When Mario Kart World launched last week alongside the Nintendo Switch 2, fans were quick to pick their favorite characters.
But one unexpected contender raced straight into the internet’s heart – Cow, the adorable NPC-turned-racer with a surprisingly muddy reputation.
At first glance, Cow might just seem like a goofy addition, but players quickly noticed her competitive edge on the tracks. However, it wasn’t just her performance getting attention – it was her butt. Japanese social media exploded after one post showed a screenshot of Cow with a rather dirty rear end, captioned simply: “Dirty butt!!!!!!”
While some fans rushed to defend Cow’s honor – “I love this character so much that I feel sad when people badmouth her…” – others leaned into the mess. The conversation soon spiraled into memes, jokes, and… farming commentary?
Enter Renta, a rice farmer from Gifu Prefecture who studied livestock in university and decided to weigh in. “Honestly, cow butts are about this mucky,” he tweeted, confirming the game’s shocking commitment to agricultural realism. “Especially when set out to pasture, herds can end up covered in mud.” His tweet, now viewed over 8.4 million times, praised the developers: “You’d have to really love cows to pay this much attention to detail.”
Renta also shared photos of real cows and explained how farmers clean them regularly. In Mario Kart World, Cow mirrors this perfectly – starting races spotless, but ending up messier depending on how much mud she drives through.
This is the first time Moo Moo Cows – background grazers in Mario Kart since 1996 – have become playable racers. According to art director Masaaki Ishikawa, the idea came from a goofy sketch of Cow behind the wheel. “I thought to myself, ‘This is it!'” he laughed. That moment of inspiration led to more unlikely characters joining the roster, including Cheep Cheep and Pokey.
Since the game dropped, YouTube has been flooded with reaction videos of fans choosing Cow as their main. Online races are now packed with motorcycle-riding bovines leaving muddy tracks and squeaky moos in their wake.
Whether Cow remains the fan favorite or fades as new racers are unlocked, one thing’s certain – her butt has left a lasting impression on the karting world.
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