By the time your eyes flit across these hallowed pages Mario Kart Super Circuit will already be out. What are you waiting for? Grab your cash and your copy of CVG to read on the way, and get your ass to the local games shop to finally grab yourself the reason you bought your GBA in the first place. Go now, go!
PUCKER UP AND KISS IT! You may have had a rough ride with cartoon kart racers in the past. You may be so sick of them that the mere mention of a new kart racer makes your stomach cramp and your bum hole pucker up like a bulldog's face. But we all knew Mario Kart on GBA was going to be different. And it is. It manages to live up to the planet-sized hype generated since it was first announced while still springing a few wicked surprises.
The single player game delivers everything any sane human could ask for, capturing the brilliant gameplay of the SNES original and throwing in a few favourites from the N64 sequel like the regenerating power-up cubes. There are four cups with one more to be unlocked, three speed classes to race in, and Time Trial and Free-Run games.
A new feature for GBA is the grade you get at the end of each course. Depending on how well you drive and how many coins you pick up during a race, you'll be graded from A to E. Excel at every course and you unlock a selection of tracks from the original SNES game! There are also loads of sneaky little moves the expert driver can now use to get pole position in every race, including track shortcuts and masterfully cutting the gas and braking just at the right time to avoid spinning out after getting twatted by another driver.
THE PERFECT GAME? Multiplayer doesn't disappoint either, letting you race around revamped SNES tracks with up to three other players sharing the same cart! But for full-on Battle mode and multiplayer Championship games your mates will each need a copy of the game. This ain't going to be a problem, though, as who in their right mind isn't going to want to own it?
There's very little to fault here, and our only issues were ones of personal taste. Mike thought there were too many red-shells floating about in multiplayer races, while Lee thought the missing feather from the power-up roster was a shame. But we all agreed that while Mario Kart on GBA is close to perfect, its attraction has been dulled ever so slightly by the reams of other kart games out there. Hence no 10/10.
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