Masahiro Sakurai, director for the Super Smash Bros. franchise, posted some amusing Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit content on his Twitter page. A giant behemoth appears to be attacking Mario, but the monster is actually Sakurai's cat.
Since its reveal a few weeks ago, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit has captivated fans with its unique take on the Mario Kart formula. Owners can guide a real-life toy car through courses they design using specially-marked gates. This lets iconic tracks like Rainbow Road come to life for players to build and rearrange as they see fit. Given that the toy car includes a camera feed to the Nintendo Switch, players have quickly discovered a very different perspective on their living rooms. Children and pets effectively serve as chaotic stage hazards for Mario and Luigi to avoid
Sakurai shared an image of his cat pouncing on new game's remote-controlled Mario car. From the perspective of the car, it seems like a huge monster is bearing down on Mario. Sakurai's photo reinforces the strange trend of cats despising Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, as many others have also posted pictures of their cats attacking Mario and Luigi. Although players can throw virtual items like banana peels, there is no way to shoo real-life cats and obstacles off the track.
The only at-risk game component in Sakurai's image is the toy car itself, but there are plenty of other possible components that cats could target. The game's track design functionality relies on specially-marked cardboard gates. This means that cats could also destroy or claw at these gates and make the game functionally unplayable. Thankfully, Nintendo has made replacement parts available online, so even the most aggressive cats cannot derail players looking to experience the latest Mario Kart game.
It's amusing that Sakurai would post such an image to his Twitter account, given how closely fans follow the account for Super Smash Bros.Ultimate news. While fans have envisioned adding a housecat as a Smash Bros. fighter, this probably isn't what Sakurai meant to imply. Even a legendary game developer like Sakurai needs some time to relax, and it's not surprising he'd choose Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit as a way to make that happen.
Perhaps surprisingly, gamers looking to find virtual cats ready for a battle don't need to look far afield. Spider Man: Miles Morales, a PlayStation 5 launch title, features the debut of the adorable sidekick Spider-Cat, who tons a mask of its own to attack foes alongside the titular superhero. Hopefully, real-life cats will be so intrigued watching the on-screen antics of Spider-Cat that they will leave Mario alone to race in peace.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
