Mario Kart Tour Reviews

…But we should. They’re almost the only way to acquire high-end characters, karts and gliders, and they require rubies to fire. Rubies are the rarest (and most expensive) in-game currency; there are ways to get some without spending real money, but these are either few and far between (earning them as tour gifts, as an achievement, or ironically firing them out of a pipe), but it’s hard to build a stockpile without buying them outright. And they are a huge waste of money- it costs five rubies to fire a pipe, and the chance of getting anything good (read, high-end) is extremely remote; the whole system seems rigged that way. And don’t bother checking the Daily Selects for those coveted drivers- in another review I read that the drivers featured there are limited to a selection of those who were available when the game first launched, which leaves a lot of drivers out in the cold and unavailable, especially for those of us who’ve been suckered by it before and refuse to buy into the ruby racket again. A racket- that’s what it is, really. On a side note, in my experience, even when I do, on those very rare occasions, get a high-end something or other from a pipe, it’s usually something or someone I already have, so even when I fire it for free, the pipe system is a waste of time. As for buying rubies for multiple firings, don’t bother on that account either- the odds aren’t any better.

My feelings towards this game are sort of a love and hate type of thing. In the beginning I loved it more for nostalgic reason than anything else, but that only lasted but so long. I eventually developed a hate for game bc I realized in order to stay competitive I’d have to spend real money something I was not willing to do, so I stopped playing all together. Fast forward some months later I began playing again, and I dreadfully decided to get the gold pass, and even made a few random purchases on ruby’s, and a couple other small bundles which I admit it got me excited to keep playing again, but eventually it felt stagnant once again only this time it cost me money. I get it they have to make money that’s not really my problem with the game. My problems are one being the whole raffle based spending of your rubies (which you more than likely paid for) the odds you get anything useful are super slim. Two I don’t like how you can’t level up off racing alone, the whole needing point tickets (which are super hard to get) to level up karts,glider’s, and characters that you’ve already earned (or paid for) is just a bit ridiculous. Last the cups are all the same maps just randomized with one new themed course ran again and again paired with the same characters in new outfits. I wish they offered different elements and actual modes of gameplay instead.

The game is ok and it’s addictive because of nostalgia and the gambling of the pipe (which has problems in its own but that’s not what this review is about) I’m a little disappointed in the multiplayer at the moment. I was surprised that the mechanic of only 3 or so characters could get 3 items and have a frenzy was still a thing. I think a better option would to give everyone three items but make the chances of having a frenzy higher for the characters that go along with the map. Second I know it’s still glitchy because it’s still in testing but the ones I’ve seen are items disappearing, “teleporting”, and freezing. I know since it’s online that much can’t be done about the freezing; but when the round starts I don’t understand why there’s a chance of being at the starting line for up to a minute waiting for a countdown. Everyone is already in the lobby and has chosen their carts why can’t the race start

Second part of my complaints
Why the limitations on coins and xp? I understand that they don’t want people to be op but three hundred coin limit per day is a little stingy especially when the store changes everyday and even gliders cost up to 500 coins alone. Also 80% of the time the store is just filled with items you already have ,and so is the pipe ,I don’t think I should be able to spend rubies and get over 3 duplicates especially since they are so hard to get

I was pretty excited for this game to come out. Mario Kart is one of my favorite Nintendo series. Unfortunately, it’s hard to enjoy. I really only have fun with it one or two days every two weeks, since other than that cups only release once per day. I’m really not a fan of ranked cups, it’s a bit unfair when you’re against people who do the in-app purchases (which are WAY too overpriced). It’s always so hard and repetitive since you’re only playing three tracks over and over. And if you don’t get top row for everything, you’re kind of screwed. It’s especially annoying when you get to higher tiers and it’s way harder to progress, not to mention you go down if you get bottom 10 (which is way too many people, bottom 5 would make more sense). Unfortunately, it’s really the only practical way to get rubies. Tour gifts are way too slow and buying them is way too expensive. (Why the heck does the gold pass cost more than NSO?) To say something positive, it is pretty fun playing new cups and I like how we continuously get new tours. I also think bonus challenges are fun (except maybe smash small Dry bones and mega battles). I’ve been wanting them back in Mario Kart, and it’s cool to see them here. All in all, I feel like MarioKartTour mostly just wastes my time and I kind of wish I’d never downloaded it. It also really makes me want Mario Kart 9. And it better be on the switch.

