Cats Really Don’t Like Mario Kart Live

Nintendo just launched Mario Kart Live for the Switch. For gamers, it’s incredible – for their cats, it’s a nuisance. 

The fifteenth instalment in the iconic racing franchise is quite the departure from Mario’s usual games. There’s no Rainbow Road to conquer this time, no Bowser’s Castle, no Wario’s Gold Mine. Instead, you must master the most perilous course of all: your home.

Mario Kart Live comes packed with the game, a remote-controlled kart – in both Mario and Luigi variants – and little signposts and checkpoints. However, while players enjoy whizzing around their living rooms, cats are less than pleased with the new toy.

Ahead of its release yesterday, October 16, IGN posted a clip of a pet on the prowl of a kart, captioned, ‘House cats are the red shells of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.’ 

Several other videos have made their way online as more gamers get their hands on the title. Unranked Podcast posted a clip to its YouTube of some hilarious gameplay, chasing a particularly fluffy cat around the house.

Twitter user @yamanoneko_23 also posted a video, showing their three cats taking issue with the mini vehicle. One of the pets even stops it with their paw, the rest of their eyes pinned on the kart with immovable precision. Another user, @yoshidaterukazu, even managed to catch their cat as they were throwing up a furball.

Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips wrote, ‘I was pretty sceptical about Mario Kart Live but I’ve watched this video it took of a cat vomming up a hairball at least a dozen times today and declare it was all worthwhile.’

It’s not just cats, either. While my pooch would be terrified of the karts, others have been chasing them down, including one hilariously curious sausage dog.