Where To Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit On Nintendo Switch

I"m lucky to have the space to actually play with this, so have the Luigi version preordered now to go along with the Game and Watch and Mario 3d All stars, what a very good day its been

@antdickens £200 to play 2 player seems very cheeky

Yeah, the price will make this DOA. A $100 game is bad enough, but $200 in order to get a two-player experience on a multiplayer-centric title? Insane. Neat concept, but just not practical on so many levels (a lot of folks don't have the indoor space or surface for it to boot, and outdoor use would present its own potential issues). Definitely being marketed more as a stand-alone toy/AR hybrid than as a full and proper Switch title. Would've rather had Mario Kart 9, honestly, though with the rest of the Mario 35th Anniversary stuff that wasn't going to happen. Sigh, maybe next year.

@antdickens It did take R&D all around to develop, true. And the concept is very cool. But, the use case is so specific...

This seems very expensive. If Iunderstand right, to play it two player you would need to spend £200... Obviously aimed at the Christmas market.

Just hang on for a while, this will be like LABO and the prices will drop like a stone, can see these going for £40-£50 at some point.

And let's not forget how many of these cars will likely end up getting stepped on or broken accidentally by anxious kids who find them under the tree (can I get a witness regarding the chaos that typically occurs immediately after families open gifts?). That's a big investment straight down the crapper. The kiddies (and MK fans in general) would've been far better served by a full and proper MK 9.

It should come with a warning

"Please ensure all dogs and certain cats are in another room when playing"

When I heard the MK music during the direct, I thought "Mario Kart 9 wahoooo!" and then this showed up. Cool idea, but a new Mario Kart would have been better. Also that price is atrocious.

Cool idea, but "A Mere Human" NYC Apartment here - so this is a no GO

I could not even find enough space to not run into stuff playing ALYX VR 😅

This will sell well, not for me however...

@OorWullie my cat loves when kids play with rc cars scaletrix. the drones sends her for the hills tho

'The drones send her for the hills though'

@Anguspuss That made me laugh, I can only imagine how my cat would react to a drone.

Does she just sit and watch the cars or paw at them?

I just want to wait and see if its possible to add stuff like ramps and make it go vertical. From the trailer, it looks like its locked into a flat plane, which really limits the creative potential of creating your own courses in your living room. I bet it'll give me an error if I try to make the course go up a make-shift ramp and onto a coffee table or something. Probably too much of a risk of it falling and breaking the camera.

If it was possible, though, and you can make the courses as long as you want, I would fully expect some people to go ham and turn their living room into mega courses for social media. That would be worth the $100, even if I have to buy my own blocks or build my own ramps.

I can imagine people setting up these things in places like parks and other places if they can use ramps to go up, I expect a new community of creative people to come up with crazy and fun tracks.

@OorWullie she will sit beside kids and watch. or in the middle of the race track. ocasionally putting paw on track sending the car flying over the living room and kids compaining

If I had more than 3.5 square feet of floor space I’d be all over this.

@PBandSmelly kids'll eat it up for sure, can see a lot of kids making courses around their Xmas tree this year.

And I'm sure Mario Maker Masters already have some wacky course ideas. XD

The fact that the game is being supplied a a download code is what's killed my interest in this. It's a brilliant concept, but I can't support games tied to physical toys that don't include the entirety of the game in the package. It's absolutely moronic. It's the same reason why I refused to support Starlink with its mandatory download. They expect us to invest in hundreds of dollars worth of toys but the cheap bass turds won't even supply the full game on cartridge?! To hell with that.

One of these days, when the Switch eShop is terminated, the physical toys themselves will likewise be useless if something were to happen to the console.

I might still consider a purchase at a heavy discount (as the Labo sets have been available for dirt-cheap recently), but my interest has otherwise dissipated. It makes absolutely ZERO sense for the software to be supplied as a download code.

@Coffee_Drinker hell, there's your Diddy Kong Racing remake/Remaster right there if can physically remake the courses yourself. XD

I can see a lot of kids wanting this and unsuspecting parents buying it not realising they don't have the room for a decent set up and the kid just drives round in a circle or oval. 100 of your local currency well spent.

SCALPERS ASSEMBLLLLLLLE!!!!!!!!

@tanaka2687 @AtlanteanMan @chardir It won't be 200 to play with 2 players. 100 is for a game and the car. Video shown when they played multiplayer they did so on one Switch (in TV mode). More than likely additional cars will be sold separately. For how much however is yet to be seen, but I wouldn't expect it for any less than 50. Those cars are not THAT small, and they come with integrated camera.

Just watched the trailer, looks good but basically useless if you have a carpet 😩

Way too expensive.. They probably should have scaled these down and included 2 in a set with ability to buy additional racers down the line..

I have a couple of RC cars I let my little one chase around sometimes. One is Mario! I thought, one day when he's older I'll make a little track and we can race together. Well, here Nintendo go and make it easier. XD

@KBoo @KBoo This I agree with, I'll already have to get my son an extra Switch in like a year and a half when he's 4 or something. Having to get 2 tracks for 2 racers seems silly. Perhaps they will release some separately later.

