Mario Kart Tour closed beta for mobiles will launch in May

The mobile version has faced long delays

The long-awaited mobile version of Mario Kart looks to finally be on its way. Closed beta for Mario Kart Tour is now available for sign-ups. Android users in the US and Japan can now sign up on the official website before May 7th (sorry iPhone people). Sadly, there is no option for UK gamers right now, but hopefully that will change closer to release. A limited number of those who sign up will be given access to an in-development beta of the application in order to improve the quality of the game. The beta will run from May 22nd to June 4th. Mario Kart Tour was announced in January 2018, for iOS and Android devices, and its release date was originally intended for the first quarter of 2019. However, earlier this year the release was pushed back to Summer 2019. A logo for the game was released along with the original announcement, but basically no other details about the game have been come out since then. Despite having a long history with portable gaming, including the Game Boy, DS and Switch, Nintendo has been very slow to get into the mobile games arena. Several Pokemon titles, including Pokemon Go, were developed by third parties, but the first proper Nintendo mobile game was 2016's Miitomo, followed by Mario, Animal Crossingand Fire Emblem games. The Mario Kart series began all the way back in 1992 with Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo. There have been six titles released for home consoles over the years, along with three portable games and four arcade cabinet version co-developed with Namco. The latest installment was 2017's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Switch.