After running a few beta tests over the past couple of months, Mario Kart Tour will finally see the official release of its multiplayer mode. Players will have the chance to compete against seven other racers when the update goes live on March 8.
Mario Kart Tour’s multiplayer will be broken up into three categories. All users can play locally with friends using custom rulesets, or they take the action online to compete in Standard Races at the 100cc speed. The last mode — Gold Races — is only available for Gold Pass subscribers and includes online races in the 150cc and 200cc groups. Courses for online races will be picked from the featured cup of the current Tour and will change every 15 minutes to ensure a good rotation of levels.
Nintendo ran a short open beta back in January, and most of the feedback given by players was overwhelmingly negative. Wait times between matches were lengthy, other racers lagged across the track, and there wasn’t a good progression system in place to reward gamers for their achievements. Hopefully Nintendo has taken the criticism to heart and March 8 will see the release of a robust multiplayer mode.
While we won’t complain about getting the new mode as soon as possible, it’s odd that Nintendo didn’t chose to wait until March 10 for the update, as that’s when the current Tour will be ending. March 10 is also Mario Day — when abbreviated to “MAR 10” it looks a bit like “Mario” — and releasing the multiplayer update could have been a fun way to celebrate.
Mario Kart Tour has seen its fair share of criticism, stemming primarily from its seemingly greedy monetization methods. Players must subscribe to the Gold Pass to access the most difficult races available, and “firing off the pipe” to earn new gear is a gacha nightmare. The game itself is a serviceable mobile racing game, but pales in comparison to others in the Mario Kart franchise.
The fact that Mario Kart Tour launched without a playable multiplayer mode was bewildering to a lot of people. Most players don’t want to race against AI characters — the big draw of racing games is pitting your skills up against real people. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait much longer until we are able to launch those lovely Blue Shells and ruin someone’s day.
Source: Nintendo Twitter
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