Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule becomes a racetrack in Mario Kart 8 mod

Fan mods for Mario Kart 8 aren’t rare, and neither are mods dropping the world of one game into the engine of another. But there’s something special about this Zelda: Ocarina of Time-themed mod which recreates the Hyrule of Nintendo’s 1998 classic as a course for the smash hit kart racer.

What’s striking about the mod, by RiazorMC — which has captured the hearts of the Zelda subreddit — isn’t just the authentic look of the models and textures. It’s the way it recreates the actual geography of Ocarina’s Hyrule too, turning the game’s adventure fields into a kind of open-world rally course, with each lap taking you to different iconic locations.

The race starts at the mouth of the Deku Tree, before heading through Kokiri Forest on the way to Hyrule Field, blasting past Hyrule Castle and Lon Lon Ranch, and looping through the desert canyons and ruins of Gerudo’s Fortress on the first lap. Then it’s off to Lake Hylia in lap 2, and back across Hyrule Field before a punishing, twisty ascent through Kakariko Village and up Death Mountain in lap 3.

I love how seamlessly the game’s locations have been blended together, and how they’re all exactly where you would expect to find them on the map; it looks like it would be fun to explore in free-roam, just navigating from memory. You will also find many secret shortcuts and a very maze-like course. It is not marked with the track signs and turn indicators that Mario Kart courses have, so it’s difficult for people to see.

Sadly, we’re unlikely to get a chance to try — a Redditor notes that RiazorMC never releases their mods. This is likely to be the best, given how litigious Nintendo is about fans using its properties.