Mario Kart Tour Gets An Update, But It's Not The Multiplayer Fans Are Crying Out For

Dont really care about this game anymore, ever since the £49 Diddy Kong fiasco, I instantly un-installed it.

@Bunkerneath was it the only way you could obtain it? Or you just succumbed to the click bait headlines of Nintendolife?

Because I got Diddy Kong in the shop for a measly 3,000 coins... which took me about 1 hour to obtain.

@fafonio There is a gacha system, but I'm not sure whether a) the expected value of the price is lower or b) it's even possible to get Diddy Kong that way.

Anyway, I'm not even sure Nintendo makes money in the long run by these practices. I suspect the view of Nintendo as a "good" games company will be negatively affected by this, and that they might end up losing more money because of that, than they make from this game.

@fafonio Nope, you can absolutely buy Diddy with 3k coins (Which isn't that difficult to make) or obtain him through the gacha pipe, like every other character, kart, and glider.

I'm not denying the prices are expensive for the bundles, but there's plenty of ways to play for free, and even if you do the gold pass that earns you more than enough rubies to get everything done.

Yeah... nah.

I'll feign interest should Nintendo ever decide to release a 16:9 non-F2P version on Switch.

@fafonio No it isn't, it's just the business practice has completely put me off. Cannot believe that they were offering something that was more expensive than Mario Kart 8 deluxe.
I thought Nintendo was above these types of things.

@Bunkerneath : Since the release of the Switch, Nintendo have shown time and time again that they are no better than their contemporaries, unfortunately.

I can't help but feel that things would have played out a lot differently had Iwata-san still been with us today, though even before that, Nintendo had been emulating their contemporaries while they probably would not have done so if the Wii U hadn't flopped as badly as it had.

Love this game and hope some of these challenges and features come to mario kart 9. I’m completely free to play so won’t pay any monies but love how generous they are with the rubies. I have over 20 players now. It’s crazy how this game has more tracks than Mario kart 8

I was actually really bothered that they didn't display how many points you needed for the Grand Stars ahead of time. Glad they addressed that at least.

@Bunkerneath The problem is this is what consumers want. Nintendo tried to be fair with Mario Run by charging a flat $10 to unlock everything and hardly anyone bought it. They switched to gatcha for Fire Emblem Heroes and it made them 6 times the money despite being a far more niche series. I know it sucks but honestly what would you do if you were them?

10 squids for Mario run and spent 5 hours on it or free Mario kart and have spent over 20 hours on it already. I know which mobile game I find more value in

@Ooccoo_Jr

Exactly, here we can not blame Nintendo 100% for doing this, in fact, most companies that develop games for smartphones should not be blamed, if here also the culprits are the same consumers and with what you mention is the perfect example:
Mario Run is a full game, although it is not as big as New Super Mario, at least it is entertaining and its cost is low (here in Mexico it costs $ 200, and a New SM costs 1300, the difference is noticeable); However, as many people have in their idea that a smartphone game should be even cheaper or, directly, be "free", it must be borne in mind that, first of all, nothing is free, but as people that plays on smartphone think so, because for companies it is not convenient unless there is a way to get money, so, nowadays, companies already develop Free to play as a priority (and worse, with Gatcha system) because the same people ask for it, even though many do not believe it; Yes, another example: Asphalt from Gameloft, before Asphalt 8, all Asphalt on Smartphone were full games but with cost, not free, but people never dared, Asphalt 8 came as a "Free to play" that to date It still works, even when the 9 came out and we see how it is successful, while from Asphalt 7 and previous ones, they were removed from the stores for not selling.

i havent read the article yet its prolly just a new hat for toad for 40 dollars

I hate the game

Look it's all down to the consumer, if they buy it, if they pay it, more companies will continue to produce it.

@Ooccoo_Jr More people need to understand this. Nintendo is a buisness and their goal is to make money.

If people wouldn't give them money for doing stuff like this, they wouldn't do it, simple as that. It's a scummy practice to use gacha mechanics but who's at fault, Nintendo for doing it or is for telling them that it's okay by giving them cash?

What really annoys me is that you can win these tours just with points, your place isn't important at all.

I don't want multiplayer.
The score system is enough anxiety when you're in 1st place with 6 hours left and the 2nd and 3rd place guy decide to play another round after 5 days.

