https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-mario-kart-game-announced-for-mobile/1100-6456486/
As big of a Nintendo fan that I am and as huge of a fan as I am of Mario Kart, you'd think I'd be excited about this, but I'm not. Maybe if they made this announcement before I started to grow deathly tired of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, I'd have had some excitement for it. The truth is, Nintendo's past mobile efforts are... just not great.
It all started in 2016 with a mobile "game" called Miitomo. Miitomo was more of a random question answering app than it was a game, but it had its unique charm letting you create Miis and doll them up. There were cute little pachinko-esque games you play that earned you costume pieces. I had fun with it provided I played with friends who were active and even though they added new features such as sidekicks and fashion shows, it never really evolved. I ultimately grew bored of it and it ended up just being an app I was occasionally reminded of that was still on my phone thanks to push notifications.
Well, Miitomo is ending. It hasn't even been a full two years yet, and they're killing it. Honestly, I wish they'd kill the rest of their games and just get out of the mobile industry altogether. This might be weird to say considering the rampant success of Pokemon Go, which I do admit deserves to continue to exist because of how well it's being supported but it's the other games, Fire Emblem, Super Mario Run and most recently Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp that I wish a quick and painless death. Why? Because they're not very reflective of what Nintendo games actually are. They're nothing different than any run of the mill mobile freemium game, and it's an insult to Nintendo's quality.
Now, I will admit, Fire Emblem Heroes is actually the most deep of the bunch, but I have a major grievance with it. It's a gacha game, and I actually got suckered to drop a few bucks on it because I wanted some characters everyone else was getting. This really sullies the integrity of the franchise turning it into whale bait (for those who don't know, whales are people with more money than sense who drop tons of dough on loot box microtransactions). I also take serious exception with the fact that there was all this loot box controversy over Star Wars Battlefront II and not one single knock against Fire Emblem Heroes or any other gacha type game. They're just as bad.
Super Mario Run honestly didn't hold my attention enough for me to keep playing. I tried the free trial when it first released, and I didn't find it compelling enough to pay the at the time 10 dollar asking price. When it went on sale for five, I bought it, played a level and completely forgot about it again. I guess I don't like the design of the gameplay. Push stages were never my favorite in Mario games and so when you have a game where Mario runs automatically and you can't turn him around, that makes it even less fun for me. Plus, the game's just too bite sized. I don't want to play Mario games a few minutes at a time. I want to sit there and play for at least a couple of hours.
Then we have Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. I played this game far longer than I should have only because I'm a four time addict when it comes to Animal Crossing games. Every sensible fiber in my being told me to stop playing this incessantly monotonous game and do something else, but every three hours I found myself playing again to fulfill these stupid god damned camper requests. You want a seashell?! THERE'S FIVE MOTHER FUCKING SEASHELLS AROUND YOU, FUCKER! FUCKING PICK ONE UP! AND WHY DOES EVERY ANIMAL SAY THE SAME FUCKING THINGS?! WHERE'S YOUR SENSE OF IDENTITY?! ... Sorry, turning into a real rant here.
So next year, we'll get to experience another flagship franchise of Nintendo's being reduced to nothing more than a freemium... OH EXCUSE ME... FREE TO START .. mobile game with either wait-to-play or gacha mechanics in it that will be fun for a few weeks and then obnoxiously mundane after that. "But they just announced it! Shouldn't you wait for more info?" That's a valid point, but look at what they've put out so far. I have no reason at all to believe that Mario Kart Tour will be any different from their past ventures. I cannot see this being a mobile Mario Kart 8. Of course, Nintendo could surprise me and if Tour turns out to be a full fledged Mario Kart, then I'd be REALLY surprised. But it won't be. It'll either be wait-to-play or a gacha game.
I get it, though. These mobile games aren't meant to be fleshed out Nintendo games. They're meant to be promotional apps to get people interested in Nintendo products. I just find it weird, though, that it takes a mobile app to get people interested in Nintendo games. I mean, everyone knows Nintendo, so no interest until they put out an app? I just honestly see it in reverse; people are playing these Nintendo mobile games because they're already fans of the franchise.
But if you want to sell me on mobile games, Nintendo, you need to sell me actual games. That's why I paid five dollars for Super Mario Run, but I'd have paid a lot more for it if it was an actual Mario game. Same with Fire Emblem (well, I kinda did when I bought those fucking orbs) and Animal Crossing. As it stands, though, I just feel these mobile games are far beneath what Nintendo is actually capable of and what they should be providing us. Yes, they're promos to get people interested, but you know what really gets people interested in your games? ACTUAL. GAMES.
With Mario Kart Tour, I really sincerely hope that I'm wrong. Please prove me wrong, Nintendo. Please.
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