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Mario Kart Tour Beta Impressions Thread

brooklynb_jp

brooklynb_jp

Member
Jan 8, 2019
833
After my time with it last night, I'd say it's a pretty fun game. It may not resonate with a lot of fans for a number of reasons: the scoring system, the gacha, the auto-driving mechanic, having to level up characters, karts and gliders, etc.

But if you look at it as Mario Kart implemented for mobile purposes, it makes sense, honestly. That's not to say I think microtransactions and gacha are good for games. Unfortunately, though, a majority of the crowd who only play mobile games either want to play for free/small payments occasionally or are happy to spend absurd amounts of money on these titles. The only thing I think they can do without are the heart and waiting mechanics. Whatever the purpose may be for implementing stamina into mobile games, it's always awful, and I don't think any player would say games are better for having it.

On a more positive note though, it's actually kind of cool to think of this game as having a slightly different way of playing that suits mobile purposes. If you're a player that likes the kind of scoring and leveling system that this iteration implements, you could have a good time with it. Half the time, I wonder whether I should be trying to get first place, or if I should take advantage of all the items I'm going to get to boost my score. It's a completely new approach for the franchise, and I think some people will enjoy it, even if others think that that kind of approach sucks. It also helps set it apart from other Mario Kart games.

I can't say for sure that I'll play it when it comes out, but I know that there will be a lot of people playing it if the game is handled properly.
 
Inugami

Inugami

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,995
My progress has come to a halt... I'm 4 stars from the next cup and next reward. No matter how many firsts I come in, I'm still like 2000+ points from getting the last stars I need due to not having the racers/karts necessary. Have to turn my focus to the badge system, though I'm not sure how I'll get 8k points with a mustache driver to complete the card.
 
Apopheniac

Apopheniac

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,660
Dragging items behind you automatically sucks when you have a Bob-omb and another racer drives up behind you to blow both you and themselves up. It makes no sense from an AI perspective outside of a kamikaze maneuver specifically to sabotage your score by letting other racers zoom past both of you.
 
Lan

Lan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
290
lol 5 hour wait for Daisy Cup. Grand Stars are getting real tight now. Given the ++ track/driver combos I have left for stars, this is probably as far as I can get until the new set of challenges opens up in 6 days.
 

r_n

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,534
So most of my complaints with the game (I'm waiting for King Boo cup to open up now incidentally) have been said ad nauseum so I want to focus on one subtle one that really gets on my case

The game's UI & grind loop are awful and both make each other worse. Everything takes just a little too much time to register, a little too much time to load, a little too much time on everything. Each on its own isnt THAT much but it's noticable and it really gets to me over time.
But then, you factor in the grinding aspect. EXP requires many races but by design of being Mario Kart, this isn't a fast ordeal to go through. THink of how much time is spent after the race ends. Gotta have some time where it shows you react, the time it has to load in the results, the results screen stays on screen for a while, then your score talleys up then your score is added to your level percentage then your exp is given to your load out and this assumes you've already got your grand stars and challenges taken care of since those add up too for more laggy ui fun.

It just feels like a slog to interact with
 
TurokTTZ

TurokTTZ

Member
Oct 25, 2017
597
Sanchoco said:
I'm curious about this right now, so on mine it says I'm number 1

In any case, it adds the total amount of points you've earned from the 3 races in that cup(meaning, after unlocking the leaderboard, you have to race in those courses again). After the event ends you are given emeralds based on the rank you are given.
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mine says im 1st as well. i got 21,296 points for reference.

im just gonna assume its bots.
 
RadzPrower

RadzPrower

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 19, 2018
6,037
Sanchoco said:
Yeah I only have 20,006(next in line is 11,000) so I'm going to assume that as well.
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It's either bots or you're placed in a random pool of 20 players who are the only ones you compete with for a given ranking. I was going to say that it's probably not even dynamic and is simply some set scores, but I just looked and it seems somebody on mine has recently climbed the leaderboard a bit.
 
Giga Man

Giga Man

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,203
The game doesn't recognize my Galaxy Note stylus, which I guess I don't need since it's literally a one-handed game. Because it's a one-handed game, though, I feel like I have no control over when I use my items since one tap anywhere will use them. I have yet to take a shortcut.
 
brooklynb_jp

brooklynb_jp

Member
Jan 8, 2019
833
The survey asks if you would download this game if it were free-to-start, which is an interesting thing to ask. I just assumed it would be a normal, free-to-play, gacha game. Didn't realize they were still thinking about which model to go with
 

AndreGX

GameXplain
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
1,815
San Francisco
Meatwad

Meatwad

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,653
USA
Where's the survey? I'd download MKT if it were $15 with no gatcha, no wait timers and online multiplayer. Also restore manual steering because the game has almost zero challenge with it on
 
RobotHaus

RobotHaus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,922
Mars University
Need 4 Grand Stars for Metal Mario Cup and good lord, unless you have a 3 item character, some races are downright impossible to get more than 3 stars.
 
