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Mario Kart Tour – official release date confirmed

One of the biggest names in casual gaming is coming to iOS, and over a year after its initial announcement we finally have a release date. That’s right, Mario Kart Tour is coming to iPhone and iPad on September 25. Just in time to play it on the iPhone 11!

The frenetic kart-racing series has been a fond family favorite since the early 90s, and has proven popular even with those who don’t normally consider themselves gamers. So Nintendo has a good chance an ensnaring the casual public with a nostalgic blast of fun here, if it gets the gameplay balance right. Check out the trailer to see just exactly what that gameplay will look like – from the trailer, it doesn’t look too many shades off the quality of a full console iteration of Mario Kart!

Nintendo has had mixed success bringing its franchises to mobile, with the free-to-try, $10-to-buy Mario Run making much less money for the company than games like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing that use a more conventional freemium approach.

It looks as though Mario Kart Tour will follow suit, being described by Nintendo as “free to start”. Some early beta testers have reported some annoying “pay to win” tendences, but hopefully the wait timers and/or virtual currency tricks won’t be too egregious, as it’s likely the gameplay will have Nintendo’s trademark sheen of quality. There’s still time to iron that stuff out before release.

We’ll be reviewing Mario Kart Tour when it launches in a few weeks time, so stay tuned for our verdict on whether it lives up to the hype!