The Racing Goes On In Mario Kart Tour

Nearly a year ago, I downloaded Mario Kart Tour on my smartphone and elaborated on what I enjoyed about the experience that marked the first time Mario and the crew raced outside of a Nintendo console or handheld [32] [33] [34] [35]. Since March 2020, Version Two helped the app maintain its cred for those Nintendo nerds who became rather hooked on it [14] [27], despite the negative feedback Version One received mostly for its questionably greedy deals [29] [40]. Looking at the reception the app has received [26], I would say that Mario Kart Tour is like Marmite. You either love it or hate it [1] [20] [28]. Have no fear because I have not spent a penny on the microtransactions and just spent five rubies on a pipe when I felt like it. Despite the negative side of the reception’s spectrum, I will always be a fan of the Mario Kart series [30] [31], especially when it comes to racing as my homegirl, Princess Peach [10] [13] [14] [15]. Moreover, fasten your seatbelt and do not step on the gas pedal for too long because we are about to zoom through a few updates on Mario Kart Tour in its second version in association with wishing the Super Mario franchise a happy 35^th anniversary [5] [16].

Here is the new title screen for Mario Kart Tour in 2020. [14]

Oh. And did mention I love this Peach badge? [14]

Well, it looks like there is finally a real multiplayer mode after we have only witnessed opponents being controlled by artificial intelligence with usernames tacked onto them [17]. A player can also type in a room code if they wish to only play with those nearby in their local area [14], similar to how a contestant can enter a code for a game of Quiplash or Quiplash 2 [6] [7]. Alternatively and quite more ambitiously, there is also the option to race against actual players around the world, either in a standard race or a gold race that requires a gold pass to compete in. As someone who has not purchased one, I can see how it can increase the reward system by providing gold badges to earn and provide another challenge with the difficulty of 200cc [10] [11] [12] [14]. I am delighted to witness my opponents racing under the genuine influence of other Nintendo nerds. However, if there are any signs of one of them being a hacker that cheats in a race, bringing back unnerving memories of hackers in online races of Mario Kart Wii [4], bring on the blue shells in the name of karma! No gold passes for them!

Three ways to finally play Mario Kart Tour with other Nintendo nerds: locally, standard worldwide and worldwide with a gold pass. [14]

Here is one of my moments of finally playing the game with other racers rather than CPUs, but with another new feature… [14]

Another new feature that increases the appeal of Mario Kart Tour for some Nintendo nerds is the option to play it whilst holding the device horizontally [14] [18]. I like how the new Landscape mode shows more of the course being raced on and can make the experience feel more like a handheld game, quite similar to Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed for iOS and Android [21] [22] [36] [37]. However, I will admit that the Landscape mode was quite difficult for me to get used to, considering how I got very used to playing the game in its standard mode [14]. It felt quite awkward to swipe one thumb across the side of my screen whilst holding my other thumb down to drift. Nevertheless, enabling Smart Steering and Steer/Drift Button Display for the Landscape mode made it feel quite like my experience with Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing for iOS [22]. If some players prefer the standard ways of playing the game vertically, good for them. Playing Mario Kart Tour horizontally may sort of feel like playing Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 7 once the Landscape mode without Steer/Drift Button Display starts to get comfortable to get used to [10] [13].

I remained a little unsure about Landscape mode before I activated Smart Steering. I am quite glad I got at least some feeling of playing Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing on my iPod Touch back in those good old days. I can say that was somewhat predicted in my first article about Mario Kart Tour [31] [32]. [14]

I also like how there is option to quickly change the mode to Portrait/Landscape mode just in case a new player may not get used to one mode and hopes to quickly switch to the other whilst focusing completely on the race. As long as the variety of alternations is present [32] [33], Mario Kart Tour can still appeal to its crowd. [14]

The cups in the newer tours do not need to be unlocked, compared to the first few tours back in late 2019 [32] [33] [34] [35]. Even though a form of challenge with a familiar task of unlocking new cups by completing the first one is now absent, the option to try out any race or challenge from any cup makes the experience excitingly non-linear and gives the player more freedom [14]. The tour gifts still need to be unlocked with certain amounts of stars from racing though. For only twenty-four hours, the icon of a cup will be highlighted in gold to show that its courses will give extra coins after racing, which can potentially motivate a player who wants to save coins for buying a new racer, kart or glider from the shop. There is also now a progress bar beneath each task in the lists of challenges, which is useful for the player to know how much more of the task they need to do to receive another badge. Besides eliminating glitches after calling the Glitchbusters [38] [39], many changes with a mobile game’s update can be useful or at least interesting, including specific changes in Mario Kart Tour’s 2020 updates [14].

A fellow Mario Kart racer can now play any of the cups at the beginning of a new tour. [14]

Some progress bars are now visible to help the player know much they need to do left to earn more stars. [14]

Throughout the tours, the lists of unlockables in Mario Kart Tour just keeps getting bigger in the name of cultural cred and familiar aspects [14] [25]. I would also like to make a list of my favourite outfits worn by certain characters throughout the tours, including:

•        Rosalina’s beach dress
•        Peach’s vacation outfit
•        Pauline’s party dress
•        Mario’s musician suit
•        Rosalina’s aurora dress

My favourite karts are:

•       White Royale
•       Glided Prancer
•       Daytripper
•       Rose Queen

My favourite gliders include:

•       Blizzard Parasol
•       Butterfly Sunset
•       Pink Flower Glider

It is amazing and ambitious how the roster of racers, including clones of them in outfits that suit the theme of a tour, would continue to increase the game’s overall appeal to a large crowd of mobile gamers and Nintendo nerds with different interests if it was not for the very little chances to get a desired one [14]. I may not have unlocked much of my favourites, but I can always gaze at images of them [25]. Furthermore, some Nintendo nerds may be curious about what will be new in the next tours while some toy collectors are looking forward to being cuted out by the third series of Kitten Catfe this Autumn [8] [9].

Rosalina looks absolutely stunning in her Aurora outfit! [14]

And the blizzard parasol is beautiful! [14]

With a new option to play the game in a landscape view and a proper multiplayer mode [17] [18], I say that Mario Kart Tour might have further increased its cred to some degrees in 2020, even though some players must have stopped playing it for a while due to the disappointment of the chances of getting a high-end racer, kart or glider being too low [14]. I can say that the ongoing service for the app from Nintendo might have a coping mechanism during the first few weeks of lockdowns that were established to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from spreading any further [3]. While some doll collectors out there are delighted by the colours of the dolls within the first Rainbow High line and plenty of Sonic supporters are getting into the spirit of the Olympics by playing Sonic at the Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020 on their iOS and Android devices [2] [19] [23] [24], plenty of Nintendo nerds out there are still racing in Mario Kart Tour, possibly without spending a penny on any microtransactions. Have I been too optimistic about playing the app or can you tolerate it as much as I can? Let me know before I launch a blue shell at you!

Just look at Mario and Luigi’s cool outfits on my newest T-shirt! Could they be featured in a new tour of Mario Kart Tour soon? [30]

Strive and ride, Mario Kart Racers! [11]

References

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The SEGA Game Gear Will Go Micro For SEGA’s 60th Anniversary

2020 marks SEGA’s 60^th anniversary [19], as well as the ironic success of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie and the 30^th anniversary of the SEGA Game Gear, SEGA’s answer to Nintendo’s Game Boy [26] [28]. To celebrate the two anniversaries and increase the company’s cred in a similar way of how the SEGA Mega Drive Mini has potentially helped celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the original Mega Drive outside of Japan [27] [34], a miniature version of the Game Gear has been announced not too long ago [5] [6]. So far, The Game Gear Micro is raising plenty of eyebrows. I think I have a thing for analysing and stating my thoughts on smaller handheld systems. First the Playdate that has recently demonstrated its own monochrome port of Doom [8] [9] [35] [36], then the Nintendo Vita [29]…oops! I mean Nintendo Switch Lite [14] [37] [38], now the SEGA Game Gear Micro. It also looks like pint-sized versions of old school consoles might have become a trend ever since the classic edition of the Nintendo Entertainment System came around in late 2016 [30]. A miniature version of a classic gaming system can either be exceptional and honourable or…could have been much better [3] [30].