RobotHaus

RobotHaus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,922
Mars University
Lan

Lan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
290
I'm also at 4 stars until Metal Mario Cup. I kinda want to grind through it, but knowing none of this carries over to the real game makes me less enthused about the idea.
 

r_n

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,534
Lan said:
I'm also at 4 stars until Metal Mario Cup. I kinda want to grind through it, but knowing none of this carries over to the real game makes me less enthused about the idea.
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I think about that every time I see rewards like Metal Mario in the gift list (he & the spotlight kart & paraglider are the ultimate reward) or the insane "hit 300 people with the super horn" challenge (with the ultimate goal of 50 emeralds

Like I'm not going for those and I probably wont be touching the final release anyway, but it's just one of those things where maybe you should have tweaked everything for a beta a little or at least have a little "if you fill out the gift list, you get to keep your metal mario!"
 
PCPace

PCPace

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,841
Alabama
At around Rosalina and DK cups I'm kind of hitting dead ends. New cups take 20 stars to unlock but you only earn 18 per cup, max, and getting 5 stars on some courses are kind of insane, so realistically you are getting 15-16 per cup.

Some people say the problem is item luck and that you need frenzies to get 5 stars, I don't necessarily agree. That helps, it's just some of the courses especially SNES tracks are too short to get a lot of points.

I've got enough missions I'll be able to unlock up to Yoshi Cup without issue I think, though I got stuck unlocking Rosalina cup(but finished two missions at once and am confident I can do at least the pipe one for 5 more stars, and I think I can get 8000 with Luigi in luigis mansion. 5 green shell hits though.... I'll just need extreme luck). After Yoshi cup I don't know a way past the dead end.

Actually just recalculated and I think at my current trajectory I'll get stuck at King Boo cup. Maybe by then my gear will be worth enough points inherently I can complete older cups.
 
Sanchoco

Sanchoco

Member
Dec 3, 2018
2,097
Currently finished the King Boo cup and the second race gave me my first 0 stars. On the bright side, I did the race again and got 3 stars and beat the rest of the cup. Beat the 8000 challenge with Waluigi too!

Now I gotta wait 5 hrs for the next cup, so I'm just going to increase the points I earn for 150cc and the parts as well as try and fully get 5 stars on some of the stages I have a chance in.
 
PCPace

PCPace

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,841
Alabama
Gartooth said:
I expected something like Super Mario Run or Animal Crossing Pocket Camp fwiw. From the beta this doesn't seem to be like either of those.

Those games had unique modes and mechanics that made them worth checking out even if you had already played their console games. So far this beta doesn't paint the same picture.
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Oh this has some unique mechanics I like quite a bit, like gliders increasing your chances at certain items, a transparent scoring system with goals, missions, starting with an item if you choose the right Kart combination, option to automatically fire off your items when you collect a new box, and the general idea of not being just a time attack, but also a score attack. Those are all really cool editions.

I especially love score attack stuff but right now I the required scores are too high.
 
PCPace

PCPace

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,841
Alabama
Sanchoco said:
Currently finished the King Boo cup and the second race gave me my first 0 stars. On the bright side, I did the race again and got 3 stars and beat the rest of the cup. Beat the 8000 challenge with Waluigi too!

Now I gotta wait 5 hrs for the next cup, so I'm just going to increase the points I earn for 150cc and the parts as well as try and fully get 5 stars on some of the stages I have a chance in.
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What's this about increasing the points you earn for 150cc? I had noticed it wasn't worth much more than 100cc, does it go up the more you do it?
 
Sanchoco

Sanchoco

Member
Dec 3, 2018
2,097
PCPace said:
What's this about increasing the points you earn for 150cc? I had noticed it wasn't worth much more than 100cc, does it go up the more you do it?
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The more you win at 150cc races the points you earn increase. I recently checked out the Driver's manual(Menu->settings->Help & Inquiries->Driver's Manual->Position Points) and it says :

In 150cc races and above, the number of position points you receive for the next race changes based on whether you win or lose. If you keep on winning, you can keep raising those position points!
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While they only mention winning to raise points, the points do decrease if you lose(as far as I'm aware, that means the bottom half. Being 2nd or 3rd is fine).

