Nintendo Mario Kart replica won by GameStop customer

Nathanial Stehley is one lucky guy. All he had to do was pre-order the game Mario Kart 7 for 3DS to win a life-size racing kart themed after the long-running Mario franchise. And, get this, it actually works. The legality of actually taking it onto public roads is probably a different issue, though. Nevertheless, it's pretty cool.

The contraption was created by West Coast Customs, which gained a lot of fame for its presence in the MTV show Pimp My Ride. It was delivered directly to Stehley's home, by Mario himself. As long as I don't spot him in my rear-view mirror with red turtle shells circling around, I congratulate Stehley on his prize. And, I have to admit, I'm quite jealous as well, though because I live in New York City I'd have no place to park it so it's all good.

I'm curious to see what the next big Nintendo/GameStop promotion will be. Will someone who pre-orders the next Mario Bros title win a real-life castle? Will a Mario Party 9 buyer get a gigantic floating dice block? Or, now that the 3DS is selling well and doesn't really need larger-than-life promotions to earn attention, will nothing like this happen again?

[via Metro.co.uk]