Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit battery life — How long does the battery last?

Mario Kart Live Home Circuit Remote Control Cars
Mario Kart Live Home Circuit Remote Control Cars (Image credit: Nintendo screenshot)

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit battery life — How long does the battery last?

Best answer: Both the Mario and Luigi remote control karts only have a battery life of up to 90 minutes and take between three to four hours to charge. However, if you factor track creation into the overall experience, you'll probably get a few hours out of your Mario Kart Live racing sessions.Player 1: Mario Kart Live Mario Set ($100 at Best Buy)Player 2: Mario Kart Live Luigi Set ($90 at Walmart)

Track creation adds to overall play time

Mario Kart Live battery life isn't the best, considering that it only lasts for up to 90 minutes and requires a recharge time of three to four hours. It's possible your fun might get cut short prematurely and you'll be forced to end your racing sessions abruptly. However, the fun of playing Mario Kart Live doesn't just center around the actual driving experience.

You'll likely spend a few minutes to an hour setting up your perfect race track complete with props and obstacles to dodge around before finally initiating the race. If you're racing against a friend, you can even take turns setting up tricky courses to see how well the two of you can handle the turns, which will take some time. You can always use the charging period to play one of the best Nintendo Switch games until the karts are ready to go.

Looking at it that way, if you factor in how long it might take you to set up a unique race track, you'll probably get a few hours of entertainment out of the Mario Kart Live battery life before the karts need juice.

How does the game know where the track is?

Before your race begins, player one will need to drive their kart through the four cardboard gates in the proper order. At the start of this process, the game makes a show of a Lakitu dumping paint on Mario's wheels to literally paint a virtual track. Don't worry. Even if you don't trace the track perfectly, the software automatically smooths edges to ensure the track is usable.

Rebecca Spear
Gaming Editor

Gaming aficionado Rebecca Spear is iMore's dedicated gaming editor with a focus on Nintendo Switch and iOS gaming. You’ll never catch her without her Switch or her iPad Air handy. If you’ve got a question about Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda, or just about any other Nintendo series check out her guides to help you out. Rebecca has written thousands of articles in the last six years including hundreds of extensive gaming guides, previews, and reviews for both Switch and Apple Arcade. She also loves checking out new gaming accessories like iPhone controllers and has her ear to the ground when it comes to covering the next big trend.