I'm currently at 2813 points for getting first place in 150cc

I haven't paid attention to how many points it increases by though for each win, so I can't tell you exactly how much it increases after every race.
 
PCPace

PCPace

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,841
Alabama
Sanchoco said:
The more you win at 150cc races the points you earn increase. I recently checked out the Driver's manual(Menu->settings->Help & Inquiries->Driver's Manual->Position Points) and it says :



While they only mention winning to raise points, the points do decrease if you lose(as far as I'm aware, that means the bottom half. Being 2nd or 3rd is fine).

I'm currently at 2813 points for getting first place in 150cc

I haven't paid attention to how many points it increases by though for each win, so I can't tell you exactly how much it increases after every race.
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Thanks that knowledge actually would have gotten me a few stars in levels where I was close
 
PCPace

PCPace

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,841
Alabama
After playing even more I honestly don't think the problem is getting 5 stars is locked behind the right gacha combo. Some of these races I have the perfect combo and it just isn't enough. The problem is the point total requirement is just too damn high. Once it starts getting to 6500 they just need to knock it down a peg across the board, or make those courses three laps, or have more missions.

Just did Rosalina cup, which I was able to get 6600, 6578, 7125(coming in second place!) which was good enough for 4, 4, and 5 stars. But I actually had the right racers for each of those and at least a 1 + kart. Even got a frenzy in Luigi's mansion, but there's so many corners and wide lanes there's never anybody nearby to hit, and not enough ramps to trick off of. Took a sweet shortcut in the second lap but probably would have got more points if I went around to pop off another shot or mini turbo. Should be shortcut points.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,873
I'm surprised how quickly you run into a progress wall and how steep that wall is. The big thing that makes Mario Kart so successful and popular is how inviting it is and how easy it is to have fun with it at any level, but so strictly gating content based on a player's driving ability/gacha items seems to totally go against that. I understand that they need a wall like that if they ever want to make any money on this thing, but it seems so counter to the fundamental thing that makes Mario Kart as successful a brand as it is.

If it were up to me I would have them split the cups into two separate tracks, for the main and remixed levels, so that players can get a chance to see every level without significant barriers with the remixed courses as a separate track of cups with much steeper requirements. I think separating the easy and difficult things would go a long way towards reducing frustration and making the walls less bothersome, while still allowing them to exist in order to get people to pay up. It still wouldn't fix a bunch of other issues with the game, but it would probably stop the monetization model from feeling predatory, which it's dangerously close to in its current state
 
JershJopstin

JershJopstin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,332
Waiting on the Metal Mario Cup now, and 10 stars away from the 5 emeralds I need to fire the pipe 10 times. Unfortunately, unless I'm lucky enough to pull Metal Mario, I might finally hit the wall the rest of you have. I can reasonably get 2-3 more stars before the cup, but unless I pull++ drivers for this cup I only expect to get 12 stars from it, leaving me 5 short. Metal Mario counts as ++ for all 3 tracks, and would fairly easily let me get 4 earlier stars. It's a shame too, since there's only the Dry Bowser cup left to unlock.

Some tips for the grind, since I seem to be faring pretty well:
  • Make sure you do the tour challenges! There's 36 stars to get from the start, and I assume another 36 at the start of the second week.
  • If you haven't figured it out, ++ drivers get x2 points during a race. This applies to actions (items, boosts, etc.), NOT the starting or ending bonuses. This can be raised to x3, x4, and even x5 on individual drivers through skills, but it'll take a while just to hit x3 (I don't expect to reach it on anyone during the beta).
  • You get a placement bonus for your first lap in addition to your final placement - and the first lap one is subject to ++ driver multipliers!
  • Don't underestimate karts. Drivers may be the only category with multipliers, but at this stage it's difficult to win if everyone has a speed boost and you don't. + is usually enough.
  • Gliders... are weird. + and ++ barely matter, unless the glider gives you an item you're really good at hitting with. I generally go for my ultra rare glider because the 200 extra starting points are worth more than item luck. Just pick a glider with an item you like and stick with it for the most part.
  • Learn to hit with items. Throwing shells backwards from the front of a pack will hit more often than not, but be smart about it; doing so at the end of a long straightaway will maximize your chances.
  • Nearly all items are better placed behind you than in front. Only throw forwards if you know you'll hit or if it's a red shell.
  • Speaking of red shells, if your target is trailing an item, just wait or throw it backwards. You won't get points for breaking their item.
  • Place bananas in spots that make sense, like on boost panels. You know, where the AI is actually likely to drive.
  • I recommend turning auto items off and manually back spamming them before hitting an item box; they're more likely to hit that way than throwing them all forward.
  • Drag your mini turbos out if it gets you the next level. Ultra>Super>Normal for points too. The smart steering will keep you on the track.
  • Gliding gets you points every second, and quite a few too! Stay in the air as long as you can. I've hit over 9,000 points with Yoshi on Rock Rock Mountain thanks to all the gliding.
  • Obviously winning gets you a lot of points, but if you have enough of a lead to take wider lines, go out of your way for jump boosts and boost panels. They'll get you points

