The only other 2D Mario Kart after the original Super Mario Kart, one of the nicest things to be said about Mario Kart: Super Circuit is at least it improves over its SNES predecessor (kinda?) The track variety is better at least, even though there's even more Bowser's Castles this time around.
One redeeming and better-aged attribute of Super Circuit is the track backgrounds, like the dynamic Sunset Wilds or the colorful Ribbon Road. They're vibrant and charming to look at on their own, but the moving and turning sprites on top of everything during the chaos of a race can make the screen into a headache simulator. The screen-shake effect on Snow Land is especially bad in this regard. The flat, 2D nature of some of these tracks can even result in jump ramps causing the player to go backwards in the course if taken at the wrong angle, pretty easy to have happen considering how many of these are placed right after turns.
The key problem here and most surefire way to kill a racing game is the poor control scheme. It's as if every road is ice while your tires have been coated in butter, drifting just does not feel intuitive or responsive, especially when coming from any later Mario Kart game. My goal with this game was just to beat all of the Grand Prix on 150cc, and it took some real effort learning the controls to have a shot at this. There's something to be said for a game not holding the player's hand and providing a challenge, but maybe the hyper-casual Mario racing game wasn't the place for it.
The Special Cup is a nightmare. Lakeside Park has multiple locations where taking turns the wrong way can send the player over 20 seconds backwards in the track. Broken Pier is one of the worst and most frustrating Mario Kart tracks I've ever seen. Parts of Bowser's Castle 4 are so cramped and narrow for no reason, awkward to drive and seeming ill-suited for a race with eight participants. Even Rainbow Road is a letdown compared to other iterations in the series.
Getting any place below 4th forces the player to use a continue (???) which just felt strange in a Mario Kart game. There's 3 total before a game over, even finishing the last race of a grand prix in 5th while still having enough points for first overall will force the player to try again.
On the bright side, some of the easier courses that actually have room to drive without fighting for your life on every turn feel anywhere from decent to enjoyable. There's also some decent music for what the GBA speakers are capable of, Sky Garden's track was always a standout to me.
Despite this review mostly being an onslaught of criticism, Super Circuit is salvaging a 2-star review here mostly on the grounds that any racing game on the Game Boy Advance probably wasn't going to hold up well 20+ years later. It was a solid effort for the first portable Mario Kart game on limited hardware, but alas, the gameplay is too slippery and not fun enough to rank much higher than near the bottom of the the Mario Kart franchise.
2.0/5.0
One redeeming and better-aged attribute of Super Circuit is the track backgrounds, like the dynamic Sunset Wilds or the colorful Ribbon Road. They're vibrant and charming to look at on their own, but the moving and turning sprites on top of everything during the chaos of a race can make the screen into a headache simulator. The screen-shake effect on Snow Land is especially bad in this regard. The flat, 2D nature of some of these tracks can even result in jump ramps causing the player to go backwards in the course if taken at the wrong angle, pretty easy to have happen considering how many of these are placed right after turns.
The key problem here and most surefire way to kill a racing game is the poor control scheme. It's as if every road is ice while your tires have been coated in butter, drifting just does not feel intuitive or responsive, especially when coming from any later Mario Kart game. My goal with this game was just to beat all of the Grand Prix on 150cc, and it took some real effort learning the controls to have a shot at this. There's something to be said for a game not holding the player's hand and providing a challenge, but maybe the hyper-casual Mario racing game wasn't the place for it.
The Special Cup is a nightmare. Lakeside Park has multiple locations where taking turns the wrong way can send the player over 20 seconds backwards in the track. Broken Pier is one of the worst and most frustrating Mario Kart tracks I've ever seen. Parts of Bowser's Castle 4 are so cramped and narrow for no reason, awkward to drive and seeming ill-suited for a race with eight participants. Even Rainbow Road is a letdown compared to other iterations in the series.
Getting any place below 4th forces the player to use a continue (???) which just felt strange in a Mario Kart game. There's 3 total before a game over, even finishing the last race of a grand prix in 5th while still having enough points for first overall will force the player to try again.
On the bright side, some of the easier courses that actually have room to drive without fighting for your life on every turn feel anywhere from decent to enjoyable. There's also some decent music for what the GBA speakers are capable of, Sky Garden's track was always a standout to me.
Despite this review mostly being an onslaught of criticism, Super Circuit is salvaging a 2-star review here mostly on the grounds that any racing game on the Game Boy Advance probably wasn't going to hold up well 20+ years later. It was a solid effort for the first portable Mario Kart game on limited hardware, but alas, the gameplay is too slippery and not fun enough to rank much higher than near the bottom of the the Mario Kart franchise.
2.0/5.0