Mario Kart Tour Out Now!

Mario Kart Tour Out Now!

Nintendo’s been no stranger to the phone app market lately, delving into everything from Pokemon Go to Dr. Mario World in their attempt to capture the market, their newest app looks to capture the hearts of racing fans.

Mario Kart Tour released last Wednesday, September 25th for Android and iOS, and it brings a number of courses, racers and kart combinations from the series straight to your mobile device.

For newcomers, the game might feel a little hard to play. Upon booting the app up, players will have a choice between two control styles – one that makes the racer turn when you swipe your cell phone’s screen, and one that makes your racer drift. Expert racers will want to select the drift option, and start practicing until they get the hang of the controls. It will take some getting used to, but eventually it’ll start to feel like Mario Kart proper.

Microtransactions exist to provide you with a faster way to obtain racers, kart parts and other unlockables. Play time isn’t limited, as with certain apps, but the ability to level up your racers and earn bonus coins from races is capped every day, preventing you from making endless progress in a single day.

For $5 a month, players can choose to subscribe to the Gold Pass, which gives them additional rewards for completing challenges, more challenges to complete and access to the 200cc races.

Gameplay consists of 2-lap races around mostly familiar tracks from the Mario Kart series. You’ll be racing against other players, however, coming in 1st place is not your primary objective; instead, you’ll be seeking to earn as many points as possible during the race by performing certain feats, playing with a certain combination of racer and kart, and finishing with a high place at the end of the race.

It will remain to be seen how successful this new app is, – however, it’s off to a good start. It was able to surpass Pokemon Go’s global day 1 downloads, with a total of 10.1 million downloads on its first day. Hopefully the accessibility and lack of paywalls will keep the app going strong for years to come.

Gamer by day, game designer by night - Lukas studied Digital Arts in school, and grew up in the age of the N64 and Gamecube. He's the youngster of the bunch, but that doesn't keep him from shouting out at every available opportunity on Infendo Radio. He often finds himself at the edge of counter-culture (hates Metroid Prime, loves Other M), but isn't afraid to dive into the next big budget AAA title with the best of 'em. Favorite game: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle/Skyward Sword/Ocarina of Time/Zero Escape 2/You get the idea