While stuff apparently won't carry over from the beta, I imagine they will from tour to tour once the app is public. Starting a tour with all those drivers should make it much easier to progress.
 
Camjo-Z

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,499
JershJopstin said:
Waiting on the Metal Mario Cup now, and 10 stars away from the 5 emeralds I need to fire the pipe 10 times. Unfortunately, unless I'm lucky enough to pull Metal Mario, I might finally hit the wall the rest of you have. I can reasonably get 2-3 more stars before the cup, but unless I pull++ drivers for this cup I only expect to get 12 stars from it, leaving me 5 short. Metal Mario counts as ++ for all 3 tracks, and would fairly easily let me get 4 earlier stars. It's a shame too, since there's only the Dry Bowser cup left to unlock.

Some tips for the grind, since I seem to be faring pretty well:
  • Make sure you do the tour challenges! There's 36 stars to get from the start, and I assume another 36 at the start of the second week.
  • If you haven't figured it out, ++ drivers get x2 points during a race. This applies to actions (items, boosts, etc.), NOT the starting or ending bonuses. This can be raised to x3, x4, and even x5 on individual drivers through skills, but it'll take a while just to hit x3 (I don't expect to reach it on anyone during the beta).
  • You get a placement bonus for your first lap in addition to your final placement - and the first lap one is subject to ++ driver multipliers!
  • Don't underestimate karts. Drivers may be the only category with multipliers, but at this stage it's difficult to win if everyone has a speed boost and you don't. + is usually enough.
  • Gliders... are weird. + and ++ barely matter, unless the glider gives you an item you're really good at hitting with. I generally go for my ultra rare glider because the 200 extra starting points are worth more than item luck. Just pick a glider with an item you like and stick with it for the most part.
  • Learn to hit with items. Throwing shells backwards from the front of a pack will hit more often than not, but be smart about it; doing so at the end of a long straightaway will maximize your chances.
  • Nearly all items are better placed behind you than in front. Only throw forwards if you know you'll hit or if it's a red shell.
  • Speaking of red shells, if your target is trailing an item, just wait or throw it backwards. You won't get points for breaking their item.
  • Place bananas in spots that make sense, like on boost panels. You know, where the AI is actually likely to drive.
  • I recommend turning auto items off and manually back spamming them before hitting an item box; they're more likely to hit that way than throwing them all forward.
  • Drag your mini turbos out if it gets you the next level. Ultra>Super>Normal for points too. The smart steering will keep you on the track.
  • Gliding gets you points every second, and quite a few too! Stay in the air as long as you can. I've hit over 9,000 points with Yoshi on Rock Rock Mountain thanks to all the gliding.
  • Obviously winning gets you a lot of points, but if you have enough of a lead to take wider lines, go out of your way for jump boosts and boost panels. They'll get you points

While stuff apparently won't carry over from the beta, I imagine they will from tour to tour once the app is public. Starting a tour with all those drivers should make it much easier to progress.
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Great tips, I didn't know about a lot of that.
 

r_n

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,534
JershJopstin said:
While stuff apparently won't carry over from the beta, I imagine they will from tour to tour once the app is public. Starting a tour with all those drivers should make it much easier to progress.
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I've seen a few worries or theories here and there that nothing will carry over between tours (not that you're worried, to be clear) and I don't get it.

That would be like...parodicaly evil. Resetting you to 0 for something you can pay for is absolutely insane and would make the game dead on arrival. Even resetting just your levels would be transparently evil.
Imagine if something like FEH took away your free Fjorm the moment book 2 ended or if Dragalia Lost removed all the Fire Emblem characters from your posession once the Lost Heroes crossover was done
 
JershJopstin

JershJopstin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,332
r_n said:
I've seen a few worries or theories here and there that nothing will carry over between tours (not that you're worried, to be clear) and I don't get it.

