Announced during their dedicated Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary livestream last month, Nintendo is collaborating with the development team at Velan Studios to develop an augmented reality instalment in the Mario Kart franchise. Titled Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit and being released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on 16 October 2020, this will see your living room or other living spaces turned into custom made race-tracks.
While Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is available freely via the Nintendo eShop, to play the game, you will be required one of two character sets – featuring Mario or Luigi. Each set also includes four gates, two arrow markers and a USB charging cable for the physical kart hardware.
Set up for the game involves placing the four gates around your living space, then driving through each of them in turn to create a track layout. Nintendo enthuse that “creativity is key”, with “many different shapes of track [able to] be designed, from simple and classic to more complex layouts, full of twists and turns. They have recommended that players have an area of at least 3.5m x 3m to play in, but beyond that, a space of any size can be used.
The main mode of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is Grand Prix, where players will face off against the Koopalings across eight Grand Prix featuring 24 different courses in total. In every race, familiar Mario Kart elements in the game affect the physical kart itself, bringing the frenetic fun of Mario Kart into a whole new dimension. Grabbing a mushroom in-game gives the physical kart a speed boost, whereas getting hit by a red shell will stop the kart in its tracks.
A range of well-known items from the Mario Kart series are present, including slippery banana skins, ink-spilling Bloopers, and even Bullet Bills that enable the kart to surge around the course at high speed, steering itself. Different environmental themes, such as underwater, volcanic and retro, spice things up further by introducing a variety of in-game hazards and features – all of which affect the kart in real life. Collecting coins in-game will also unlock customisation options, allowing players to spruce up their on-screen look with different costumes and kart types.
Other confirmed game modes include:
Custom Race
This mode gives players even more room for creativity, designing not just the physical layout of the track but also adding hazards, items and more to bring truly unique creations to life.
Time Trial:
Players create a track and then race to set the fastest time possible – competing either against their own personal best, or handing the controller to another player for an exciting Time Trial head-to-head that requires only one Nintendo Switch console and one copy of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.
Mirror Mode:
For those who fancy an extra challenge, this mode allows all of the Grand Prix tracks to be played in mirror image, with right turns becoming left and the familiar becoming unfamiliar.
Time will tell whether this new venture in the Mario Kart line-up will become a successful concept explored in future games, or become an experiment that failed to live up to expectations. But I, for one, am looking forward to hopefully not cause too much damage to my living room this month as I zip around circuits of my own creation.
