© Image: Nintendo Bowser winds up before throwing his green shell at Mario’s kart.
After three years, Nintendo is finally removing the contentious “gacha pipe” from its popular mobile racer, Mario Kart Tour. The pipes, which players had to purchase with in-game “rubies” to get a chance at unlockable prizes, will be replaced with a new in-game store.
The official English Twitter account for Mario Kart Tour announced that gacha pipes will be removed from the game come October 5. In its stead, Mario Kart Tour will be implementing an in-game store called the Spotlight Shop, in which players can directly purchase gliders, karts, and drivers individually instead of having to rely on luck.
Here’s a peek at #MarioKartTour‘s update coming late September! Battle mode will be added, along with a Spotlight Shop, where you can exchange rubies for drivers, karts, and gliders! Also, pipes you can fire by using rubies will be removed. See the notification for details. pic.twitter.com/brsI1tH8YD
— Mario Kart Tour (@mariokarttourEN) September 2, 2022
Much like Mario Kart proper, Mario Kart Tour allows you to select a driver, a kart, and a glider before matching up with players from around the world and Tokyo Drifting to your heart’s (and index finger’s) content. However, if you wanted to unlock the game’s drivers—many of which were only available during certain periods—you’d have to cough up some rubies and “pull” on a green pipe in hopes of it shooting a new driver, kart, or glider.
Although the gacha pipe didn’t dish out duplicates, according to Video Games Chronicle, Mario Kart Tour currently has 172 gliders, 193 playable characters, and 246 karts. Considering 10 rubies cost $5.99 USD and that pipe pulls cost five rubies, the odds of you getting the rare find you were hoping for were quite slim unless you were willing to open your wallet wide. Time will tell whether the asking prices for individual item purchases in the Spotlight Shop will break the bank for mobile players.
Read More: Mario Kart Tour Is Pretty Good When It’s Not Nickel And Diming You
In addition to removing the gacha pipe, Mario Kart Tour will also be adding a new battle mode in which players can test their mettle against each other. But for the time being, folks online are showing varying reactions to the news that Mario Kart Tour’s virtual gambling will soon be a thing of the past.
“Damn this game might actually be worth a damn now,” one Twitter user said.
“R.I.P. the Pipe Pulls 2019-2022,” said another, which was followed up by a reply of a dancing Luigi, saying, “You will not be missed.”
“So instead of spending your hard-earned rubies on a gacha pipe, now you just spend your rubies on the characters from the shop. Wow, this is great. Mario Kart Tour will soon be [a] gacha free game!” replied another.