Mario Kart Live creates volcano, desert, and underwater AR home circuits

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit was perhaps the most surprising announcement coming from the Super Mario 35th Anniversary celebrations, as Velan Studios' take on the classic formula sees camera-equipped real RC toy cars racing around your living room (or your backyard, perhaps) while you control the game on the Nintendo Switch with added virtual elements. This means you'll be able to slow down a rival car by hitting them with a shell or boost your kart IRL by grabbing a mushroom in-game.

Now, both costumes and different environmental effects were teased during the original announcement, but in the past few days Nintendo's official channels in Japan have shared a few new pictures showing how the solo Grand Prix mode turns any real environment into a Mario kart stage:

As you can see, the single-player Grand Prix (which includes eight cups) creates AR "ambients" inspired by typical Mushroom Kingdom themes, including but not limited to Rainbow Road, retro 8-bit Mario, volcano/lava grounds, piranha plant fields, and even underwater, cheep-cheep filed levels. And to go with all of them, Mario can dress up with some of the fanciest costumes, some of them heavily inspired by Super Mario Odyssey's wardrobe (such as explorer, cowboy, or pirate). Of course, coins, banana peels, Chain Chomps, Bob-ombs, and more can be used against the koopaling hologram rivals.

But this is mainly about creating your own tracks on the Custom Race mode, where up to four real RC karts compete in your DIY designs. If you want to gather some inspiration before Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit releases on October 16, here are some ideas on routes, "terrains" and crafting materials: