‘Mario Kart Tour’ is the sports video game of the year

The best sports game of the year is Mario Kart Tour, the Nintendo success that’s taken the Apple and Google Play stores by storm in 2019. The mobile version of the Mario Kart series is the lovechild of the series we’ve grown to love from Super Nintendo to Nintendo 64 to Gamecube to DS to Wii to Switch and more. The series has now found a home in our pockets, and it rules.

The game debuted in September to tens of millions of first-week users, but I’m writing now because it’s just introduced the long-awaited multiplayer mode (albeit in beta version), but — ooo! — it’s exciting to see where this can go. On Dec. 19, “gold pass” users began testing the beta, racing against random users or joining lobbies with friends. The system is glitchy, karts are laggy, and the game has errors, because this is just the beta. But when this is all fixed, Mario Kart could be the biggest mobile game we’ve talked about since Pokemon Go.

Here’s why.

Mario Kart Tour looks and feels like the Mario Karts of old — probably because most of the maps are recycled from old games. There are currently six courses from SNES, two from Nintendo 64, one from Gameboy Advance, two from Gamecube, three from DS, and eight from 3DS, and they’re all remastered to look incredible on mobile. With lots of Dinos to bounce off of, pinballs to dodge and cannons to launch from, you’re hooked from the beginning.

The game has also brought back 52 (!) characters so far including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad, Toadette and more — with more to come every two weeks (more on that later.) All the items you’re familiar throwing off the back of your kart are back too, including banana peels, red shells, mushrooms and Bob-ombs.

Mario Kart Tour brings the amount of drivers per race back down to eight, and this isn’t double-dash — one racer per kart. Picking a driver for each race also isn’t merely just preference as certain drivers, karts, and gliders are equipped with higher score multipliers than others depending on course. It sounds wackier than it is.

Races are generally two laps instead of three, which makes the game much quicker. That’s better for mobile. Also, depending on the character used, a single item box can yield three items, not just one.

But the biggest difference is that this game is on your phone. Which means you can play it pretty much anywhere. Which means you’re never going to put it down. Which means you’re about to get unnecessarily competitive.

Pro tip: If you’re worried about losing your job because of this game, just introduce it to your bosses. That’s what I did.

It led to him suggesting I write about the game.

There’s a system to Mario Kart’s madness that you’ll understand if you play long enough. Anxiety might build for the restless, but the system keeps you coming back for more each day.

Wednesdays are the big days. Every second Wednesday, a new tour begins. In the past, there’s been a New York-themed one, a Tokyo one, a London one, a Paris one, and currently, we’re in the Holiday tour. That means New Years- and snow-filled maps. A set of new courses come out along with new challenges and the chance to earn a select few new drivers, karts and gliders. They’ll only be available for the duration of the tour.

Every other Wednesday, a cup within each tour is selected for 20 users at random to compete against each other. You don’t race against each other (that’s to come). Instead, you compete for the highest cumulative score and awarded different prizes, depending on the place you finish.

For the days between, a new cup of four races is unlocked every 24 hours for 10 days. There’s a “shop” where you can spend the coins you earn on new drivers, karts and gliders, too. That refreshes every 24 hours too, keeping you coming back for more and more.

Getting new characters is hard. One strategy is to accrue 45 gems through various challenges and races, and then select a themed cannon and launch 10 new drivers, karts or gliders at random. The cannons are themed to whatever the rare character of the tour is (for now, it’s Reindeer Yoshi), and users are given a slim chance of receiving whoever that may be.

You never know who you’re going to get. You could pull 10 crappy Baby Marios, or land Reindeer Yoshi. When you do get a high-end item — it’s bragging time, homie.

The worst part of the game is the monthly payment for a “gold pass.” It isn’t necessary to play the game, but the rewards are so steep that you’re going to be leagues behind opponents without it. It’s way too expensive right now at $4.99 per month, and I hope that price drops.

Mario Kart Tour’s multiplayer beta just released, and it’s only for “gold pass” subscribers. Right now, since it’s in beta, the gameplay lags, doesn’t work all that well, and isn’t ready for full release. But the potential of what this game can become in 2020 is what could make it the most dominant sports game of the new year.

I tested the game out with a few colleagues, and it was a freakin’ blast. The gameplay against global competitors stunk, but creating a lobby with only friends I knew gave a crisp look at what the game should eventually look like. We’d been playing the game for months already, all messaging each other and venting when we received a crappy cannon pull. Getting to show off what we did earn in a race completely ruled.

Once the multiplayer is up and running for real (hopefully for everyone, not just gold pass members), this game is going to take over mainstream phone culture. If new challenges and a rankings system are introduced — forget about it.

Work productivity is about to reach an all-time low. Blame Yoshi.