sports and outdoors

Although this game is not being released in the US for another month, I bought the imported Japanese version a few days ago (it's called "Mario Kart Advance" overseas), and I have been absolutely enthralled by it ever since my purchase. The graphics are phenomenal and really show off the capabilities of the Game Boy Advance's 32 bit processor. The backgrounds are lush and vivid, and the individual cars are detailed nicely. The music and sound effects are great as well, and the gameplay is true to the classic Super Mario Kart. For those that have played both the Super NES version and the N64 version, I'd say that this game is a bit closer to the original SNES game (which I personally thought was a better game than the N64 sequel).

I'd also like to mention that this game blows away Konami's Krazy Racers. I own both games, and wish that I had saved my money and bought only Mario Kart. Mario Kart has so much more depth that it puts Krazy Racers to shame. Mario Kart is the best game I have played for the GB Advance so far (Castlevania COTM is a close second).

If you're looking for a great, challenging go-cart racing game, don't waste your time with the Konami clone: wait for a month and buy Mario Kart Super Circuit- you'll be glad you did!

Happy New Year everyone! I just received a Game Boy Advance as a Christmas present. I had some doubts about the Mario Kart series going hand-held, but, as a big fan of the series, I still decided to make this game the first of my new Game Boy Advance collection.

What a surprise! This game is actually just as good as its predecessors! With vibrant graphics, crisp sound, lots of tracks (so far I've discovered 24), tight play control, and all the characters from the past two Mario Kart games, the GBA Mario Kart is sure to keep the series alive and well!

The best all-new features in this game would have to be the never-before-seen tracks. They are remarkably imaginative and beautifully detailed (especially Sunset Wilds), and although they're not very long (the longest one takes about 2 minutes and 45 seconds to complete 3 laps), they're loaded with obstacles that range from the quicksand traps of the Yoshi Desert to the blind mice of Cheese Land. Also, the play control is not only precise and varied among the weight classes, but you can even feel it getting more difficult among the more difficult tracks. In Yoshi's Desert, for example, you can actually feel the quicksand trying to pull you in, so it gets even harder to maneuver around the already tight turns.

But let's not forget about the things we already know and love about the Mario Kart series. Some tracks are a blast from the past, too! After all, no Mario Kart game would be complete without Rainbow Road! Plus all your favorite characters are back, too: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser are once again racing for the finish line! And the items are back, too--you can once again drop banana peels, shoot your opponent with a shell (green, red, or blue), blast ahead of the pack with a mushroom or a Super Star, become invisible with a Boo, and zap your opponents with a lightning bolt!

So run, don't walk--or better yet, drive--to the nearest video game store and pick up this game! I'll see you at the finish line!

P.S. The "warning" that I mentioned is that this game owes a lot more to Super Mario Kart (for the SNES) than it does to Mario Kart 64. The tracks are very 2-D, just like an official race track. Therefore, fans of Mario Kart 64 might miss the hills and jumps of the Wario Stadium, or the mountains and valleys of Choco Mountain and Yoshi Valley.

I almost gave this game 5 stars automatically because it has the words Mario and Kart in it... a shame that it doesn't deserve it.

Of course the graphics are great: SNES graphics on a handheld! No slowdown and very colorful. I liked the questionmark-blocks in the snes-version better though :)

The sound is ok. Nice voices but the music isn't as good as his older brother. It just seems so... uninspired.

And so do the tracks. They are very standard (except for that Indianshyguy-track :) and most important: too easy, even in 150cc. Also the questionmark-blocks keep respawning every few seconds so it's very hard to miss them and you'll blast yourself upto #1 in no time.

If you've won the gold cup in each race you can try to get a star/2 star/3 star-rating (to brag about against yer friends) A 1 starrating is do-able but above that it only gets frustrating: you'll have to pick up all the tiny coins (which are sometimes almost invisible because of the GBA-screen) AND avoid the sand, - 4 times in a row -

You wanna play the most fun mode in the game, the battlemode with 4 players? Not possible in singleplayer, only available in MULTIPAK-mode. That means that you'll have to find 3 other people with a GBA and Mario Kart. I wish you good luck finding them...

You'll be using the L-button (fire) and R-button (jump) a lot. Be prepared for cramps...

So all in all this game, although it sounds great, just doesn't delivers the charming fun of the SNES-version. I you really wanna play this, have you considered buying the original?