Mario Kart Tour

Mr E

Deserves its own thread, I think.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/958876622517452801

blockfighter

Great for people who don't own a switch. Could act as an incentive to buy the console.
Personally I've no interest. I already have a portable Mario kart game.

CiDeRmAn

As a potential new Mario Kart game I can't wait, but I would hope that they don't overload this with micropayments and social media connections.
The Super Mario Run model is possibly the one they'll use but, in that title, it all was so brief!

earthwormjack

I don't think they'll use the super mario run price model. One off payments don't make enough money on mobile unfortunately.

Fire Emblem Heroes made a little bit more money with far less downloads as far as I recall. Mario Kart will be a grind for coins to race or a limit of 3 to 5 races a day for free and pay for "race boosts" or some nonsense i think. Hopefully I'm very, very wrong which will most likely be the case

Mr E

I wonder if they'll go the Subway Surfer route (having set 'tracks' through the play area, swipe to move between them).
They could have branching paths, power ups and could still be good fun if done right.

It would work better on mobile than a virtual joystick anyway... They could monitise it very easily too.

CiDeRmAn

As said already by blockfighter, good thing we all have perfectly fantastic portable Mario Kart games already, MK7 and MK8Dx!

Bob24

earthwormjack wrote: »

I don't think they'll use the super mario run price model. One off payments don't make enough money on mobile unfortunately.

Fire Emblem Heroes made a little bit more money with far less downloads as far as I recall. Mario Kart will be a grind for coins to race or a limit of 3 to 5 races a day for free and pay for "race boosts" or some nonsense i think. Hopefully I'm very, very wrong which will most likely be the case

I hope Nintendo is better than this, but sadly you might be right.

I guess it depends on how they see it. If the goal is to give the best user experience and attract people to the Switch, a one off payment is probably better (Super Mario Run is partly why I bought a switch after years of not play games on any platform bar iOS games once in a while, but hating the free to play model).

If they look at the game in isolation and the goal is to have as many users and make as much money as possible, a free to play model with micro transaction is probably the way to go.

Mr E

They've already said that it will be "free to start", so you would assume that it will be a freemium game with micro-transactions.

Having said that, SMR was free to start too (the first 4 levels could be played as much as you wanted).

Bob24

Mr E wrote: »

They've already said that it will be "free to start", so you would assume that it will be a freemium game with micro-transactions.

Having said that, SMR was free to start too (the first 4 levels could be played as much as you wanted).

Yes based on SMR “free to start” could also mean a trial mode with maybe just one track and not all game modes, and a once off payment to unlock everything else.

In that case I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t think we can assume either way.

Mr E

The beta came out today (for those who applied for it). It sounds like a huge mess.
The camera is very close behind your kart, limiting your viewing angle (so you need to know the track very well to take advantage of it).

There are multiple currencies and a play timer. You have 5 hearts and each race costs a heart. You get a new heart every 12 minutes.
There is an emerald currency that you can use to buy new hearts (they will cost real money when the game launches).
There is also a separate timer for unlocking tracks, and driver points (DP) for unlocking other enhancements.
There are tickets for improving skills.
Some courses play best with certain karts/characters - you'll get prompted to buy those too!

Jesus, the whole thing is a cynical cash grab.

From the arstechnica article linked below:

To recap: emeralds can be spent on new characters, karts, gliders, and hearts. Hearts are required to start new races. Coins can also be spent on new characters, karts, and gliders, but these take much longer to accrue. Driver points are earned for your characters, karts, and gliders by grinding through repeat races. Stars are earned by racking up enough driver points in each race, and you need to acquire enough stars to unlock new cups.

Oh, there's also "tickets," which you can spend on enhancing "skills" for any of your characters, karts, or gliders (or to access a "coin rush" mode). Nintendo has not confirmed exactly which MKT currencies can be bought with real-world money, nor how much each will cost.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/mario-kart-tour-beta-hands-on-microtransactions-land-like-a-nasty-blue-shell/

You can watch a german stream of the gameplay here (the video doesn't allow embedding so you have to watch on youtube).

Mr E

From reading more about it this morning, the general consensus is that it's 'pay to win', which is the worst kind of Freemium game.

chalkitdown1

Mr E wrote: »

The beta came out today (for those who applied for it). It sounds like a huge mess.
The camera is very close behind your kart, limiting your viewing angle (so you need to know the track very well to take advantage of it).

