The latest episode of The Simpsons features a full-on Mario Kart dream sequence, which sees Lisa and Homer battle it out on the Rainbow Road.
The brief Mario Kart parody came in the form of a nightmare from Homer, who feared that his reckless driving had forced Lisa to take on a hobby that could see her get hurt. In keeping with the theme of danger, we see a dream vignette in a representation of Rainbow Road, while having a number of longtime characters take on the appearances of racers from the popular Nintendo franchise.
As the focus of the dream, Lisa was naturally chosen to don a blue variant of Mario’s iconic red hat, and adopting a terrible Italian accent in order to become a questionable parody of the beloved plumber. Homer, meanwhile, aped the mannerisms of Wario, while Nelson, Ralph Wiggum, and either Sherri or Terri took on the appearances of Bowser, Toad, and Princess Peach respectively.
Mario Kart reference from tonight's new episode of The Simpsons, "Lisa Gets an F1". pic.twitter.com/fagfFUL5YR
— VideoGameArt&Tidbits (@VGArtAndTidbits) February 26, 2024
The race that follows sees a Yoshified version of Milhouse blasted off the course with a blue shell, before Homer offs Lisa with a well placed "trauma bomb," and some pretty on-the-nose dialogue. Given the insane range of topics that have been covered over the course of its 760+ episode run, its almost surprising that it took this long for the iconic video game series to make a major appearance.
The first episode of The Simpsons opened in 1989 with Homer ploughing into a snowdrift outside of Springfield Elementary School, and jokes surrounding his terrible driving have persisted in one way or another ever since. Recent seasons have also seen the series' writers emphasise the dangerous and unforseen consequences of Homer's reckless behavior.
For example, Season 34, Episode 22 of the long-running animation saw Homer reflect on his anger as he flew through his car's windshield after colliding with a fire hydrant while angrily texting his wife, Marge. More recently, Episode 12 of Season 35 - entitled ‘Lisa Gets an F1’ - revisited the theme from a different angle, by following the titular character's attempt to combat her anxiety over Homer’s driving by becoming a pro go-kart racer.
As of the latest count Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold a staggering 60.79 million units in the period following its April 2017 release, cementing its position in IGN’s list of the top 10 best selling video games of all time.
Sadly, this may be the only Simpsons racing fix that we're likely to see for some time. Last year, fans were left disappointed when the creator of an awesome-looking Simpsons Hit and Run remake announced that his fan project would not be released, despite being all but complete.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
