- Title: Japanese Mario Kart fans welcome mobile game despite launch trouble
- Date: 25th September 2019
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 19-YEAR-OLD COLLEGE STUDENT, TAICHI SUZUKI, SAYING: "Mario Kart has a lot of movements with the wheel. I'm looking forward to how that will work on a smartphone and also the items in the game." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 18-YEAR-OLD COLLEGE STUDENT, RYUNOSUKE TANAAMI, SAYING: "My commute to my college is pretty long. I want to relax on the train by playing games so I really would like to play Mario Kart." MARIO KART ARCADE GAMES ILLUSTRATION OF NINTENDO'S MARIO CHARACTER ON BACK OF ARCADE GAME CHAIR
- Embargoed: 9th October 2019 14:09
- Keywords: game Japan video games gaming server issues mobile overload Nintendo app arcade Mario Mario Kart Tour launch day
- Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
- City: TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Video Games
- Reuters ID: LVA002AY5LVLZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The wait for Nintendo Co Ltd.’s, much-anticipated mobile title Mario Kart Tour was supposed to be over on Wednesday (September 25), but many fans found they were unable to play the game on launch day due to server issues.
A Nintendo spokesman said the company was aware that due to heavy traffic some users were having trouble accessing the game, but that the situation was improving.
Several Mario Kart fans at a video game arcade in central Tokyo, eager to play the new mobile racer, received an error message when trying to launch game.
"The servers are experiencing heavy traffic. Your log-in request will be processed in the order it was received," a notification said.
Nineteen-year-old college student Taichi Suzuki was nonetheless excited to play the game.
"Mario Kart has a lot of movements with the wheel. I'm looking forward to how that will work on a smartphone," Suzuki said.
Fellow student Ryunosuke Tanaami said he was hoping to play the game on his lengthy commutes to college.
Nintendo has been slow to expand into mobile gaming, choosing to focus on its hybrid Switch console. Its online subscription gaming business has lagged rivals Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp.
(Production: Masashi Kato, Akiko Okamoto) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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