I wasn't buying it before, definitely not now.

I guess MK8D will have to do until the next "proper" version.

This is a cute christmas gift if you have a sizeable family home. But anything smaller and you'll run into problems.

The price really isn't that high, it's a full rc kart with bluetooth and a camera. All that technology costs money.

Pre ordered the Luigi model. This looks great. Expensive day though with 3D All Stars ordered too.

Here's the thing, I think this is a real cool idea, but if you don't have a big room, with a hard, not-carpet floor, this game can't really be played.

$100 per player. No thanks. We have 2 Switches, and downloaded software can be played on both by dif users, so why not make a version with 2 karts. I don't need 2 sets of cardboard or 2 games. My kids were hyped, but I'll have to pass. Maybe it will go on clearance like Starlink and I'll pick it up, but I wont get my hopes up.

this looks good but get the feeling we would just play it a couple of times and it would get forgotten

@OorWullie my English Bulldog would go bananas chasing those toy cars! 🤣🤣
I don’t have the space anyway and my kids are grown up now. And I assume the game isn’t playable without the remote cars. Oh well

This is a much more meaningful Toys to Life concept than figurines unlocking stuff. Y'know...for kids!

This must be the 100cc version- I will hold out till 50cc comes out

I hope you can pick up a second kart alone for much cheaper. This is really begging for multiplayer action ripping up the kitchen floor after Xmas dinner. The mixed reality looks cool for single player but nothing tops beating your mates / children in a Mario Kart session.

@Silly_G
Well I was wondering how they would be giving the game.... Cause it would be bad if every kart character came with a cartridge. But also very dumb to sell the cartridge on its own, which would get people upset with having to buy the toys to play the game.

Similar to Ring Fit, some of us would love to just have it downloaded to not deal with changing cartridges, not hard to do... Just annoying. And if they ever integrate multiplayer or even have more games... I don't wanna buy the game again just to get another wheel-con

So download is okay, especially if they integrate it with labo or maybe amiibo or something down the line.

Or maybe have the stand alone karts be cheaper than the carts with the game?

$99?!? nuts to that....

@antdickens Huh, well Nintendo of America must've changed their own store site in the last few years. They didn't used to sell games or consoles directly.
They used to sell just replacement pieces, when they did sell games it was an exclusive like Elektroplankton for the DS.

Does it come with physical copy inside ?
I couldn't see any image of physical copy from that bundle.

$100 seems steep. I need a lot more details about the longevity of this "game."

@PewnyPL sadly, 1 player per Switch console: "Friends and family can also get together and enjoy multiplayer races for up to four players, so long as each player has their own Kart, Nintendo Switch console and a copy of the software."

@mr_benn
Oh, gosh...
It was like ACNH case. 😩
One copy for one console.
Kinda bummer but i play alone so $100 for playing Solo is quite a deal for me.

One copy for one Switch is the final nail in the coffin because it means you really would have to purchase another full game (not counting another Switch) in order to play it. And yes, that would seem to confirm that extra karts WON'T be available to purchase separately. $200 for one game? No thanks. And even if/when the price comes down or it winds up in bargain bins, how much practical use are most people going to get out of it?

Somebody at IGN pointed out that for the going cost of an RC car combined with the tech involved, the price is "reasonable". I'm not disputing the price of the tech though; the point is that this is simply highly impractical from both a gaming and consumer standpoint on so many levels. It's way too much a one-trick pony to command this sort of investment.

At first glance it looks interesting, but then the more I think about it, the less I want it. You can make your own tracks, yes. But that's just a combination of circles, loops. There will be no cutesy backgrounds like Mario Kart tracks with Bowser's Castle, Thwomp Ruins, Ribbon Road, Water Park, etc. The only background will be your furniture. Also, looking at the overhead on Best Buy's website showing sample tracks in a room, these cars must move REALLLLY slowly otherwise they would whip through the track in 20 seconds. There will be no bullet to catch up and unless the software throttles the R/C cars, there will be no handicap to help the cars behind catch up. Some hate that, so that would be welcomed, but it's a staple of Mario Kart which may not be here. There will be no power sliding or jumps either. I think this would be a blast for a few hours, then it will get old real quick.

@AtlanteanMan that's not the way I understood it. It looks like at least initially, they have a Mario "set" and a Luigi "set". The "set" being the car, the arrow markers and the gates (1-4). If you purchase both sets to use on one track, you won't be using one of the sets' gates or arrow markers. It would make sense to then have separate cars sold separately without the cardboard pieces. I would HOPE they sell those at a maximum of $59.99 (still pricey). The game itself is a free download because it's useless without the cars or the cardboard markers.

I'm curious what the battery life is on the cars and how long it takes to recharge them. I'm assuming they move really really slowly, so maybe that makes the battery last a good 10 hours or so.

Well you all wanted a new Mario Kart ...