From start up app is completely user friendly, easy to navigate as well as get started even if you don’t have a Nintendo profile. Once in the game it looks amazing, all the great memories of childhood come flooding back and you are reunited with your inner child. My only complaint is game play, as it is streamless and easy to use I feel it is lacking in both immersion as well as accuracy. Immersion, I feel playing the game in wide screen and giving the player a true left and right as well as throttle and break controls, or keep auto throttle and move weapon usage and drift on buttons, could even set it up for double tap in the direction of the turn to initiated drift or put turning on joystick but swiping left and right. Swiping left and right seems to have the vehicle constantly needing a direction input due to a lack of getting back on center too slowly or something of that nature. Game play, I feel if the above is changed it will completely improve game play and bring competitiveness forefront as well as the want to continue to play and advance through the game. Just my two pennies. Those are the only reasons I give the game 4 out of 5. Everything else in the game is amazing but those areas are lacking, playing on wide screen and a change to driving controls would be highly encouraged.

Avoid at all costs. For what you would think would be a children’s game, it is definitely not. Premium items are ridiculously priced. It costs a fortune to even attempt to get some of the better items. Worst yet, controls are atrocious. Everything being connected to the touch screen causes so many issues. It is supposed to be that you swipe up or down to use items but the majority of the time you’ll use them just by simply turning left or right. The controls also lack precision. It is next to impossible to make a slight adjustment to your movement as opposed to a proper control stick.

Beyond this, the gameplay is repetitive. All you basically do is race against CPUs that will continuously cheat, outspeed and prioritize attacking the player. Yes, they’re flat out faster than you. The items also heavily favor them as it is 7 vs. 1. And the worst part of this is that YOU GET PUNISHED FOR LOSING! Yes, you have a player rank that goes up based on your position. Why would you PUNISH someone playing your game for something that is often out of their control? And they also expect you to also drive perfectly, get combos to complete missions, without them interfering! (Better get a lot of $$$$$ to increase the better items you can get while racing!!!!)

As someone who enjoyed the previous entries on the consoles, this is disgusting to see what has become of this franchise. My biggest regret is giving this game any sort of money.

Compared to when I first started playing, seems like the number of cups in each tour have gone down; and it takes forever for the next tour to come out, so it gets boring playing the same cups over and over.
In the latest tour, the last cup, the only way to get 4 or 5 stars is to have high end drivers/karts/gliders...that’s BS. I’ve fired the pipe at least 30 times during this latest tour and I’ve only ever gotten 1 high end and 1 super. So you either pay for more rubies to fire the pipe again or you just don’t get the stars. Trash.
Multiplayer is cool, but I’ve been booted out of so many multiplayer races which causes my ranking to lower, I didn’t choose to quit the race, I’m always connected to WiFi, so why should my ranking be affected, it wasn’t my fault.
Also, in multiplayer, I just can’t believe some of the things that happen..like how am I getting hit by something every 3 seconds, or how was I way ahead of the group one second, then last the next second. I don’t think this game matches you up with players who are on or close to the same ranking as you, even though it’ll say we’re all the same ranking. Always feels like there’s something off about multiplayer. Shady.
Definitely not getting any more of my actual money (canceled Gold Pass, spent max $40 for rubies). Just thinking about trying to level up makes my blood boil now, might just have to delete MarioKartTour, no longer fun like it used to be.

Love this game. I literally play every day. However, - like the many others who have mentioned in their reviews - it is difficult to obtain rubies, and when you do, the pipe does not reward great prizes - even with the gold pass! I spend money on the gold pass every month, and I feel like I should get more perks with it other than being able to race at 200 cc and getting a few boosts tickets. Who in their right mind would spend $40 just to get a red yoshi and a bunch of rubies???? As much as I want a red yoshi or a red bullet blaster, I couldn’t even fathom spending that much in order to obtain them. It’s like this, you go into a store, such as paper source (for the girly girls out there), or game stop? (for the guys???, sorry no clue what dudes like), and you see a product such as heart shaped balloons or valentine themed tea that you don’t NEED but would love to have because they’re hella cute; I am guessing you would be willing to spend money on these things if it were in a reasonable price range, yes? And this would probably be beneficial to the sellers as well, right? Except you are all but surprised to see these unnecessary but alluring products require nearly half your budget for the week. It’s lame, really. Unless you’re rich, or spending money unwisely, it’s not very realistic for us commoners.

