Game Guide

Everything different in Mario Kart

Tour

For Mario Kart veterans jumping into Tour, there are some big
changes to know about. Because the game was developed for
mobile, it plays drastically different from the traditional console
and handheld versions of Mario Kart. It also functions quite
differently too as it utilizes gacha mechanics to unlock
characters, karts and more.

General INFO
Before you jump into the game, here's everything different
about Mario Kart Tour.

You play using the touch screen

Instead of using a controller, only a finger is needed in Mario

Kart Tour. You slide your finger left and right to move your kart
on screen and simply tap the screen to fire off your items.
Players participate in Tours and within each tour are Cups,
which fans of the series will likely recognizeA tour only lasts for
two weeks so completionists will need to play often to complete
every cup within each tour. When players first begin a tour, only
one cup will be available. Racers will need to collect Grand
Stars from races and challenges to unlock the other cups within
a tourCharacters, karts and gliders determine the bonuses
players receive during a cup: choosing Mario, if you have him
unlocked, for a Mario course with a Mario-themed kart and
glider will give players the maximum possible bonus.
 General Tips and Tricks

Login Every Single Day, Even If You Don't Actually Play

Mario Kart Tour uses daily login bonuses to incentivize players to

come back each day. You should take advantage of these
bonuses as logging in requires nothing more than just a few taps.
Open the game on your phone each day and you'll receive a login
bonus. These bonuses include coins and rubies, and are a free
and easy way for you to obtain a currency you'd otherwise have
to earn in game or with your wallet.

Go to the Shop Every Day

Whether you're someone who has problems with

microtransactions or someone who cares little about them, the
Mario Kart Tour Shop is worth checking out for the Daily Selects
alone.

In the store, there are sets with higher price tags to be purchased
and there are Daily Selects. The Daily Selects change daily as
their name implies and often feature new characters and other
items at relatively cheap prices.

Things like the sets and Gold Pass can only be purchased using
real money, but the Daily Selects features items that can be
purchased with gold coins, which you can earn during each race.
 Save Your Rubies
Rubies are one of Mario Kart Tour's currencies that can be
earned by completing cups and challenges. They're not nearly
as easy to earn as gold coins, but they're just as useful.
Gold coins can be used to purchase things from the store like
Daily Selects while Rubies are used to fire off the game's
signature green pipes.

It costs five Rubies to pull a single green pipe. For 45

Rubies, though, you can fire the green pipe 10 times. It
might be tempting to fire the green pipe one at a time, but
if you can hold off until you reach 45 Rubies, you'll
essentially be getting a free green pipe pull.
 Don't Worry About Falling Off a Track
While we don't exactly know why, in Mario Kart Tour, racers cannot fall
off of courses. Try as you might, but an invisible wall will stop you from
falling off the course.

Now, this isn't to say that you should not fear the outer edges of a
course. While you won't fall off, your driver will be slowed down so it's
still best to avoid the walls of the level.

Now, this isn't to say that you should not fear the outer edges of a
course. While you won't fall off, your driver will be slowed down so it's
still best to avoid the walls of the level.

Swipe Up When You Get Any Amount of Air

When your racer launches off a ramp, a boost jump or even just into the
sky courtesy of a hot geyser, quickly swipe up on the screen to make
your character do a trick of sorts. Sure, this trick is cute but it's the small
speed boost you receive when you land that matters here.
 Turn Power Saving On If You Want to Save Your
Battery

Mario Kart Tour will use a lot of your phone's battery. If you don't
have battery to spare, go to the game's main menu by selecting the
menu button on the bottom of the screen.

Once here, select the settings button in the bottom right corner. You
should see a System Setting dubbed Power Saving. Select this and the
game will go into power-saving mode, which will conserve your
battery while you play the game.

Turn Off Auto-Item

Usually in Mario Kart games when you have an item queued up for
use, driving through another item box will have no effect on you.
That's not the case in Mario Kart Tour, at least by default.

In Mario Kart Tour, the default setting for situations like this is that
your queued item will be automatically used to make room for a new
item from the item box you have driven through.

This is a nice touch, but if you're looking for the game to feel a bit
more like traditional Mario Kart, go to the
To Earn More Points, Play in Higher CCs
Mario Kart Tour will have you racing in 50cc by default. If you're
hungry for points, which translate into Grand Stars eventually, increase
the CC for your races.
In 50cc, you'll earn 2100 points for getting first place. In 100cc, you'll
earn 2300 points for first place and in 150cc, you'll earn 2500 points.

200cc will earn you the same number of points as 150cc with a first
place win.

Mario Kart Tour dubs 50cc as leisurely, 100cc as fast and 150cc as very
fast. Too Fast is what Nintendo uses to describe 200cc.

