Mario Kart Tour's Jungle Tour Brings Some Familiar Faces To The Races

Under any other circumstance I would be excited to see these two join the MK roster, but this "game" is just too predatory for my liking. What a waste of underutilized characters

If Mario Kart 9 doesnt get this treatment of variety of playable characters ill be pissed.

@KoopaTheQuick,

Any further content will be going into the next Mario kart game, I would be very surprised if Mario kart 8 got any more content at this point, and it's a pretty complete package as it is.

@RupeeClock wait... you're telling me I haven't been enjoying this game daily for a year FREE?

Damn... those expensive microtransactions must be affecting my reality sensors.

Why does everyone get so upset that Nintendo is supporting it's mobile games?, I would understand it if Nintendo had abandoned it's more traditional video game business, but they have not, this is just another arm of their company, and another source of income for them, which in turn benefits us as Nintendo are in a stronger financial position.

@fafonio,

I have been playing this game for a while now and have not bought anything for it, still enjoying it everyday.

This is very nice, but I wish for a new Donkey Kong Country game! It has been 6 long years since Tropical Freeze. Also, I would take a 3D platformer and Donkey Kong Racing in the meantime. DK is best in 2D platformers.

@johnvboy Finally, someone with a sensible opinion. People forget that Nintendo tried to do a far more reasonable payment model straight away with Mario Run. You paid once and got the whole game - but nobody bought it. So they tried a gatcha system instead with Fire emblem and it made a billion. So what exactly do people expect them to do?

If these mobile games are making money that Nintendo can then plough back in to development of 'proper' console games, then I am all for it.

@KoopaTheQuick It is much easier to update mobile games than console games.

@johnvboy Ditto. Didn't like it at first but all of a sudden it clicked and I'm having a great time with friends and family that don't own a Switch. Don't need to spend money to get new stuff either.

I just wish they would just get on with the next Mariokart game for consoles

@RupeeClock
I only played this once and deleted it right away.

S T A P L E S !

"Hmm, is that it? Can you think of someting more to say?"

I really wish these two would be in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe instead. Such a waste using those great characters like the Kongs and Pauline for Mario Kart Tour...

I get, that Nintendo is a business first, and they need to make money, but can't the mobile games they produced be at least fun? The same goes for any other developer as well. If they really need to make those types of games, make them fun.

Really expanding the roster!

@johnvboy Well I can't speak for any of the other mobile games having not played them, but in Mario Kart's case, this game is the only one they're supporting. MK8D was dropped on the Switch year one and never touched again, and we're still waiting for the next game. This is all the Mario Kart we have right now, and it's a predatory F2P gacha game which isn't really a popular business model in these parts.

@Ooccoo_Jr ,

People on here conveniently forget things like the model Nintendo tried to push with Mario Run, as it does not suit their narrative that Nintendo are greedy.

@Bolt_Strike,

The mobile games are not aimed at the traditional console gamer, and it's all about perspective, if I say to my wife and daughter I am buying a game at £50 or so, they will feel this is expensive as it's all in one hit, yet they both have no issue buying items in Roblox.

@Ardisan,

If you look at Mario kart 8 deluxe, I think we are in safe hands for the next Mario kart game, fingers crossed the rumors are true and it's this years big holiday title.

We want a Diddy Kong Racing for Switch, Nintendo!

@johnvboy The point of having unlimited payment models for things like Roblox is that you lose track of how much you spend on it. That's predatory microtransaction systems working as intended, you will never be able to spend more than X amount of money on Breath of the Wild, but it's easy to find that you've spent three times as much or more on a "free to play" game.

@Braneman,

Totally agree with you, my point is different views for different people, there is no definitive right or wrong, and you can be responsible on mobile transactions, or not as the case may be.

The controls are so awful I deleted it from my phone. It could have been great.

Worth noting Dixie won’t actually be available till the second half of the tour next week

Next steps:

More Donkey Kong characters: Cranky Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, King K. Rool...

WarioWare/Wario Land characters: Jimmy T., Mona, 9-Volt, Ashley, Captain Syrup...

Mario RPG characters: Geno, Mallow, Paper Mario, Cackletta, Fawful, Antasma...

Obscure Mario characters: Tatanga, Wart, Stanley the Bugman, Foreman Spike...

I've been playing it for the Ipad and never came up to a point where I had to pay for anything..
Been playing for a year now just fine....really fun. Glad to see Dixie.

@johnvboy The problem many people have with this game, aside from its absolutely horrid, money-grabbing system, is the fact that this game is getting a lot of content that people have been wanting in the series for years, and when these things are finally introduced, they got in in an entry that should be ashamed of calling itself part of the Mario Kart franchise.

