Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Developer(s)	Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Release Date(s)
Game Boy Advance	NA: August 26, 2001 JP: July 21, 2001 EU: September 14, 2001 AU: September 7, 2001
Game Boy Advance	NA: August 26, 2001 JP: July 21, 2001 EU: September 14, 2001 AU: September 7, 2001
Virtual Console (3DS)	NA: December 16, 2011 JP: December 16, 2011 EU: December 16, 2011 AU: December 16, 2011
Virtual Console (3DS)	NA: December 16, 2011 JP: December 16, 2011 EU: December 16, 2011 AU: December 16, 2011
Virtual Console (Wii U)	NA: November 13, 2014 JP: July 22, 2015 EU: April 23, 2015 AU: April 23, 2015
Virtual Console (Wii U)	NA: November 13, 2014 JP: July 22, 2015 EU: April 23, 2015 AU: April 23, 2015
Platform(s)
Classification(s)	This game was labelled as Player's Choice
Accessory(ies)	In Japan, this game is compatible with the Mobile Game Boy Adapter
Sales	5.91 million
Genre(s)	Racing
Download Size	150.99 MB [1] [Wii U]
Rating(s)
ESRB	03
PEGI	01
CERO	01
USK	01
ACB	01

Mario Kart: Super Circuit <sup>(JPJapanese: マリオカートアドバンス

Romaji: Mario Kāto Adobansu

Meaning: Mario Kart Advance)</sup> (also called MKSC, MK: Super Circuit, Mario Kart 3, or MK3) is a video game for the Game Boy Advance, and the third game in the Mario Kart series and also the first handheld Mario Kart game. It was one of the first video games released on the console.

The game, like the previous games in the series had eight characters. Many publications stated that you are able to have Waluigi in the game, though this is in no way factual. The game also includes the popular Battle mode as well as the Grand Prix mode. There are no new items in the game, although classic favorites do return. Each character has their own specific stats such as weight, acceleration and so on.

Since the Game Boy Advance was neither designed for nor particularly capable of running true 3D environments, the game was technologically similar to its SNES forerunner. Although the tracks were more complex and environments far superior in appearance, the circuits were still completely flat, in contrast to Mario Kart 64. This did not prevent them from being entertaining, however.

Indeed, the game even included all of the tracks from Super Mario Kart; considered an impressive bonus, even if some tracks had a few missing elements (such as the Thwomps in Rainbow Road). Single-cart link-up play was possible, but the tracks were limited and players were limited to differently-colored Yoshis. With multiple carts and a link cable 4-player games were possible, as on the Nintendo 64.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the only Mario Kart to be developed by Intelligent Systems; the others (excluding the Mario Kart Arcade GP series and Mario Kart 8, which were 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 sprites rather than models.

Characters

Lightweight

Icon	Name	Speed	Weight
	Princess Peach
	Toad
	Yoshi

Middleweight

Icon	Name	Speed	Weight
	Mario
	Luigi

Heavyweight

Icon	Name	Speed	Weight
	Bowser
	Wario
	Donkey Kong

Non-Playable

• Boo
• Cheep-Cheep
• Crab
• Lakitu
• Little Mouser
• Mecha-Koopa
• Penguin
• Piranha Plant
• Shy Guy

Tracks

Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Lightning Cup	Star Cup	Lightning Cup
Peach Circuit	Mario Circuit	Luigi Circuit	Snow Land	Lakeside Park
Shy Guy Beach	Boo Lake	Sky Garden	Ribbon Road	Broken Pier
Riverside Park	Cheese Land	Cheep-Cheep Island	Yoshi Desert	Bowser Castle 4
Bowser Castle 1	Bowser Castle 2	Sunset Wilds	Bowser Castle 3	Rainbow Road
Extra Mushroom Cup	Extra Flower Cup	Extra Lightning Cup	Extra Star Cup	Extra Special Cup
Mario Circuit 1	Mario Circuit 2	Bowser Castle 2	Vanilla Lake 1	Koopa Beach 2
Donut Plains 1	Choco Island 1	Mario Circuit 3	Bowser Castle 3	Ghost Valley 3
Ghost Valley 1	Ghost Valley 2	Koopa Beach 1	Mario Circuit 4	Vanilla Lake 2
Bowser Castle 1	Donut Plains 2	Choco Island 2	Donut Plains 3	Rainbow Road

Battle Courses

Name
Battle Course 1
Battle Course 2
Battle Course 3
Battle Course 4

Reception

Critical reception

Mario Kart: Super Circuit received critical acclaim. It scored an average of 91.54% based on 39 reviews in GameRankings and an average of 93 based on 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 Game Boy 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 Game Boy 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.

