Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the third installment in the Mario Kart series and was released for the Game Boy Advance. The game is known under the name Mario Kart Advance in Japan. This game combines the elements from the previous Mario Kart games and contains all the courses from Super Mario Kart. This game was released on July 21, 2001 in Japan, August 27, 2001 in North America, and September 14, 2001 in Europe. Mario Kart: Super Circuit is also the first handheld Mario Kart game. The game was re-released exclusively to Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors in all regions in December 2011. This is the only Mario Kart game where the international and Japanese titles differ. Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the only Mario Kart to be developed by Intelligent Systems, the others (excluding the Mario Kart Arcade GP series which have been developed by Namco and Mario Kart 7 which was partially developed by Retro Studios) have been developed by Nintendo EAD. Additionally, this is the last Mario Kart game where the drivers are 2D sprites.

Gameplay
The objective in this game is to place first in the races, as with most racing games. Each race has eight contestants. As in other Mario Kart games, players can drive through Item Boxes which contain items, which can aid the players. On the course, coins are collected to increase a player's top speed. If the player has zero coins, they spin out if they come in contact with another racer. Fifty-five coins are found on each course.

This game has five cups, and each has four new race courses. These cups are the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the all new Lightning Cup, the Star Cup, and the Special Cup. If players collects 100 coins in a certain cup, they unlock the Extra Cup version. These cups contain all of the courses from Super Mario Kart making this game have more courses than any other Mario Kart game in the series. If the player manages to collect a gold trophy on all of the Super Circuit cups, the background for the title screen changes to a sunset. If the player manages to obtain a triple star ranking for all Super Circuit cups, the title screen's background changes to a night time setting. In addition to the aesthetic changes, the intro's theme also changes.

Menu controls

 * Select
 * Confirm
 * Cancel
 * Access options for certain modes

Game controls

 * Steer left or right
 * Accelerate (pressing the button when the light turns green lets the player do a rocket start)
 * Brake
 * Hop and Power Slide (when holding for a few seconds, the player gets a mini-turbo)
 * Use Items, stop Item Roulette
 * + : Drive backward
 * + : Shoot Item in certain direction
 * , + : Quick sharp turn left or right
 * Pause game
 * Horn


 * On the character selection screen, if the player presses the button, the character the player is on fires a green shell. If the player presses, the character hops. If the player presses , the characters honk their horn. However, the horn doesn't work if Random is selected.

Game modes
Mario Kart: Super Circuit has four different game modes. All are accessed by the single player except VS and battle modes. Up to four players can participate using the Game Boy Advance Link cable with even a single game cartridge. However, all players using single cartridge mode are limited to selecting Extra Mushroom Cup using only Yoshi and different colors of him.

Grand Prix
In this mode, one or two players race against the CPU. The player chooses a cup and plays the four courses it contains. The player earns points by placing within the first four positions. When finished in fifth place or lower, the player must restart the race. The player is able to restart a race three times, with three race flags representing the lives. When the flags run out, the player is unable to restart the race. When playing with two players, if one racer finishes in the Top 4 and the other does not, they both move on to the next race. At the end of the cup, the player with the most points wins. There are 3 different speeds to choose from, each with varying difficulty.


 * 50cc - This engine size is the smallest engine size. Karts go at a slower pace than other engine sizes. Computers rarely use items against the player. This engine size is best suited for beginners.
 * 100cc - A slightly larger engine size. Karts go slightly faster than 50cc, but not as fast as 150cc. Computers use items more often against the player. This engine size is better suited for intermediate players.
 * 150cc - The largest engine size. Karts go at their fastest. The computer regularly uses items against the player, such as frequently throwing Red Shells, using Boos, or even tossing a Spiny Shell. This engine size is best suited for expert players.

Ranking
Depending on a player's performance in GP, the player can achieve one of the following eight ranks:
 * Triple Star: The player must score first consistently.
 * Double Star
 * Single Star
 * A: The player has collected all 36 points.
 * B: The player has collected at least 30 points.
 * C: The player has collected at least 25 points.
 * D: The player has collected at least 20 points.
 * E: The player has not fulfilled the above stated requirements.

Several factors account for a hidden score, which then translates to a rank.
 * The more coins collected, the higher the score.
 * The player's time on each lap. Points are rewarded depending on the time and are never deducted.
 * The more times and longer players hit the brakes, the lower their score. This does not count if players brake to avoid a slip from a Banana Peel.
 * The more times and longer players let go of the acceleration button, the lower their score.
 * Using Triple Red Shells, Stars, and Lightning Bolts decreases the score, with the Star decreasing the score the most.
 * If Lakitu must pick up the player, the score is lowered. Initiating the mini-turbo at the correct time will negate it somewhat, however.
 * The more times players hit enemy racers or obstacles, their score is lowered. Hitting walls slightly decreases the score more.
 * Getting hit by items lowers the score.
 * Using one life for a retry severely decreases the score.
 * Being offtrack decreases the score.
 * Starting the race with a boost increases the score.
 * Initiating more drift mini-turbos increases the score.
 * Passing an item box while already having an item (but not deployed yet) increases the score.
 * Picking certain characters can also affect the score, giving bonus points. This is because some have less grip on the road than others, so the game rewards characters with the least grip the most points.
 * Bowser (45 points)
 * Wario (40 points)
 * Donkey Kong (40 points)
 * Mario (30 points)
 * Luigi (30 points)
 * Princess Peach (10 points)
 * Toad (10 points)
 * Yoshi (0 points)

