Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Japanese: マリオカート：スーパーサーキットMariokāto: Sūpāsākitto) (マリオカートアドバンス Mario Kāto Adobansu, Mario Kart Advance), is a Game Boy Advance racing game released in 2001. It is the third installment of the and also the first one released on a handheld system. The game introduces 20 new tracks and retains every track from the first Mario Kart game, Super Mario Kart.
== Gameplay ==
The objective is to place first in the races, as with most racing games. Each race has eight drivers. Like in previous Mario Kart games, the racers can drive through Item Boxes, which can assist the racers with the items they yield.
Returning from Super Mario Kart are coins, which can be collected to increase the kart's top speed. Like with Super Mario Kart, if a racer has no coins, they spin out if they crash into another racer. The player's racer begins a race with 2 to 5 coins, depending on their starting position, and each track has 50 coins. Therefore, one can have up to 55 coins at a time.
There are five cups—Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the Lightning Cup, the Star Cup, and the Special Cup—all of which introduce four of their own racetracks. If players collect 100 coins in each cup after winning the Special Cup for the engine class, they'll unlock the Extra Cup variation. These cups contain all of the courses from Super Mario Kart. If the player manages to collect a gold trophy on all of the Super Circuit cups, the background for the title screen changes to a sunset. If the player manages to obtain a triple star ranking for all Super Circuit cups, the title screen's background changes to a nighttime setting. In addition to the aesthetic changes, the intro's theme also changes.
== Game Modes ==
=== Grand Prix ===
In this mode, one or two players compete against the CPU in a cup containing four courses, where like in both Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, the top four drivers will receive points depending on their position, with the winner being the one with the highest total score at the end. Finishing in 4th or higher allows the player to move on to the next race while finishing in 5th or lower will require them to retry the race again at the cost of a life. If all lives are lost, the player can no longer retry. When played with two players, only one player must finish in the top four to proceed.
Before starting, the player can choose one of the three engine classes, which represent the difficulty level of the CPU.
=== Time Trial ===
This mode has players competing for the fastest time on any course without CPU racers. After beating a best time, players can save Ghost data onto each time trial course. Whenever the player races on that course again, the player's Ghost mirrors movements of the saved data. Ghost data can also be downloaded from other players using the Game Boy Link Cable. Players are given Triple Mushrooms for use during Time Trials. Players also have the option to view their Ghost data using the Records option. Players can either turn their Ghost on or off during Time Trials.
=== Quick Run ===
A one player VS mode where the player can race on any course, as well as adjust the engine class and other settings to their liking. Later Mario Kart games (excluding Mario Kart 7) would have a similar mode to this one, now known as VS mode.
=== VS ===
==== Multi-Pak ====
A VS mode where two to four players can compete against each other on courses without CPU racers, making use of the Game Boy Advance Link Cable. All players start off with ten coins in this mode. Like with Quick Run, players can adjust the settings of each race. 
==== Single-Pak ====
In this mode, players have more limited choices. They each take control of a different colored Yoshi. Player 1 controls a Green Yoshi, Player 2 controls a Red Yoshi, Player 3 controls a Light Blue Yoshi, and Player 4 controls a Yellow Yoshi. In addition, they also have access to the four SNES courses: Mario Circuit 1, Donut Plains 1, Ghost Valley 1, and Bowser Castle 1.
==== Battle ====
In this mode, two to four players can duke it out on various battle courses with the objective is to pop their opponent's balloons with items. Upon losing all balloons, that player gets turned into a Bob-omb for the remainder of the match. The last player left standing is the winner. 
==Racers==
This game features the playable cast returning from Mario Kart 64. The eight racers are classified into three weight groups. Those three groups are Lightweight, Middleweight, and Heavyweight. Lightweight characters have high acceleration and high handling but suffer from low top speeds, and heavier weight racers can knock them off the course. The middleweight racers are average in all areas. The heavyweight racers have high top speeds and are recommended to be the fastest in the game, but the downfall is that they suffer from low acceleration and low handling which can slow them down.
While the in-game character selection screen shows the "Speed" and Weight stats, the Speed stat is actually the Acceleration stat. The real speed stat is not shown.
===Lightweight===
Icon	Name	Speed	Weight
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
===Middleweight===
Icon	Name	Speed	Weight
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
===Heavyweight===
Icon	Name	Speed	Weight
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
 	 	 	
Red, Light Blue, and Yellow Yoshis also appear as playable characters. However, they are only available in multiplayer when only one player has a Mario Kart: Super Circuit cartridge. These three share the same stats as the green one regularly playable.
