Assuming everyone was tired of spending every hour of the day playing video games while socializing at home, Nintendo launched two IRL video game experiences last year that, it seems, can be unofficially combined to create a even better real-life Mario experience.
Although a little expensive ($ 100 for a car, plus the cost of a Nintendo Switch console for each vehicle), we found Mario Kart Live, which turns your home into a real-life Mario Kart track, to be almost as satisfying and enjoyable to play as the popular racing game, while Lego Super Mario was a great alternative for those who want the Mario experience, but eye-hand coordination is lacking to dominate a controller.
Both experiences feature image recognition to bring their respective games to life, with Mario Kart Live using a car camera to recognize track markers as corners and starting doors, while Lego Super Mario has a scanner to read special bar codes printed on other characters and obstacles. Both were reverse engineered, allowing anyone to create their own track markers (using Lego pieces in this case) and bar codes (using a regular home printer), which is what allowed the people behind the Playfool YouTube Channel to create this mashup that works so well that you would be tempted to believe that Nintendo planned it that way.
To allow the Lego Super Mario figure to go together with the RC Mario Kart, you will need to print and fold a custom paper saddle created by Playfool (the template can be downloaded here), which has the picture hanging on the back of the vehicle so that the scanner underneath it can read all the barcodes that pass over it. The trickiest part can be adding a piece of tape to keep the saddle from falling apart during a particularly exciting ride.
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You’ll also need to incorporate the special Lego Super Mario barcode elements into your Mario Kart Live race track, including start and end markers that activate the stopwatch on the Lego Mario figure, power-ups and even bandits to go over . But this is also as easy as downloading, printing and cutting a collection of travel elements that Playfool has already taken the trouble to create and put them in its path.
Remember that the score record and achievements you can collect and unlock in Mario Kart Live and Lego Super Mario remain completely separate; the Lego Mario figure is still unable to connect to his Nintendo Switch and influence his racing scores and vice versa. The hack does not do much to improve the Mario Kart Live experience, but if you are tired of manually guiding Lego Super Mario around a Lego version of the Mushroom Kingdom you have built, this mashup should breathe some life back on that toy.