Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance—this has been in my collection for over 20 years.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance—this has been in my collection for over 20 years.

Truth be told, this is the Mario Kart I know best. I played it endlessly on the GBA itself, then later on the Nintendo DS thanks to backwards compatibility (which, honestly, was one of the DS’s best features).

Is it the best Mario Kart? Hard to say. But if I had to pick one version above all others, this would probably be it.

The gameplay is very much in the spirit of the SNES original, just with some polish and refinement. And since the GBA was beefier than the SNES, the whole thing looks sharper, brighter, more alive.

One note though: this game belongs on a handheld. On a tiny screen, it just feels right. Blow it up on a modern TV or monitor, and it loses that tight, pocket-sized magic.

@videogames@piefed.social