If Something Sticks Out to You, You Should Drive Into or Over

It
This tip might seem odd but more times than not, it will come in
handy. In some courses, things will stick out to you. Often, if you drive
over those things or run into them, you'll receive a speed boost.

An example does better to explain this tip: Dino Dino Jungle features a
large dinosaur and a number of hot geysers. At first, both the
dinosaur and the geysers might seem dangerous, but it turns out,
they're a handy source of speed.

When your glider is deployed near the dinosaur's head in Dino Dino
Jungle, run into the dinosaur's head for a speed boost. Shortly before
that and shortly after that, holes in the ground will launch water
spouts into the air. If you see water shooting into the air, drive
through it for a speedy launch into the sky.
If You Need Some Coins, Play Coin Rush
If you're perusing the Mario Kart Tour shop, you might spot a Daily Select
you'd like to purchase. If you don't have the coins to get it, though, you
might be looking for a quick way to fill your purse.

At the top of the screen is a rectangle that shows your gold coin count
beside a plus sign. Hit the plus sign and you'll be asked if you want to play
Gold Rush.

This game mode will see you racing through a relatively easy course alone
as Gold Mario. If you drive near a coin, Gold Mario will automatically
collect it.

Depending on the number of Rubies you pay to play Gold Rush, the total
amount of coins you earn will be multiplied to an even greater number.
Five Rubies will give you a multiplier of two, 15 Rubies a multiplier of six
and 25 Rubies a multiplier of 10.
Character Advantages in Mario Kart Tour
In Mario Kart Tour, different racers bring their own advantages to a race. Each
character comes with their own special item that most other racers cannot find
in Item Boxes.

In addition to this, depending on the race track, certain characters may have an
advantage or disadvantage in the amount of Items they can hold at one time.
This can be as many as 3 Items, or a low as only 1 Item at a time.

As a general rule, Ultra Rare characters have two course that they are able to use
3 Item Boxes in, while Rare characters have one course each. Each rarity type
also has a base value of driver points that go towards your point score at the end
of a race (to obtain Grand Stars). Common drivers start by giving you 400 points,
Rare drivers add 450 to your score, and Ultra Rare drivers will give you 500 bonus
points. By increasing the level of the driver and winning races, you'll be able to
increase the amount of points they give.
List of Drivers
Below you will find all currently known racers, along with what unique item they can find when
racing. Click on the individual character to learn more about them, and which courses they get an
advantage or disadvantage in.
Don't Quit If You Can Tell You're Not Going to Come in First Place
Let's be honest: nobody can say that they've never quit a Mario Kart race
before it's over because they know all hope of getting first place is lost.

Don't do that in Mario Kart Tour.

Racers earn points each race no matter the placement. So, even if you
come in last place, you'll still be rewarded for your efforts in the race
(although not nearly as much as that of first place).
Beyond points though, you don't necessarily have to get first place to earn
five stars on a cup. We got second place on Toad Circuit in one of our
playthroughs and were still given five stars and on Dino Dino Jungle, we
got third place and five stars on it as well.

Strategize Your Character and Kart Loadout

Picking your favorite character, the best kart and the most stylish glider is
tantalizing, but in Mario Kart Tour, if you're after the first place win and
the maximum amount of points, you should focus more on your loadout.

If you pick a character that favors a certain course — say Toadette on

Toad Circuit — you'll receive three items per item box.

By choosing a kart to match the character and course, you'll receive a

certain bonus as well. This bonus can be as high as twice the points.

A matching glider can earn you a combo bonus as high as three times the
points as well as a big combo-time boost, which are special boosts
received from chaining together certain actions.
Chain Your Actions
Every action you perform in Mario Kart Tour will earn you bonus points. Be it a super jump or a
green shell knockout, when you finish the race, all of your actions will be added together for a
grand total of bonus points.

The actions that earn these bonus points can be chained together for additional bonus points
and on-the-spot boosts while racing. For example, if you were to jump off a boost ramp and
then quickly take an enemy out using a red shell once you land, you'll receive a quick turbo
boost for chaining together actions.

Don't Waste Time on the Same Course If You're Trying to Level Up

It's easy to master a course and want to play it over and over again when trying to quickly level
up. However, it's important to know that you earn more EXP for racing on a variety of courses.
If you play new course after new course, you'll earn more EXP than you would racing on the
same track over and over again, even if you do get first place every time.
Drift as Much as Possible
Much like every other mainline Mario Kart entry, you should try and drift
as often as possible in Mario Kart Tour.

