Mario Kart Tour could come to PC, according to data-mined files

In the world of party games, few are as unanimously popular as Mario Kart. The premise of a go-kart race is fun and easy to understand. The game usually does just enough in each installment by way of introducing enough new gameplay mechanics to keep things interesting and create actual rivalries among friends, while still maintaining a casual vibe. And its maps and characters are bright, colorful, and interesting.

In the vast majority of cases, Nintendo likes to keep its creations exclusive to its own consoles. Lately, however, the company has made bigger strides into mobile gaming. And it looks like its mobile entry Mario Kart Tour might even make its way to PC, if recent files found by data miners are anything to go by.

Mario Kart Tour received an update this week and included among the additions to the game files was support for a new input type: mouse. Obviously, no one gaming on a mobile device has a need for a mouse, and usually, mobile gamers looking for an alternative to a mobile game’s touchscreen controls rely on a variety of third-party controllers for mobile. Mouse being present as a way to control your Mario Kart character may suggest that the game might be playable on PC at some point in the future.

Further corroborating the new input option in the game files are even more files devoted to emulation. Using emulators to play Nintendo games on PC is fairly commonplace for many of the company’s titles, and new support for emulation could indicate that Mario Kart Tour could make its way to Google Play Games for PC, an upcoming app that would allow players to play games normally restricted to mobile on the Google Play store on PC. The app is still in beta form and isn’t available yet in several regions, but it seems like Mario Kart Tour might be gearing up for life as a PC game through Games for PC.

While nothing is confirmed, the additions of input type and emulation support files to the game certainly make it seem like a new platform for Mario Kart Tour is on the way. If you’re a mouse and keyboard gamer wanting to give Mario Kart on M&K a try, you might just be in luck.