Super Kart Race Watch Face

Let's-a go!

This watch face puts the race view of Super Mario Kart across your whole watch, pixel for pixel: Mario Circuit 1 in Mode 7, turning and rushing at you just as the SNES drew it. The asphalt and its red and white curbs, the dirt and its coloured border, the green pipes, the field of ? panels, the coins on the road, the hills and the trees on the horizon under a pale yellow sky. And every minute, you race a lap.

Lakitu flies in with the starting light: red, red, green, GO! You pull away from the back of the grid with the seven other racers out ahead. Then you reel them in one at a time, pass them and watch them drop behind you: 7th, 6th, 5th, all the way to the lead. Drive over the coins scattered down the road and each one pops up out of your kart. Dodge the pipes on the track. Lakitu comes back with the chequered flag, you take it in 1st, slow to a stop and watch the others come home past you. At the turn of the minute you are back on the grid.

Choose your racer: Mario, Luigi, Princess, Donkey Kong Jr., Toad, Bowser, Yoshi or Koopa Troopa. All eight of the game's racers are on the track, and the other seven race against the one you pick.

The race follows the clock, not your wrist. Glance at your watch at any moment and the race is wherever that second puts it, always in step with the time.

Every kart, Lakitu, the hills and the circuit itself are 16-bit pixel art read from the game: the karts lean into the bends and turn as the road turns, the race position counts down in the game's own figures from 8 to 1 and flashes once you win, and every number and letter is set in a blocky retro type drawn pixel by pixel, outlined in black so it reads against the sky.

Everything you need at a glance:
• A big retro digital clock in the sky, where the game keeps its timer, following your 12/24-hour setting
• Weekday and date
• Battery level, counted the way the game counts coins
• Today's steps beside a boot
• Your heart rate beside a Star
• A gold step goal ring around the edge, the gold of the coins, filling as you walk

Make it yours: press and hold the watch face, tap Customize, and pick your racer, or switch the step goal ring off if you prefer a clean edge. Mario races to begin with, with the ring on.

In always-on mode the race steps aside and only a dim clock stays lit, gently shifting position to protect your screen.

Made for anyone who grew up with a controller in their hands: fans of the SNES and the Super Famicom, of the 1992 classic that started kart racing, of Mode 7, of Mario Circuit, the Mushroom Cup and the 50cc grand prix. A retro gaming watch face for the 16-bit kid in you.

Requires Wear OS 5 or later.

Unofficial fan-made design; not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo or any rights holder. Super Mario Kart, Mario, Luigi, Princess, Donkey Kong Jr., Toad, Bowser, Yoshi, Koopa Troopa, Lakitu and related characters are trademarks of Nintendo.