10 Ridiculous Ways Adverts Were Built Into Video Games

4. Mario Kart And Mercedes-Benz

Sneak King
Nintendo

At this stage of existence, basically everyone on Earth has heard of or experienced Mario Kart in some way. It's a fun, light-hearted game series with not a single hint of realism in sight, full of crazy items like flying blue shells and gigantic sentient bullets.

So as you'd expect, the sight of a Mercedes-Benz vehicle racing down Rainbow Road felt extremely out of place.

Back in 2014, Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U would receive a trio of Mercedes-Benz cars in a free update: the Mercedes-Benz GLA; the W25 Silver Arrow; and the 300 SL Roadster. The game publisher also threw on a "Mercedes Cup" in honour of this partnership, wherein players could race against each other using the new cars.

These three karts didn't affect gameplay in any way - with the Mercedes branding merely a cosmetic addition - but the look of the vehicles themselves just didn't gel with Mario Kart 8's cartoony aesthetic, and it pulled you right out of the game (and reminded you you were staring at an advert) each time you saw one of them whoosh down the track.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.