One of Japan’s most quintessentially geeky experiences is reportedly coming to Australia this year: Mario Kart, but in real life.
Tokyo visitors have been able to get their go-karting fantasy on for a hot minute now thanks to MariCAR, a non-Nintendo affiliated company that rents out go karts and Mario costumes so you can drive through the streets of Akihabara, the city’s tech district.
It looks pretty amazing tbh, though MariCAR have some pretty strict ‘no banana peels’ or ‘red turtle shells’ rule. Assumedly that because they’re both incredibly dangerous and a pretty blatant form of animal cruelty. So it’s more dressing up at Mario characters as your friends to drive around in little go-karts, but we’re still super into it.
Not a lot is known about the Aussie version, which is called ‘Mushroom Racing‘. A pretty bare-bones site has popped up, promising more info if you sign up to their newsletter. From the description, we know MariCAR and, surprise surprise, Nintendo, aren’t involved. We don’t know the cities, or whether it’ll be through the public streets as it is in Japan.
But what we do know is that it’s a ticketed event, and there are prizes to be won. Prizes! That’s enough for me.
Probably most important though is this promo photo, which has added a lumpy Batman to the Mario Kart universe.
I would like to draw your attention to the ill-fitting mask sliding down the Batman’s face. He clearly cannot see the camera properly because the eyeholes are too far down, and his feigned enthusiasm in the double-barrel thumbs up is literally the only thing I can concentrate on.
Hopefully Nintendo doesn’t crack down on any potential copyright infringement, since I really, really want this.
Image credit: Keith Tsuji/Getty Images
