Mario Kart Tour mobile beta by Nintendo has opened up in Japan and the US

Mario Kart Tour is finally coming to mobile and the first set of beta trials have gone live in Japan and the US. It’s currently available only for Android and the full version is scheduled to release this summer. [caption id=“attachment_6691491” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Mario Kart Tour on mobile.[/caption] ShortList says that the game is “heavy” on microtransactions and the gameplay mechanics hasn’t been up to the mark. However, for now, it’s in the beta version and real money cannot be used as discovered by Ars Technica. In terms of gameplay, acceleration is automatic and all gamers need to do is control the steering by dragging their fingers across the screen left or right. To drift, a quick or aggressive swipe is required. Loot boxes are present in the game where each costs five Emeralds. Opening one loot box gives the player a chance to unlock a random mascot character, kart or a “glider” accessory. Again, real money cannot be used for this just yet. Mario Kart Tour will be coming out this summer on Android and iOS with no mention of a specific release date. The beta version currently underway also wasn’t given a specific timeline. On other things Nintendo, Team Sonic Racing is now available on the Switch and other platforms. According to a report by Nintendo Life, several users have reported that the opening movie is absent on the Switch. Essentially, other platforms include a long enough movie that sets the tone of the game to get you started. Nintendo Life believes that the reason could have been that Sega wanted to keep the total size of the game below 8 GB so as to avoid the requirement of acquiring a larger Switch cart that would cost it extra money. Although this is just speculation, there’s no official word from Sega yet. This really isn’t a big issue since the cutscene is already available online, so Switch gamers aren’t really missing out on much.