Hi, I'm Daniel and I'm 16 years old. I left school recently and start college in September. I love t...
Hi, I'm Daniel and I'm 16 years old. I left school recently and start college in September. I love to read and write! Leave a message in my guestbook if you want to get to know me.
Member since:18.01.2002
Reviews:65
Members who trust:26
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INTRODUCTION
Believe it or not, in the days of the Playstation 2 and X Box, the simple little Super Nintendo (known as SNES throughout this review) is keeping me highly entertained during the holidays. Apologies to those of you who think that writing an opinion on such an old product is pointless - but hey, the category is here and I might as well make use of it!
So, as the SNES addiction has got more noticeable over the past few days, Super Mario Kart has been something which I couldn't resist writing a review on. You can expect more SNES reviews over the next few days as I relive the good old days!
Right, let's get on with it then.
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WHAT IS 'SUPER MARIO KART'?
Super Mario Kart is a simple, yet addictive, racing game, which puts your favourite Nintendo characters head to head at a go-karting park.
With 20 courses to play on in a variety of different ways, it's likely to keep you entertained for a while.
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WHAT CHARACTERS ARE IN IT?
There are eight characters to play with in the game, and they've all appeared in various Nintendo and SNES games in the past.
Apparently needing a break from rescuing the princess all the time, the first two characters are MARIO and LUIGI. They're both more or less the same size, and manage to handle most of the tracks well.
Two more characters are also in need of a break - PRINCESS and YOSHI. They've also been used in the past to lure Mario and Luigi to Bowser's latest castle. Both characters always start a race well - often zooming ahead of the others in the first
few seconds, but they don't drive to well, and usually end up racing all over the place, making them hard to handle at times.
BOWSER and DONKEY KONG JUNIOR are also two of the game's main characters. It takes a lot of work to get used to them because they drive so slowly and take a while to get up and running at the start of each race.
And finally the game's two 'reliable' characters - KOOPA TROOPA and TOAD, they're both small and drive safely on most tracks.
These characters all have their own strong points, and have their own tracks in which they seem to excel. For example, Bowser will drive best on the Koopa Beach tracks.
~ You can choose to play a Grand Prix against all of the other characters - this is available in both one and two player modes. When playing alone, you choose a character, and race against the other seven Nintendo favourites. If you're playing with someone else, they can also choose someone to play as, and you'll be able to see if either of you can beat the other six, and perhaps have a chance at winning the Mushroom, Flower or Star Cup.
~ If you're playing alone, you can go into Time Trial mode. This allows you to play any of the tracks alone, giving you practise in preparation for your next attempt at a Grand Prix. Plus, the game records how quickly you complete the tracks - if you beat any of your records, the game will let you know. If not, you can choose to watch how you completed the five tracks, in Replay mode.
~ Battle Mode is a unique part of the game, only available when you're playing with a friend. You'll find four more tracks, and you can battle against your friend, firing shells at them, and making them slip. You're given three protection balls - these burst when you're hit. The person who loses their's first is the loser.
~ Head to Head is another feature only available in two player mode. You can challenge your friend to play on any of the tracks, and see who emerges as the winner.
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TRACKS
The game offers a good selection of very different tracks.
** Mushroom Cup Tracks ** Mario Circuit 1 Donut Plains 1 Ghost Valley 1 Bowser Castle 1 Mario Circuit 2
** Flower Cup Tracks ** Choco Island 1 Ghost Valley 2 Donut Plains 2 Bowser Castle 2 Mario Circuit 3
** Star Cup Tracks ** Koopa Beach 1 Choco Island 2 Vanilla Lake 1 Bowser Castle 3 Mario Circuit 4
The tracks all give the characters a chance to prove their skills, and some characters do better than others.
The Mario Circuits are best to start off with - they're pretty simple and help newcomers to get the hang of the game. If you're up for a challenge try Vanilla Lake or Choco Island - one will cause much slipping, and the other will do it's best to slow you down.
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GAME COMPLETION
You can't 'complete' the game as such, because the options can be played over and over again, and the fun lasts longer when you're playing with a friend.
If you manage to complete the Star Cup Grand Prix, on 100cc, you'll be given access to some secret tracks - known as 'Special Cup' tracks. These are as follows:
Donut Plains 3 Koopa Beach 2 Ghost Valley 3 Vanilla Lake 2 Rainbow Road
They are extremely hard to play on, and add an extra challenge to those who are losing interest.
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ITEMS
As you complete the tracks, you'll no doubt drive over 'question mark' boxes. This will randomly select an item which you can use to your advantage at any time. I don't want to include them all, because some are clever and surprising, but here's some of the simple ones.
~ Red shell: This clever tool nearly always knocks one of your enemies off the road. Once you let it go, it can only hit something once, and will break up if it bumps against the edge of the track.
~ Green shell: This is very strong, and bumps against walls without breaking up. You can't expect it to hit an enemy straight away, but it normally does the job. On rare occasions it will bounce against a wall and knock YOU off the road instead!
~ Star: Familiar from past Mario games, this allows you to cause disturbance to the other riders, and also gives you super speed for a brief period of time.
~ Banana skin: You can choose to release this at any time, if your enemies ride over it, the skin will cause them to slip and they'll probably end up losing the race.
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LAKITU
Lakitu, who tells us that he's the owner of the go karting park in the manual, is a helpful little creature who guides you throughout your races. He'll let you know what lap you're on, and warn you if you end up driving the wrong way. And if you're unfortunate enough to drop into lava or fall off the edge of one of the tracks, he'll help you out. Just don't expect him to do it for free....
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GRAPHICS
Since it's only a SNES game, you can't expect crystal clear, 3D graphics, but the game does pretty well considering. The tracks are colourful and designed well, and have well-suited music to match. It's good to play a game that focuses on quality of the aim, rather than quality of the graphics.
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CONTROLS
The controls are very easy to get the hang of - you steer your kart with the arrows, and use the other four buttons to release items and for acceleration. All it takes is a quick glance at the manual, and even if you don't have that, it only takes five minutes to learn what each button does.
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VERDICT
This is a classic game and is very refreshing and entertaining. Although you can't expect to find it at any of the high street stores, you might find it at pawn shops like Cash Converters, and there's likely to be people selling a copy at www.ebay.co.uk
Highly recommended!
~ N.B - Sorry for posting two opinions in one day, I know that it's 'frowned upon' by some of you, but I tried to spread them out as much as I could. The reason for this is that I'm going away soon, I have too many ideas for ops, and I want to get them out of the way before I leave.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I loved Mario Kart and played it to death. I haven't seen a game since that can achieve what this did. Well written. :0) Damon.
superpricee 26.07.2002 11:48
It is a classic, isn't it. Goes to show you should never throw away an old console - just because something has been superceded, doesn't mean that its games are any less playable. And post twice in a day all you want mate - if they're as good as this, we need more from you!
Advantages: follow up to the biggest selling console in history, gaems look very promising, great capabilities Disadvantages: game producing may churn out games to make easy bucks
Jul 23rd, 2002
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
