Mario Kart: Grand Prix Tour

Mario Kart: Grand Prix Tour is an upcoming Mario Kart game slated for a 2019 release on iOS and Android devices. The game, designed to attract mobile consumers to the Mario Kart franchise, is built more similarly to the Mario Kart Arcade GP series featuring a more limited cast of playable characters, a different style of the main Grand Prix mode found in the mainline Mario Kart games, and smaller track designs fitted for mobile.

Gameplay
Like Nintendo's other mobile games, the game plays in vertical position and features a simplified and streamlined version of the usual Mario Kart control scheme and mirrors Super Mario Run's game design of being able to play with just one finger. The player's kart auto-accelerates and tilting the device left and right causes the kart to turn. Drifting is done automatically after turning for a while similarly to how automatic drifting works in Mario Kart 8. Tapping the screen while turning will immediately make the kart drift similar to manual drifting in the other games. Tapping the screen in the same manner will make the kart hop or do a trick if driving off of a ramp. Items can be used while flicking upwards or downwards on the screen while pressing and holding on the screen will have the kart break and reverse.

Like in Mario Kart 8, the game features tracks that use gliding, underwater, and anti-gravity sections. Similarly to the Mario Kart Arcade GP series, each race only features up to six racers. As a first for the Mario Kart series, players can access the character and kart select screen at almost any time in most of the menu screens in order to give players ease of access for wanting to change their characters and kart parts

The game contains three main modes of play, two of them being available on launch date while the third will be added in an update, each with their own sub modes.

Grand Prix Tour
Grand Prix Tour is the main mode of Mario Kart: Grand Prix Tour and is similar to the Grand Prix mode of every mainline Mario Kart game. It is a single player mode where players race against A.I.-controlled rivals in a series of racetracks categorized in cups in order to unlock more characters, cups, and kart parts.

Unlike in the mainline games, Grand Prix Tour features a world map similar to the main Super Mario games that showcases where each cup takes place. Cups themselves are more similar to the cups Mario Kart Arcade GP where each cup is dedicated to one character and contains four variations of one racetrack. Additionally like in the main games, Grand Prix Tour features three different engine classes to play in, 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc, each acting as the easy, medium, and hard modes for Grand Prix Tour. Unlike in the main games, players are given the option to choose which engine class they wanna play in upon choosing a cup, instead of having to go through a separate select screen for engine classes before choosing a cup.

Finishing each new racetrack in first place grants a new kart piece that players can later use to build their own customizable kart. The first track rewards a new variation of a character emblem, the second track rewards a new tire set, the third track rewards a new glider, and the fourth track rewards a new kart body. Each kart part unlocked in the same cup together make up a new kart set with each engine class containing its own kart sets to unlock, ultimately giving each character a total of three dedicated kart sets themed to them.

The default full game features 7 base tracks with 28 variations with more to be added in later updates that each correspond to future characters.

While on Grand Prix Tour world map, players are able to toggle between the main Grand Prix Tour and two other modes. Time Trials returns as a sub mode for Grand Prix Tour that functions very similarly to the Time Trials mode in the main games. Players drive on the racetrack alone or with data from other players represented as "Ghosts" to compete for the fastest completion on the track. Custom GP Tour acts more similarly to the single-player versus modes in other Mario Kart games where players can freely toggle between the CPU difficulty, the frequency of various items, number of rounds for a custom Grand Prix, and how to decide each next track. Settings for Custom Grand Prix are saved for use Versus Mode.

Versus Mode
Versus Mode is the game's premiere multiplayer mode where up to 6 players can connect with other compatible devices via locally or online in multiplayer matches. Players can host or join other players' own Custom GP Tour with additional features such as setting up appointments and toggling CPUs on and off similar to Communities in Mario Kart 7 and Tournaments in Mario Kart 8.

Exclusive to Versus Mode's online multiplayer is the Odyssey Ranking in which players can compete against each other for the total of most points globally by the end of the week. Players can compete individually or by joining one of the six character teams:

Additional racing teams will be added in future updates that each correspond to a new character. The winning team and top player overall gets rewarded with My Nintendo Points if a My Nintendo account is linked to any of the participating players.

Character roster
The default full game features a total of six playable characters, each corresponding to the available cups and racing teams featured online. The game will go through a monthly update to add an additional character for ten months, each with their own cup, three kart sets, and racing team to join online.