Nintendo, creators of classic games such as "Mario," "The Legend of Zelda," and "Donkey Kong," will be taking another shot at the mobile gaming industry by porting "Mario Kart" to smartphone devices. Nintendo's upcoming game "Mario Kart Tour" will be headed for smartphone devices next year, somewhere around March to April 2019. Nintendo will be using the franchise' famous titles as leverage to enter the mobile game industry.
"The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019," Nintendo America announced in its official Twitter account.
For the record, Nintendo recently shut down its first-ever mobile game, "Miitomo." Unlike established Nintendo exclusives such as "Mario Kart" and even "Fire Emblem," "Miitomo" was a new game that never had any traction after its first few days.
To compare, long time hit titles such as "Mario Kart" has sold millions of copies over the years. The latest game, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," has sold around seven million copies for the Nintendo Switch alone, with another eight million more for the Nintendo Wii U.
Besides the unfortunate fate of Nintendo's social app "Miitomo," the company did have success in other areas that use more famous titles. Nintendo has since launched a few mobile games such as "Super Mario Run," "Fire Emblem Heroes," and "Animal Crossing." All of these titles received sufficient success compared to "Miitomo."
Adding a "Mario Kart" title in app stores will almost ensure successful sales for Nintendo. Racing games have always been a hit for mobile gaming, simply because it is a good "plug and play" game that is also simple but fun to play.
Many mobile gamers can expect a motion-sensitive game that may possibly require tilting the mobile device. Nintendo has always been a leader in this technology, especially after introducing its famous "Joy-con" controllers for the Nintendo Switch.
While Nintendo stumbled a bit in 2017, fans and gamers can expect a much smoother 2018 and 2019 for the burgeoning mobile games of the Japanese company.