Time Trial
One player can race against the best times on each course with no CPU opponents. After beating a best time, players can save Ghost data onto each time trial course. Whenever the player races on that course again, the player's Ghost mirrors movements of the saved data. Ghost data can also be downloaded from other players using the Game Boy Link Cable. Players are given a Triple Mushroom for use during Time Trials. Players also have the option to view their Ghost data using the Records option. Players can either turn their Ghost on or off during Time Trials using the before selecting the mode.

Quick Run
Quick Run is a one player mode, unique to Mario Kart: Super Circuit, that enables players to race on any tracks they unlocked with no restrictions or regulations. Players can choose what engine size they want to race on, with the difficulty level alongside with the speed. Players can alter the number of laps, appearance of coins, and item boxes by pressing before accessing this mode.

VS
VS mode is basically a Quick Run mode with two to four players. This mode cannot be accessed by only one player. CPU players are turned off in this mode. The game counts how many times the player won or lost against other players. Players can play with multiple game cartridges or just a single cartridge via Game Boy Link Cable. When using a single cartridge however, players are limited to their choices. Players will use a different colored Yoshi. Player 1 will be Green, player 2 red, player 3 light blue, and player 4 yellow. Aside from that, the only courses available are four SNES courses: Mario Circuit 1, Donut Plains 1, Ghost Valley 1, and Bowser Castle 1.

Battle
Just like VS mode, Battle mode cannot be played with only one player. The player participates with one to three other players in attempt to pop each other balloons using items. Also seen in VS mode, the game counts how many times the players won or lost. When a player loses all of their balloons, the player turns into a Bob-omb. The Bob-omb can make it more difficult for the other players by either picking up item boxes or blasting into their karts.

Characters
All playable characters from Mario Kart 64 return, and there are no newcomers, making this the only Mario Kart game to not introduce any new drivers. As in all previous games, they also race in the same go-karts, but with different sizes and colors that suit each playable character. Also, as in all previous games, each racer is classified into three categories: lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight, each class with their own advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, in VS play with a single cartridge, all players use Yoshi, with each being a different color.

Many other characters appear in the game as nonplayable. Some can help out, such as Lakitu, who can pull characters out of the water, and Boo, who serves as an item. Other characters are mainly there to serve as obstacles to racers, and many hinder the racers by making them spin out.

Drivers
Characters are divided into three classes depending on their weight: Light, Medium , and Heavy. Characters' acceleration and weight stats are viewable at the player select screen, although the acceleration stat is erroneously referred to as "speed".

Lightweights are generally characterized by having high acceleration, but low top speed. They are knocked easier by heavyweights and middleweights and skid easier. Peach and Toad share the same stats as having the most acceleration and the least weight in the game, and Yoshi offers slightly less acceleration for slightly better weight.

Middleweights are classified by their all-around stats. They do not excel at anything, nor do they have any significantly low stats. Mario and Luigi, the only middleweights, share the same stats.

Heavyweights have very high stats in top speed and weight, but suffer from low acceleration. They also skid less than karts of lighter weight. Bowser offers the most weight and top speed in the game but the worst acceleration while Wario and Donkey Kong have slightly worse weight and top speed in exchange for slightly higher acceleration.

Non-playable

 * Boo
 * Cheep-Cheep
 * Crab
 * Lakitu
 * Little Mouser
 * Mecha-Koopa
 * Penguin
 * Piranha Plant
 * Shy Guy
 * Magikoopa
 * Thwomp
 * Snowman

Items
Mario Kart: Super Circuit features all eleven of the items from Mario Kart 64, with no new additions, also making this the only Mario Kart game to not introduce any items. Like past games, items are found in Item Boxes and are typically used to hinder opponents and assist players who obtain them.

Courses
The game features twenty new courses, and brings back the original twenty courses of Super Mario Kart (but, due to the Grand Prix Format, they are organized in five cups instead of four). However, most courses brought back have the hazards removed found in them such as the Monty Moles in the Donut Plains and oil slicks in the Mario Circuits. The only hazards that have stayed are the breakable blocks in the Ghost Valleys and Vanilla Lakes.

The cups containing Super Mario Kart courses are unlocked for usage in Grand Prix Mode by finishing their respective cups consisting of Super Circuit in first place, and then completing them again, while collecting at least 100 coins. Due to these new courses, this game features the highest amount of racing tracks and Bowser Castles (four from this game's tracks and three from the original's tracks) in any Mario Kart game to date.

Super Circuit tracks
There are also new courses introduced in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The player races three laps on these tracks in Grand Prix mode.

Extra tracks
These courses were originally featured in Super Mario Kart, and are reused in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The player races five laps on these tracks in Grand Prix mode.

