Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has excellent music; that much is certain. We’ve spent many hours bobbing our heads to jazz-inspired tunes with headphones on, but what if you could experience the music with a live jazz band instead?
So you can! If you’re willing to travel to Oklahoma City, that is. As he pointed out Guarda simply named five-piece band Mario Kart 8 live is hosting a Mario Kart tournament with live music to simulate the game’s sound effects and theme songs.
The band is working hard to learn every song in the game, but for now, participants will be limited to Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup, Special Cup, Shell Cup, Banana Cup, Leaf Cup, and Lightning Cup. Four professional controllers are supplied during the tournament, and the band has an all-ages event coming up March 30, 2024so even the young can join in the fun.
Speaking to The Guardian, the band’s drummer, Ethan Neel, believes this could be the first instance in the US of a live band creating music for the latest game in the franchise:
“Everyone has characters they remember from Mario Kart. Some really quintessential songs came out of that. Live music playing with Mario Kart has been done before, but we wanted to do the latest version of the game and as far as we could see, no one had done it, at least not in the US. The pairing of the two seemed really natural. At the end of the day, everyone loves Mario Kart. It’s always a great time.”
We would definitely be up for this! Unfortunately, for many of us, this would mean traveling abroad. Regardless, we take our red and green hats off to the band for putting together something so unique and fun. It looks wonderful.
Would you be up for a Mario Kart tournament with a live jazz band? Let us know with a comment below.
