Nintendo announced in January of last year that they would be bringing the
Mario Kart experience to mobile phones with
Mario Kart Tour, although we didn't get more information about this new title; with Nintendo only sharing the game's logo.
Now that the Beta testing period for
Mario Kart Tour has just kicked off, some Beta testers have been sharing screenshots of the game, as well as some videos of the game running on their mobile devices — which give us a pretty good idea of what to expect when the game finally releases.
As per the game itself, it is pretty much what we expected — with graphics that somewhat resemble an enhanced version of
Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS, and a bunch of familiar characters from the Super Mario Bros. series making a return.
In regards to gameplay itself, players will control the karts by swiping their finger across the screen. Drifting is done automatically, as tapping the screen actually uses whatever item the player has collected. In terms of difficulty levels, 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and the
Mario Kart 8 200cc categories are also included in the game.
What's probably the biggest downside is the fact that it seems
Mario Kart Tour will be heavy on monetization, allegedly making players pay to get unlockables such as characters, items, and other bonuses. It is worth mentioning that testers don't pay for items just yet, and given that this is just the Beta version of the game, thngs are likely to change when the final version finally becomes available.