Collection essentials #528: Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)

Here we have the third Mario Kart game, and the first ever to be released on a handheld system. The first two Mario Karts are pretty different from each other, and Super Circuit combines elements from both of them to make an entry to the series that has always felt rather unique. It’s the only game in the series developed by their longtime partner Intelligent Systems.


The Game Boy Advance hardware is much closer to that of the Super Nintendo than it is the Nintendo 64. And so, the track design much more resembles that of the original Mario Kart, as pretty much everything is flat. “Coins” make a return as well after being scrapped in the sequel, collectibles on the track that allow racers to move a bit faster. But the influence from Mario Kart 64 on this game is also very clear. The sprites are clearly based on those from that game rather than the original. The item system works like the one from 64, with the same item lineup minus a few. Races are still 3 laps as opposed to 5 like in the original game.


One thing about this game that’s really neat is that you can unlock literally all the trucks from the original Super Mario Kart. So this game really had a considerable amount of content, with a grand total of 40 tracks to race on.


One thing that I suppose could be a knock on this game is that there’s technically not much that’s truly new about it. The game does stand out style-wise being somewhere between the first two in the series, but there are no unique items or modes to further distinguish it. You could also argue that this game has less appeal than the average Mario Kart since multiplayer is less accessible, and that’s one of the main reasons why people play these games in the first place. Being on a Game Boy system, you need multiple Game Boy Advances plus link cables to play with friends, as opposed to casually grabbing a few controllers and jumping in quickly. But I can’t hold that against the game too much, since at the time having a portable Mario Kart game was more than enough reason for large numbers of people to want it. While it doesn’t do anything super ambitious, it does do its job nicely as being a serviceable Mario Kart to play on the go.


I remember when Super Circuit first came out, but I didn’t play back in its heyday. Not that I didn’t want to, but I was only able to buy so many games being a preteen and all, and I suppose I figured that what was essentially a single-player Mario Kart wasn’t a high priority for me compared to other more unique GBA titles. I did wind up playing Super Circuit quite a few years later, and I certainly enjoyed it, even though it’s nowhere near my favorite Mario Kart game. Still, as a fan of the series, I’m happy to have it as part of my collection. Nowadays, it’s available with the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, and that can be a neat way to play the game since you can easily play online with friends. I wouldn’t recommend this to be your first Mario Kart game, but if you’ve played the most popular Mario Karts out there and want to try something that’s just a little different, you probably won’t be disappointed by Super Circuit.

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