Mobile Mondays: Mario Kart Tour

Mobile Mondays are back and bigger than ever! We’re stating up the series again, with a giant mobile title coming from Nintendo themselves. Mario Kart Tour, all of the speed, action, and wacky races you’d expect from a Mario Kart title scaled down to the mobile platform. With impressive graphics and genuinely great gameplay, Mario Kart Tour is a fantastic game to have ready to play on the go for any Mario Fan, even if it does need polishing around the edges.

Gameplay

Mario Kart Tour benefits from incredibly easy to pick up and play gameplay. The game quite literally drives itself forward, with the player only having to steer left or right around corners. Thats literally it. Anybody can win races in Mario Kart Tour, which not only keeps people playing for longer but gives them a better experience for the time they do play. You complete various different tracks to win various different cups throughout whichever tour is currently active (right now its the Toyko Tour). A minimum amount of stars are required to progress forward, non of which are difficult to get which means racing (horrible pun intended) through the games various races is fairly easy and quick.

Obviously, with this being Mario Kart it isn’t quite as simple as landing first place. Each course is littered with various powers ups as well as speed boosts, and even jumps letting you glide down safely back to the track through the air. Power-ups include such classics as the banana peel, blue, green, and, red shells and the thunderbolt. On top of the powerups switching up the gameplay, thankfully each course feels unique from the last, with the classic Mario Kart look to them which is downright impressive for a mobile title.

I also enjoyed how you are encouraged to swap your racer, kart and, glider depending on the course for bonus rewards. Certain characters on certain courses will give you more power-ups or certain carts will give you a better speed boost. These felt like genuine advantages that paid off and made me think a little before each race. Whilst Mario Kart Tour is a ton of fun, 95% of the time, every now and then when the frame rates drop it can get a little fustrating. This is almost certainly down to the frankly brilliant visuals and will vary depending on the power of your device. Not a massive flaw, but one I thought I’d mention.

Graphics and Sound

Mario Kart Tour looks for the most part, absolutely fantastic. The actual characters and karts are the highlights. Each character model looks brilliant. The tracks also look great. Some background details can look a little rough from time to time, but for the most part, the game is gorgeous. They’ve captured the authentic Mario Kart look perfectly for the mobile platform. As for the games audio, each race is accompanied by a classic Mario Kart backing track, with all the well-known sound effects for picking up power-ups and speed boosts. I’ll note the game is actually pretty loud which is great for when you’re playing but might get you some funny looks on the bus in the morning. Headphones are definitely recommended.

Progression

Mario Kart Tour has some solid long term progression to it. Some of which is concrete and some of which is based on RNG but it all comes down to racing, something I’m glad they prioritized. There are plenty of cups to try and win, each consisting of 4 tracks and a minimum amount of stars to earn. There’s also some ranked competitions, where the person with the most stars at the end wins. I found them to be way more competitive than regular races and a little more fun. Each race also has different versions from 50cc to 200cc, each increasing in difficulty with the players you are matched against.

Mario Kart Tour’s progression is mainly built up around unlocking more and more classic Mario characters as well as karts and gliders. This is when the game feels most like a “mobile game” with you being able to buy “pipes” which contain mystery rewards. There’s also a shop where you can outright buy certain characters or karts that are on offer using in-game coins earned from races. There was a risk this could feel like a “pay-to-win” mechanic with certain characters and karts being better on certain tracks but honestly, even when I’m using characters not recommended for certain tracks I don’t feel like I’m at a massive disadvantage and I still comfortably win races.

Overall Mario Kart Tour is a fantastic scaled-down version of classic Mario Kart for the mobile platform, which any Mario Kart fan simply has to at least try out. The gameplay is addictive and super simple, making it fun for fans of all ages, graphics are soild, and despite some random rewards theres plenty to reach for if you play Mario Kart Tours in the long run.

Pick up Piranha Plant DLC Fighter In Smash Bros. Ultimate Whilst You Still Can

Smash Bros. Ultimate will see its first DLC character in the form of Piranha Plant very shortly. The new fighter is set to arrive sometime in February and will not be included in the games ‘Fighters Pass’. There is a way for you to claim the character completly free of charge right now, however, but if you want it you’re going to have to act fast.

To pick up your very own Piranha Plant right now you need to register your copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on My Nintendo before January 31. If you purchased the game digitally you have nothing to worry about as all the hard work was already done for you but if you wanted a physical copy you will have to register it. How do I do that? I hear you asking. Well, highlight the games icon on the Switch menu, press the plus button and select the ‘My Nintendo Rewards’ option. Simple as that.

Once you have successfully registered your copy of the game you’ll be emailed a download code for Piranha Plant. Then simply redeem the code in the Nintendo EShop and when you launch the game Piranha will be sat right there waiting for you. Your cutoff is again 11.59 PM on January 30, after that Piranha Plant will be available as a paid DLC which will be independent of the Fighter Pass.

Nintendo has still not given Super Smash Bros. fans an exact date on when they can expect Piranha Plant all we know is that they will arrive sometime in February. We’ve already seen some early gameplay of the character and staying true the Piranha Plant from the classic Mario games it can spit poison at its opponents as well as Spiked balls, and its Final Smash summons Petey Piranha to devour its foes.

As for the future of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate after Piranha Plant, players can expect 5 more DLC characters the first of which will be Persona 5’s Joker. Each of the expansion fighters will release independently along with a new stage and a few music tracks for roundabout $6 or you could save yourself some cash by getting the $25 Fighters Pass. Will you be picking up Piranha Plant for free whilst you still can and who would you like to see come to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the future? Let us know over on Twitter.