There are multiple currencies and a play timer. You have 5 hearts and each race costs a heart. You get a new heart every 12 minutes.
There is an emerald currency that you can use to buy new hearts (they will cost real money when the game launches).
There is also a separate timer for unlocking tracks, and driver points (DP) for unlocking other enhancements.
There are tickets for improving skills.
Some courses play best with certain karts/characters - you'll get prompted to buy those too!

Jesus, the whole thing is a cynical cash grab.

From the arstechnica article linked below:



https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/mario-kart-tour-beta-hands-on-microtransactions-land-like-a-nasty-blue-shell/

You can watch a german stream of the gameplay here (the video doesn't allow embedding so you have to watch on youtube).

Sounds like the worst kind of PTW mobile game which is very disappointing. Especially so when Nintendo got it so right with Super Mario Run.

Star Lord

Yeah, sounds very much that way tbh.
Which is a shame, as gameplay wise, it looks pretty good...
Depending, of course, on how it actually controls for accelerating / turning / using the items.

There was a lot of potential there, as anyone that's played Mario Kart with motion controls would know. And that also makes it seem strange that it's portrait layout rather than landscape.

manual_man

They may well change things based on the feedback(blowback)

Bob24

chalkitdown1 wrote: »

Sounds like the worst kind of PTW mobile game which is very disappointing. Especially so when Nintendo got it so right with Super Mario Run.

Wholeheartedly agree if I think of what I value in a game.

But I guess if you look at it from Nintendo’s finance team perspective, Super Mario Run wasn’t so right as it made a lot less money than freemium games (now I think that’s a short sighted view and in my case Super Mario Run got me interested in Nintendo again after almost two decade of not touching their stuff, and I ended up buying a Switch and games partly because of it; but still some people at Nintendo must be looking at how much money each individual game is making as a metrics for success).

Inviere

Mr E wrote: »

There are multiple currencies and a play timer. You have 5 hearts and each race costs a heart. You get a new heart every 12 minutes.
There is an emerald currency that you can use to buy new hearts (they will cost real money when the game launches).

Wow, what a shameful cash grab.

Mr E

Out September 25th. I wonder if much has changed since the beta?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V6XecP27wE

CiDeRmAn

I'd be happy to spend €20 on the full game, oddly enough.
But this "Free Until You Play" game just damages the brand.

manual_man

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'd be happy to spend €20 on the full game, oddly enough.
But this "Free Until You Play" game just damages the brand.

They may have fixed that given how much negative feedback was received. It has the potential to be fun

I'm still dreaming of Mario Kart SNES for Switch Online with online multiplayer play

Mr E

Out now. There is a maintenance window until about 8 this morning according to the title screen, so it can't be played yet.

128mb download.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nintendo.zaka

(Apple peeps - search the appstore)

chrislad

It got pushed to my iPhone last night. Haven’t played it yet as it’s still in the maintenance windows until 8am in a time zone somewhere

CiDeRmAn

Trying to download and install as we speak, sh1t internet here in work though, so it might take a little time!

shanec1928

looks like you need an active internet connection to play. servers are getting hammered

Mr E

How many companies would launch a game in a maintenance window, let millions of people download it, specify a time that it would become active, then when millions of people try to access it at the same time, give a message that says "The servers are experiencing heavy traffic. Your login request will be processed in the order it was received".

Banjo

"Please understand...."

bada_bing

managed to get in for a short tutorial on gameplay and then it tells you to download another 248 MB of data to continue the game.

blockfighter

bada_bing wrote: »

managed to get in for a short tutorial on gameplay and then it tells you to download another 248 MB of data to continue the game.

Just got the same myself. Thats a hefty download. Actually enjoyed the gameplay from the tutorial. Plays better than I though it would.

CiDeRmAn

Well, that's for deleting.
Why bother when the 3DS and Switch already have full great kart games

conormario

Hmmm, not sure if this is a good tactic by Nintendo. Ie tacky phone games. The average Joe will see this and disregard the real gems that Nintendo has.

