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Isn’t it a little weird that whenever Princess Peach gets kidnapped, and ostensibly needs to be rescued as soon as possible, Mario literally runs off to save her? Why is it that when time is of the essence, Nintendo’s greatest hero insists on doing the job on foot? After all, it’s not like he can’t drive, since there are now eight titles in the Mario Kart racing series.

Really, it’s about time Mario got himself some motorized transportation, and a star of his caliber needs a suitably prestigious ride. Something like a new Mercedes-Benz GLA, perhaps.

Celebrity endorsements are one of the oldest tricks in the Japanese advertising book, and both domestic and international entertainment icons have hawked cars in Japan (though we’re gonna go way out on a limb and guess that Leonardo Di Caprio never actually bought the three-cylinder Suzuki Wagon R he used to appear in ads for).

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So when Mercedes’ marketing team was getting ready to launch the company’s new four-door hatchback in Japan, naturally they went looking for a famous promotional partner.

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The 30-second ad seems to imply that like Mario himself, the GLA is swift, nimble, and dependable. Soon after Mario hops into the driver’s seat, we see the car accelerate away…and then jump?!

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Haha, well, that’s just a little video game humor to tie the GLA into the classic NES game. After all, what else could they do, show the car stomping Goombas?

▼ Oh…

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We also see the GLA enter invincible mode. We suppose this is supposed to be a metaphor for the automobile’s quality German engineering that ensures it’ll never break down on you. Still, we think there might have been a less gruesome way to drive this point home than by driving through a trio of living creatures.

▼ Although we applaud Mercedes’ and Mario’s restraint in not crushing any turtles under the car’s wheels.

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Thankfully, after this brief bout of vehicular slaughter, it’s back to flights of whimsical fancy, as the GLA soars over the World 1-1 flagpole.

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Then, without warning, the video goes all gritty reboot on us.

▼ Seeing the iconic Super Mario Bros. castle rendered so realistically is pretty cool though.

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Mario himself looks quite a bit more muscular than we’re used to, and several degrees angrier.

▼ This is exactly the expression you expect to see on a motorist who just murdered eight of his oldest enemies with his car.

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Of course, Mario’s no chump, and he wouldn’t be lending his likeness to the German carmaker’s commercial without getting something in return. Gamers with a copy of Mario Kart 8 can look forward to a free download this summer of a GLA to drive in-game, followed by an all-GLA Mario Kart competition scheduled for the fall. You can even get a preview of the first-ever real-world car to appear in the series at trial stations set up at the Mercedes me lounge in Tokyo from now until June 8.

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While we’re happy that Mario’s feet and knees will get a break from all that running and jumping, we can’t help but worry about how this will affect the status of Yoshi, the hero’s previusother mode of transportation. Hopefully they’re not sending him to “a nice big farm, with lots of space for him to run around and play with the other dinosaurs.”

 

Sources: Hachima Kikou, Gadget Tsushin, 4 Gamer
Top image: YouTube
Insert images: YouTube, 4 Gamer (edited by RocketNews24)