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Mario Karts His Way Into Google Maps For A Limited Time

Booster mushrooms and gold coins not included. 

Blake Morse

March 9, 2018 12:37 PM

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March 10 is a very special day in the world of Nintendo. For you see, if you take the abbreviation of March and the number 10 and combine them you get "Mar10."  Get it? While it's a rather straightforward dad-joke of a pun, it's also a great excuse to celebrate all things Super Mario. To that extent, Nintendo has teamed up with Google Maps to bring the iconic plumber to their app.

Wahoo! Now you can navigate the world as Mario in @GoogleMaps to celebrate #MAR10Day! Check out #MarioMaps on Google Maps now for a week. pic.twitter.com/iX3uZMfLrc

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 9, 2018

For the next week, players will be able to have a Kart-powered Mario help them get to their destination instead of the traditional blue dot. In order to use the new feature, iOS and Android users will have to update their Google Maps app once it goes live on March 10. Once the update has been downloaded, users should notice a familiar question mark block icon on the main screen. Users must simply tap on the block to enable "Mario Mode."

This isn't the first time Google has teamed up with a famous video game character. In the past, the company did a similar event involving Pac-Man chomping down dots on the way to a user's destination. It's kind of a bummer that this is only a limited feature as I'd much rather have Mario by my side navigating me through life's many traffic jams than a blue dot. Maybe he could hook up some turtle shells to get some of these other cars outta my way too. 

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot