Tokyo Go-kart

Who didn’t grow up with Mario, Nintendo’s world-famous video game character?

What if you could race through Tokyo in a real-life Mario Kart, dressed as Mario, Toad or Luigi?

Up until 2020, this was a possibility, as a range of providers operated authentic-looking Mario Karts. Nintendo put an end to this, however, when it won a court case against ‘Maricar’, one of the companies operating these go-karts.

Fortunately, this does not mean a definitive end to tours like this as Tokyo Go-kart is quite an experience. However, from now on these tours no longer refer to the name Mario Kart and the drivers no longer dress as characters from the Mario games but as Charmander, Pikachu or other Pokémon characters. Even though Nintendo also owns the rights to Pokémon, including Charmander and Pikachu, up until now these tours are allowed, probably because the operators do not explicitly promote them as Pokémon tours.

 If you still rather drive around like Mario, you will have to go to the Universal theme park in Osaka, home to Nintendo World. One of its attractions is a semi-virtual Mario Kart track, which is highly recommended, just like the rest of Nintendo World. It’s the closest any fan can get to the Mario game!

Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios in Osaka

Author: Arnaud Bos

Bio: Arnaud is trademark attorney and within Knijff responsible for the marketing & communication. Arnaud is specialist in the metaverse and music sectors and his client portfolio includes many upcoming and renowned bands. He keeps a close eye on the latest case law in the EU and will let you know when he sees remarkable applications.