Game doesn’t want you to win and even if you get first place, the game will base you off of your performance. This game will do anything in its power to help make the “other real players” win. Why quote on quote? Well because in the tour mode you are not actually playing with real player, they are just computer players generated with real player names and load outs. As I was playing this game I noticed something that was very annoying, I would click the button that allows me to view behind me and when I would let go, it would change my controls from Manuel drift to standard driving. Also, in a race when I was right next to a computer player, I was focused in on trying to get ahead of this computer BUT the computer player just TELEPORTS? Ahead of me? Haha wow if that’s how this game is going to be, I am better of playing a Mario kart game that is actually fair. Two more things, the prices and the gold pass. The prices to purchase rubies are just wow. You mean to tell me that I have to pay two dollars for 3 rubies, not even enough for a ONE SHOT PIPE. Now the Gold pass. Seriously? I have to pay 5 dollars A MONTH for: 200cc and bonus awards and display badges? And that’s basically it, 200 cc which will probably have the computer players act impossible to beat with the way they are programmed unless you have the top load out for the race, the bonus awards aren’t too bad but golden display badges? Really? They don’t even look that good.

Hi,
So I love MarioKart. I have it on my Nintendo Switch so I thought it would be fun to get it on my IPhone. So my first problem is, my game crashes like 90% of the time. I will be in the middle of a race and it will crash. It also crashes right after I finish a race and when it does that it doesn’t save my progress. My other problem is the rubies. They are SUPER hard to get, and when I finally get enough to do a pipe, I get something really bad/something I already have. I have like none high ends. And you can buy rubies, but it’s a crazy amount of money for just 5. And you can pay for high end karts/players but they are also like 40 DOLLARS for a pack. I can’t make you guys change the rubies thing, but PLEASE fix the crashing because I have a older phone and I’m not getting a new phone for MarioKart. All my other apps are fine.
UPDATE: The crashes have gotten worse. Also, what’s the problem with updates??? You have to update so often and it takes a long time to update just to play a game that always crashes. And am I the only one with horrible luck? My dad plays it and he has like 20 high ends so he gets lots of points. I have like 3 high ends!!! And theres soooooo many high ends to get and you have a horrible chance to get them! I also saw that you CAN get a FREE golden pipe. But thats if you finish all the races! And I cant get through even one race without it crashing! Help!

I waited to write this review until I was well into the game just to see what changes were initially made. I think the racing itself is awesome; cool karts, characters, gliders, etc... However, I think the limits on how many points and coins you can acquire each day is entirely too low. I can play for 30 minutes and reach this limit. It makes it very hard to achieve high points on items, which makes it hard to advance in the game. If you pay for a gold pass, there should be no limit to your daily points or coins. Additionally, I think that rubies are entirely too expensive (both real money & virtually) and they don’t necessarily guarantee good items from the pipes. I think that you should be able to purchase rubies with coins collected in the game & 48 rubies should not cost $27, especially since they don’t guarantee you’ll receive anything valuable to your game play. If the rubies were less expensive and had a higher chance of getting something good, I think that people would have more incentive to buy them!! If these improvements are made, I think a lot more people would play. I personally know people that played when the game first came out, but quickly left due to these issues. I hope the concerns raised by avid and loyal players are considered by Nintendo. ~Riley

I love this game. I have since I was a child. But lately I’ve been unable to play because it won’t load the game, it’s constantly asking me to download something and even after I do it will say the game has crashed. I was loving playing this game again and just got back into it but every time I’ve tried to play this week I’ve waited minutes upon minutes Nd it just won’t load. Even if I’m on WiFi, or if I try using my data. No matter what it’s problems. I was playing for weeks with this
Happening occasionally but now it’s just to the point I’m about to give up because I can’t get the game to even start up! And yes I’ve downloaded all the updates and extra in-game downloading but I expect a game to start up in seconds, not hours lately *maybe’* I’d really like to get back into the game so if you can resolve this issue that would be great. When this game is working I will give it 5 stars but the technical difficulties are making me feel like I’m in 2002 again. Not 2020. I realize this is a difficult time in the world right now but it’s been happening far longer than that and only gotten worse and worse. And we shouldn’t have to download something every other day that should be fixed too. Please get back to me when bug fixes are actually resolved. Thanks for your time. I hope your team will read this review.

This is by far one of the best mobile games ever created. First of all there are no ads even for free players. The gold version would be awesome if you have a couple extra bucks each month because it gives you an opportunity for more characters, karts, & gliders. And the selection of things is seemingly endless. There are SO MANY characters, karts, & gliders to win in the pipe. Challenges to keep up more motivation to play, leveling up all your stuff so even when you don’t get a new thing in the pipe you’re still leveling up your current items. They also have so many nostalgic courses and every once & a while will throw in some exclusive Mario Kart Tour courses.

This game is amazing. Literally the only two requests I have is to make the gyro steering have an option to turn the sensitivity up, when I am not drifting I like to tilt my phone to steer but it’s not nearly sensitive enough so I end up having to use the steer touch control in the bottom left corner.
Also, please bring back the Vancouver and the new rainbow road track, and maybe get a newer version of Bowser’s castle would be super awesome.
Thanks for all of the hard work to the developers of this game. You guys kill it.

