Mario Kart Tour

Mario Kart Tour is a mobile game in the Mario Kart series. The game was first announced during a financial briefing on January 31, 2018. Mario Kart Tour will be the third Mario mobile game, following Super Mario Run and Dr. Mario World. Like Super Mario Run, it will be free-to-start from the App Store and Google Play. Unlike Super Mario Run and similar to that of Dr. Mario World, the game more heavily incorporates a free-to-play microtransaction mechanic, where players have restrictions and timers unless they spend some of the various types of currencies in-game, as well as having es in the form of items being launched out of pipes. The game reuses many assets from Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX and Mario Kart 8, as well as returning gameplay mechanics such as gliding and character specific special items. In addition, the game introduces some features new to the Mario Kart franchise such as reverse tracks and ability to deploy a large amount of any item during a race, including Spiny Shells and Bullet Bills. On April 23, 2019, Nintendo opened applications for participating in a closed beta test of the game to Android users in North America and Japan, which began on May 22, 2019 and ended on June 4, 2019.

The game will officially launch for both iOS and Android devices on September 25, 2019 in 163 territories, which covers nearly the same roster of availability as Super Mario Run, with the exceptions of Belgium, which banned games with loot boxes in 2019, and Vietnam.

Gameplay
As a racing game, the goal of Mario Kart Tour is to best rivals and come in first, using items obtained by driving through Item Boxes to the player's advantage. The game is played in a portrait position, where the phone's touch controls are used to play the game, such as dragging the finger across the screen to steer the kart. Unlike other Mario Kart games in the series, karts accelerate automatically and can steer players away from walls and drops if they approach too closely. The game returns the gliding mechanics from Mario Kart 7, where players can glide through the course whenever they drive over certain ramps, and players can perform tricks. Unlike Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, however, players cannot customize their vehicle's tires. In addition, Bikes, ATVs and anti-gravity courses do not return in this game.

A new mechanic is Frenzy mode, which when activated grants the racer invincibility and an unlimited supply of a particular item for a period of time.

Every time players complete a race, they are awarded with Grand Stars and emeralds, emeralds being the game's premium currency. Emeralds are used to purchase pipes which randomly shoot out a driver, a kart, or a glider, all which have their own rarities. Each driver, kart, and glider have favored courses, where they offer advantages if they are used on particular tracks. A character that drives on a preferred course earns extra items per Item Box. Rarer characters have better bonuses and more preferred courses. In addition, characters have special items exclusive to them, similar to Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'s item system. All drivers and karts can be leveled up, and they all come with upgrades when done so. Duplicates can be earned from pipes, and those go towards the repeat character's level up progress.

Further elements seen in other free-to-play games include a stamina bar consisting of five hearts total. One heart gets consumed every time a player races and once the stamina is depleted, players cannot play until it recharges. Players replenish hearts when they level up, if they wait out the timer, or if they purchase hearts with emeralds. Coins can be obtained in races as well depending on the player's performance, and these can be used to purchase new items from the store and also can be used to purchase more emeralds. Emeralds can also be spent in Coin Rush where players can obtain as many coins as possible.

The cups in the game are restricted by timers, with the timer duration increasing every new cup after a player clears a cup. In addition, similar to Mario Kart Arcade GP games, Mario Kart Tour has a different naming scheme for the cups, where they are named after characters rather than items, such as Toadette Cup or Wario Cup.

Playable characters
There are 34 playable characters in all in Mario Kart Tour. Players start with either Toad or Toadette. Unlike other Mario Kart games, there are no weight classes between characters, but they are sorted by their rarity of unlocking them, via opening up randomized green pipes with emeralds. There are three tiers of rarity: common, rare, and super rare. While the common characters are easier to unlock, rarer characters have a greater amount of starting points, have a higher top speed, higher coin-earning rates, likelihood of picking up mid-race weapons and items, and have more favored courses. Once players clear the tutorial, they are rewarded with a random rare class character. In Gold Rush, players play as Gold Mario.

The following lists the playable characters and their special item.

Other
The following characters have been confirmed to be playable, though their rarities are currently unknown.
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Diddy Kong
 * Lakitu

Alternate costumes
As a new feature to Mario Kart Tour, characters can wear alternate costumes, though it is not yet confirmed whether they can be applied individually or they are tied to specific karts. The following is a list of confirmed costumes.
 * A hakama (Mario)
 * A New Donk City musician outfit (Mario)
 * A pink yukata (Peach)
 * A chef outfit (Shy Guy)

Unknown

 * Peachette

New

 * A course inspired by New York City, featuring and  as traversable areas.
 * A course inspired by Tokyo, featuring the and  as traversable areas.
 * Another course inspired by Tokyo, featuring traditional Japanese architecture including.
 * A course inspired by Paris, featuring the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe as traversable landmarks.

