I could never get into Mario Kart on the N64, but on the GBA it's a different beast.
On a big screen the game seemed too much of a simplistic exercise given what
the consoles were capable of by comparison. However, on the Gameboy Advance
Mario Kart: Super Circuit has found it's natural home and the
portability of the unit makes it a great little game to play while out and
about, or as an entertaining alternative to reading the newspaper in the
smallest room of the house.
40 tracks are available for racing around here: half taken from the original
SNES courses and the other half being all new. There are eight characters
riding round the track including Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Bowser, each with
different speed and weight differentials. Multi-player action with up to
4 connected GBAs is possible, although I understand that not all the facilities
are available if only one game cart is used, whereas a full set of cartridges
amongst your friends will resolve this.
The graphics are very colourful and move fast. My only complaint is that for
this into-the-screen action the turns do look to be a bit on the tight side
and I'd opt for a slightly higher top-down view if I was programming the game.
Sound, like the other GBA games I've played to date, is fairly inconsequential.
Nice jolly tingly sounds when you collect a power-up, but nothing else really
sticks out. A tune plays in the background, but I was paying more attention
to attempting to win the race than listening to its structure.
When you first play MKSC you'll no doubt spend most time spinning off
the track, but patience is its own reward and you'll learn how to cut up
your opponents so you can zoom past. Apparently the L and R shoulder buttons
can help with tight turns, but, for me, the right one made me jump up in the
air - for later levels presumably - and the left one, once I'd picked up some
certain ammo, enabled me to scupper the others by throwing turtles at them...
if that makes sense.
The three key aspects of the scores below are the graphics, playability and
enjoyment, each of which attain 4 out of 5. The sound isn't particularly
important here and the concept has been around for some time so that accounts
for the lack of originality.
Unless I'm mistaken, the Mario Kart racing games appear to have kick-started
this whole genre of cutesy driving sims which pit characters from a particular
franchise against each other, with no cartoon series left unturned when there's
a fast buck to be made, so that has to be a testament to the longevity of the
game.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
The graphics are very colourful and move fast. My only complaint is that for
this into-the-screen action the turns do look to be a bit on the tight side
and I'd opt for a slightly higher top-down view if I was programming the game.
Sound, like the other GBA games I've played to date, is fairly inconsequential.
Nice jolly tingly sounds when you collect a power-up, but nothing else really
sticks out. A tune plays in the background, but I was paying more attention
to attempting to win the race than listening to its structure.
The three key aspects of the scores below are the graphics, playability and
enjoyment, each of which attain 4 out of 5. The sound isn't particularly
important here and the concept has been around for some time so that accounts
for the lack of originality.
