Why Penny the Mario Kart Corgi won Halloween 2019

TOKYO, JAPAN - NOVEMBER 16: Participants drive around Tokyo for the Real Mario Kart event in Tokyo on November 16, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan. The organizer calls for participants to this event held about once a month on Facebook, and Akiba Kart offers rental karts that can be driven on public streets. (Photo by Keith Tsuji/Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN - NOVEMBER 16: Participants drive around Tokyo for the Real Mario Kart event in Tokyo on November 16, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan. The organizer calls for participants to this event held about once a month on Facebook, and Akiba Kart offers rental karts that can be driven on public streets. (Photo by Keith Tsuji/Getty Images)

Penny the Mario Kart Corgi won Halloween 2019, paws down.

Penny the Mario Kart Corgi won Halloween 2019 among the dogs of Twitter and Instagram, no doubt about it.

She was featured on the WeRateDogs social media pages, and can be followed on Instagram at the handle @WheelchairCorgi.

Penny, a 10-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, has a disease called degenerative myelopathy, which is similar to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in humans, according to an article on the website of VCA Hospitals.

It’s basically an atrophying of the spinal cord, which causes the knuckles on the back paws to start dragging, and eventually causes the back legs to stop working.

Degenerative myelopathy usually strikes dogs in middle age, or elderly dogs.

Penny is the office dog at Soapbox Films, a Los Angeles-area creative agency and production company that specializes in independent films.

Since she has to use a wheelchair to move around, this was an incredibly clever costume, especially the red Koopa shell (turtle shell) and banana in the back.

If you haven’t played Mario Kart in a while, the red shell causes your kart to come to a brief and sudden halt after spinning out, while driving over a banana causes a sudden temporary loss of traction.

These both seem especially appropriate given the circumstances, and in addition are some of the most familiar Mario Kart power-ups.

Given that the dog-friendly Nintendo Switch title Luigi’s Mansion 3 just dropped the day before Halloween, it added another dimension to the fun, making Penny the Mario Kart Corgi our favorite Halloween costume of 2019.

Since Super Mario Kart came out in 1992 for the Super NES, Mario, Peach, Bowser and company have been dominating the arcade racing scene for generations of gamers through 1996’s Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64, 2001’s Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003, 2005’s Mario Kart DS for the Nintendo DS, 2008’s Mario Kart Wii for the Nintendo Wii, Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, 2014’s Mario Kart 8 for the Nintendo Wii U, and the newest title, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for the Nintendo Switch, which released in 2017.

There have also been Mario Kart Arcade GP and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, both of which released as arcade games, and 2019’s Mario Kart Tour, which is available in the Apple Store and Google Play Store.

Not just limited to karts anymore, the vehicles have expanded to motorcycles, hang gliders and submarines.

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