Mario Kart Racing Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (styled as MARIOKART SUPER CIRCUIT and abbreviated to MKSC) is the third Mario Kart game, this one being released for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It is a 32-bit game. It has 40 tracks, 20 of which come from Super Mario Kart, making it have the most tracks of any Mario Kart game until the DLC packs for Mario Kart 8 which gave that game 48 total (both packs would become main content in its port).

Mario Kart: Super Circuit was the first Mario Kart game not developed by Nintendo EAD, Nintendo's largest in-house development team known for their work on the many Mario platformers and the entire Legend of Zelda series. Instead, it was developed by another Nintendo first-party developer, Intelligent Systems, who are known for their tactical RPG series such as Paper Mario, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. Along with that, Mario Kart: Super Circuit was the first to have 5 nitro cups instead of the usual 4. It is the only known Mario Kart game to own that feature.

The game is an improvement of its predecessors, Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64. All of the tracks are the same altitude throughout (like Super Mario Kart), a setback in the improvements of the Mario Kart series (Mario Kart 64 had changing height, with hills, inclined planes, dips, etc). Graphics were a significant enhancement from SMK, but not on par with MK64. Unique to the series, no new Items or Characters were released for this game. The racer icons were inherited from MK64, as well as the frames of the driver, but with a great deal less. However, the 40 different available tracks gained it some publicity.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit can also be played on the Nintendo DS, the handheld console for Mario Kart DS by inserting the cartridge into the GBA slot on both the original DS or DS Lite. However, it is no longer compatible with the newer Nintendo DSi due to the GBA slot being removed, unless the player has an unofficial GBA emulator and ROM installed.

Racers

The stat known as かそく (Acceleration) in Japan is mistranslated as Speed internationally on the character selection screen. Contrary to this and to Mario Kart 64 stats, lightweight characters do not have the best top speeds in Super Circuit. The instruction booklet makes these corrections.

Lightweight

"Excellent acceleration, but low top speeds.
Not slowed much by dirt.
Easily knocked aside by heavier karts."' (Super Circuit instruction booklet)

Character Acceleration

かそく

Weight Description
Princess Peach's icon ★★★★★ "Check out true lightweight racing!"
Toad's Icon ★★★★★ "No one has faster acceleration!"
Yoshi's Icon ★★★★ ★★ "Dirt is no obstacle!"

Middleweight

"Balanced alternative to the Lightweight and Heavyweight karts." (Super Circuit instruction booklet)

Character Acceleration

かそく

Weight Description
Mario's icon ★★★ ★★★ "Perfectly balanced!"
Luigi's Icon ★★★ ★★★ "Great steering!"

Heavyweight

"Very high top speed, but acceleration and steering require careful attention.
Bumps lightweight karts out of the way.
Suffers from tremendous slowdowns off-track." (Super Circuit instruction booklet)

Character Acceleration

かそく

Weight Description
Bowser's icon ★★★★★ "There's nobody faster!"
Wario's Icon ★★ ★★★★ "True Heavyweight power!"
Donkey Kong's Icon ★★ ★★★★ "Better steering than Wario!"

Courses

New courses

Mushroom Cup Flower Cup Lightning Cup Star Cup Special Cup
Peach Circuit icon
Peach Circuit
also in Mario Kart DS
Mario Circuit icon
Mario Circuit
also in Mario Kart 8
Luigi Circuit icon
Luigi Circuit
also in Mario Kart DS
Snow Land icon
Snow Land
 
Lakeside Park icon
Lakeside Park
 
Shy Guy Beach icon
Shy Guy Beach
also in Mario Kart Wii
Boo Lake icon
Boo Lake
 
Sky Garden icon
Sky Garden
also in Mario Kart DS
Ribbon Road icon
Ribbon Road
also in Mario Kart 8 Template:If empty
Broken Pier icon
Broken Pier
 
Riverside Park icon
Riverside Park
 
Cheese Land icon
Cheese Land
also in Mario Kart 8 Template:If empty
Cheep Cheep Island icon
Cheep Cheep Island
 
Yoshi Desert icon
Yoshi Desert
 
Bowser's Castle 4 icon
Bowser Castle 4
 
Bowser's Castle 1 icon
Bowser Castle 1
also in Mario Kart 7
Bowser's Castle 2 icon
Bowser Castle 2
also in Mario Kart DS
Sunset Wilds icon
Sunset Wilds
 
Bowser's Castle 3 icon
Bowser Castle 3
also in Mario Kart Wii
Rainbow Road icon
Rainbow Road
 

Template:If empty In Mario Kart 8, Animal Crossing DLC or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is required.

