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Ah, Mario kart. One of the pillars of Nintendoof gaming and commercial success since its inception in 1992, and for good reason. With Super Nintendo World looming at Universal Studios Japan later this year, many fans will no doubt flock to Osaka just to take some real Mario Kart tricks.
“But ain’t there real life Mario kart Already exists ?“, you say. It turns out to be indeed the case. It’s called MariCar (now called Husband Mobility), and he recently lost a legal battle with Nintendo over intellectual property infringement.
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According to Nikkei, Nintendo’s lawsuit was originally filed against Mari Mobility in 2017 under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act with a fine of 10 million yen (US $ 90,000). The fine encompassed damages, including the use of a business name that most closely resembles the game (since then it was still called MariCar), as well as the rental of costumes that closely resembled to the different characters in the game,
However, Mari Mobility appealed, but in 2019, Inside pointed out that she had been prosecuted once again for the same violations, this time with a fine of 50 million yen (US $ 458,000) (via Kotaku).
Interestingly, if you were to go to the Mari Mobility website, it has now rebranded its MariCar service to “Street Kart”, while sporting a new superhero-themed look (it could be a matter of time before. whether DC or Marvel come knocking on their door, though).
The website’s first statement also states that Street Kart “is by no means [sic] a reflection of Nintendo, the game ‘Mario Kart’ ”. Too little, too late perhaps?
In Nintendo’s recent statement, the company seeks to “continue to take necessary action” against Mari Mobility and its fraudulent actions.
But if you are still keen to make real unlicensed Mari-er, we mean Street Kart races, you can always book tickets through the website at your own risk.
Or you can just wait until Super Nintendo World opens this summer.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds in real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a witcher body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly lets go of terms like “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because he never once stops thinking about his next game Dungeons & Dragons.
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