After Mario Kart 8 Deluxe introduced The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing characters to the series, people were curious where Mario Kart World would turn next for new racers. It’s highly doubtful anyone predicted Cow from Mario Kart 64’s Moo Moo Farm course. But Nintendo has revealed how a drawing–seen below–of the character driving a truck was the impetus for including the bovine.
In a new Ask the Developer interview, Mario Kart World art director Masaaki Ishikawa discussed the origins of Cow as a playable character. “Each new Mario Kart game features new characters to race with, but since we added so many to the previous game, we wondered where we could go from there,” Ishikawa said. “And then one of the designers came up with that silly sketch of Cow cruising along, and I thought to myself, “This is it!” (Laughs) So that’s when we realized the course surroundings actually contained a lot of untapped resources.”
Ishikawa added that Cow’s inclusion then led to “Cheep Cheep and Pokey as racers.” Additionally, Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki noted Cow also inspired “obstacle characters like Camel and Giraffe.” As such, “Cow is actually a pivotal character in the Mario Kart series (laughs),” Ishikawa said.
