Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Has Added Nintendo Labo Support

To help kick off the latest Nintendo Labo Creators Contest and get those imagination muscles working full speed, a patch has now gone live in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that lets players enjoy the game using the Motorbike Toy-Con device available in the Labo Variety Kit. If you've ever wanted to feel like you're steering a real motorcycle while speeding past Bowser and Yoshi at breakneck speeds, now is your moment to shine.

This morning Nintendo announced a collaboration that makes so much sense, it's odd they didn't have it ready to roll the moment Nintendo Labo launched. The patch is for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which now lets players use one the Labo cardboard contraptions to play the game. The Variety Kit offers blueprints and materials to create several fun toys for people to build, play and experiment with. One of those toys is a set of cardboard handlebars, complete with a working throttle.

That is, obviously, a perfect fit for Mario Kart, which boasts all sorts of bikes and scooters in its roster of vehicles. As you can see in the video below, the Labo contraption gives you access to all of the buttons you need, lets you steer the game using the Joy-Con's gyroscope and even has a safe spot to display the Switch's screen.

This is just about the most Nintendo thing we've seen this year, leaving us to wonder what other games they might be able to plug Labo support into. Even better, what future games might get designed with Labo support in mind from the get-go?

Anyway, it's a nifty implementation and, if you have both games, it couldn't hurt to download the update and take Labo steering in Mario Kart for a spin. And if you do, be sure to let us know in the comments below how things go.

Creativity begets creativity, which is why the launch of this collaboration is perfect timing for the launch of the latest Nintendo Labo Creators Contest. The Labo sets let you do all sorts of interesting things, but Nintendo wants to see what players come up with on their own in terms of utilizing the various devices.

For the competition, which you can read all about on the official site, Nintendo is asking you to design either a gaming experience using the Toy-Con Garage or a toy-con musical instrument. You'll want to bone up on the particulars and get to designing, as entries can be submitted between July 19 and Aug. 20. All sorts of prizes are being offered for the best designs, including a cardboard-themed Switch that's actually rad as hell, a Nintendo Labo jacket and a framed award certificate signed by the developers. A collection of runners-up will also receive cardboard-themed Joy-Con controllers and a jacket.