Mario Kart DS and onward would later have a very similar feature called Retro Grand Prix, which features four cups consisting of tracks from all past Mario Kart games.

Battle courses
In addition with race courses, four new battle courses are added. However, no Super Mario Kart battle courses return despite all of that game's race courses returning. They do go unused though, and are still playable through hacking.

Reception
Mario Kart: Super Circuit received critical acclaim. It scored an average of 91.54% based off 39 reviews in GameRankings and an average of 93 based off 24 reviews in Metacritic.

Craig Harris of IGN praised nearly all of the game's aspects and noted that the extra development time of the game can make it outstanding. He ended with, "It's a GBA game with very few flaws -- it's a shame that it didn't quite make the system launch, but the extra wait did the game wonders, and it shouldn't be missed." He gave the game a 9.5 out of 10. Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer gave the game a 9 out of 10. Though he criticized the lack of backlighting due to the GameBoy Advance system lacking it and the pick-up system of Lakitu, he praised the game for being a vast, improved "conversion" of Super Mario Kart onto the GameBoy Advance. He wrote, "It has everything a single player, or indeed a foursome of like-minded console gamers, could ever dream of, and all with the added benefit of extensive replayability. With Super Mario Advance 2 still a way off, Mario Kart Super Circuit is the killer app for GameBoy Advance as of now. Buy it." Joao Diniz Sanches of Pocket Gamer UK gave the game a 9 out of 10. He praised the game for being universally and immediately fun.

Ron DelVillano of Nintendo Life reviewed the ambassador version of Mario Kart: Super Circuit and gave the game a 7 out of 10. Though he noted the game's aging and that the multiplayer is removed in the 3DS ambassador version, he called the game fun and worthwhile to play with. .

Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the fourth best selling game for the Game Boy Advance, selling 5.91 copies worldwide, as of March 31, 2009.

Beta elements
Early Nintendo Power screenshots showed that the characters had different, "super-deformed" sprites of bigger heads contrasted by smaller karts. The Banana Bunch and Golden Mushroom items were going to be in the game. The unfinished versions can be seen by using a GameShark code. The Banana Bunch won't do anything, and the Golden Mushroom acts like a Mushroom but gives the ability to have infinite boosts even if no item is shown. A Fake Item Box was planned to be in the game but removed for unknown reasons. It has the same functions as a regular Banana.

Staff
Mario Kart: Super Circuit was developed by Intelligent Systems, the same company behind the Paper Mario series and the WarioWare series. Takeshi Ando and Yukio Morimoto directed the game while the executive producer was Hiroshi Yamauchi. The Donkey Kong 3D model used in the pre-rendered sprites was provided by Rare Ltd..

A glitch happens in the in middle of Rainbow Road. When players go to the middle of the track, a CPU opponent, in rare cases, floats up and down.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Kart: All previous race courses return with the hazards removed. Coins as a gameplay mechanic has been used in Mario Kart: Super Circuit as well.
 * Mario Kart 64: Many sprites in this game are based off the Mario Kart 64 ones, such as the karts, characters, and the character selection screen portraits. Losing characters in Mario Kart: Super Circuit in battle mode also turns into Bob-ombs, something that is similar to turning into Mini Bomb Kart.
 * Yoshi's Story: Shy Guy Beach is based on the level Shy Guy's Ship from this game. A Blurp from this game also makes a cameo appearance during the awards ceremony.
 * Paper Mario: Peach's castle is seen on top of Bowser's castle just like in this game, in the background of Rainbow Road. The Hammer Bro. seen during the awards ceremony has the same appearance as in this game.

References in later games

 * Mario Kart DS: This game has borrowed the ranking system of this game. Also, 4 GBA tracks returned to this game (Peach Circuit, Bowser Castle 2, Luigi Circuit, Sky Garden). The Quick Run concept has been reused and renamed as Vs. Mode. The idea of returning older courses originates from Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
 * Mario Kart Wii: Shy Guy Beach, Bowser Castle 3, and Battle Course 3 return in this game.
 * Mario Kart 7: Bowser Castle 1 and Battle Course 1 return in this game.
 * Mario Kart 8: Mario Circuit returns as a retro course in this game.

Trivia

 * Luigi, Peach, Wario, Toad, and the narrator's voices are reused from the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64.
 * This is the only game in the series that colored Yoshis are playable in Single Pak VS.
 * This is one of the last two games next to Mario Party 3 to have the Mario franchise use its N64-era art direction, which had been in place since Super Mario 64 in 1996. Over the next three months, the 3-D art direction of the Mario franchise would be revamped in Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, and Mario Party 4.
 * This is the only Mario Kart game not to introduce any new playable characters.
 * This is the last Mario Kart game where Princess Peach wears her hair down. Mario Kart Double Dash and later installments depict her wearing her hair in a ponytail which was introduced in Super Mario Sunshine and became a standard ever since Mario Kart Double Dash. The standard would be broken with the Mario Kart Arcade GP series and Mario Kart Wii with the congratulations screen and her profile artwork where she is depicted with her hair untied in these games even though she wears her hair tied into a ponytail during gameplay.