Gamers looking for a bite to eat with a side of retro gaming may want to check out the Texas food truck featured in a new photo posted online, which lets customers play Super Mario Kart on a truck-mounted screen while waiting for their orders. Nintendo’s kart racing franchise has been a staple of the gaming landscape in the 30 years since Super Mario Kart kicked off the franchise on the SNES. The series has remained one of Nintendo’s most successful properties over that time, with the Switch exclusive Mario Kart 8 Deluxe reaching a new sales milestone earlier this month.
Single-handedly creating the kart racing genre on home consoles, Super Mario Kart debuted to massive critical and commercial success when it was released for the SNES in 1992. The series has continuously evolved since that first outing, adding new racers, vehicles, and gameplay modes with each successive iteration. The addition of internet connectivity to Nintendo consoles has been a further boon for the franchise, allowing Nintendo to release post-launch content for Mario Kart games such as the new custom items in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Getting gamers’ mouths watering and thumbs twitching, Reddit user TheGuyAtGameStop posted a photo of a Denton, Texas food truck that offers patrons the chance to play Super Mario Kart on a screen mounted to the truck while they wait for their order. In a wonderful blend of cuisine and classic video games, the photo shows a woman with a controller in hand guiding a racer through the treacherous turns of Bowser’s castle while her food is prepared. While no comment was offered on the quality of the food, it’s clear that this food truck’s owners have great taste in games.
Redditors responding to the post were amused by the food truck’s unique selling point, with one user joking that the staff was busy racing customers rather than making their orders. In one popular comment, a barcade employee appreciated the chance to get in some gaming while waiting on their grub but questioned the cleanliness of the controllers left out for customer use. Trying to determine whether the copy of Super Mario Kart was running on the original hardware, one user noted that the length of the controller cord and the fact that the game was being played on an HDMI TV meant that it was most likely a SNES Classic.
This photo of a Texas food truck drawing in customers with Super Mario Kart shows that many gamers still have a healthy appetite for Mario Kart games even three decades on from the franchises’ debut. Whether series fans prefer recent titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or retro entries like the classic Mario Kart 64, it’s clear that franchise fans can’t get enough of Mario Kart’s motorized mayhem.
Super Mario Kart is available on the SNES Classic Edition.