Anyone who has dreamed about experiencing Mario Kart in real life can now make it into reality. Supercube, an initiative by four Brussels residents who fuse karting with video games, has been working to fuse electric carts with video games, and Mario Kart is just the beginning.
The carts reach 25 kilometres per hour and drive on a virtual simulation circuit which is projected on the floor. Each race has a different circuit, a principle familiar to Mario Kart. However, Maro and Luigi will not race alongside you, as Supercube does not have the license for them.
The carts whiz past one another and react flawlessly to projections on the ground, such as 'power up' boosters and traps set by other racers. For instance, when a cart drives over a 'power up', the item in the box will appear on the screen of the handlebars, which the driver can then aim and hurl at opponents.
No helmets needed
The carts also react to one another, and can therefore not collide (at least not very hard). They automatically break when the distance between them gets too small.
Olivier Nicaise, who controls the technology, explained that a "wireless data connection sends the location of the karts to the server." Some of the tracks even have intersections where carts run straight into each other. The aim then is to avoid one another, adding a level of excitement to the game. Especially considering that there is no reason to fear a real crash. In fact, drivers aren't required to even wear helmets during the races.
The team at Supercube built the entire concept themselves. In doing so, they received help from Epic, the game developer known for Fortnite.
The founders of Supercube self-funded the company. Arnaud Darimont, who created Supercube, has a history as an investment manager at D'Ieteren, which has seen a share price explosion since 2020. This allowed him to lucratively cash in his stock options. That well-invested money is what he is now pumping into Supercube and its ventures.
Just the beginning
However, Mario Kart is only the beginning, according to Darimont. "To start with, we chose a Mario Kart-like experience because everyone knows it. But we want to go much further."
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Another almost-ready game is based on the 'capture a flag' concept where opponents try to capture other teams' flags. They are also working on a pirate game, for which Supercube has been collaborating with students from Digital Arts & Entertainment, the game development course at Howest in Kortrijk.
While Supercube was launched at science fiction, comics, fantasy and anime fairs, it opened its doors in a semi-permanent pop-up in the hall of Flanders Expo, where it will stay for five months. However, the founders do not see their journey ending there. They now dream of a permanent place in which they can build a restaurant for a "total experience".
For the moment though, they have packed up the carts as, for the next ten days, another fair will take place in the Flanders Expo. The founders, who have been working non-stop since June, will use this time for a well-deserved break before returning and bringing Mario Kart to life.
