In the grand scale of video game history, Nintendo has never really been one to dish out on the product placement, has it? Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I can’t recall too many Nintendo games offering up landscape for other companies to sell their products on. Eurogamer claims that Pikmin 2 has licensed items, which I’ve never played, and Wave Race 64 advertised Kawasaki jet skis, but what else is a jet ski game going to use?
Which is one reason why this latest DLC package heading to Mario Kart 8 in Japan is just so insane. The ridiculous image of Mario driving around in a topless Mercedes GLA is borderline surreal and enough to give the average Nintendo fan a splitting headache.
Along with the hilarious images, Japan also has a wonderful new live action advertisement in which Mario completes the classic Super Mario Bros. Level 1-1 in his sweet new ride! And then he gets out, and whoa… your mind will be lost.
Ha! Even check out Mercedes of Japan’s website for some classic Mario fun.
This again marks another one of Nintendo’s many recent and inexplicable collaborations with other corporate entities. Nintendo and Mercedes-Benz, together at last! The company promised to start licensing out its characters more often, and this and Pikachu being on the Japanese National Soccer Team’s jerseys proves that it is not screwing around with that idea in the least.
The DLC package will be free, and a tournament using only the DLC car will be held in Japan later this fall. All I can say is I hope this pops up in our American version sooner than later, but Nintendo UK’s statement to Eurogamer seems to indicate that this will be happening.
“The announcement this time was made by Mercedes-Benz Japan regarding their collaboration in Japan with NCL,” said the spokesperson.
“As for the information relating to the distribution of the GLA kart for MK8 outside Japan, we will be able to announce in the near future.”
Product placement in video games is often scorned upon by most, but something this blatant is simply way too hilarious to pass up. This is way better than Horse Armor. Check out the images in the gallery below.
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