@SakuraHaruka also, I was able to recall that there are staff at Nintendo who were openly concerned about the move to mobile back then, likely with the mtx. Sakurai was even on record to state he is not a fan of the Fighter’s Pass deal, that he encourages to make your own purchases, as you see fit. Its stuff like these, that we should think that, yes, they are doing these things, but are they feeling the pain from those same concerns that are carried on to this date? I believe so.

@Bunkerneath Me too! I saw that basically all progress resets every two weeks and was very discouraged from playing beyond that so I deleted it from my phone. I don't have time in my life for that and I really just want to play games on the Switch that respect my time and money.

@Ooccoo_Jr Mario Run made about $60 million I believe which means that a lot of people bought it. I did and enjoyed it more than any of their other attempts at mobile gaming. However, in the high greed, no respect world of mobile gaming, you don't get ahead by being the good guy.

@Kalmaro The thing is, they make money off of a few people who spend lots and lots of money (either because they are rich or because htey can't control themselves). This means they no longer design the games to be as good as possible. Now, Nintendo is a company who, at least until now, made their money by making good games. For Nintendo to try to make money from bad game design is a bit like a luxury restaurant starting to sell McDonald's-style burgers because that's what "people" want. OK, so this is different in the sense that they aren't actually catering to the majority of players, but instead to those who spend lots of cash. The point is just that yes, you can make money from bad game design, but in the long run, Nintendo would probably make more money by continuing to be the "good" company.

"you'll notice that the game has been updated to Version 1.1.0."

My copy of the game wasn't "updated". There was a notification in the News Info section of the game telling me I have to go into the Play Store to download the update, about 85MB, only to then go back into the game to have to download 183MB more of data. That's a really stupid way of doing things. At least put an Update button in the game itself.

Maybe iOS works better and they're just making the Android users jump thru hoops?

"A new point checking feature has also been added"

Where is this list of scores and score requirements? I looked all over the main screen and in settings and the shop, but couldn't find anything that wasn't there before.

As if anyone would care that Nintendo is making „dirty“ money with this. It‘s not like their telling people to pray to satan or something.
Kids should be educated in schools and by their parents to not spend money on games like this. And if people earn their own money then who cares on what they wanna spend it? Nintendo is a company that needs to make profit to please shareholders, neither are they the savior of the world nor do they have to justify themselves to their fans.
And ultimately this is isn‘t even a bad game, you can see there was clearly put some effort into it. There are far worse games that people spend money on.

@Bunkerneath that bundle wasn’t for you, it was very whales, players with a lot of expendable income that they willingly choose to dump into mobile games. Whales keep the games free for other players. The fact remains is Diddy is SUPER easy to get outside of the bundle, I’ve gotten him multiple times already and haven’t spent a dime. He’s not one of the rare characters in the gacha and cycles in the shop (I’ve seen him several times there now) for pretty cheap. The reason the bundle existed was so whales had something to pour their money into which supports the game for everyone, it lets them get a character immediately instead of waiting like a week for him to be in the shop, while free to play players can still enjoy the game (and once again, have plenty of opportunity to get the character, he’s cheap and cycles in often).

Finally! It’s great to see people informed about this game in the boards. No thanks to Nintendolife honestly which created this whole “Uhhh this character costs $49 bucks to unlock” ultra clickbait articles instead of informing the players how to unlock stuff aside from the gacha system.

@Bunkerneath let rich and stupid people spend their money in any way they want. You can’t protect stupid people.... why miss a different MK gaming experience because of whales?

@fafonio Honestly, this is one of the most generious Gacha games I have ever played. You can buy a good majority of the racers off the in-game shop, along with karts and gliders as well.

In fact, a f2p player is often better served buying off the shop rather than trying their luck with the summoning pipe.

You can make upwards of 20 Rubies and 1,000 gold if you place first in the rankings, and since you only really need to beat 19 other players(some of whom don't even rank), this is not an impossible task.

My point is, this game is alot more fair the Fire Emblem Heroes is. Can you go and buy characters off an in-game shop?

People act like the passes are required to enjoy this game. I've played f2p since I downloaded it, and I'm enjoying myself.

