Thursday morning saw the release of a surprise Nintendo Direct. The Direct primarily focused on the announcement ofSuper Mario 3D All-Starsfor the Nintendo Switch. But the re-release ofSuper Mario Galaxyand others wasn’t the only big announcement of the event. Nintendo also revealed the Augmented Reality gameMario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Nintendo fans will be able to race their very own RC car in real-life track locations starting October 16.
To start,Mario Kart Live: Home Circuitis a game that’s played on the Nintendo Switch. But it also involves a real-life RC car shaped like either Mario or Luigi in a classic kart. These karts have a camera attached to them, which enables theAugmented Realityaspect of the game. Players will see through their kart’s camera and the game will add in AI opponents, power-ups, as well as the track itself. Players won’t ever have to take their eyes off the screen while they’re playing, though.
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The interactions between the real-life kart and the in-game experience are especially interesting inMario Kart Live: Home Circuit. To start, players will create their own track. All it requires is a driveable circle. Once that’s made, they can race just like inMario Kart. In-game boosts will speed up the velocity of the kart and attack items will slow the kart. These power-ups and attack items aren’t in real life, but the kart will react to them as if they were.
Players will, of course, be able to arrange the real-world aspect of the experience as much as they like, too. In the trailer revealed during today’sNintendo Direct, kids are shown lining the track they created with empty cups and things they found around the house. Theoretically, the track itself could probably be augmented too, so players could add ramps or obstacles for players to drive through or around.
Another great feature is that it appearsMario Kart Live: Home Circuitcan be played cooperatively. In the trailer, two players with real-life karts are shown racing each other. One player has a Mario kart and the other player has a Luigi kart. These separate packages will each cost $99.99 and onlyMario and Luigiare available. However, the game will allow for 4-player racing. Players will simply have to double up on the Mario brothers.
BeyondSuper Mario 3D All-StarsandMario Kart Live: Home Circuit, Nintendo did make a couple of other announcements.Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.is a throwback handheld device that plays some of the original NESSuper Mariogames.Super Mario Bros. 35is a 35-player competitive online game.Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furyis a re-release of the Wii U game. These and others will be coming to the Nintendo Switch soon.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuitreleases October 16 on Nintendo Switch.
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