Few things I found wrong here after playing for awhile. The number of different maps is limited, as each cup just makes a random combination choosing from a selection of maybe 10-12 of them. Secondly, just the option to pay for a “gold pass” (5$ monthly) is annoying to me. I hate in game subscriptions that just make you better than other players, it takes the fun out of the grind. Plus, limiting the amount you can level up riders, carts, and gliders in one day makes it seem like a clear money grab as the game forces you to pay for extra coins, gems, gold pass, etc. lastly, the obvious attempt at deceiving the players making it seem like they’re playing online when in reality it’s bots with creative names is a bit sketchy. I’ve seen tons of reviewers on MarioKartTour Store alone actually believing that they are playing against real players when they enter a cup. This is a big deal because once you find out everything is just computer AI, it gets repetitive and boring fast. I really enjoy the way they condensed the game-play to fit into the quick style of phone games, I appreciate the grind aspect even if it seems to be cornering me into paying, and I hope the multiplayer that comes out on Saturday can redeem the other poor qualities of Mario Kart Tour. For now though, 3/5 is about the most you can give it.

As someone who has deactivated Gold Pass after two years subscribed; Mario Kart is considerably harder with the $5 a month subscription. One race I finished in first but the AI flew ahead as my wheels touched the finish line and the game observably changed “1st” to “2nd”. There have been far more projectiles experienced after discontinuing Gold Pass. I think Nintendo’s push for monetizing this game is strong. Due to the evident push for monetization for this game; I’d rather quit than resubscribe. After two years of premium prices the game has been slow to innovate or make any real changes. It feels like there’s only one new course per update and the rest of the courses are heavily recycled if the full tour is played. Nintendo rarely has sales across all their games and I can see that some of that is due to the care and innovation they install in their games. Where many games today are pushed out based on false pretenses and incomplete. However Nintendo’s premium prices do not seem justified for Mario kart and there appears to be more greed than innovation and care. The real life costs to clear a character pipe are insane and it’s only for a few select items. AND there’s more than one pipe at the same expensive rate each event. Mario Kart on the phone is just a big money grab from Nintendo in my opinion. I think Nintendo should re-evaluate Mario kart for mobile.
Thank you if you took the time to read all this!

The game is very fun, however I do find coin grinding to be a bit repetitive, only earning 50 gold per match. Also, New York is probably my least favorite map, making it very difficult for me to reach 5 stars, even though I play 150 cc every race or event I do. I don't have a driver that has more than 1 items slot,(there being only 4, all of which are above common[diddy kong, Bowser, Pauline, Mario with a suit])Before, I had a problem on this map in The Bowser cup, in which I grinded from level 4 to 12 on that map alone, taking me 3 days to eventually have rng side in my favor(I didn’t have the kart for x2-3 points, so being first on lap1 and 2, and reaching 1800 bonus points from random stuff to reach the 4,600 points I needed.) Overall, I am in a situation where 5 grand stars are half based on rng, hoping I get items instead of Mushrooms, and not getting hit AT ALL by other racers. I’ve got the drifting down, holding green shells and bananas for extra protection against red shells, and riding into other racers if they are riding me. Now its diddy kong cup, near situation except the goal is 5300 instead of 4600. And the characters this time are: Pauline, diddy kong, donkey kong, and mario with a suit. I have the highest tier cart for the level(x2 points) and a middle tier glider. However, I’m stuck with toad to chug through the race.

I love the game - rarely am I loyal to an app, but this one gives you so many options to achieve things (even without in game purchases) that it has kept me hooked for months.

I much prefer the single-player to multiplayer because I find the multiplayer laggy and frustrating. A lot of the time I’ll hit someone with a shell or something but there’s no crash time to catch up, so many of the items are rendered moot. I’ve seen a lot of the players also blip in and out in front of me, which makes it hard to use items as well as see a genuine representation of where everyone is on the track. I have a super strong wifi connection that works well with other apps, so I know it’s not that. It also puts a lot of stress on my phone and I have to stop playing after a few races so it doesn’t get too hot (although I do have an iPhone 8 so that might be my problem).
It’s also annoying that everyone plays as the same 1-2 characters when we all get the same special items, like boomerangs, and the game becomes more mayhem than anything else else. I know it’s a new feature and I feel like it will get better with time, but I figured I’d leave some feedback anyway in case the developers see it.