People want to play as Dixie Kong, Pauline etc, people want to have proper costumes, people want to have fun event-mode stuff where courses change depending on different factors, but they want it in a PROPER Mario Kart. So they feel like they get robbed since Mario Kart 8 does not have these things and who knows how long it will be until Mario Kart 9 and even then it's the question of whether or not all this lovely content will even be in Mario Kart 9.

I can certainly understand the anger and disappointment. It's great for you people who are able to enjoy this game but there are plenty who just can't enjoy this game whatsoever for one reason or another. I certainly am not even gonna bother downloading this title for the sheer fact that Yoshi is a character obtained through random luck, not to mention an entire CC class being locked behind a monthly paywall... aside from just avoiding games with these kinds of microtransactions like the plague to begin with.

Good on you for not having paid a dime for this game so far though and still managing to enjoy it! I could not do that for the life of me with this one.

& yet neither of them are in 8 or 8 Deluxe and we have like 3 Peaches and 4 Mario iterations .

Too bad it's Mario Kart Tour

@johnvboy uncertainty.... Does this mean that we will either have a much delayed MK9, or will it even be on this console (as many on this forum suggest or in some bizzare cases even want?).

My hope is that Nintendo is using this to market a proper/unique MK for the Switch. But there is a part of me that believes what many are saying here.....

Although MK8 is the better game. CTR really has set the bar when it comes to content. The execution of obtaining said content sucks but at least they supported the game for months on end.

I love the character variety in this game. I really hope a lot of these carry over to the eventual MK9. I quit paying for the gold pass a while back and I've been losing badly each week now. Boo

I also want Dixie in Smash. She's been my #1 wishlist character since Melee.

I'm one Yosher's side. Those are a lot of elements I wanted to have in a real Mario Kart. Not in a cheap mobile game.

Why is everyone being salty Nintendo are just supporting their mobile games

@Yosher,

Not saying the game is up there with any of the classic Mario kart games as I much prefer a controller, but the game is great for short bursts of fun on the go.

@Hacker2077
Because still, many people still have a horror, a hatred (an "exaggerated" hatred, not to say something rude, sorry) towards mobile games.

In addition, at one point it is true, they do not like the way of business that is handled in those games, in fact, many of us do not like...

However, the problem is that this has been allowed by the same people, they complain about this, but they have allowed it (even if they say it is not true).
In addition, many of those games are "Free to play", BUT, nothing is free, we must understand that; Those games will allow you something free up to a point, but it's up to EACH PERSON to decide if the game stays free with those restrictions or you pay with real money to get the "rest" of that game.
As was mentioned, Nintendo tried with Mario Run a less harmful buseness model, giving a kind of demo and paying you get the full game, but people have shown that they prefer not to pay and play with a free to play (and then pay the same or more than a game at full price);
But, and of course, if people know what they can achieve with free to play, it will still be free for them.

But, well, the drama and the complaints of the internet is already "the daily bread" ...

@johnvboy The problem is that if your wife isn't careful, she'll end up spending much more than £50 for much less content than you'd get in a full console game. And the game is designed to encourage you to do so, it draws in larger markets by promoting itself as a free game but then it has mechanics like the pipe and the Gold Pass rewards to manipulate players into spending money on things that would just be free in a traditional console game. And because there's no ceiling on how much money you can spend on the game's microtransactions you could easily spend much more than you would on a flat £50 console game. This business model is literally designed so that they can put bare minimum effort into a game and wring you out of every last cent you have like a schoolyard bully, that's why its considered predatory and so many people are against this kind of game.

Would be really cool if Nintendo ever decides to bring back Donkey Kong Jr. again.
Unfortunatly he will forever be stuck on Super Mario Kart only...

@Bolt_Strike

"to manipulate players into spending money on things that would just be free in a traditional console game"
We are going to define some details (which I believe, you know very well, however I will mention it), but I clarify, I do not defend these businesses, they are not to my liking either, but we must know this well:
What you mention is obvious, in a traditional console game, the games are complete, you pay to have 100% of the game available from start to finish, it is a single payment; instead a Free to play, it is Free as long as you do not pay a penny, and the game is free as far as the developer allows it, but one thing is clear, it is Free because you do not pay any penny to play, you do not pay anything But, it does not mean that everything in that game is Free, so what is the case that a company develops a Free to play game if there is no way to get money?
Right, and we agree, some Free To play are free, but they provide a lot of items that really aren't that easy to get, in other words, they abuse too much, TOO MUCH, to make money; which is true, it can be very annoying and many end up giving in to pay something to get the best; However, here is my other point to what you mention:

"The problem is that if your wife isn't careful, she'll end up spending much more..."; "...and wring you out of every last cent you have like a schoolyard bully..."

