The third game in the Mario Kart series, Super Circuit contains 20 original tracks plus 20 remade tracks from the original game, Super Mario Kart. For this reason, many people misinterpret it as a remake of the original SNES game, but in reality; the game is attempting to incorporate everything the first game had, then expand on it.
The character roster is comprised of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario and Bowser. Each character has 2 known statistics; weight and speed where the lighter characters are the faster ones. The heavier characters can knock the lighter characters around and have better grip, but take the biggest hit in speed if they drive off-road.
All the tracks are fairly short, often clocking up 30-45 seconds per lap for a total of 3 laps, the SNES remakes are often shorter but the lap count increases to 5. The main tracks are often littered with obstacles, but the remakes are often lacking.
As standard to Mario Kart, there are three levels of difficulty; 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc which include faster karts and more aggressive opponents. There is no unlockable Mirror mode though.
The controls are straight-forward, A button to accelerate, B to brake, R to jump/power-slide and L to shoot weapons. The jump ability is very useful for leaping over hazards or small off-road sections. Power-sliding gives you a tighter turn and straightening up when exiting the turn can activate a small boost.
As usual, the game-play isn't just pure racing. You need to utilise weapons for attack and defence. The usual green shell, red shell, banana, Starman, lightning, ghost, and the very rare leader shell are included. Some weapons can be held behind you to be used for protection, and holding a weapon behind you frees up your item slot, allowing you to pick up and store another. Green shells bounce around the track and red shells home in on their target. Before they strike, red shells tail-gate the driver, giving them some chance to deploy a weapon to block, or utilise the track to avoid it. Weapons that can be held behind you can either be dropped behind or launched forward. Red shells behave differently when dropped behind; they remain static but home in when a racer drives by. If you hit a banana or an item that would normally cause you to skid, there's a small time-frame where you can tap the brake in order to prevent the skid.
Collecting coins scattered around the track will give you a small boost to speed, and offer some protection when hit. You lose a couple of coins when hit by items and a single coin if you collide with another driver. If you have zero coins, you will take a greater hit and lose more time. Falling off the track will cause Lakitu to sweep down to catch you, taking a few coins as a charge for his services. The computer opponents cannot collect coins, so it's one rule for you and another for everyone else.
A major talking point is the handling. The handling seems very slippy, so you seem constantly fighting to grip the road. It's understandable why some people just can't get used to it and think it ruins the game. If you do get used to it, it still is a constant challenge but there's a lot of satisfaction if you can whiz around the track without colliding with obstacles/sides or go flying off the track.
Since the handling is different, and the Feather item is missing, the old tracks definitely lose their edge; some of them just seem bland and boring. The feather allowed a special jump that could be used to take advantage of short-cuts. There's some slight tweaks like extra ramps and speed bursts but it's not quite the same.
Mario Kart GP mode has 10 cups to play, each consisting of four tracks. The SNES remakes have to be unlocked by achieving a Gold trophy, then collecting 100 coins. Collecting 100 coins is sometimes easier said then done (especially on 150cc) because it's so easy to lose coins with all the collisions, being hit by weapons or falling off the track.
At the end of the Mario Kart GP mode, you are given a trophy and a ranking. The game doesn't explain the ranking, but apparently there are many statistics that are considered including milliseconds that you don't accelerate, brake usage, collisions with objects, weapon use, power-slides, overall lap time, milliseconds spent off-road and more. There are plenty of times you think you have done well so anticipate a 3-star rating, but end up with a disappointing B. The ranking system seems a bit too harsh, mainly because I think you get penalised several times for the same mistake. For example, being hit by a racer or weapon will cost you time and coins, and you could lose out on a finishing position; each of these aspects incur a penalty. I like the idea of a ranking system because it gives players a new challenge who don't just want to win; but win by racing well.
One thing that irks me about old racing games is where you have to secure a podium finish to continue. It's the same in this game where you must finish in the top 4 to continue. If you fail, you use one of your three retries. I much prefer to accept a loss and move to the next track rather than being forced to replay it.
Time Trial mode gives you three mushrooms (which are used as speed boosts) to set your fastest times. You can save 10 ghosts across all the tracks, and your 5 fastest overall race times are saved as well as your fastest overall lap. There's a limitation that if you hit an obstacle, you cannot save a ghost.
The multiplayer allows up to four players compete with each other on a single track, or two players can enter a Mario GP campaign and compete against other computer-controlled characters. Battle mode is a last-man standing death-match, taking place in an arena. There's multiplayer support with a single cartridge albeit with four tracks and only a single character, Yoshi.
Graphically, the game looks as good as it can be on the Game Boy Advance. The characters are rendered in pseudo-3D, the tracks are vibrant, and some even have a shift of day to night as you race. The original back-drops are missing from the SNES remakes, instead using the backgrounds from the new tracks.
Mario Kart Super Circuit is a great representation of the series, and is not only one of the best driving games on the system, but one of the best games on the system. You can argue it is the weakest entry in the Mario Kart series, but mainly because the standard is set so high. There's plenty of value here and you can get way more hours of fun out of this game than other games on the system.