Nintendo has teased us already with the news that it will release a new mobile game featuring the world’s most popular plumber in early 2019. But apart from that, not many details have been made public about the actual game. As we are heading nearer the game’s scheduled release date, here is what we know so far, what we expect will happen, and why this game is so important for Nintendo and its overall performance.

Nintendo Branching over to the Mobile Gaming Market

Nintendo has been notorious for being hesitant to release any of its IP on mobile devices, instead preferring to launch games on its own consoles and proprietary handheld devices like the 3DS. Yet mobile games are starting to dominate the gaming market, and for good reason: according to www.casinowings.com, consumers are looking for games they can play on the go, during a boring train journey or on the way to work, which is why mobile online casinos are increasing in popularity. It seems that, in the past few years, Nintendo has finally come to terms with the fact that it needs to get on board with the trend if it wants to secure its legacy as one of the industry’s true pioneers.

Super Mario Run: An Underwhelming First Attempt

Super Mario Run, Nintendo’s first serious venture into the mobile gaming world relied on one of its most beloved characters – Super Mario. As the company itself reports on www.nintendo.com, the game was released in December 2016 for a starting price of $9.99 and is available both on iOS and Android, in single-player mode only. The choice of Mario as the hero to spearhead the company’s attempt to win over the mobile market was obvious. With millions of fans worldwide, Super Mario is one of Nintendo’s most recognizable characters, while many of its games were critically acclaimed. In fact, three Super Mario games have entered the top 10 of best games ever on Metacritic: Super Mario Galaxy 2 claimed the 6th spot, with Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Galaxy following on no. 7 and 8 respectively, with a score of 97%.

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What Mario Kart Tour Needs to Get Right

Things did not go so great with Super Mario Run, which was criticized for its high starting price, the requirement of an Internet connection to play, and the confusing way in which its free demo mode was marketed. So even though little is known about Mario Kart Tour, we can expect that Nintendo will try to fix these problems. According to www.cultofmac.com, the new Mario Kart mobile game is still set to be released in March 2019, just a couple of months away, while its developer has also confirmed that it will be “free-to-start”. Based on the Super Mario Run pattern, we can expect the game to feature a free-to-play mode with an option to pay to upgrade – but in a less confusing way than SMR did it. And based on the criticism received for the previous title, we truly expect Nintendo to launch it at a significantly lower price and with an offline mode, in line with mobile gaming tradition.

One thing is for certain: Super Mario fans worldwide are eagerly awaiting for the mobile version of one of the franchise’s most beloved subgenres, Mario Kart. For Nintendo, a lot hangs on doing this just perfect this time.