Oh, brothers!
They transformed NYC into a real-life Nintendo game.
Internet pranksters had New Yorkers in stitches after zipping around the city dressed as characters from the racing game “Mario Kart,” as seen in a hilarious YouTube clip that’s since gone viral.
“I thought it’d be funny,” filmmaker Caleb Simpson, 28, told The Post, adding that he’d dreamed of performing the stunt ever since he moved to New York from North Carolina five years ago.
In the four-minute clip, Simpson is seen in a red-and-blue Mario costume go-karting past various NYC landmarks alongside a Luigi facsimile — played by his pal, Irving Salazar — as bystanders react to the duo’s antics.
“You would think I’m making this up, but this is actually going down,” said one flabbergasted gawker.
During one of the more outlandish moments, the imitation Mario stops at a pizza place, whereupon his cheeky brother makes off with his unattended vehicle, prompting the Nintendo mascot to throw his slice in the air in mock exasperation. Another shot depicts Luigi comically disabling his fellow plumber’s car by tossing a banana peel in front of it — mimicking how “Mario Kart” characters use various weapons to knock their competitors out of play. All the while, the theme song and sound effects from the ’90s racing game play in the background.
For all the fun they had, shooting a liveaction video game simulation was “logistically a pain in the ass,” said Simpson. The costumes and go-karts were purchased easily enough from Amazon. But they had to procure slower, electric go-karts that top off at 15 mph, since they feared driving the motorized versions might land them in jail.
At one point, the brothers are even seen getting stopped by cops in Times Square.
“They were stopping everybody and checking their IDs,” said Simpson, who was worried his outfit would arouse suspicion. Thankfully, the cartoon character convoy was allowed to pass through without incident.
Reactions were overwhelmingly positive, said Simpson, who added that bystanders couldn’t believe they “just saw Mario and Luigi drive by.”
“This is beyond brilliant,” fawned one fan on Instagram.
“I want a car like that,” said another. Simpson, who boasts 3.8 million TikTok followers, told The Post that his ultimate goal was to “push some positivity and hopefully make the people laugh.”