Mario Kart Live: Home Edition - Review

Mario Kart games always sell well, there is just such an appeal to them that grabs almost everyone evenly, but let’s face it, things have not changed much since the game went and drove into the 3rd Dimension. Mario Kart Live: Home Edition is perhaps the most ambitious game yet for the long running series, but it is also the most complex and that hurts it.

Mario Kart Live: Home Edition is equal parts what you know and something completely different, but as the new is the exciting part, we shall start there. The thing you will notice is that the kart is real, no more are they locked to the screen, now you are controlling a real-world kart and it works as well as you would hope. The cart though is only part of the equation, because Nintendo have licenced out radio-controlled karts before, no, the big addition here is that the kart now has a camera on top of it, letting you see what it sees. This allows for the blending of video games and real world in ways that others have not been able to achieve before, games like Pokémon Go overlay video game elements onto your real-world image, but they don’t interact with them.

With this game, you can not only place down gates and markers, to help outline your course, in fact the gates are required, but then you can overlay gaming elements to them. This helps make the game feel like something you are a part of, rather than just witnessing things, but there is an even better example, Mario himself. I say Mario, but if you get the Luigi set, it could also be him, regardless of which brother is behind the wheel, you won’t actually see their plastic versions on screen, instead the game overlays a digital character. This allows them to have costumes for them, as well as outfits for the car and even new horn sounds, if that is something you care about. These features alone make the Mario Kart experience far more in-depth than the mainline series, but there is still the matter of the tracks themselves to worry about.

Placing down items is really simple, you unfold the gates, place them down and you are good to go, not that hard, but there are a number of restrictions you need to take into consideration and they can have a big impact on the game. The first consideration is size, you need a large space to place with and the less furniture or other objects it has within it, the better and while you can drive under fairly large gaps, most furniture does not sit that high. I myself set it up in a room that measures 6m by 4m and it was a decent size, but that brought into place the other problems, carpet and surface changes. When you place down the gates, you need to ensure there is a decent amount of space between the sign and any obstructions ahead of it, ie if you have it to close to a coffee table and you come out underneath it. If the camera can’t see the gate, then you have to move it and if your space is at a premium that is easier said than done.

As I said before the other issue is carpet and surface changes and while they took the later into account, Mario does make the appropriate motions on screen when you drop down. The problem is carpet and especially the thick stuff, slows the kart down a fair bit, even at 150cc, you can notice a sizeable drop in speed and while this is not an issue when you are on your own, I can only imagine that it becomes more of an issue when racing with other players. Given that most homes will feature a decent amount of carpet or rugs, finding the space needed, to craft the course you want, is going to be the most annoying and consistent problem for those who want to race. The other issue to consider is the courses themselves, unlike a traditional Mario Kart, where the courses change between races, here, unless you choose to change the layout and by that I mean physically moving things around, the course never changes, just the theming of them. With the overlay elements adding some fun to the courses, it doesn’t become an issue out of the gate, pun intended, but pretty soon you will want to create something new and that again, requires you to think of the other requirements again.

Of course, racing requires the kart and that is perhaps the most interesting area of all, as the kart, Mario in my case, is one impressive little unit, but surprisingly it is light. Now there is a nice weight to be had, but the overall shape distributes the weight pretty evenly, strangely enough the weakest point are the wheels, not the overall, just the tires, they are really soft. I can imagine that they went through a number of tire firmness levels before they decided on them, but still I can’t help but seeing them rip with little effort, should you drive over something you shouldn’t. In terms of functions you can deal with, there are two, the power/sync button and a cover that slides up for charging, that is really it, everything else is done by the Switch. When you start the game up and sync your kart, it can take a bit of time, but I never experienced any dropouts or lag in the connection, which is a nice thing.

I say there was no lag and by that I mean there was no random delays of inputs on the Switch to actions on the kart, but there is a slight delay throughout and by slight I mean half a second at most. It is a little disconcerting to hear the clunk of your kart bashing into a table leg, only to then see it happen on screen moments later, if you pay attention you will notice it, but if you get involved in the racing, you won’t, so while it is there, it doesn’t break the experience. Something that does is the lack of impact from the Koopalings when racing, items that they through or obstacles on the course do slow you down should they make contact, but you can drive through the other racers with issue and again I can see why they would do it this way, but it just feels wrong to drive through other racers.

On the presentation side, things are weird and that honestly just comes down to seeing Mario in the real world, your world in fact. Mario is as animated as ever and no matter the costume he wears, he looks great, for me though the star were the karts, purely because they looked so wicked and given that you could change up the horn, it gave you a sense of ownership to it all. The other racers look as fine as they have in the past, but it is the world effects that help elevate things across the board. When you are driving on water tracks, there is a constant look of being underwater on your screen and the gates will have coral on them, drive on the thwomp track and you will have thwomps at the gates, with jungle leaves hanging onto your screen, it really is very well done.

Sound wise, this might be the most unique Mario kart ever, thanks to the sounds of the karts being very different and noticeable, horns and of course radio stations. Yep for the first time, you are allowed to drive to music you choose, well choose is a bit of a misleading statement, you can flick through stations and enjoy the songs that are on them and for the most part they fit the themes, you might get the occasional instance where a song doesn’t match the visuals, but that is rare.

Mario Kart Live: Home Edition is an odd game, it offers up some really creative and fun new ways to experience Mario Kart, but it also requires the biggest commitment. Without a space, devoid of a lot of changes in flooring and furniture, that is also large enough to create some interesting courses, you will get stuck on the same short course over and over again. Creating a course is straight forward with the place and drive system but having to do it every few races gets tiring, a save system for some of the courses you made would be perfect. Mario Kart Live: Home Edition is perhaps not the Mario Kart game people have been waiting for, but it is a decent game nonetheless, you just need the space for it.

The Score

7.5

Review unit provided by Nintendo

The Pros

+Being able to create your own courses is really easy and fun

+Seeing Mario interact with your room is great

The Cons

-You need space and if you have very little, you won’t enjoy this

-There is a slight delay between the kart and the image on screen, which could be annoying