Star Lord

Actually quite enjoying what I've played of this so far! Obviously the controls aren't as sharp, but it works reasonably well!

manual_man

Is there no option to buy the game outright? The idea of endless micro-payments is putting me off

Mickeroo

manual_man wrote: »

Is there no option to buy the game outright? The idea of endless micro-payments is putting me off

That would defeat the purpose of releasing a candy crush style money making machine.

earthwormjack

manual_man wrote: »

Is there no option to buy the game outright? The idea of endless micro-payments is putting me off

Nintendo tried that with Super Mario Run and it was a failure for an ip of Mario's size. The mobile market is an entirely different money gouging beast.

I'm not enjoying the game myself though. Controls are awful from what I've played so far. I'll give it another couple hours over the next week and see how it goes.

druss

earthwormjack wrote: »

I'm not enjoying the game myself though. Controls are awful from what I've played so far. I'll give it another couple hours over the next week and see how it goes.

I've played three games and I'm winning, without feeling like I'm really in control of the character. Looks ok, but it doesn't really feel right.

Mickeroo

druss wrote: »

I've played three games and I'm winning, without feeling like I'm really in control of the character. Looks ok, but it doesn't really feel right.

I did 4 races last night and came first in all of them I think, didn't really feel like I was playing against other people.

Banjo

druss wrote: »

I've played three games and I'm winning, without feeling like I'm really in control of the character. Looks ok, but it doesn't really feel right.

Exactly this.
For a game that's all about mastery of the controls, that's an unforgiveable abuse of the IP.

conormario

Mickeroo wrote: »

I did 4 races last night and came first in all of them I think, didn't really feel like I was playing against other people.

Other players are computer controlled for now, with real player IDs

Mickeroo

conormario wrote: »

Other players are computer controlled for now, with real player IDs

That explains a lot, I knew I wasn't that good

FutureGuy

Mickeroo wrote: »

That explains a lot, I knew I wasn't that good

Me too.

Illusion.

Shattered.

CastorTroy

conormario wrote: »

Other players are computer controlled for now, with real player IDs

No rubber banding? Then it's clearly not a real Mario Kart

iamtony

Star Lord wrote: »

Actually quite enjoying what I've played of this so far! Obviously the controls aren't as sharp, but it works reasonably well!

I've accepted your friend request;) I'm enjoying it too! Be careful I'm catching up on your point score. Controls get better the more you play. Not perfect of course but to think a free mario kart game of this quality on your phone is amazing really.

iamtony

conormario wrote: »

Other players are computer controlled for now, with real player IDs

I was thinking something wasn't right how does that work?? I will admit I was fooled! I turned on aeroplane mode on the phone to check if I was imagining things but it wouldn't let me play so I assumed it was real people. I was a little sceptical about how quick the matchmaking was bit I thought the amount of phone users would huge compared to the switch market.

chrislad

Friend code 685074632595

I’m enjoying it for now. Not going to buy anything but it’s a nice bit of entertainment for the moment until I get bored.

Wolverine359

Mmm, is anyone else addicted to this already? I was Extremely sceptical of its merit at first and especially the touch controls, but despite its simplicity I’m finding it great fun to play.

P.S. my friend code is 653383765086.

Ryath

I'm quite enjoying it. Have the free two week trial for pass so getting extra gifts which is a good help. I'm sure it's doable with out payments just takes patience and time. Probably some stuff behind paywall but plenty of gems for getting badges and leveling up. Daily limit for points and coins is a little restrictive but probably keeps it fairer. Looking forward to multiplayer.

id 625259563580

chrislad

I think it’s a nice distraction. I’m done with all the cups available now and have most of the stars bar the last two which need some characters I don’t have yet.

stevexo

I'm enjoying it, need 2 friends to get a full house on one of the challenges, I requested the others in here. Wonder what I get for that.

I'm gone up to tier 4 on the weekly ranking and need to get over 21,000 points currently get in the top 3. That's going to be painful. Currently on 18,000.

Played my first coin rush this evening, couldn't find it before now. Played the X10 multiplier and got nearly 4k in coins

My code is 834764098438

Ryath

Interest seems to have died away in this. Still playing it and quite enjoying it.

3ds Rainbow Road stage in the new tour looks amazing. Only pic I could find really doesn’t do it justice.

Ryath

Real time multiplayer Beta Test live for Gold Pass holders live now until 27/12

manual_man

how much is the gold pass?

Ryath

€5.49 a month there's a two week free trial.