Mario Kart Super Circuit (Game Boy Advance, 2001)
It’s many people’s least favourite (at least proper) Mario Kart game because it’s both so old and there’s so little to recommend it. The original has the purity of its vision and nostalgia to play on, while later games are just, well, better. Super Circuit, caught between the original’s pioneering release and releasing long after the series’ 3D debut, is trapped and a little lost, at least when we’re looking back on the series as a whole from our contemporary vantage point.
Know what’s really cool about it though? The original’s visuals haven’t aged that great, but Super Circuit’s cheery pixel art is one of the Game Boy Advance’s most underrated achievements. Everything is just so damn colourful and cute and pretty in the same way so many first-party SNES and GBA platformers were, only here it’s moving real real fast as well.
