In case you didn't know, Japan has a VR Zone amusement park in Shinjuku, Tokyo, filled with great VR games and one of its most famous is Mario Kart VR which released last year. The title is now expanding beyond Japan and will be available to try out in London, the first location outside of Japan.

​

It's actually Bandai Namco working in close collaboration with Nintendo that is behind the Mario Kart VR experience. In it, players can choose one of four seats corresponding to a kart for Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi. They are then equipped with an HTC Vive headset, headphones and strap a pair of hand trackers around their wrists and then the game can begin. If you've played Mario Kart before, you'll know what to expect but all in VR! The seats have some extra features to make the experience all the more immersive like shaking when you bump into other karts or fans to emulate the wind blowing against your face.

It's not really Mario Kart without the surprise item to make or break the game and Mario Kart VR has it all; bananas, green turtle shells and giant hammers. Equipped with the hand trackers, players can raise their hands over the item to pick it up and make a throwing movement to fling the item at an opponent. Talking to Wired, HTC’s Graham Wheeler says the hand tracking was the company’s main focus in terms of bringing the Mario Kart world to life. “It just makes it much more natural and much more immersive – you can hold the steering wheel but at the same time have your arms tracked in VR,” he says.

In their article, Wired mention that "Bandai Namco is expanding its VR Zone franchise into other small “portals” in the UK and Europe, including bringing Mario Kart VR to additional locations in Tunbridge Wells and Leeds later this summer".

Mario Kart VR is available at the VR Zone Portal inside Hollywood Bowl at the O2 in Greenwich, London starting today. Costing £7.99 per player, it consists of one track and lasts under five minutes.

There is no word yet on its release in the United States or in any other country specifically but would you like to try out Mario Kart in VR?

SOURCE

 

[Deleted User]

7.99 for 5 minutes?! Would they like a rimjob with my payment too?! Fuck that noise!

 

[CallmeBerto]

While it is really damn cool, the price does throw me off. If it ever comes to the States it would be a one and done kind of thing for me.

 

[souler92]

we need this in our community, now!

 

[leon315]

those HTC VR headset requires a powerful pc to get full experience, is that means Mario Kart VR is either designed to run on windows based PC or runs through an official nintendo emulator?

 

[shaunj66]

Damn! I'm in Greenwich this weekend ... Tempting, but 5 mins is a bit of a tease.

 

[Kioku]

How long before this is ripped and playable at home? :x

 

[MaxiBash]

So, it's now kinda like the Mario Kart arcade machines you could find in play-halls, but now in VR?

 

[Mnecraft368]

Looks cool!
...
*gets a train to London*

 

[kernelPANIC]

When they say the experience lasts under 5 minutes, they are actually including the time it takes to set up (adjust headset, put on gloves which you uses to throw items, etc) and the explanations of the game. The game itself is only a couple minutes at best. My friends tried it in Yokohama and they had a blast, but at 1000 yen a pop, I don't think it is worth it just yet... 500 yen is the max I would pay for this kind of experience, considering most arcade games here cost around 100-200 yen.

 

[Deleted User]

So, no Pac-Man this time around?

It honestly does seem really cool, but £7.99 for not even 5 minutes of gameplay seems a bit overdone. The fact that Nintendo's doing VR, though, gives me hope for future VR Releases of Nintendo games (possibly F-Zero or Star Fox).

 

[Joe88]

those HTC VR headset requires a powerful pc to get full experience, is that means Mario Kart VR is either designed to run on windows based PC or runs through an official nintendo emulator?

Most likely just a windows game

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I'd love to try this. For that price I certainly wouldn't be playing it more than once or twice, but I really want to try it out. Hopefully I'll get the chance some day.

those HTC VR headset requires a powerful pc to get full experience, is that means Mario Kart VR is either designed to run on windows based PC or runs through an official nintendo emulator?

There is nothing really preventing Vive from working on other platforms as long as you have drivers for the sensors, so it's not necessarily PC-based but that would be the easiest way.
If it is PC-based then I hope someone manages to dump the ROM and gets it to run on a normal PC, that would be amazing.

 

[DKB]

124USD if I wanted an hour of gameplay, a cosplaying peach better give me one hell of a blowjob if im paying that much for a fucking VR game.

 

[XDel]

Aghh, the old Triforce Arcade games aren't quite over yet. I'm sure this is new hardware, but it reminds me of the Noami games.

 

[leon315]

I'd love to try this. For that price I certainly wouldn't be playing it more than once or twice, but I really want to try it out. Hopefully I'll get the chance some day.

There is nothing really preventing Vive from working on other platforms as long as you have drivers for the sensors, so it's not necessarily PC-based but that would be the easiest way.
If it is PC-based then I hope someone manages to dump the ROM and gets it to run on a normal PC, that would be amazing.

just be realistic, ninty doesn't mention that VR headset was used there for Switch in that circustance, and none of ninty's console is able to handle HTC VR set, c'mon on which platform are they running for Mario kart VR? on ps4??

Cleary they are playing it on PC.

 

[Noctosphere]

mmh mmh
I have the weird feeling that I already saw that gameplay video somewhere

 

[The Real Jdbye]

just be realistic, ninty doesn't mention that VR headset was used there for Switch in that circustance, and none of ninty's console is able to handle HTC VR set, c'mon on which platform are they running for Mario kart VR? on ps4??

Cleary they are playing it on PC.

No doubt it's not using Nintendo hardware, it could be hardware developed by Bandai Namco or developed as a joint venture, but it could very well be PC based as well since that would make things easier. I don't know how common that is with arcade machines these days but I know at least some do use PC hardware (not that that means you can just pirate it and run it on your PC, it's often not that simple)

 

[Noctosphere]

hoho, i was right, that video was posted on july 2017

 

[PabloMK7]

inb4 CTGP-VR