Mario Kart
Image: via Twitter (ForestIllusion)

Nintendo preservation website Forest of Illusion has acquired the “infamous” Mario Kart XXL tech demo – a pitch by Denaris Entertainment Software for the Game Boy Advance, dating back to April 2004. It’s now been made available to download.

The German development studio (founded by Turrican creator Manfred Trenz) originally showcased the game and its “dynamic and adjustable perspective view engine featuring dual playfields” to Nintendo of Europe. The demo is made up of a single track using Mario Kart assets and features BGM from a PlayStation racer called Moorhuhn Kartwhich Denaris also helped develop.

Interestingly, this Mario Kart demo began life as a racing game called ‘R3D-Demo‘. The same developer eventually went on to release a Game Boy Advance kart racer based on the CGI-animated character Crazy Frog. Yikes!

You can get a more detailed history and look at Mario Kart XXL along with the R3D-Demo on the Hard4Games YouTube:

What do you think of this slice of kart racing history for Game Boy Advance? Comment below.

[source forestillusion.com, via youtu.be]