Welcome to Modojo, Join the Party!Welcome to Modojo, Join the Party!
submitted by LusterPurge94
posted 5 months agoThe Super Mario franchise is currently the world's #1 best-selling video game franchise. The reason is that they are fun to play, attract audiences of all ages, and are a great challenge. Mario is rightfully popular, mainly because Nintendo produced Mario games for the NES in the '80s, pulling the video game stock market out of the crash of '83. Through over 20 years of gaming, Mario is still as popular as ever.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit was one of the many Mario Kart games. Like the others, it was hard, but easy once a player gets the hang of it, and it was competitive racing.
Compared to other Mario Kart games, though, I would say this one is not very good.
Sure, you can choose to do a Grand Prix Championship, can compete in four Cup Championships, as well as a bonus Cup, and also unlock five extra Cups, each in three classes - 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. And sure, you can enjoy the tough competition of kart racing. And sure, you can choose from a selection of eight characters to race as (they, by the way, are Donkey Kong, Bowser, Luigi, Mario, Toad, Peach, Wario, and Yoshi).
However, after getting past all that, seeing what the gameplay itself is like, it's better to play the Gamecube or Wii versions.
I'm not saying I hate this game like I hate "Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis" or "Frogger: Temple of the Frog" (both for Gameboy Advance). I hate those games so much more. But this game could have been done better.
First of all, if you choose the championship mode, the scoring system makes me mad. Of the 8 racers, only the Top 4 finishers are scored. Anyone below receives no points. If you finish 5th or lower, the game makes you try the race again. You have three chances to do this. If you run out of those three chances, "GAME OVER." Because of this, you may wonder why on earth there are eight starting spots instead of four.
Also, there are other problems. Silly little things that aren't worth getting all worked up over. For instance, when your kart is headed for the start/finish line, in Championship mode or Quick Run mode, no matter what lap you're on, about half a second before you reach the line, all the other drivers slow down. This lessens the competition and gives you an unfair advantage.
Another silly problem is the finishers. In Championship mode and Single Race mode, there are always, ALWAYS four selected drivers that will finish in the top four. If you play as Mario in single race mode, the other kart drivers who challenge you are Toad, Wario, and Peach. Always. But for some reason, if you race on a paved track, the ones who challenge you are Donkey Kong, Luigi, and Bowser. And the three previously mentioned drivers will most commonly finish in the bottom 3 spots.
In Championship mode, if you play as Mario, the others running in the Top 4 against you are always Bowser, Luigi, and Donkey Kong. This gets irritating, having there be a fine line between the two "sides."
The tracks themselves are quite fun to drive on and challenging. But what gets me is how your opponents manage to smoothly glide through the tight turns, while you either have to drift or slow down to match their smoothness, but lose speed.
Also, I noticed that certain tracks have patterns that develop. The drivers, for instance, cross the finish line single-file, no matter how far apart they are, following each other's tire tracks. And early on in some races, certain kart drivers get knocked away by others, others charge to the lead every time, and others fall back. This sense of predictability makes the game quite boring.
All in all, I give this game a 3 out of 5. The upside is that if you work past the glitches and such, it's an entertaining racing game that you can take with you anywhere. But if you're a critical person, the Gamecube version may be for you. Or maybe the hot, new Wii version.