I have got to stop ticking off some Vita misters and sisters by calling the Nintendo Switch Lite “The Nintendo Vita” [29]. [14]

Apart from that, I hope many employees at SEGA enjoy the company’s 60th anniversary! [19]

The Game Gear Micro will be available in four different colours to further increase its appeal [4] [6] [25], similar to how the Nintendo Switch Lite is now available in four colours, including a new lovely shade of coral [14]. Unfortunately, I do not think the decent variety of different colours will make up for how small the screen is, how tiny it will feel in the hands of many old school gamers and how awkward the risk of having to squint to see it more clearly will feel [5]. After all, the whole thing is only twenty millimetres deep, forty-three millimetres tall and eighty millimetres wide, making it smaller than a Nintendo Entertainment System controller [25]. Heck, it is as almost as small as the screen of the original Game Gear [25]! A way to see the screen more clearly would be holding the device close to your face, which would be almost as straining as looking at the red and black gameplay from any of the games for the Tiger R-Zone [12] [18] [35] [36]. Did Sonic the Hedgehog sneak into Mario’s trailer and give four of his mini mushrooms to a bunch of Game Gears after Beat from Jet Set Radio painted them with graffiti [7] [13] [20] [33]?

Look at tiny it is!! [4]

And look at the four different colours! [4]

In addition to four colours for the Game Gear Micro, there will be four games available for each coloured system [4] [25], which is quite fascinating to a degree. For example, the black Game Gear Micro will provide:

•    Sonic the Hedgehog’s first game from 1991 [4] [6] [25]
•    Puyo Puyo 2 [4] [6] [25]
•    OutRun [4] [6] [25]
•    Royal Stone [4] [6] [25]

The games that blue Game Gear Micro will consist of will be:

•    Sonic and Tails [4] [6] [25]
•    Gunstar Heroes [4] [6] [25]
•    Sylvan Tale [4] [6] [25]
•    Baku Baku Animal [4] [6] [25]

The red Game Gear Micro will come with:

•    Megami Tensei Gaiden Last Bible [4] [6] [10]
•    Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special [4] [6] [11]
•    Columns [4] [6]
•    The GG Shinboi [4] [6] [21]

Lastly, the yellow Game Gear Micro will include:

•    Shining Force [4] [6] [24]
•    Shining Force 2 [4] [6] [23]
•    Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict [4] [6] [22]
• ·  Nazo Puyo [4] [6] [16]

Reflecting on the fitting but unfortunate size of the Game Gear Micro, having to buy all four colours to play every single ported game on a Game Gear Micro may not feel all that rewarding to plenty of video game collectors since the handheld’s size seems quite too impractical [25]. Nevertheless, I suppose each Game Gear Micro can at least be a unique collectors’ item for plenty of old school gamers out there. Dare to collect all four?

The Game Gear Micro gang will provide four ports each. That makes sixteen ports of retro games that were available for the original Game Gear at the time in total. [4] [6]

I strongly believe that my boyfriend will choose either the black one or the blue one since both of those versions will consist of an instalment of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise [4] [6]. [25]

The concept of a pint-sized Game Gear reminds me of the Game Boy Micro, a small model of the Game Boy Advance that was established back in 2005 [1] [31]. Sadly, the second redesign of the Game Boy Advance was a failure due to its lack of backwards compatibility and how it was released after the debut of the Nintendo DS [2], but it also came in a bigger variety of different colours [1] [31], including:

•         Black
•         Silver
•         Pink
•         Green
•         Red
•         Blue
•         Purple

The Game Boy Micro seemed to be almost the same size as a Nintendo Entertainment System controller [31]. Furthermore, it is no wonder the Game Gear Micro will simply be a rehash of it for the early 2020s, despite having a smaller variety of different colours [4] [6] [25]. Another notable difference is that any Game Boy Advanced game could be played on a Game Boy Micro in any colour [1] [31]. How only four games will be available depending on the colour of the Game Gear Micro might feel too limited. Reflecting on the poor sales of the Game Boy Micro back in the mid-2000s [1] [31], it looks like the Game Gear Micro might be at risk of heading down the same fate.

Not even the Pikachu edition of the Game Boy Micro could rapidly increase its sales back in the mid-2000s. [1]

The edition of the Game Boy that celebrated the 20th anniversary of Nintendo sadly did not help either. [1]

Luckily, there is an accessory that can help those who have their hands on a Game Gear Micro see the screen far more easily and that is no other than the Big Window Micro [4] [6] [25]. Its name is quite oxymoronic if you ask me. Too bad the Game Boy Micro never had an accessory to help magnify its screen. Even though I could be grateful and appreciative towards how a useful accessory would increase a device’s playability, the appearance of it slightly decreases the appeal of the handheld’s visual appearance. It reminds me of the Light Magic, an accessory that would shine its light around a Game Boy’s screen to make it easy to see in a dark room and has a magnifying glass to make it seem bigger and even easier to see, even though it seemed quite tacked on due to its fairly odd design [17]. At least the Big Window Micro has a quite cool design as it resembles a television set you would see in the 1990s, the decade the original Game Gear was released in [26]. The add-on also does not seem as excessive as the Booster [17]. Sometimes less is more and one solution to one problem is enough.

The Big Window Micro looks like a television set from the ’90s, increasing the nostalgic vibe despite making the Game Gear Micro look a little bulky. [25]

What will be next? Platform shoes that have a slot to place a Gamer Gear Micro into? It worked for the Game Boy Color at some point. [17]

In all honestly, I would prefer to play any of SEGA’s nostalgic gems on the original Game Gear from the ‘90s [26]. I would not want to risk having to squint unless I am holding the handheld closer to my face whilst feeling a little discomfort near my elbows. At least I can always attach the Big Window Micro accessory onto the system.  Despite how the Game Gear Micro seems too small and unnecessary to many ‘90s kids to play on comfortably as fairly young adults [5], it will be available on shop shelves in October 2020 [25]. I do not think plenty of our dear Vita misters and sisters would be too pleased with a PlayStation Vita Micro [28]. At some point in the rest of this new decade, I would still like a recreation of the original Game Boy called “Game Girl” with the colourful 8-bit graphics from the Game Boy Color [34], along with a recreation of the Game Boy Camera for talking far more colourful selfies with the quality of an iPhone SE selfie to balance the nostalgic vibes of handheld Nintendo gaming from the 1990s with a little more female empowerment in today’s modern gaming society [17] [32].

I think I would prefer the Playdate due to how it is proportionately bigger and can at least show something refreshing, which is an appealing chalkboard-like aesthetic on the screen [8] [9] [35] [36]. [15]

Anyway, we are yet to find out how well the Game Gear Micro will do and how much it can honour the legacy of the original Game Gear. Will it sell decently? Will it also be released outside of Japan [4]? [25]

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Paper Mario Is Yet To Face The Origami King

Would you believe that a spin-off series of the Mario franchise that introduced our red-hatted plumber in paper and embraced the essences of the role-playing genre is two decades old now [24]? In association with a great 20^th anniversary celebration, there is a brand new addition to the series that is set to be released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2020 [6] [11] [26], which seems like another way to bring Super Mario into the beginning of a new decade, along with the upcoming LEGO Mario sets for Nintendo nerds who are fond of LEGO and interested in re-creating a run-of-the-mill platforming adventure with Mariobob Plumberpants [32]. Some of us may believe the Paper Mario series jumped the shark to a degree [17] [25], but at least the next time could be the charm. It was interesting enough that the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series did a crossover together for the Nintendo 3DS back in late 2015 and early 2016 [20]. As a Nintendo nerd, I am more than interested into analysing what a new chapter of the Paper Mario has been cut out to show in order to bring the series to the Switch era in quite a refreshing way.

