In order to say goodbye to 2020, Mario Kart is officially ringing in the New Year by beginning their New Year's tour – kicking off a couple of nights ago to celebrate all that is to come in 2021. The tours that they have often bring in new cars and characters for players to use in the game, so it's usually a popular time of the year to make sure that fans of the titular character purchase it.

The popular racing franchise has been putting up impressive numbers as of late. Ever since its release, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has seemed to sell more copies than the year before, a feat that is rarely accomplished in most games. This could be due to the pandemic that has locked most people inside their homes, and since Mario Kart is easily playable with most friends, it's a simple way to connect with others across multiple consoles.

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Nintendo is building off the success of the Switch title by continuing its support for the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, with the latest in-game event adding in new characters and roadmaps for people to play. The New Years Tour was announced on the official Mario Kart Tour Twitter page. A new map, called "RMX Rainbow Road 2" was released and it offers up another version of the iconic Rainbow Road that most Mario Kart players know today. And not only that, three new characters have entered into the game – Pauline in Party Attire, Toad in Party Attire, and the long-time "referee" of the Mario franchise, Lakitu, who is also in party attire.

This most certainly shows how much work Nintendo is putting in to keep player engagement alive on a game that has maybe not been the runaway mobile hit Nintendo was hoping for. However, adding new characters and maps is something that will always go over well with fans.

Mario Kart has even recently received a real-life version of the game where players get to create the maps themselves using real household objects, and then race a virtually-controlled Mario Kart all around them using the Nintendo Switch. There's no stopping this company from making products that people really enjoy. The real question is will the new festive version of Lakitu take over the spot in players' hearts that belong to classic characters like Mario and PeachOnly time will tell.

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Source: Twitter - Mario Kart Tour