Video of the Day: Real-life Mario Kart with power-ups

If you’ve ever indulged in some Mario Kart racing via Nintendo gaming system, then you’ll be pleased to find out that the video game has come to life.

Students from Colorado State University had to come up with a project for their mechatronics class so they decided on a fully function kart-racing game.

Junkyard Battle Racing was designed by Alex Zenk, Katie Johnson, Floyd Bundrant, and Jacob Gover for who included power-ups into the race, just like in the real Mario Kart.

If the driver runs over a power-up pod on the road, the kart will randomly assign one of four boosts: speed boost, shield, EMP blaster, or death beam gun, which can be used to enhance the kart’s performance or be shot at an opponent to hinder his or her performance.

Watch the race here, as well as some additional information from the students who created the full-sized game.