At $629, the Nintendo Switch 2 is an expensive system, especially once a $50 price increase takes effect in September. That’s to say nothing of its flagship game, Mario Kart World, costing a whopping $110. But thankfully, a pair of crafty YouTubers have published an interactive video in which you can “play” Mario Kart for free — well, sort of.
Produced by the channels Atlas Arcade and Animated Subtitles, the “game” uses YouTube’s 360-degree spherical video functionality to allow you to use the WASD keys to move the camera around the wider-than-usual footage. By featuring Mario Kart‘s iconic Rainbow Road, this video effect creates the illusion that you’re “steering” a kart along the winding track. All the while, effects like discarded bananas, Green Shells whizzing by or a Blooper spraying the screen with ink add to the idea that you’re playing Mario Kart.
As a nice touch, there are even some customization options. For one, you can select your racer by changing subtitles:
- English (default) — Mario
- English (Australia) — Toad
- English (Canada) — Yoshi
- English (India) — Princess Peach
- English (Ireland) — Luigi
- English (United Kingdom) — Wario
- English (United States) — Bowser
You can also toggle playback speed to give the impression that you’re choosing higher CC races.
Of course, there are many limitations, especially since you can’t actually fall off the map. It’s also quite short at only 40 seconds (not including a 20-second tutorial). Nonetheless, it’s still impressive that this much “playability” was afforded to a video. It’s all quite clever, honestly.
Image credit: Nintendo
Via: Eurogamer
