Video Game Print Ads Kurogane -Super Mario Bros. 3 Study Desk… [Video]

“Nintendo Co.’s mustachioed plumber appears in a commercial for Japanese audiences launched today as part of the Kyoto-based company’s campaign to expand licensing of its characters outside video games. The ad coincides with the release of the Mario Kart 8 game, in which players will be able to drive a Mercedes vehicle for the first time.

President Satoru Iwata said in January that the company would “actively” expand its character licensing business as it struggles to retain customers for its Wii U console and titles from inexpensive games on smartphones. The world’s largest maker of video-game machines posted a fourth-quarter net loss of 33.4 billion yen ($329 million) in the three months that ended in March, greater than analysts estimated.

“Nintendo’s Mario Kart game can benefit with a collaboration with a car company,” Yusuke Tsunoda, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. in Tokyo, said by phone. “It helps Nintendo …