Gaming - News
Mario Kart XXL: The GBA Racer That Never Made It Past The Pitch Phase
By JOHN BUDAY
The hit “Mario Kart: Super Circuit” was released for the GameBoy Advance in 2001, but given better circumstances, there might have been another GBA “Mario Kart” title after it. Gaming preservation site Forest of Illusion unveiled in October 2022 that it had found a demo for a GBA title called “Mario Kart XXL,” pitched by Denaris Entertainment Software in 2004.
Denaris Entertainment Software created its demo mostly out of pre-existing series assets, putting together a single course. While the demo failed to track Mario’s laps, it did count when he fell out of bounds; the demo also dabbled in an artistic choice not seen in previous “Mario Karts,” as it placed a vertical layer below the track, giving the course an extra layer of depth.
Notes from Manfred Trenz, founder of Denaris Entertainment Software, went over the demo's primary feature: Players could adjust their perspective a full 360 degrees around the kart and zoom in and out — a feature not present in any “Mario Kart” titles. Trenz approached Nintendo of Europe, but the demo never went anywhere due to his lack of experience with Nintendo.
