Assuming everyone gets tired of spending video games every waking hour while socially at home, Nintendo released two IRL video game experiences last year that it turns out unofficially combined to a even better real Mario experience.
Although we were a little expensive ($ 100 for one car, plus the cost of a Nintendo Switch console for each vehicle), we found it Mario Kart Live, which turns your home into a real Mario Kart track, to play almost as satisfying and enjoyable as the popular racing game, while Lego Super Mario was an excellent alternative for those who wanted the Mario experience but the hand-eye coordination is lacking to master a controller.
Both experiences rely on image recognition to bring their respective games to life, with Mario Kart Live using a camera on the car to recognize track marks such as corners and starting gates, while Lego Super Mario has a scanner to read special barcodes that appear on other characters are printed and obstacles. Both have been reversed so that everyone can create their own track markers (in this case with Lego bricks) and barcodes (with a regular household printer), which the people behind the YouTube channel Playfool to create this mashup that works so well, you would be tempted to believe that Nintendo planned it that way.
To ride the Lego Super Mario figure with the RC Mario Kart, you need to print and fold a custom paper hall made by Playfool (the template can be downloaded here) on which the figure hangs at the rear of the vehicle so that the scanner below it can read any bar codes it is driving over. The most complicated part is perhaps the addition of a piece of tape so that the saddle is not undone during a particularly exciting round.
G / O Media can get a commission
You also need to incorporate the special Lego Super Mario barcode elements into your Mario Kart Live racetrack, including start and end markers that activate the timer on the Lego Mario figure, startup and even bad guys to ride over. But it is also just as easy as downloading, printing and cutting out collection of natural elements that Playfool has already made an effort to create and lay it out on your track.
Just keep in mind that the score and achievements you can collect and unlock in Mario Kart Live and Lego Super Mario remain completely separate; the Lego Mario figure can still not be connected to your Nintendo Switch and affect your race results, and vice versa. The hack does not do much to enhance the Mario Kart Live experience, but if you got bored of manually guiding Lego Super Mario around a Lego version of the Mushroom Kingdom you built, this mashup should breathe a sigh of relief a little life back in that toy.