A gamer has found a copy of an infamous, unreleasedMario Kartgame calledMario Kart XXLthat previously has been only available as a demo video. The copy has been made available for all to play and gives a good look at the unofficialMario Kartgame that was never given the green light from Nintendo.
Mario Kartis one of the best-selling gaming franchisesin the history of video games, and its handheld versions have been popular since the Game Boy days. The series started as early as on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1992 and found its way to the Game Boy in the early 2000s. A total of elevenMario Kartgames have been released on all Nintendo platforms since the franchise’s inception, with the latest beingMario Kart Live: Home Circuitfor Switch.
RELATED:Mario Kart Tour Remaking Boo Lake Course
The game in question was received by an unnamed gamer and given to a Nintendo-focused website Forest of Illusion. A YouTuber by the name of Hard4Games took it and reviewed the game. It is a racer that was developed after the first handheldMario Kartgame and carried the nameMario Kart XXL. The game is a simple demo version, probably intended as a pitch for Nintendo. It was developed by none other than Manfred Trenz, an influentialgame developer for the Commodore 64. He had worked on some of the most famous video games in the late 80s and early 90s, includingThe Great Giana Sisters,Turrican, andR-Type.
Mario Kart XXLwas reportedly developed a couple of years afterGBA’sMario Kart: Super Circuitand could’ve been an effort to get a deal with Nintendo for the next handheld console. In fact, Nintendo releasedMario Kart DSa year and a half after this demo was dated. TheMario Kart XXLV1.0 demo is very rough on the edges and clearly not meant for release. The gameplay is lacking and animations are nearly non-existent. However, it does have an interesting camera-panning feature and floating levels.
The origins of this game have previously been presumed to be a version of the developer’s PC kart racerMoorhuhn Kart XXL, which it had similarities with and borrowed music from. Instead, it was revealed that it started as another game demo calledR3D-Demo. This game looks curiously a lot like the legendary kart racer seriesMicro Machines, developed byracing game studio Codemasters. Incidentally, Trenz had also created the GBC version of theMicro Machines V3.
TheR3D-Demoborrowed a similar floating-level 3D effect fromMicro Machines,and, interestingly, the music included a track from Second Reality by Future Crew, a demo scene favorite from 1993. However, nothing came ofMario Kart XXL.Trenz did work on another finished GBA racing game project, theCrazy Frog Racer. However, that game would probably not scratch the itch ofplaying a properMario Kart.
