Move over, Mario. This cow is Nintendo’s new star

NEW YORK – Think of the name Nintendo, and familiar names and faces likely come to mind.

There are Mario and Luigi, the mustachioed brothers in overalls who fight Bowser, the turtle-like villain with a habit of kidnapping Princess Peach. And then there are Donkey Kong, Wario and Toad, among others.

These characters have been racing one another in iterations of the Mario Kart game series since 1992, with no real storyline other than who can come in first place.

But from the moment the first trailers for the Switch 2 console and the Mario Kart World game were released in April, fans were abuzz that a new favourite had entered the race – a cow.

Fascination with Cow, as the character is known, only grew after the console and game went on sale in June. She has become Mario Kart World’s breakout star, validated by her leading role in popular videos on Instagram and TikTok.

One Instagram reel, featuring the cow rocking back and forth on a go-kart to the beat of the song Mooo! (2018) by American rapper Doja Cat, has been viewed 1.9 million times. Another has her showboating on a motorcycle to La Vaca (The Cow), the 2000 merengue hit by Dominican singer Mala Fe.

Both videos are the creation of Mr Jorge Martinez of McAllen, Texas, who said he was excited about Cow from the moment he saw the trailer for the game.

“Oh, I lost it,” he said. “I wasn’t even thinking about memes. I was just thinking about playing as a cow.”

But Mr Martinez, whose grandparents kept cows on their ranch in Mexico, said the inspiration for memes hit him quickly once he noticed how easy it was to send footage from his Switch 2 to his phone.

“I was like, why don’t I just make a dumb video of the cow?” he said.

Mr Sergio Ospina of Bogota, Colombia, was similarly inspired. He shared a reel of himself performing a loose interpretation of a merengue dance in front of his television, also to La Vaca, while he played as Cow.

“This is why I bought the Switch 2,” the text of the video said in Spanish. The video, posted in collaboration with a Colombian toy store, has been viewed 376,000 times.

In making Mario Kart World the premier launch title for the Switch 2, Nintendo gave the enduring race game series an upgrade by allowing up to 24 players to roam off-track in an open world. The decision to elevate the cow, previously a background figure, into a playable character was another change that fans swiftly latched onto.

Nintendo declined to make anyone available for an interview. The game’s developers said in a Q&A on the company’s website that they were working on a course for a new game that was set on a ranch, and looking for new characters to add, when someone produced a sketch of a smiling cow driving a small truck.

“One of the designers came up with that silly sketch of Cow cruising along, and I thought to myself, ‘This is it!’” said Mr Masaaki Ishikawa, a developer.

“The character designer quickly put together a prototype of Cow that could race,” he added, “and surprisingly it didn’t feel out of place at all. So we thought maybe we could include other obstacle characters” as racers.

That led to the introduction of Cheep Cheep, a red fish, and Pokey, a cactus, as playable characters, he said.

Neither has captured the public’s imagination quite like Cow, however.

For Mr Martinez, Mario Kart has always been about having fun and playing with his friends. He appreciates that Nintendo, rather than worrying about having an elaborate storyline or true-to-life graphics, has put a premium on keeping joy in the game.

Cow, he said, exemplifies that.

“The silly idea of having a cow in there, it’s just kind of like a victory,” he said. “It’s just good fun.” NYTIMES