Mario and Luigi Crash the LA Auto Show

Super Reggie Kart

The Mario Bros. made a special appearance at the LA Auto Show, complete with life-size, game accurate replicas of their crazy, cartoony karts. Mario rolled in with his signature red kart, and Luigi pulled up in a sick bumblebee kart, with Reggie presumably there kicking names and taking ass. I think I got that last part right.

To promote Mario Kart 7, Nintendo teamed with West Coast Custom (of Pimp My Ride fame) to make Mario and Luigi’s karts a reality.

Yo dawg, I heard you like Mario Kart, so we put Mario Kart in your Mario Kart so you can Mario Kart while you Mario Kart

Now I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news: Nintendo is giving away the karts to two lucky GameStop customers. No details on the contest yet, but we’ll keep you posted. Bad news: the karts don’t actually drive [Not true! Check the update below!]. That might be obvious, but I know when I first saw life-size Mario Karts I was hoping to freak out people on the expressway.

Big thanks to my buddy J.L. for pointing me to the original Jalopnik article, which you can check out here. Lots more cool pictures, plus an especially derpy quote from the Regginator.

UPDATE 11/18
Jalopnik initially misreported one vital fact: the karts do drive! This promotion went from pretty neat to crazy awesome. Time to hassle GameStop–I look forward to picking up White Castle in a giant go-kart. Big thanks to my eagle-eyed buddy Mike for spotting this all-important detail, and of course, the guys over at West Coast Customs for clearing up the confusion. They’ve got pics and links to check out, plus they tease that one of the karts is faster than the other–but won’t reveal which one until a later date. I love a classic kart, but I have a feeling Luigi’s mean bee machine is the zippier of the two.