Extra courses

This was the first Mario Kart game to "return" courses from the SNES version of Mario Kart, Super Mario Kart. (The idea was abandoned in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! but returned in Mario Kart DS and every other game afterwards.) An extra is put before the cup name, to signal as if it were a bonus.

Extra Mushroom Cup Extra Flower Cup Extra Lightning Cup Extra Star Cup Extra Special Cup
Mario Circuit 1 Mario Circuit 2 Bowser Castle 2 Vanilla Lake 1 Koopa Beach 2
Donut Plains 1 Choco Island 1 Mario Circuit 3 Bowser Castle 3 Ghost Valley 3
Ghost Valley 1 Ghost Valley 2 Koopa Beach 1 Mario Circuit 4 Vanilla Lake 2
Bowser Castle 1 Donut Plains 2 Choco Island 2 Donut Plains 3 Rainbow Road

Battle Stages

MKSC BC1 Icon
Battle Course 1
also in Mario Kart 7
MKSC BC2 Icon
Battle Course 2
MKSC BC3 Map
Battle Course 3
also in Mario Kart Wii
MKSC BC4 Icon
Battle Course 4

Items

Galleries

Item Gallery

Screenshots

Trivia!

  • This game is fittingly named Mario Kart Advance in Japan.
  • This is the first game in the Mario Kart series to have retro courses. All of the courses were from Super Mario Kart, having five cups and four courses where they are known as "Extra" cups.
  • This is also the first Mario Kart game made for a handheld system.
  • This game lacked a few items including Fake Item Boxes, Triple Bananas, Banana Bunch and Golden Mushrooms.
  • Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Wario’s voices were reused from the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64.
  • This is the first and only Mario Kart to feature warning signs for every turn; they include U-turns, Curves, Sharp lefts, and jumps (marked by a "!" sign).
  • The Lightning Cup was first introduced in this game. It was brought back in Mario Kart DS as a retro cup which ironically had Sky Garden in it which is in the Lightning Cup in this game. The Lightning Cup has also appeared in every other Mario Kart game ever since as the last of the retro cups.
  • This is the last game in the Mario Kart series until Mario Kart 7 to feature the classic go-karts and this is the last one to not have any unlockable characters.
  • This is also the last game in the Mario Kart series to have Princess Peach wearing her hair down, while the rest after this one have her hair in a ponytail.
  • No game after this one would equip coins as items that increase your kart speed, until Mario Kart 7, which came out ten years later (though some missions in Mario Kart DS and tournaments/competitions in Mario Kart Wii used them as requiring the player to collect them).
  • This is the last Mario Kart to use the 2-second start countdown during races. Succeeding games would use the present-day "3-2-1" countdown starting from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! onwards.
  • This is the last Mario Kart in which the last lap themes were just sped up versions of the original track.
  • This is also the last Mario Kart where the characters appear in their N64 Era appearances.

External Links

Mario Kart games
Main Titles Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES) • Mario Kart 64 (1996, N64) • Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001, GBA) • Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003, GameCube) • Mario Kart DS (2005, DS) • Mario Kart Wii (2008, Wii) • Mario Kart 7 (2011, 3DS) • Mario Kart 8 (2014, Wii U) • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017, Switch)
Arcade Titles Mario Kart Arcade GP (2005) • Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (2007) • Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (2013) • Mario Kart Arcade GP VR (2017)
Spin-off Titles Mario Kart Tour (2019, Mobile) • Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (2020, Switch)
Advertisement