Sales

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

Pre-release and unused content

Early Nintendo Power screenshots showed that the characters had different, "super-deformed" sprites of bigger heads contrasted by smaller karts. The game was planned to feature all 14 of the Mario Kart 64 items, but the Banana Bunch, Golden Mushroom, and Fake Item Box were removed for unknown reasons. The unfinished versions can be seen by using a GameShark code: the Banana Bunch is non-functional, the Golden Mushroom acts like a normal Mushroom but gives the ability to have infinite boosts even if no item is shown, and the Fake Item Box causes racers to spin out of control as with a Banana, instead of crash.

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. Part of the music used for Boo Lake/Broken Pier and Rainbow Road is a remix of the music from the Ghost Valley and the Mario Kart: Super Circuit Rainbow Road courses in Super Mario Kart.
• Super Mario 64 - The theme for the Bowser Castle courses has a similar bassline to that of the Bowser battle theme in this game.
• Mario Kart 64 - Many sprites and artwork 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. The selection of playable characters is exactly the same as in this game. Also, most voice clips (with the notable exception of Yoshi's) are reused from this game, specifically the Japanese version; Luigi, Peach, Wario, Toad, and the system voice's clips were not replaced with their Western versions when the game was localized for overseas release.
• Yoshi's Story - Shy Guy Beach is based on the level Shy Guy's Ship from this game.
• Paper Mario - Bowser's Castle is 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 Power Tennis - Lightning Cup returns as part of the Gimmick Masters section of this game's tournament mode. However, said cup goes by the name "Thunder Cup" in that game, whether in the English or Japanese version, as Lightning Cup has been usually called Thunder Cup in Japan.
• Mario Kart DS - This game uses the ranking system of Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Also, four GBA tracks return in this game: Peach Circuit, Bowser Castle 2, Luigi Circuit, and Sky Garden. The Lightning Cup has been traditionally modified as one of the four retro cups, and Sky Garden appears in the Lightning Cup in both of the games, a first and only time for the series. 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.
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U - One of the songs is a medley of the Rainbow Road themes from this game, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart 7.
• Mario Kart 8/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Mario Circuit returns as a retro course in this game and now features anti-gravity on the U-shaped section that has been inclined. Cheese Land and Ribbon Road return in Mario Kart 8 as retro courses in the second DLC pack, and come standard in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• Mario Kart Tour - Bowser Castle 1 appears as a returning course.

Trivia

• This is the only Mario Kart game to use the Japanese voices in Mario Kart 64 and from the first two Mario Party games in the American version of the game.
• The characters' speeds were meant to refer to their accelerations. Bowser's catchphrase in the manual is "There's nobody faster!".
• This is the only Mario Kart game to classify Peach being lighter than Yoshi, while all other games classify that she's heavier than Yoshi.
• This is also the only Mario Kart game to not introduce new playable characters.
• This is the final Mario game where all of the Mario characters appear in their N64 Era artwork, which started with Super Mario 64.
• This is one of the last few games (next to Mario Party 3, and to an extent Super Smash Bros. Melee) to have the Mario franchise use its N64-era art direction, which had been in place since Super Mario 64 in 1996.
• This and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! are the only Mario Kart games to have a "random character" option.
• This game was going to make use of the e-Reader at one point according to the European website for the game, however the section of the site intended to provide details on the e-Cards has nothing more than a "Coming Soon" notice.
• This game was planned to release in mainland China by iQue, but left unreleased due to the huge scene of piracy in China at that time. The unreleased Chinese prototype received an ISBN, meaning it was approved for distribution despite the ban on video games from Chinese government.

External links

• Japanese website
• European (UK) microsite
• Japanese commercial
• American commercial (full)
• American commercial (extended)
• American commercial (short)