There are far worse gacha games out there. I play Dragon Ball Legends and Fire Emblem Heroes, and you can save up the currency to summon off a banner and walk away with nothing but garbage.

I have countless heroes in Fire Emblem Heroes who are nothing but worthless garbage who have no abilities I can pass on, and serve no real purpose. Dragon Ball Legends is the same thing, especially with the hero rarity fighters.

With Mario Kart Tour, there are no garbage racers or Karts. At least one course gives each character a bonus, all the karts have abilities even if there is no score bonus, and the gliders have special items attached to them.

Plus, it's worth it to have racers to play as when multiplayer drops. I picked up Ludwig, Morton, and Yoshi off the ingame shop I can play them when online multiplayer is added.

I doubt they are going to be power crept, which is another problem common to gacha games. So, collecting gold to buy more content it worth it.

My point is, this game is very generous for a f2p game. Yes, it sells passes and stuff, but that's aimed at whales who spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on that kinda stuff.

I have not spent a single dime on Mario Kart Tour, and I have gotten a decent number of racer, Karts, and Gliders to pick from.

@Strumpan I think that remains to be seen. I mean, look how much cash Activision has been racking in and EA with micro transactions. It's absurd, I don't understand why people keep giving them money but they do and it's annoying.

As long as that minority keeps funding them, I'm not sure what incentive Nintendo has to stop.

@Kalmaro I think the Gacha model works so well because at it's core, its a combination of gambling and collecting, with a layer of gameplay stacked on top of it.

Gacha games are the electronic version of the kid who used to buy Pokemon TCG booster packs in the hopes of finding a shiny Charizard inside, while also getting other cards to show off in their collection.

People love to test their luck in the hopes of winning, so the thrill of gambling is there whenever you toss some in-game currency into a banner and see what you get. If its something super rare, then you get that thrill of winning something rare, kinda like the kid who lucked out when he bought that booster pack and got Charizard.

People love to show off their collections and brag about what they have earned off banners, so its that ego trip of showing off your cool stuff to other people.

Plus, you have that layer of gameplay on top. Most gacha games have some online multiplayer mode, so you get to show off your shiny new toy to the world and use them online.

The cycle comes back with each new banner that gets released, and newer characters get cooler abilities or powers.

Gacha games are just like opening up a booster pack and getting something cool. If you get something that sucks, it just drives you more and more to toss more money into a game and try to get that one unit you want so badly, the one that is not only good from a gameplay aspect but a source of bragging rights.

Even f2p players are not immune to this. Yes, they might not spend any money, but they spend hours grinding in-game content to earn enough currency to summon off banners, and the developers drip just enough to keep them going. Whales alone can't carry a game, so the free players need to be kept happy and ensure there's a sizable player base overall.

I think this is why Gacha games make money even when the model makes no sense and often costs you more money and time then buying normal game and system(Mario Kart 7 and a Nintendo 2DS can be had for about 70 bucks, the same price of 135 Rubies in tour)

Gacha games prey on some of our base desires such as the thrill of testing out luck, and the feeling of pride once you get something rare.

Hell, even I have to admit that while I don't spend a dime on these games, I do often play them more then I should to chase down some more crystals to get someone or something I want.

You can get hooked very easily.

I think fans are moreso crying over other things in this game rather than the lack of multiplayer. This ''game'' has a lot of things to cry over after all.

This update included clear changes to the frenzy system that Nintendo chose not to mention. CPU players can now get frenzys and player frenzy % has gone down imo. I find it almost impossible to get a frenzy while in 1st place while yesterday it was much more common. I agree with everyone that the prices in this game are beyond crazy. At first I did think it was possible to keep up obtaining things while not paying much but then they released 14 new characters on week 3 while cutting down on in game rubies through daily log in and tour gifts. When this keeps happening it will make it harder and harder to have the right characters/karts/gliders to be competitive.

@Strumpan It's possible to get Diddy Kong normally, he costs about 3k coins at the shop.

@Caryslan You totally get it. Best comment I've read in these boards about MK Tour.

@Caryslan I'm fine with them finding ways to keep people hooked, you WANT people playing your games.

It's when they do that and also make its frustrating as well, just to entice you to buy something to make things easier. That's when I'm disappointed.

I am just glad it is free to play and I don't plan on buying any in-apps with this game.