I ask you a question: if you go to a casino, they give you "free" a few dollars to play in their slot machines and you can win more money without any requirement; And if you want to get the top prize, you can, but you must give of your money, what would you do?
Would you participate?, Would you risk the jackpot, do you have extra money that is "free"?, or do you just turn around and reject everything?

So in these Free to play games: nobody, absolutely nobody forces you to play these games; nobody, absolutely nobody will force you to give a penny to get something from that game; and nobody, absolutely nobody will make you keep those games on the mobile or console, you can delete it and now;
"It is that you are tempted to buy something"; anywhere (and not just in casinos), in any business there will always be "attempts" for the consumer to spend on something even when that something is something that they really don't need at all; However, who is going to buy those temptations, You?, Me?, the answer is, whoever, if you are not going to buy it, you are not going to buy it, you own your money and you will know if you keep that money in the wallet or you will release it "for something", the company is not going to take the money from you, YOU are going to give that money, because YOU are the one who decides and if you say NO, it must be "absolutely" and "Defenitively" a NO and point.
"It's kind of a Bully"; If the company forced you, why do you simply denounce the company and that's it, whoever lets himself be defeated by "a manipulator", and excuses this expression, but really does not have the willpower to reject something that she/he should not accept.

The point is, is that only YOU, and only YOU is the one that decides if you will give even a penny or not to those games, nor I, nor the company nor anyone else forces you to do so, what you decide is your business and it is alone, exclusively and definitely yourself and nobody else.
You don't want a free to play, Ok, it's a NO and that's it.

It's that simple.
Ah, and I'm sorry for my long post.

@Bolt_Strike,

Totally agree with you, but they both tend to grind things out and not go for the easy option of buying stuff, plus I think thy tend to trade a lot of things in game with other players, but all this stuff is as responsible as you wan't to be, we all here the stories where some kid has racked up £1000's of pounds on their parents credit cards on FIFA, more fool the parents I say.

I know you say there are a lot of people against these mobile games, but if you look at the market there are a lot more people enjoying them, you can't always run business for the minority of people that have no control, as with anything there will be people who are responsible and those who are not.

@SakuraHaruka @johnvboy No, practices that take advantage of the consumer are typically outlawed or heavily restricted. You mentioned the parallels to casinos, but casinos are restricted to adults. Why? Because kids' and teenagers' brains haven't developed enough to make rational, level headed decisions for something that is so high risk, that's the same reason why sex, drugs, and alcohol are restricted to adults. Furthermore, the general practice is highly unethical as they're selling the game for far above fair value. Business models such as this in other industries are typically heavily regulated if not outright banned, so this is not something you can just leave up to the individual.

@Bolt_Strike,

Children do not have credit cars though, so you still need to have some sort of adult involved in all of this, the whole just leave them to it is not the developers fault, and again we tend to look at things from the worse case scenario, and a lot of things could be banned if you looked at it that way, you do have to runs things for the majority of level headed people.

@johnvboy ''On the go'' also means you need to have a data plan on your phone which I do not because I refuse to get tons of subscription services as all that will just add up a ton, which includes phone data plans for me. I don't need internet when I'm away from home, and heck if I'm gonna get a data plan just to play some crappy Mario Kart game when I'm not at home. And at home I'll just boot up.. literally any other Mario Kart game and have a better time than I ever would have with Mario Kart Tour.

And if I really get the itch to play Mario Kart on the go, I can just whip out my Switch and pop in Mario Kart 8. I do not need Tour for this.

Guess it's good for other people though but definitely not for me.

@Yosher,

I play in short bursts and it's a very rare occasion I go anywhere near my data usage allowance, just do not send many pictures or texts.

@Bolt_Strike

I used the casinos to exemplify the ability to know whether or not you are able to resist "temptation", something that is used in Free to play games.

Yes, an adult, "">it is assumed<"", has the ability to say No to something that does not interest him/her, does not suit him/her; therefore, if a game like Mario Kart Tour does not convince you, you will not download it, much less pay real money for it, right?
Now, in the case of children and / or adolescents, yes, they have the facility to be persuaded and to convince them to buy "anything"; However, here comes 2 important things: Education and Parental responsibility.
If a child is educated very well, it is more probable that to the temptations they can say No, but of course, it is a probability;
Now, here comes the main point, the children will play those games, for that they need the console or in this case, the cell phone; which, I do not think that the vast majority of childrens have bought it and have configured it, therefore, to make purchases in those games, the permission of the owner of the device or the owner of the credit card is required, that is, the parents So, if a father/mather educates his/her son/daughter well and also monitors his/her activities as it should be (and not as many do today who leave the device to the child and leave it "to their own luck") they would not have than fall for the horrible tactics of Free to play, right?
Geez, even in some of those games they mention that purchases must be made by a responsible adult, precisely to prevent children from spending irresponsibly.

