Mario's 35th Anniversary brought tons of surprises our way with recently released games like Super Mario Bros. 35 and Super Mario 3D All-Stars. And soon an augmented reality racing simulator by means of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit will hit store shelves.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit places everyone's favorite Nintendo racers in a high-speed race to the finish, incredibly reminiscent of the classic Mario Kart formula, with the catch being the experience takes place entirely within the player's living room. Players connect their RC Mario Kart characters along with a few lap markers around the room of their choice and watch the insanity enfold from the screen of their Nintendo Switch as their living room transforms into a classic Mario Kart track.
A video from NinEverything gives us a first-hand look at what kind of tracks we can expect to see in our homes. We see multiple series staples like the standard Mario Circuit, a snow themed track with Freezie obstacles, as well as the candy-themed Sweet Sweet Canyon from Mario Kart 8. A jungle themed Donkey Kong Country Returns track even makes an appearance complete with vicious Piranha Plants that will chomp players if they get too close.
There even appears to be some unique tracks exclusive to Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. We get a glimpse of a tornado laden track where players must navigate around gusts of wind to avoid spinning out, a winter holiday track with music notes to collect, as well as a track where Kamek Koopa mixes things up by mirroring the screen and flipping player's living rooms around. There's even a retro Super Mario Bros. level filled with 8-bit Goombas and coins complete with point markers.
With 24 tracks packaged in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, there is certainly enough content to keep players occupied while they test out the different tracks and their various obstacles. Some tracks appear to have collectibles for players to intentionally run over where others place obstacles intended to for players to avoid. A Rainbow Road track even has Star Gates that appear to give the player a small speed boost where another track shows Mario being pulled along by a Chain Chomp.
It is currently unknown whether Nintendo has more tracks in store via updates or new characters down the line and it's definitely possible that the 24 tracks might get tiresome after a few hours of play. Overall, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit appears to be another unique product in Nintendo's lineup this year. After seeing the LEGO Super Mario and LEGO NES sets, it's clear that Nintendo intends to not only be a staple in gaming, but toys as well.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit will release on October 16th for Nintendo Switch.