Mario Kart Tour Trailer Drops. Red Turtle Shells FTW

It seems like an eternity since Nintendo officially announced Mario Kart Tour, the first Mario Kart game for smartphones. Since then we haven’t seen much, outside of a few leaks. Today, that all changed as Nintendo dropped not one but two videos showing off gameplay.

As the name suggests, Mario Kart Tour will feature tracks based on major cities all around the world. This is a departure for the series as typically tracks are based on locations from the Mario Bros franchise and others like Donkey Kong and F-Zero.

I counted about 16 characters total between the two videos that dropped and as you’ll see, many of the classic Mario Kart elements return like turtle shells, ink blots and other attack items. It also appears that there is a new element with powered up attacks that are unique to each character. For example, there’s a glimpse of Yoshi rolling a giant Yoshi egg down the track and taking out every player in its path.

While I don’t know officially how in-game purchases will work (this is a mobile game after all) there are some hints. As I mentioned before I counted about 16 characters from watching the videos. There is a good chance that not all characters will be available to play at the start. I would be willing to bet that many characters have to be unlocked through gameplay or unlocked faster via in-game purchases.

The official website also notes that there will also be different kart styles and glider styles in the game. Paring the right driver, kart, and glider together will likely be a key element of gameplay.

I also noticed that some drivers had different costumes available. Like Mario wearing his tuxedo from Mario Odyssey. So, I’m sure that character costumes will also be on the menu for purchases.

The question is how will the in-game purchases affect gameplay? Especially if Mario Kart Tour features PvP (Player vs Player) online play.

If there’s one things gamer’s hate its when people can basically “pay to win” by purchasing power-ups that make them impossible to beat in a competitive situation.

Nintendo is smart though, so I have a bit a faith that they won’t let that happen.

Mario Kart Tour will be available on September 25th for iOS and Android, so we still have a healthy amount of time to speculate. But from what I’ve seen so far, I am looking forward to it. I might even do a review.

For now, watch the official trailer and promo video below. Afterwards, let me know what you think about Mario Kart Tour. Are you looking forward to it? Do you hate that Mario Kart is coming to smartphones? Are you weary of the in-game purchases? Comment below or tweet to me at @MotorworldHype.

 

Mario Kart Tour trailer:

 

Marko Kart Tour “Race Around The World” promo:

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