Besides stickers from Sticker Stars and colours from Color Splash [17] [25], we shall take a look at something new from Origami King. [26]

The trailer begins rather in a suspenseful manner [6] [11], even in the majestic interior of the main hallway in Princess Peach’s castle we have recognised and admired since the release of Super Mario 64 back in the Nintendo 64 days [8]. The princess of Mushroom Kingdom in her new origami form for the upcoming chapter of the Paper Mario series acts quite out of character and bleakly asks Mario to be an origami too. Unfortunately, when he simply refuses, she tells him that his answers are all “paper thin”. Ha ha! Get it? But puns aside, she bids him a rather compassionless goodbye and watches him fall through the floor art of a sun that is now suddenly a trapdoor, which honestly made me believe he could become an origami at first just before I watched the rest of the trailer. At least we do not have to listen to the River Twygz music from Super Paper Mario during such tension and at least we did not have to witness Shadow Queen possessing Peach [22] [27], which was an E for Everyone video game equivalent to The Exorcist [5]. Aside from those, let us keep analysing the trailer with strong hopes...and caution.

Ba dum tiss! [6] [12]

“I’ll see you in another castle [9].” [6] [12]

I like how the upcoming instalment is introducing interpretations of iconic characters as origami. First we saw Yoshi in his own world of yarn back in late 2015 [11], now we see several enemies as origami who call themselves “Folded Soldiers” [18]. It brings out the creative aspect of origami coming to life from the fantastic stop-motion film from 2016, Kubo and the Two Strings [2] [3]. The only difference is that the origami thing is mostly from the dark side. Additionally, it has proven that creativity can always come out of the designers’ noggins, besides a few duds [30] [31]. It was quite ironic to witness a yellow Shy Guy fold into a mysterious new character, which would explain Peach’s out-of-character attitude towards Mario we saw at the beginning of the trailer [6] [11]. Wait a minute! That means the origami of Peach must be an impostor, meaning the real Peach must have been kidnapped (again) [9] [10]! Who could have been disguised as her? On second thought, is the Origami Peach the real Peach…who is brainwashed [18]? As long as there is something new to bewilder plenty of Nintendo nerds, The Origami King ought to do the series justice in Summer 2020 with marvellous designs of the origami characters [6] [12] [26].

Since the usual cartoony style for the paper cast is still present [24], it looks like the game’s premise is “Paper Cut Outs VS. Origami.” [6] [12]

Wow. I did not know that oversized Goombas like to eat wooden houses. Anyway, there are also characters as papier-mâché creations, which can enrich the premise of a Paper Mario featuring a new type of art form to a degree. [6] [12]

Let us look further into some other hints about the overall premise. The giant ribbons of paper may be colourful, but they seem like some seriously bad news as they were summoned to imprison Peach’s castle by the new character who was disguised as a Shy Guy, King Olly [6] [12] [19]. As for Mario suddenly rising the Koopa Clown car with a flying image of Bowser, this must mean that the two arch enemies will suddenly team up in the situation. I suppose they have no choice but work together as a paper plane crashes into Bowser’s doom ship at some point [6] [12]. Surely Bowser...as a folded sheet of paper...kind of gets a taste of his own medicine, but we are yet to find out if King Olly can be just as bad as he is. We are also introduced to Olivia, another new character [23]. How she appears to be a new ally of the red-hatted plumber, even if she is the younger sister of King Olly is a sign that not all origami folks in the game are evil [6] [12] [23]. According to the forthcoming chapter’s title, the new antagonist is a king who is referred to as “The Origami King” [19].