In short, here parents if they educate and monitor their children well (BE RESPONSIBLE), there should not be problems for them to play those 'evil' Free to play games.
And I repeat it; it is "" responsibility "" and "" decision "" of each "person" if they download, play, and spend real money on these games, not from companies, not from friends, not from family, it is from "each" "person"

@johnvboy @SakuraHaruka Just having parent permission isn't good enough. Again, with other similar high risk activities that have been mentioned such as gambling, sex, drugs, and alcohol, you can't just do those things if your parents educate you and give you permission. They're outright banned. You'll get carded and need to prove your age before you can even do those things. IIRC it has something to do with children not really understanding the risks and consequences as well as adults. Either way, the legal precedence for those sorts of things is that children are not allowed to do them period. If you want to argue that children should be legally allowed to do things like that if they're properly educated on the risks, well good luck making that point to your country's legislators.

But even beyond that, anti-consumer practices are considered highly immoral if not illegal. Think of things such as monopolies, collusion, price gouging, those things are illegal and heavily frowned upon because they needlessly inflate prices far beyond the actual production costs for the goods. Microtransactions are in the same kind of ballpark, where they're needlessly charging players for something that likely costs them pennies on the dollar to develop. Now maybe altogether outlawing the practice might be a bit of a stretch since microtransactions have more elastic demand than some of the other practices I mentioned, but they could definitely put much stricter regulations on the practice. At the very least, any game with microtransactions should be an instant M rating and they should have an upper limit on how much an individual player can spend and/or be clearer not just about the existence of IAPs, but how much they are.

@Bolt_Strike
Geez..., I believe that you didn't read this part in my last comment:

>"Geez, even in some of those games they mention that purchases must be made by a responsible adult, precisely to prevent children from spending irresponsibly."<

Now, I also do not think you understand my point to this conversation as I see your point of view: I do not support this business method, but neither do I see this as "the horror" that I see that many want to see here. geez, they are virtual games, they do not hurt, and whoever wants to ignore them, can ignore them; There are still a lot of games made in the classic business style, seriously you don't need to do as much "drama" for those "evil" games.

And excuse me for saying this, but just as I see in these comments what you think of those games and what you mention about children; Act as the Anti-Matter user and all those people who consider violent games as something bad and should not exist because it leads to people actually becoming violent (and we know that games do not make people bad, education and responsibility, as "" mentioned above "" is what helps people to be responsible and consistent in relation to video games); in fact, you mention the rantings; Why if still exist rantings, there is this drama about violent games ?, Why?

But, well ..., however (and "" waiting for you to read this paragraph ""), "I also consider the regulation of these games a good idea", we have already seen that in some countries they have already taken actions in the matter, so let's hope it extends to more countries, however, I emphasize my point from the beginning; "Education and parental responsibility" is the best thing to do to help people and children have a better understanding of these games and know what to do if they get to play those games.

@Bolt_Strike,

Well for one you can't regulate a companies profits, a lot of things can cost very little to make and be sold for a lot more, but how you control that is very tough.

You mention these things are illegal, which is not the case, also morality is in the eye of the beholder, as I said the vast majority of people will play within limits so why stop their enjoyment for a minority of people who can't control themselves, or more importantly have little or no input from their parents, as I will assume these kids are not stealing their parents credit cards etc, more regulation may be the answer.

@SakuraHaruka Putting a disclaimer isn't good enough, a disclaimer isn't going to stop anyone. At the very least, they should have you create an account for each user and input your age. If you're younger than 18, you can't play. Won't keep out every child but it's a start.

Video games don't cause physical harm, no, but they can cause financial harm. If you spend too much money on them you could end up having trouble paying for essentials. And that could be equally as unhealthy for you as drugs or alcohol.

Keep in mind that violent video games already have similar restrictions to what I have in mind, as they tend to be M rated. That's a case where the parents are willingly violating restrictions so yes, that much is on the parents. With microtransactions no such restrictions exist, so the industry also shoulders the blame.

@johnvboy Monopolies, collusion, and price gouging literally are illegal. At least in the U.S. it is. Those practices all remove competition to drive up prices to unreasonable levels. Capitalism is supposed to work by different companies competing to deliver the best product for the cheapest price they can, if they don't it could seriously harm people's financial well being by driving prices higher than they can afford.

Morality is subjective, yes, but most people seem to agree that microtransactions are a scummy business practice. There's really no way to justify the ridiculously high cost of the microtransactions because the games don't cost nearly enough to justify it. Companies have a right to profit off their products, but not at the expense of other people's financial well being. If they want to continue to profit, they should find other ways to cut their costs or make their products better.