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Could ‘Mario Kart’ soon find its way onto your smartphone?

Feb 3, 2018, 3:31 PM

"Mario Kart 8" takes the franchise into the realm of HD. (Photo: Nintendo)...

"Mario Kart 8" takes the franchise into the realm of HD. (Photo: Nintendo)

(Photo: Nintendo)

“Mario Kart” may drive its way onto your smartphone.

On Wednesday, Nintendo announced its latest list of intellectual properties set to make their way to smartphones.

One of these included an app called “Mario Kart Tour,” a mobile version of “Mario Kart” that is set to be released anytime between April 2018 and March 2019, according to The Verge.

No other details about the game have been announced yet.

Nintendo will likely have more smartphone games in the works. As The Verge reported, Nintendo planned to have five games released by 2017, but only three were released, including “Super Mario Run,” “Fire Emblem Heroes” and “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.”

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Nintendo planned to release a “Legend of Zelda” mobile game, too.

New Nintendo film on the way

Nintendo of America, a gaming news magazine, announced on Wednesday that Nintendo is partnering with Illumination, who helped create the Despicable Me trilogy, to make a movie starring the character Mario.

Making a movie centered around Mario makes sense, Uproxx reported, “especially now, with Nintendo back on top of the gaming industry with the bestselling Nintendo Switch, and ‘Mario Odyssey’ being one of 2017’s highest-selling and reviewed games of the year.”

Uproxx added that the announcement of this film came during the same briefing that unveiled the potential “Mario Kart” game.

Nintendo Switch breaks records — again

Adding to the recent hype surrounding Nintendo is the fact that the Nintendo Switch continues to break records.

Nintendo revealed that its newest gaming console outsold its previous one over the last 10 months.

The Nintendo Switch has sold 14.86 million consoles, which is higher than the 13.56 million units sold in the five years that the Wii U existed, according to multiple reports.

This latest development caps off a tremendous opening year for the Nintendo Switch, which went on sale March 2017. The Nintendo console became the fastest-selling system of all time, with 4.8 million units sold in a 10-month period, surpassing the PlayStation 2’s record, according to the Deseret News.

Nintendo said it hopes to sell 17 million copies of the device by April 2018, according to The Verge. This would make the Switch one of the top-selling consoles of all time.

Still, it has a long way to go, as the PlayStation 2 holds the record for most consoles sold with more than 150 million units.

The Nintendo Switch’s success comes after Wii U’s rocky start, according to Mashable. Though consumers were quick to buy the original Wii when it existed from 2006 to 2016 (selling 101.63 million consoles), people were speculative about the Wii U, which came out in 2012, since it wasn’t much different than its predecessor.

The Nintendo Switch, however, stepped away from total motion control like the Wii systems, adding a half-portable, half-home console, which has inspired more purchases, Mashable reported.

The Wii U, according to Mashable, was “a painful, necessary step to reach the point where we are now: with Nintendo poised to climb back on top.”

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Could ‘Mario Kart’ soon find its way onto your smartphone?