Here comes trouble! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUN! [6] [12]

It appears we will also see allies from the previous Paper Mario games return in a new chapter, including Bob-omb [26]. [6] [12]

Since gameplay and creativity are the most important aspects of a Nintendo game, I can see that there are at least some new aspects the Paper Mario experience has to offer [6] [12]. There seems to be a section of Mario driving a shoe-shaped car across purple hills, which could be a sign of some gameplay variety. We also get a few glimpses of the usual battling against foes we see in RPGs [15] [24]. The difference is that the origami Hammer Bros are surrounding Mario in an arena that can be rotated under the player’s control [6] [12] [26]. The same applies for a gang of origami Boos who have the confidence to not look away, compared to how the regular Boos were in the main Mario games [7] [8], but they simply get pounded on by Mario. It is bewildering to see Paper Mario’s arms become origami-like after springing out from his white papery force field [6] [12] [26]. They can be used to pull down a piece of a house’s wall to use it as a platform, which I think is a great example of thinking outside the box [6] [12]. Lastly, there might be the return of experience points for those who were disappointed in Sticker Star and Color Splash [17] [25].

It looks The Origami King may still have a hold of those RPG essences [24]. Trust me, I played Angry Birds Epic on my iPad Air a few years ago [15]. [6] [12]

[There will also be some gameplay that involves steering a boat to increase the sense of adventure in Paper Mario: The Origami King. [6] [12]]

The way the majority of the graphics were made out of paper used for origami is outstandingly beautiful. The location that highly resembled an Abraian desert with eye-catching neon signs on the buildings reminds me of The Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey [10], even though the culture within that location was inspired by Mexico [21]. Even the waterfall that a boat rowed by a Toad goes down and a splash in the ocean made by a Cheep Cheep capture that creatively majestic element of an origami world in splendidly cartoonish detail [6] [12]. Other pleasing details include:

•       Mesmerising flames of candles
•       Origami paper planes soaring in the sky
•       Some good shading and lighting in a temple
•       Some ancient Egyptian-styled artwork of a Toad’s head on a realistic body
•       An island that is shaped like a question mark
•       A pile of gravel that covered up a giant origami being

And what the heck?! Paper Mario gets to wear an oversized papier-mâché version of Samus Aran’s helmet at some point in the game [6] [12] [26]?! What a remarkable Easter egg! With colourful and detailed graphics, the new chapter of the Paper Mario series ought to further enlighten the library of first-party Nintendo Switch games [26].

No argument here, Olivia. [6] [12]

As for the scene of Mario being chased by a cog-shaped boulder, it screams “Indiana Jones” [4]. [6] [12]

It will not be long until plenty of Nintendo nerds out there unfold the secrets while our fellow Western Pokémon trainers who are proactively striving in the eighth generation of the Pokémon franchise watch the English dub of Pokémon Journeys on Netflix [13] [14]. Despite my slight disapproval of Dr. Fire Mario and Dr. Fire Peach from Dr. Mario World [30] [31], I suppose that maybe Nintendo will not always be scrapping the bottom of the barrel in this new decade. Despite the ongoing determination from the company to this day, I wish they would at least have kept many fanmade games based on their franchises legal a few years ago as I strongly believe fanmade games are under fair use, as long as credit goes from the developers to Nintendo for the use of their properties and there is strong acknowledge of them being fanon [16] [28]. Nevertheless, along with how I wish the glamourous and timeless cartoon starlet, Betty Boop a happy 90^th anniversary [1] [29], I wish the Paper Mario series a delightfully happy 20^th anniversary as a longtime Nintendo nerd and it is highly likely that I will always be one [24].

Look at the striking origami-styled font below that Paper Mario logo. It sure is stunning. [6] [12]

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