Beginning with the release of Super Mario Kart in 1992 for SNES, Mario Kart quickly became one of Nintendo’s most beloved series. With its familiar characters, whimsical style, and intensely competitive nature, these games manage to strike a chord with players of all ages.
However, unless you lived in Japan during the late 1990s and aughts, there’s a good chance you missed these region-specific television commercials for Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Advance (known elsewhere as Mario Kart: Super Circuit). Utilizing a sleek Japanese art style, these clips contain arguably the most impressive Mario animations to date. Other markets received commercials with twisted, off-the-wall humor commonly found in ad campaigns from the time.
If you’ve never had the pleasure, do your eyes a favor and take a moment to appreciate these brief but fascinating videos. It’s the type of thing that will make you long for a Mario anime series that never was.