Kotaku⁠73%

Mario Kart Tour Will Be Gone Forever September 29 ⁠61%

By John Walker⁠74%

7/8/2026, 12:07:04 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Framing Effect, and Optimism Bias, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 81.4% saturation with 316 hits. Analysis detected 1,245 faulty-reasoning hits from 388 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 56.3% and a BS Rank of ⁠61% (8,722 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 60.20% of the article peer group.

Nintendo&#8217;s mobile success story <em>Mario Kart Tour</em> has been <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-tour-new-content-end-mobile-racer-spinoff-1850825190">very slowly winding down for the better part of three years now</a>. 
Despite <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-world-tour-switch-2-mobile-game-new-update-1851786541">a moment of respite last July</a>, the game has mostly been left fallow for a long while, and we now know that come September 29 it&#8217;ll be ending for good. 
&#8220;We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago,&#8221; <a href="https://faq.mariokarttour.com/hc/en-us/articles/55861637745305-Mario-Kart-Tour-End-of-Service-Notification">says a very brief statement on Nintendo&#8217;s website</a>, talking about the game as if it has been around since the Middle Ages. 
The competitive online racing game will in fact have just turned seven years old when it&#8217;s switched off in a couple of months, one of the final games added during Nintendo&#8217;s long-since abandoned <a href="https://kotaku.com/nintendo-games-still-don-t-feel-right-on-mobile-1821097096">push</a> into the mobile gaming space. 
The statement then just cuts off saying, &#8220;Thank you for playing <em>Mario Kart Tour</em>. 
&#8221; There follow a couple of links to explain what will happen regarding the game&#8217;s in-app purchases, the &#8220;<a href="https://faq.mariokarttour.com/hc/en-us/articles/59112050862105-About-the-end-of-ruby-sales">rubies</a>&#8221; (they&#8217;re off sale immediately, but can still be spent) and its <a href="https://faq.mariokarttour.com/hc/en-us/articles/55861879350553-About-the-Gold-Pass-starting-July-7-2026">Gold Pass</a> (automatic subscription renewals have been stopped, no new subs are possible, and everyone will get August and September&#8217;s Gold Pass content for free). 
<h2>Gacha covered</h2> 
This rather ignominious end matches its problematic launch, when the game was released packed with <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-tours-microtransactions-feel-gross-in-a-post-1838487899">predatory gacha gambling</a>. 
This all remained in the game for a grim three years, before finally <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-tour-gacha-pipe-rubies-spotlight-shop-items-1849492461">getting improved in October 2022</a>. 
The game itself was really good, a proper Nintendo <em>Mario Kart</em>, but it was impossible to celebrate it without also mentioning <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-tour-is-pretty-good-when-it-s-not-nickel-and-1834948363">its incessant demand on your wallet</a>, even going so far as to <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-tour-locks-the-fastest-race-mode-behind-a-pa-1838438729">lock its 200cc speed mode behind a paywall</a>. 
Earlier this year, <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-tour-gambling-esrb-pegi-age-rating-2000680828">some countries rated the game 18+</a> as a consequence. 
New tracks were added over the years, and the roster was constantly rotated, allowing for player-attracting moments <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-rarest-track-piranha-plant-pipeline-mk-tour-1851785920">like the inclusion of the franchise&#8217;s rarest track</a>, Piranha Plant Pipeline, for limited periods. 
It&#8217;ll be interesting to see if the demise of <em>Tour</em> might mean we finally see some of those lost tracks reappear in the woefully unadorned <em>Mario Kart World</em>, which has <a href="https://kotaku.com/mario-kart-world-items-tweak-power-ups-new-routes-knockout-2000711989">not received a single new track</a> since its launch over a year ago. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%John Walker: 1.7%Kotaku: 4.4%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 1.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 2.2%Kotaku: 4.0%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 8.2%John Walker: 0.6%Kotaku: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic8.2%This article: 9.8%John Walker: 0.8%Kotaku: 1.0%Hindsight Bias9.8%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 1.5%Kotaku: 1.7%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 30.2%John Walker: 5.4%Kotaku: 5.8%Framing Effect30.2%This article: 2.3%John Walker: 0.8%Kotaku: 1.1%Loss Aversion2.3%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.6%Kotaku: 1.1%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.4%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 19.6%John Walker: 1.3%Kotaku: 2.9%Optimism Bias19.6%This article: 15.5%John Walker: 1.2%Kotaku: 3.4%Pessimism Bias15.5%This article: 64.7%John Walker: 17.8%Kotaku: 13.5%Negativity Bias64.7%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 1.3%Kotaku: 2.0%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 10.3%John Walker: 0.7%Kotaku: 1.5%Fundamental Attribution Error10.3%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 1.3%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 7.0%Kotaku: 3.6%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.2%Kotaku: 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.1%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 17.0%John Walker: 1.5%Kotaku: 2.4%Recency Bias17.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.1%Kotaku: 0.6%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 10.8%John Walker: 0.9%Kotaku: 1.3%Ad Hominem10.8%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.6%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 2.1%Kotaku: 2.6%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 11.1%John Walker: 3.1%Kotaku: 2.3%False Dilemma11.1%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.5%Kotaku: 1.0%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.6%Kotaku: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 11.3%John Walker: 5.7%Kotaku: 9.4%Hasty Generalization11.3%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.2%Kotaku: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 1.5%Kotaku: 1.1%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 3.4%Kotaku: 5.8%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.3%Kotaku: 0.9%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 3.4%John Walker: 0.3%Kotaku: 2.4%Post Hoc (False Cause)3.4%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.9%Kotaku: 0.3%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.7%Kotaku: 0.7%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.5%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 2.0%Kotaku: 4.3%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 3.6%John Walker: 0.4%Kotaku: 2.0%Ambiguity (Equivocation)3.6%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 1.0%Kotaku: 0.5%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.3%Kotaku: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 10.8%John Walker: 2.0%Kotaku: 2.8%Unattributed Quote10.8%This article: 10.8%John Walker: 2.4%Kotaku: 1.6%Quote-first Misdirection10.8%This article: 81.4%John Walker: 30.8%Kotaku: 15.3%Biased Writer Voice81.4%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.3%Kotaku: 2.4%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.0%Kotaku: 0.6%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 0.4%Kotaku: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%John Walker: 6.7%Kotaku: 3.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

388 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker11%attributed speech346writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageNintendo&#8217;s website • 42 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 57 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 43 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 44 words • 100.0% coverage
100%flagged-word coverage
42 attributed words100% of attributed speech83% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Nintendo&#8217;s website: 100.0%100.0%Quote-first Misdirection+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Nintendo&#8217;s website: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice+20.8 ptsWriter: 79.2%Nintendo&#8217;s website: 100.0%100.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.