or 150cc.
Time Trial Mode
Any track unlocked at 150cc 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 their "Ghost car", showing their progress on the previous attempt. This may be switched off.
Up to 10 "Ghost car" runs may be saved in total, to be viewed as replays or raced against. This may be useful if a player is attempting to improve their fastest time on a given course, for example, by studying and competing against their current best run.
Quick Run Mode
The player may choose any unlocked track, from any cup, and any speed, and race against seven opponents as in Mario GP mode. Coins can be toggled on or off, and the number of laps (three or five) changed.
Multiplayer Gameplay
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.
VS Mode
Similar to singleplayer Quick Run mode, with two to four human players, and no computer-controlled ones.
Battle Mode
Two to four players are placed in specially-designed battle arenas, strewn with power-ups. Each player has three baloons attached to their kart, and each time they take a successful hit (from a power-up of aggressive ramming), they lose one. Upon losing the last, they are taken out of the game. The last player standing wins.
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.
Characters
There are eight characters at the start, with their own karts, drawn from Nintendo's Mario series of games and related properties. There have been many rumours that there are more, but this is unknown.
- Mario
- Luigi
- Yoshi
- Toad
- Peach
- Wario
- Donkey Kong
- Bowser
There are rumours that Waluigi (Wario's equivalent of Luigi) is unlockable, but no screenshots, etc, have been seen.
Power-ups
Various power ups are placed upon tracks in Mario GP, Quick Run, Battle, and Vs. modes. Their effects allow a player to push forwards through players ahead of them, stop players behind from overtaking, or simply provide a speed boost.
External links
- Flaws in the Mario Kart games (http://everything2.com/?node=Mario+Kart+bugs)