That would be like...parodicaly evil. Resetting you to 0 for something you can pay for is absolutely insane and would make the game dead on arrival. Even resetting just your levels would be transparently evil.
Imagine if something like FEH took away your free Fjorm the moment book 2 ended or if Dragalia Lost removed all the Fire Emblem characters from your posession once the Lost Heroes crossover was done
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Yeah, I can't imagine anyone would keep spending money on things if they went away, and I expect Nintendo knows that too. I also strongly suspect that's the reason we can't spend real money on emeralds right now; it'd be a PR/customer service nightmare if people could spend money on content they don't get to keep, especially since it's in fine print they may or may not notice.
 

r_n

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,534
ned_ballad said:
I wish they'd bring these karts to MK8DX

All three are retro karts, 2 from Wii and the Yoshi is from Double Dash
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I was really surprised that almost all the karts were from older games. I think the only ones from 8/8DX are Pipe Frame, Landship, Clown Car (brought back in DX) & B-Dasher (brougt back in DLC)

It'd' suck if all the kart fanservice was stuck in gacha hell. MK8DX DLC or MK9 itself, I'd like to see all of these brought forward. And hopefully some of the courses too, even if they retain their simpler aesthetic. Kind of bitter that all these redone MK7 courses are, again, trapped ingacha hell...
 
JershJopstin

JershJopstin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,332
I managed to get 2 of those stars I said I probably could. Ironically, I got 8,500 points (thanks to a blue shell frenzy) on Kalimari Desert R in the King Boo Cup despite only needing 7,500, then couldn't manage 8,000 on the same track when I needed it in the Wario Cup. The number of stars I need for the Dry Bowser Cup is down to 18 now, ahead of the Metal Mario Cup finishing construction. If I can pull the right drivers (Metal Mario plz) after 8 stars (which will put me at 45 emeralds), I should be in good shape. Otherwise I'll have to wait until Wednesday.

MondoMega, I saw you were compiling a list of tracks. Would you be interested in having a complete cup list should I pull it off tomorrow, or were you just interested in what tracks were in the game? (As an aside, I've yet to run into SNES Rainbow Road R, 14 cups in. Just found that interesting.)
 
MondoMega

MondoMega

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 10, 2018
47,473
Australia
JershJopstin said:
@MondoMega, I saw you were compiling a list of tracks. Would you be interested in having a complete cup list should I pull it off tomorrow, or were you just interested in what tracks were in the game? (As an aside, I've yet to run into SNES Rainbow Road R, 14 cups in. Just found that interesting.)
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Oh yeah, i'm definitely interested in a complete cup list. It seems like the cups will swap out with every "tour" when the final game releases, so keeping the original beta cups documented seems like a good thing to do.
 

r_n

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,534
MondoMega said:
Oh yeah, i'm definitely interested in a complete cup list. It seems like the cups will swap out with every "tour" when the final game releases, so keeping the original beta cups documented seems like a good thing to do.
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the R stands for remix and not Reverse, right? Since I'm pretty sure I've done both sides of Kalimari Desert separate from the Rs. Probably worth noting down as well if so, if you're not already

I'd really like this reverse & remix concept to carry to the real games at some point. a "Remix" set of cups, where some are reversed and some have additional tweaks (since obviously some like rock rock mountain dont really work in reverse), would be a novel and relatively simple way to expand an ample roster alongside Mirror
 
MondoMega

MondoMega

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 10, 2018
47,473
Australia
r_n said:
the R stands for remix and not Reverse, right? Since I'm pretty sure I've done both sides of Kalimari Desert separate from the Rs. Probably worth noting down as well if so, if you're not already

I'd really like this reverse & remix concept to carry to the real games at some point. a "Remix" set of cups, where some are reversed and some have additional tweaks (since obviously some like rock rock mountain dont really work in reverse), would be a novel and relatively simple way to expand an ample roster alongside Mirror
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Yeah, it seems like the "R" tracks aren't just the courses in reverse (I don't have the beta, but i've picked up on it). The preview for SNES Rainbow Road R shows a glider jump that isn't in the original course:
MKT_Icon_RainbowRoadRSNES.png
 
Watershed

Watershed

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,803
Finally found some time to check out this beta. Unfortunately, this is easily the most boring Mario Kart game I've ever played. If this is what racing games on mobile are like, then whatever, but as someone with Mario Kart 8D on Switch, there is no incentive for me to play this game. It isn't even remotely fun.
 
TheUnseenTheUnheard

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
After my first 3 races I thought I was done but I keep coming back. This is probably the most fun I've had with Mario Kart.
 
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