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Wow, Mario Kart World really is Nintendo’s take on Grand Theft Auto, as NPCs can break into each other’s cars: “He’s breaking into Green Shy Guy’s car! And now he’s stealing it!”

Dustin Bailey

17 September 2025

We really got Yellow Toad committing grand theft auto before GTA 6

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(Image credit: Nintendo)

“It’s like GTA” is an easy shorthand for any open-world game, since Rockstar’s wildly popular series is largely responsible for turning that genre into the ubiquitous format of AAA gaming. In that sense, yeah, Mario Kart World is a little like GTA with its massive map and big array of side activities. It turns out, however, that there’s an even bigger connection: literal grand theft auto.

“In Mario Kart World, NPCs will park their cars, exit them, and walk around,” as Mario trivia enthusiast Supper Mario Broth explains in a Bluesky post. “However, the game does not actually keep track who each car belongs to. As such, a different NPC than the owner may drive away with a car, seemingly stealing it.”
This detail was previously noted by HIGO_Mario_Fan on Twitter back in June, but the exposé in Supper Mario Broth’s annotated video is incredible stuff – like watching a reality crime show from the Mushroom Kingdom.

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Mario Kart World banana snipers beware: that MKTV helicopter watching you race can apparently obliterate your chances at winning

In Mario Kart World, NPCs will park their cars, exit them, and walk around. However, the game does not actually keep track who each car belongs to. As such, a different NPC than the owner may drive away with a car, seemingly stealing it.— @mariobrothblog.bsky.social (@mariobrothblog.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-17T16:52:19.220Z
“The Green Shy Guy just parked his car and is exiting it,” the annotations begin. “He proceeds to walk away, leaving his car unattended. The car is approached by a Yellow Toad, who looks around suspiciously. He’s breaking into Green Shy Guy’s car! And now he’s stealing it! And the Green Shy Guy is still here! How do we tell him?!”

The big, red letters on “stealing it” are the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all week, but there’s some debate on whether theft is really what’s going on here. In the replies to Supper Mario Broth’s post, there are suggestions that maybe this is a property-free world where all the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom share their cars. Maybe Yellow Toad and Green Shy Guy are married and sharing the car.
But come on – you all saw the way Yellow Toad was looking around before he jumped into that car and started hotrodding through town. We really got Mario NPCs committing grand theft auto before GTA 6, folks.
Master the open world with the full Mario Kart World track list.

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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He’s been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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Mario Kart World’s staff would “go skateboarding or ride their bikes” during lunch breaks, which explains the wild movement in the Switch 2 racer

Mario Kart World player discovers you can defy the laws of gravity in Free Roam with a bug that allows you to float across the map: “I think I broke the game”

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Nintendo proves nothing is too niche for Mario Kart World’s massive soundtrack with a remix of a drawing tutorial from a late 2000s DSi app

“This dude’s gonna single-handedly delay GTA 6 for several years”: Bold truth seeker asks if GTA 5 street signs are actually legal, commissions a mod that corrects Rockstar’s many mistakes

Mario Kart World just launched with Switch 2, but PC gamers are playing Mario Kart 64 instead thanks to a “many-year” fan project that doesn’t contain Nintendo’s original code

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