Mario Kart: Super Circuit

 MARIO KART: SUPER CIRCUIT

Mario Kart: Super Circuit is the awkward third child of the Mario Kart series, which considering it was their first foray into handheld consoles, is more or less understandable. Of all the games, this is the one that takes more after Super Mario Kart than Mario Kart 64.

First up, the characters. Once again, we have our main eight, so no big surprises there. As for items to add to a Mario Kart moveset, we have mostly just returning items with nothing particularly knew added into the mix to shake things up. Lakitu once again returns as the ref, and Bob-Ombs, Boos, Cheep Cheeps, Crabs, Goonies, Hammer Bros, Koopas, Paratroopas, Little Mousers, Mechakoopas, Penguins, Piranha Plants, Shy Guys, Mr. Blizzards, Thwomps, and Kamek all appear in the background or as obstacles.

One of the main oddities this time around is that we have twenty courses, all spread out over five cups instead of four, with the Lightning Cup joining the normal Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special Cups. These tracks include Peach Circuit, a track built around a castle; Shy Guy Beach, a beach level; Riverside Park, a jungle level; Mario Circuit, a generic track; Boo Lake, a haunted level; Cheese Land, a course entirely made of cheese (yum); Luigi Circuit, a rain-soaked track; Sky Garden, a sky level; Cheep Cheep Island, another beach level; Sunset Wilds, a desert level; Snow Land, a snow level obviously; Ribbon Road, a track across a long strand of ribbon; Yoshi Desert, another desert level; Lakeside Park, a jungle level with a volcano; Broken Pier, another haunted boardwalk (what's with all the haunted boardwalks?), four whole Bowser's Castle levels, mostly as the final level of each cup; and this game's rendition of Rainbow Road.

As far as our battle courses, they tend to be very similar in concept to Super Mario Kart's battle courses, just square versions of pre-existing tracks, namely Mario Circuit, Bowser's Castle, Peach Circuit, and Yoshi Desert.

That's it for now! Let's see what we've got:

Characters:

Mario Kart: drive, brake, jump, turn, skid, etc., Banana Peel, Green Shell, Red Shell, Feather, Mushroom, Star, Ghost, Coin, Lightning, Egg, Fireball, Poison Mushroom, Triple Mushroom, Super Mushroom, Fake Item, Banana Bunch, Triple Green Shells, Triple Red Shells, Spiny Shell

Mario

Luigi

Peach

Yoshi

Bowser

Donkey Kong Jr.

Toad

Koopa

Donkey Kong

Wario

Lakitu

Kamek (Why are you not playable in these freaking games yet? We have freaking Pink Gold Peach and King Bob-Omb, but not arguably one of the most important characters in the series? Who comes with his own freaking vehicle? snodjvwbhoetrhuobdojno . . . hah, hah, hah . . . Thank you for coming to my TED talk.)

Boo

Piranha Plant

Cheep Cheep

Monty Mole

Thwomp

Chain Chomp

Penguin

Mr. Blizzard

Bob-Omb

Hammer Bro

Little Mouser

Mechakoopas

Shy Guy

Stages:

Mario Circuit

Donut Plains

Ghost Valley

Bowser's Castle

Choco Island

Koopa Beach

Vanilla Lake

Rainbow Road

Luigi Raceway

Moo Moo Farm

Koopa Troopa Beach

Kalimari Desert

Toad's Turnpike

Frappe Snowland

Choco Mountain

Mario Raceway

Wario Stadium

Sherbet Land

Royal Raceway

Bowser's Castle (64)

DK's Jungle Parkway

Yoshi Valley

Banshee Boardwalk

Rainbow Road (64)

Peach Circuit

Shy Guy Beach

Riverside Park

Mario Circuit (SC)

Boo Lake

Cheese Land

Luigi Circuit

Sky Garden

Cheep Cheep Island

Sunset Wilds

Snow Land

Ribbon Road

Yoshi Desert

Lakeside Park

Broken Pier

Bowser's Castle (SC)

Rainbow Road (SC)

Big Donut

Block Fort

Double Deck

Skyscraper

Thanks for reading! Next up, we will cover Mario Kart: Double Dash for the Game Cube!