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Review for Mario Kart Super Circuit on Game Boy Advance from GamesMaster 112 - October 2001 (UK)
This issue can be downloaded here:
https://www.outofprintarchive.com/catalogue/GamesMaster.html
I 100% agree with the score on this one.
For some reason this entry in the series seems to get a lot of hate and honestly, I don't know why as I adore how it goes back to the SNES way of doing things.
Perhaps that was what people didn't like about it...
Played this one so, so much and I was floored to see all the SNES tracks being unlocked after you complete the regular cups.
Definitely one of my favourites.
For the first handheld entry in the Mario Kart franchise, this game was amazing. It was also the first one to start introducing retro tracks/cups.
It was also a launch title for the GBA, if I remember correctly.
It is probably a little rough around the edges by modern standards, but I remember chucking hours into this.
Oh, it also introduced the rating system for performance in a cup. To this day, I have only managed one triple star in 50cc Mushroom Cup 
It is on the list to revisit, but I am currently playing Mario Kart DS.
It wasn't actually a launch title, but it was pretty close.
I got my GBA on Saturday June 23 , 2001, one day after release as I used to go to visit my local import shop by train once a month, or sometimes sooner if something like this released.
They also still sold EU releases back then, so that's where I picked everything up.
Got Kuru Kuru Kururin, Super Mario Advance and F-Zero Maximum Velocity alongside it and remember playing them on the train ride back.
Castlevania released the same day, but somehow I got it 2 weeks later.
Probably spent too much at launch already. 
Surprisingly Krazy Racers by Konami was a launch game but Mario Kart came out in the middle of September.
I think Mario Kart DS might as well be my favourite in the series.
It's definitely my most played entry hands down as I played several thousands of rounds of battle mode on Block Fort alone in multiplayer.
Just the best.
Ahhh, I must be confusing things then. I knew some racers came out for the GBA very early on and an early GBA magazine I bought as a kid had Mario Kart as the prominent feature!
I think that's only normal.
My memory seems to go wonky at times as well, I guess that's just how it goes.
I have vivid memories of playing Castlevania on that train ride back as well, but when I saw on my list that I only picked it up 2 weeks later, it kinda confused me...
But I'm pretty sure I know what happened.
My friend came along to buy his own GBA the same trip and we must have picked up different games.
Perhaps they didn't have enough copies in stock or something.
At times like these, I'm so glad that I have this games list that goes all the way back to the early 90's to see what I got and where. Although the first year or so of the listing is a little vague with just general months and no concrete dates as I didn't have any receipts of those days when I started making these lists in the early 2000's.
Still, it really help to puzzle this memories back together.
@OutofPrintArchive I think one reason I never warmed to it entirely is I felt it lost some of the immediacy. They’re all overlong tracks like on the newer games which is why races are 3 laps instead of 5. It’s good but I’d always choose snes.
@yesterzine
You know, I never even thought about that or even noticed it for that matter.
Well, unless we’re talking about Baby Park which is like 10 laps.
@OutofPrintArchive I think this one comes from sim background. I always prefer a short track with more laps. Also means of course since most games have a fixed field size things are generally busier.
@OutofPrintArchive This was my first Mario Kart, so I am contractually obliged to love it to bits (even if I'm no good at it). Takes second place in my MK list, just below Wii.
@lunarloony
It’s definitely one of the toughest Mario Kart games.
I actually miss this style of MK.
Despite the new ones feeling just perfect in every way possible, the drifting feels a little too on rails for me.
Bit on the easy side.
Love the shoutout for Wii btw.
Another entry that does not deserve the hate it gets at all.
For single player racing I actually prefer it to DS.
A steering wheel and some of those harder courses and it’s just bliss to play. 
The battle modes after DS just don’t hit those highs anymore sadly.
@OutofPrintArchive That's the issue... 8DX feels too "clean". The older games felt a bit more rough and frantic, like you're actually trying to keep a dodgy little kart under control.
But I mainly like Wii because of the inline bikes zipping about all over the track. Lots of fun.
I hated those bikes.
But that’s only because they were not balanced compared to the karts, so that messed up online in a big way.
A similar thing happened to Ridge Racer btw.
While the new ones feel and look incredible, they lost something in trying to shave off all though rough edges till there was nothing left.
Didn’t like the addition of nitros either myself.
Till this day Ridge Racer V remains the final one which really felt rewarding as you needed to keep the cars under control.
In the follow-ups you could do multiple 360s while drifting and still win without any issues.
The old one were an actual battle, against the opponents but also the tracks.
I really miss that.