When I first saw that nintendo was releasing Mario kart on mobile is the best news I’ve heard so far as in mobile games couldn’t get any better. Don’t get me wrong the gameplay of the game is really fun the best experience also with the main menu and the shop all those features are really nice for. Than when I come to find out I have to upgrade the karts and the gliders and characters It’s alright I don’t have a problem with it. On what I do is that it would be better if we where allowed to get a little more coins than we do same thing with the gems just feels like I’m not getting enough for the items in the shop. Another thing is I wish there weren’t that many limits to stuff and wish we could get a little more rewards in the game like items to upgrade and more coins, same with the gems. Just hope these things would happen in later updates oh and another thing that would make the game a little better don’t end up making the game be a “pay to win game” that would make the experience even better. Hopefully more characters are added in the game and karts, gliders, maps and the multiplayer hope it’s like the same experience like the Nintendo switch but besides that great game lots of fun something really new.!!!

Game is really fun but there’s a problem with the control see when you I guess what I’m really trying to say is that when you remote control your character it doesn’t go where you want it to go it goes anywhere else and if you wanna brand new character for yourself it does it do that so you have to spit all your coins on characters instead of cars and stuff and now we got a buy new cars and stuff and we want the one we won and that’s kind of a rip off so I would have to say that it’s kind of unfair because because it’s not fair and I don’t like it anyway so if you like the character in the game it’s kind of like the ink traps and banana trap is set all the straps and those mystery boxes are fun but not that far because you know why it’s kind of hard because not to not get the one that you don’t watch so yeah it’s kind of unfair to others to all the people that play Mario kart real world tour so yeah that’s a love it I love that it shows me the different worlds and I get different cars and the characters and it’s really fun but I still want you to change the game a little bit make it a little easier said harder make it like four so we don’t fall off the course

This game is really fun their only a few things that need to be looked at. The first thing is this game crashes some time u expect stuff like that because it’s new and every one is trying to play so when that’s fixed that would help so we wouldn’t have to start over a race. My secound thing is the controls could be way better if they put two arrows so u can steer theirs a lot of understeer when u play this game u drift way to much or don’t turn right on sharp corners that would honestly make this game way better and more fun to race with this controls. My third thing is their are micro trans actions so if u want the best characters u do have to buy the gold pass to me it does make a huge difference it gives u things free to play players won’t have or get because it’s exclusive to the gold pass for $5.99 I mean I know their trying to get money but this isn’t the way to get it. The point of games it to earn ur stuff not buy ur way to it so if u we’re planning to get platinum Mario u can’t unless u get the gold pass sorry guys. Their also is an online mode coming in future updates I hope it’s real player real time. I want to be able to send my friends invites so we can play together in our own lobby we create not with otheir people make it 2 separate online modes pvp and friend pvp. That’s all

It’s been a while since I enjoyed a game like this on my phone, even as an Apple Arcade subscriber... I went ahead and ponied up for the Gold Pass about 1 month after starting Mario Kart Tour, and I’ve found that the value for Gold (Almost) made sense, you get access to a couple high level players, karts etc, and the extra loot from every gift box, as well as access to the 200cc courses, but that’s where the advantage stops.
If you ever want to ace these courses (5 Star) from this point forward, it’s not so much a matter of your “skill” in play, as much as it is for the advantage gained by high level players, karts and kites that you would only access from the Pipe. Which means you need Rubies and Rubies are expensive and hard to earn without those higher level players... also the frequency of high level “wins” for plays is ridiculous IMO, i have spent over 1000 rubies on the pipes so far and it just feels like you come up short.
This is why I chose to Cancel my Gold Pass, reset my profile and delete/uninstall Mario Kart Tour. Although I enjoyed the brief attempt at multi-player, I think I’ll stick to playing MK on my switch for the competitive feel.

Maybe I’ll circle back around, but for now, the juice is not worth the squeeze.

Left the game but later came back. I’m liking the game more however there’s some problems. So with this quarantine I have barely anything to do and this also is no different for everyone else. I suggest that the limit to coins and points should be removed because I don’t understand the point. People should be able to grind as much as they please especially when they are stuck at home. The gold pass is also in thinking and a lot of people can agree is stupid. It’s stupid because $5 a month is too much because your not getting too many benefits and it would have been understandable if it was permanent but it’s only for a month. At least try and do something to help us out because everyone is suffering and I’m sure there tons of people who are bored and depressed because they are stuck at home. Maybe if you can take advantage of this time and do something that’s going to get everyone’s attention and for a good idea, why not try and add Balloon battle and coin runners? I would hands down play a lot if those modes existed and a lot of other can agree! And if it’s multiplayer that makes it even better.

Thank you for taking your time to read this. Please stay safe everyone while we are in quarantine