New Mariokart map lets players race across Canucks’ home ice at Rogers Arena

There were a few times last season where it seemed as though a player had slipped on a banana peel on the Rogers Arena ice surface.

And now, there will be banana peels, shells, and much more gracing the ice at the Vancouver Canucks’ home rink as of July 12th — sort of.

On Thursday morning, Nintendo announced the fifth wave of their ‘Booster Course Pass’ for Mariokart 8 Deluxe. The Booster Course Pass gives players of the game new content to play every few months. Most notably, this features reimagined versions of courses from all of your favourite previous Mariokart titles.

This includes Mariokart Tour, the mobile game that features race courses based on various cities across the world. One of these places, which will be available to play on July 12th for players with the Booster Course Pass, is Vancouver.

“Vancouver Velocity” features the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Jack Poole Plaza, and other notable Vancouver landmarks. Most notably for Canucks fans, you’ll race right out of the Zamboni doors at Rogers Arena across the ice while Shy Guys skate around you. There are three versions of the map in Mariokart Tour, each featuring different landmarks. It’s unclear just how many will be featured in the Mariokart 8 Deluxe version of the map, but the official announcement video from Nintendo clearly shows Rogers Arena will be featured.

In the video, the Olympic Cauldron and Capilano Suspension Bridge are also clearly visible. Obviously there are no Canucks logos or NHL branding at “Rogers Arena” in the game, as the banners in the rafters instead read “Team Ice Bros.”

Other landmarks featured in the three mobile game versions of Vancouver that could be in the Mariokart 8 Deluxe version are Science World, the Lions Gate Bridge, Stanley Park near Lost Lagoon — which players are launched out of a circus cannon to reach — and the Massey Tunnel. And yes, we are expecting traffic to be absolutely brutal on both the Lions Gate and Massey Tunnel’s game versions, too.

Thankfully, Nintendo seems to have spared players an exceptional amount of pain by not including the Iron Workers or Pattullo Bridge on the course.