Unsorted

 * DS DK Pass
 * DS Waluigi Pinball
 * 3DS Cheep Cheep Lagoon

Items

 * Green Shell
 * Coin
 * Spiny Shell
 * Lightning
 * Super Horn
 * Blooper
 * Mushroom
 * Bullet Bill
 * Mega Mushroom
 * Bob-omb
 * Red Shell
 * Fire Flower (exclusive to Mario, Luigi, and Metal Mario)
 * Heart (exclusive to Peach, Daisy, and Wendy)
 * Yoshi Egg (exclusive to Yoshi)
 * Bowser's Shell (exclusive to Bowser and Dry Bowser)
 * Giant Banana (exclusive to Donkey Kong)
 * Triple Mushrooms (exclusive to Toad, Toadette, Baby Peach, and Baby Daisy)
 * Double Bob-ombs (exclusive to Wario, Waluigi, Shy Guy, Ludwig, Roy, and King Boo)
 * Triple Green Shells (exclusive to Koopa Troopa, Iggy, Morton, and Dry Bones)
 * Boomerang Flower (exclusive to Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Rosalina, and Rosalina)
 * Triple Bananas (exclusive to Larry and Lemmy)
 * Star (only in challenges)

Karts
The following karts were revealed in the game's first trailer:
 * Bullet Blaster
 * Royale
 * Daytripper
 * Flame Flyer
 * Mach 8
 * Prancer
 * A Japanese-themed vehicle
 * A macaron-themed vehicle
 * A vehicle based on a taxi

Challenges
Challenges are similar to the Missions mode from Mario Kart DS and the tournaments from Mario Kart Wii.


 * Rocket Start!: "Pull off a Rocket Start!" (The player must correctly execute a Rocket Start as Toad on Mario Circuit.)
 * Race through the rings: "Clear 10 rings." (The player must pass through at least 10 of the 30 rings on Toad Circuit as Mario in one lap.)
 * Do Jump Boosts: "Do 15 Jump Boosts." (The player must perform 15 Jump Boosts from tricks as Luigi on Choco Island 2.)
 * Don't crash: "Try not to crash." (The player must drive a lap on Luigi's Mansion as Koopa Troopa without hitting any hazards.)
 * Glider Challenge: "Glide at least 400." (The player must glide as far as they can without falling on Daisy Hills as Peach.)
 * Race through the rings: "Clear 30 rings." (The player must pass through at least 30 of the 50 rings on Shy Guy Bazaar as Shy Guy in one lap.)
 * Do Jump Boosts: "Do 10 Jump Boosts." (The player must perform 10 Jump Boosts from tricks as Toadette on Koopa Troopa Beach.)
 * vs. Mega Bowser: "Aim for 1st place!" (The player must beat Mega Bowser in a race as any character on Bowser Castle 1.)
 * Break Item Boxes: "Hit 15 Item Boxes." (The player must break 15 Item Boxes as Rosalina on Rainbow Road.)
 * Smash Small Dry Bones: "Smash 5 opponents." (The player must smash 5 Small Dry Bones as Donkey Kong on Kalimari Desert.)
 * Beat Up Goombas: "Hit 30 Goombas." (The player must hit 30 Goombas as Yoshi in Dino Dino Jungle.)
 * vs. Mega King Boo: "Aim for 1st place!" (The player must beat Mega King Boo in a race as any character on Luigi's Mansion.)
 * Do Jump Boosts: "Do 15 Jump Boosts." (The player must perform 15 Jump Boosts from tricks as Daisy on Mario Circuit.)
 * Don't crash: "Try not to crash!" (The player must drive a lap on Bowser Castle 1 as Wario without hitting any hazards.)
 * Race through the rings: "Clear 30 rings." (The player must pass through at least 30 of the 45 rings on Rock Rock Mountain as Metal Mario in one lap.)
 * vs. Mega Dry Bowser: "Aim for 1st place!" (The player must beat Mega Dry Bowser and the Dry Bones in a race as any character on Kalimari Desert.)

Reception
Initial impressions of the beta have been mixed. Journalists have praised the gameplay and graphics, but have criticized the free-to-play gacha elements of the game. Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica has compared the game's in-app purchases to Spiny Shells, blowing up the classic Mario Kart experience. He has suggested that "the developers pick a side: attach an annoying economy to a deeper control scheme and more legitimate online options, or make it cheaper and less obnoxious to watch Mario drive himself." Ethan Gach of Kotaku has also stated that the game is "a mostly faithful but stripped-down recreation of Mario Kart decked out with all the microtransactions and lottery mechanics mobile games are infamous for" and also lamenting the lack of a multiplayer mode. Steven Asarch of Newsweek has complained about the game's "freemium greed" and that it is "ruined by microtransactions".