==Original Tracks==
===Mushroom Cup===
# Peach Circuit
# Shy Guy Beach
# Riverside Park
# Bowser Castle
===Flower Cup===
# Mario Circuit
# Boo Lake
# Cheese Land
# Bowser Castle 2
===Lightning Cup===
# Luigi Circuit
# Sky Garden
# Cheep Cheep Island
# Sunset Wilds
===Star Cup===
# Snow Land
# Ribbon Road
# Yoshi Desert
# Bowser Castle 3
===Special Cup===
# Lakeside Park
# Broken Pier
# Bowser Castle 4
# Rainbow Road
==Battle Stages==
* GBA Battle Course 1
* GBA Battle Course 2
* GBA Battle Course 3
* GBA Battle Course 4
==Extra Courses==
Every course from Super Mario Kart returns in this game; but unlike Super Mario Kart however, the courses are split into 5 cups with 4 courses each when in the original it was 4 cups with 5 courses. These courses are unlocked by obtaining a Star rank or better in a Grand Prix cup, as well as collecting over a total of 100 coins throughout the four races. Like in Super Mario Kart, each of these courses are five laps long. Some obstacles and hazards from the original courses have been removed, and coin locations have been changed, with each course containing a total of 50 coins each. Mario Kart DS and all future games would later have a very similar feature called Retro Grand Prix, which features four cups consisting of tracks from all past Mario Kart games.
===Mushroom===
# Mario Circuit 1
# Donut Plains 1
# Ghost Valley 1
# Bowser Castle 1
===Flower===
# Mario Circuit 2
# Choco Island 1
# Ghost Valley 2
# Donut Plains 2
===Lightning===
# Bowser Castle 2
# Mario Circuit 3
# Koopa Beach 1
# Choco Island 2
===Star===
# Vanilla Lake 1
# Bowser Castle 3
# Mario Circuit 4
# Donut Plains 3
===Special===
# Koopa Beach 2
# Ghost Valley 3
# Vanilla Lake 2
# Rainbow Road
==Items==
*Banana: These can be either thrown forward or dropped behind, causing a racer to spin out.
*Triple Mushrooms: Grants the player three speed boosts. Only featured in Time Trial and Versus modes.
*Boo: When used, it steals an item from a random driver if available, attacks the first-place driver, and grants invisibility for a moment. The driver is immune to all obstacles and items, and can pass through drivers without bumping, but it doesn't prevent them from losing speed off-road.
*Green Shell (Triple Green Shells): These travel in a straight line either forward or backward and can bounce off walls several times before breaking. If it hits a kart, they spin out. Racers can also obtain three Green Shells that act as a shield, except that they can only be thrown forward.
*Lightning: Causes all other racers to shrink temporarily, making them lose speed and leaving them vulnerable to being driven over by a normal-sized racer.
*Mushroom: Grants the player a speed boost.
*Red Shell (Triple Red Shells): Targets the nearest racer in front of the player. Otherwise, it goes in a straight line until it breaks upon hitting a wall. If thrown backwards. it stays in a fixed position until a racer goes near one, which it will target them regardless of ranking. Players can sometimes obtain three Red Shells which act as a shield but can only be thrown forward.
*Spiny Shell: Like in Mario Kart 64. it targets the racer in first place and can hit anyone else in its path. If thrown backwards, it stays in a fixed position until the leading racer passes by.
*Star: Gives the user temporary invincibility and increased speed, allowing them to run over items, obstacles, and other racers. 
==Trivia==
*Mario Kart: Super Circuit is one of the few Game Boy Advance games to offer Link Up Mode (a cable running from one Handheld to another). Players can then race against each other in GP mode, VS Mode, or Battle Mode. It also has a Ghost Car which means that you can swap time trial records and try to beat them by beating the ghost car.
*The Lightning Cup makes its debut in this game.
*This game is the first game in the Mario Kart series to have Retro Stages. Every Super Mario Kart course returns in this game.
*Luigi, Wario, Peach, and Toad reuse voice clips from the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64 and in the first two Mario Party games.
*This was the first game in the Mario Kart series where Yoshi is voiced by Kazumi Totaka.
*This is the first Mario Kart game to have a random character option. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is the only other Mario Kart game with this option.
*This was the last game in the Mario Kart series to have Princess Peach wearing her hair down, while the rest after this one has her hair in a ponytail.
*Mario Kart: Super Circuit ended up becoming the best-selling Mario game for the Game Boy Advance.
**Ironically however, it is currently the 2nd worst selling game in the Mario Kart series; right behind Mario Kart: Home Circuit.
* This is the first game in the Mario Kart series to have varying colors for Yoshis. However, this can only be done when only one player has a cartridge in Link Up Mode. In Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, players can swap out colors for Yoshis, as well as Birdos and Shy Guys.
==Gallery==
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Category:Mario Kart series
Category:Mario Kart games
Category:Game Boy Advance games
Category:2001 games
Category:Spin-offs
Category:2000s games