Drifting allows you to easily clear sharp turns and corner and gives you a
great boost for doing so successfully. To drift, maintain a turn after taking
one — if you turn left, continue to keep your finger swiped to the left to
enter a drift.

The orange fire that eventually turns blue is a boost you'll receive once
you finish the drift. The longer the drift, the longer the subsequent boost.

Drift Into Boost Pads

When you see orange-yellow pads on a course with arrows pointing
forward, do your best to drift into these. Doing so will not only give you
one of the best possible boosts in the game — a boost pad boost followed
by the drift boost — but it will give you a lot of bonus points as well as
you're chaining together the use of a boost pad and a drift.
Keep Smart Steering on If You're New to Mario Kart
If Mario Kart Tour is your first Mario Kart game, you should keep the
Smart Steering option on as it will help make steering a little easier for
you so you can focus on learning the game's other mechanics. This
setting is on by default.

If The Steering Feels Weird, Turn Off Smart Steering

If you're a veteran of the Mario Kart series, the steering in Mario Kart
Tour will feel quite weird, to say the least. You're using a finger instead
of a controller and as a result, the steering can feel quite odd.

Part of the reason the steering might feel odd to you is that the Smart
Steering is working to automatically aid you in steering. This is not
something Mario Kart players are used to as it's not a default option in
traditional Mario Kart games the way it is in Mario Kart Tour.

Once you turn it off, the touch steering will still probably feel weird
until you get used to it but it will help not having an invisible hand
slightly guide your kart through a course.
Give Gyro Steering a Try
Gyro Steering is an option for steering in Mario Kart Tour and instead of using
your finger to steer in the game, you can use your phones gyrosensor. To turn
left, turn your phone left and so on.

It can be tough to get used to but for some, it might be the ideal method for
steering — it certainly stops your finger from blocking a portion of the screen.

You can pair Gyro Steering with your finger as well. With Gyro Steering on, the
touch method of steering is still active so try to utilize both for those extra
sharp turns.

Use Manual Drift If You Have Gyro Steering On

Manual Drift is an option in Mario Kart Tour that allows you to control when
your driver drifts with the tap of a finger.

With Gyro Steering on, you'll be tilting your phone left and right to turn your
driver on screen. Tap your finger on the screen when turning to have your
driver begin a drift.

We haven't found this method of drifting and steering to be as natural as the

default way, but for those who prefer Gyro Steering, manual drifts can come in
Get a Free Two Week Trial of the Gold Pass
When you click on the Gold Pass option in Mario Kart Tour, hidden at
the bottom of the screen next to the price is a sentence that says first
time players can try out the gold pass with a free two-week trial.

Click the option above to purchase the Gold Pass and before you're
charged, the game will tell you that your free two week trial begins
immediately. It will also tell you the day you'll actually be charged
$4.99 for the Gold Pass. If you don't want to be charged for it when
that day comes, simply cancel the pass.

Get a Character With the Gold Pass

If you purchase the Gold Pass, be it at $4.99 or with the free two week
trial, you'll receive a number of items: Rubies, Gold Coins and a
random character. We got Koopa Troopa — tell us who you got in the
comments below.
You Can't Race Your Friends Yet, But You Can Challenge Their
Scores
Mario Kart Tour will eventually have multiplayer but as of right now, at the
game's launch, multiplayer has not been implemented into the game.

However, you can still challenge your friends. Instead of actually racing
against your friend, when you challenge them, you'll be tasked with getting a
higher score than them in rank-eligible cups.

Add Your Friends Through Social Media

Once you unlock the ability to add friends upon completing the third cup in
the game, you can add friends through a number of ways. You can give your
friend your ID and have them add you, or they can give your theirs so that
you may manually add them instead.

If you don't want to mess with those 12-digit IDs, you can post a link on
Facebook or Twitter that your friends can click to easily add themselves to
your friend list. This is done through the game's Add Friend menu, although
you'll need to sign in to Twitter or Facebook to use it.
If You Get a Duplicate From a Green Pipe Pull, the Duplicates Are Merged
to Enhance the Skill Level
Getting a new character or kart from a green pipe pull is very exciting, but getting a
character or kart you already have feels like a waste of Rubies. It isn't necessarily a
waste, though, because duplicates are merged to enhance a skill level.

So, a base level one Koopa Troopa will see their skill level increased to halfway to
level two if a duplicate Koopa Troopa is pulled from a green pipe.

Multiplayer and Gold Pass Subscription

Multiplayer hasn’t yet been implemented into the game, but if you select the
multiplayer option in the Mario Kart Tour menu, you’ll receive a message that’s says
it’s coming in a future version update.

If you’re looking for the 200cc, it must first be unlocked with the Gold Pass.