Nintendo releases Mario Kart Tour: fans criticize Gold Pass

Mario Kart Tour in the criticism: is it still a game or is it already a shopping app?

After the mobile game Super Mario Run in 2016, Nintendo once again lets the plumber loose on smartphone and tablet users - but this time he's bringing all of his friends and their racing cars with him. Super Marion Run has been installed millions of times on mobile devices. It won't be any different with Mario Kart Tour either. 

Fans feel at home straight away, newcomers can start playing right away. The simple control - choose from Standard or Drift - enables a quick start. The routes are based on real cities and are at least as colorful as the tracks that fans already know from consoles, including daring jumps and lots of items.

Nintendo has even created new features for Mario Kart Tour: party time, for example. Players who collect three of the same items during a race become invulnerable and receive an infinite amount of ammunition. Then you can shoot what the turtle shells have to offer. Bonus missions and high score lists provide motivation.

Everything is great, you might think. Not at all, because fans criticize the so-called Gold Pass that Nintendo has implemented. The pass costs around five euros and gives players access to the 200cc class, among other things. The criticism is not only about the content restriction, but also about the price, which is perceived as too high. As part of Apple's Arcade or Google's new app subscription, you get a variety of different games for the same money. After all: If you want to forego the Gold Pass at Mario Kart Tour, you can instead obtain the additional items through a so-called gacha system via microtransactions. Nevertheless, players are currently wondering whether Mario Kart Tour is still a game or already a shopping app.