Mario Kart home circuit

This week Nintendo celebrated the 35th anniversary of Super Mario and all his companions. This franchise, as you almost certainly know, includes Mario Kart, the best racing game ever invented.

As part of the celebrations they have introduced Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.

According to Slashgear

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit attempts to take the always-popular arcade racer into the real world by giving you a physical toy kart that you’ll race around your living room using a Nintendo Switch.

It’s a bit strange at first glance, but it seems fun nonetheless. You’ll create tracks by laying down four different gates and then driving through them to define the track layout. Using the Switch, you’ll guide your physical kart (manned by either Mario or Luigi) through those gates, with an AR camera on top of the kart inserting item boxes and hazards into the game. Your kart will react to those hazards and items too, whether it’s getting a boost of speed or stopping when it gets hit by an item from another player…

In Grand Prix mode, you’ll be racing against Koopalings, and it’s here that you’ll be able to unlock course customizations or new costumes for Mario and Luigi.

Some people have characterised this as a cute gimmick that will prove short-lived. People said that about the Gameboy when that came out. I think it could prove the first interesting and saleable use of AR to date.

It could turn into an unlikely long term hit.