After decades of development, YouTube has become the world’s largest digital video platform, allowing users from around the globe to freely share all kinds of videos while also providing creators with a place to shine. Recently, a YouTube channel attempted to break the platform’s boundaries, transforming the standard video player—which could only be used to browse videos—into a full-fledged “gaming platform.”
YouTube channel Atlas Arcade recently uploaded a new video, announcing their collaboration with another channel, Animated Subtitles, to bring Nintendo’s classic Mario Kart to the YouTube platform, allowing players to play this classic racing game directly using the video player.
According to the video instructions, at the start, players just need to use the W key or drag to align the red line on screen with the bottom of the display, then they’ll enter the iconic “Rainbow Road” from the Mario Kart series. From there, pressing the A and D keys on the keyboard lets you move left and right to avoid obstacles and keep driving along the track.
Even more interestingly, players can also choose various classic characters from the Mario series through the subtitle options, such as Mario (English), Luigi (English-Ireland), Toad (English-Australia), Princess Peach (English-India), Yoshi (English-Canada), Wario (English-UK), and Bowser (English-US). The images of these characters are pixel-art creations by the Animated Subtitles team. During the challenge, players can also increase the difficulty by adjusting the video playback speed, and when playing on mobile devices, motion controls are also supported.
In the video description, the production team stated that the video was created using HTML coding, while Python was used for the animations and assets. Notably, Atlas Arcade had previously uploaded various similar playable videos before, but this YouTube version of Mario Kart became the channel’s most popular creation to date.
The way this YouTube version of Mario Kart works is actually quite simple. Essentially, it’s a “VR video” that uses this format to create a 3D effect, and the player is essentially just moving the video itself left and right. The Mario character the player controls has no actual interaction with the track or any obstacles on screen. So even if the player crashes into an obstacle, flies off the track, or turns around and drives in empty space, there’s absolutely no Game Over prompt. When the player pulls the view all the way down, they can also see the center point of the VR video along with a little easter egg. Still, viewers have given this video extremely high ratings.
As of now, this video has accumulated 590,000 views and 20,000 likes. In the comments below, many users praised Atlas Arcade for successfully breaking the boundaries of video playback formats, saying they never thought they could play Mario Kart directly on YouTube. It also reminded some players of classic Flash games from the past, and they even called it one of the most creative YouTube videos ever made.
Beyond Mario Kart, players can also “play” various other games on the Atlas Arcade channel, including the horror game Five Nights at Freddy’s, the platformer Geometry Dash, the classic side-scrolling shooter Galaga, and the endless runner Subway Surfers, among many other mini-games. While they’re essentially still VR videos, Atlas Arcade does present a creative approach that breaks from tradition.
Source: KOCPC Chinese