For the longest time, we’ve hoped Nintendo would deliver a Mario Kart game to phones. Now it’s finally happening. Kinda. Sorta. Ish.
Game franchises that have been exclusive to Nintendo’s consoles are finally making their way to mobile phones, it seems. First there was that Pokémon craze on phones with Pokémon Go, and the first Mario title popped up Super Mario Run followed by a retro-remake of Dr. Mario in Dr. Mario World, but now another is on the way, and might end up being the most popular of the bunch.
Mario Kart is coming to iPhone, iPad, and Android.
You have to look pretty hard to find someone who hasn’t played Mario Kart, as that has been one of the console defining titles for Nintendo’s consoles in the past. This writer remembers grabbing a Nintendo DS back in the day simply so he could play Mario Kart, and it’s still a great reason to play a Nintendo console.
But come late September, you may not need the Nintendo console as a prerequisite, as Nintendo looks to bring Mario Kart to the mobile, releasing to iOS and Android.
Mario Kart Tour is the new game, and it will be free to start with, but likely cost you later on, possibly similar to Mario Run’s approach that costs money after a few levels.
While the game will take place in a Mario world, at least three courses will be based on real places, covering New York, London, and Tokyo. You probably can’t expect to find money boxes or turtles that knock you off the road in the real world, but Mario Kart Tour will get you that, with the game resulting in a score, and played in an unlikely portrait configuration, different from the typical landscape mode most racing games tend to go for.
We’re not sure yet whether Mario Kart Tour is a multiplayer game — the suggestion that the game’s high scores are based on a use of scoring and character combinations suggests it might not — but it does bring an aspect of Mario Kart to the mobile, and that’s interesting.
You’ll find Mario Kart Tour on iOS for iPhone and iPad, and Android phones and tablets from September 25.