This is awesome! I thought this was a great idea and I agree this is some of the best toys to life application I’ve seen. I wonder if projectiles could be fired into the course and vertical movement supported. If so I can see some awesome ideas/ tracks shaping up.

So not only do you need to buy this twice to play multiplayer, but you also need two Switch consoles? That is ridiculous. Will definitely affect sales negatively.

Love it! Would like to see a split screen multiplayer option so you don't have to buy a second Switch. Gonna buy it. To cool not too. But RIDICULOUS!😄

@PBandSmelly I mean you're asking for a new game with all the programming/distribution/etc costs of that AND added(and much larger than small cartdriges) physical goods that also need to be produced, packaged, shipped, stored/etc and all the space that takes in shipping vehicles/warehouse/etc before even making it to the stores.

Like, there's a heckton of plastic toys that on themselves aren't as cheap than we'd expect them to be, so having that bundled with what's functionally an actual video game... I can picture a lot of this stuff going into the cost.

The surprise for me is not what it ends up costing, but rather if it would have cost less than that.

But, how am i going to play online and show my online friends how i suck at this? keep playing 8 deluxe?

I went ahead and locked in a pre-order from amazon.de, since my son really wants this (okay, me too!), and I know how crazy things can go here in NA. No known import issues, right?

@kirbygirl : This was my question as well. Not sure why the preorders aren't available everywhere.

Doubt I'll get one but they look cool

Less than 2 weeks out and nowhere to pre-order in NA?!?

@PBandSmelly RC cars alone cost around that.

@Jaygo @kirbygirl I don't see why they would have any import issues except maybe a delay in it will actually show up. I wouldn't expect it right on release as it will ship only one or two days earlier. Other than that it should be pretty much fine. The game is a dl so no issues there.

@Aneira two consoles for multiplayer yes. Then again almost all games require two consoles anymore. Split screen is becoming less of a thing.

@SkullDragr well slow moving cars is a good thing. Most people will not want to ruin their walls or their rc car with a fast moving car. A slow moving car can be looked at as a fast moving on on the screen. They do it all the time in movies.

This is supposed to come out on Friday, right? Has anyone seen any pre-orders live in NA?

I will get this when it's on sale in the future. Looks fun!

I will wait for reviews before buying it

I think the real test of this product is how easy to control and comfortably race these cars are. I can't imagine these are going to control anything like a mario kart car because you won't be able to slide at all (for obvious reasons). I have a feeling it's going to feel ultra stiff and people will have an issue making fun courses because anything with many turns will be near impossible.

Plus you need like an entire basement to setup the track. Who has that much unoccupied hardwood without removing furniture?

@Dirty0814
They really need to add splitscreen, if the game usually rund at 1080p 60fps they just should have it run at half the resolution and framerate if that's necessary.

Bad time to release a single-player Mario Kart game for £100, with a lot of people struggling due to reduced wages or unemployment. Despite the article encouraging people to get their pre-orders in early, my guess is that this will be heavily discounted ala Starlink within a few months.

@Dirty0814 One of the main USPs of the Switch (after being a home/portable console) is local multiplayer. Even if it wasn't, aside from Mario Kart Super Circuit on the GBA this series has always been about local multiplayer.

@JohnnyC starling is actually better too because you don't need a big open space in your living room to play it.

This has a very niche market even if it wasn't over priced. Add the price onto the already existing difficulty in actually playing it, couple those two with the current pandemic and I can see this being discontinued rather than discounted.

@PBandSmelly a rc car alone is 100+

@JohnnyC it is multiplayer though. Most multiplayer games make you have more than one console anymore. As for this it isn't suppose to be the next Mario kart but a offtake version. Regardless it is worth the price.

@Razer of course it's a niche market. Every game is a niche market. As for price it is not o er priced at all. A rc car alone will cost you 100+. This will not be discontinued anytime soon. If anything they will add more rc car characters.

@Dirty0814 Whether it's worth the price is for each person to decide individually. Completely agree that the vast majority of multiplayer games these days can't be played elbow-to-elbow with someone next to you, but anything with the Mario Kart badge on it - for most people - raises memories of local multiplayer gaming sessions, and the fact is that the Switch was designed and heavily marketed with that kind of gameplay in mind. This game for many who buy it will be played in isolation, which may not be what a lot of people want from a game called Mario Kart on the Switch. Time will tell and I may well be in the minority, but this isn't for me.

I bought 2 ... the Mario edition and the Luigi edition 😄

I would've gotten one if it had a cartridge in the case. This all-digital stuff is going to be really bad for preservation in the future, mark my words.

Picked mine up this morning. Played almost all day, and I'm very impressed. Lot's of fun. Definitely feels like a real Mario Kart series. If you can't afford it, move on. Don't spoil it for others.

Got two Marios. Having a really hard time getting a Luigi. Hopefully that will come through before the holidays. The price stuff is silly. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. Such is life.

@FatHedgehog "Can't justify buying it for that money"