KartRiderRush: New Mario Kart Rival Coming to iOS and Android

It appears that Nintendo’s hugely popular Mario kart racing game could well be facing a bit of stiff competition soon, when the upcoming KartRiderRush game – originally named Crazyracing Kartrider – finally makes its way on the iOS and Android mobile platforms some time this year.

According to a recent article by Mike Jackson over at computerandvideogames.com (via Kotaku), the Korean kart racing game has become a huge success in its home country. In fact, it’s so successful that nearly a third of the country’s population has already played the game.

The question in our minds however is whether the KartRiderRush game can truly be a rival for the Mario Kart title. After all, Mario Kart DS was in fact the sixth best-selling DS game with a total of 20.7 million copies sold worldwide as of December last year.

KartRiderRush has only ever been played in the west as beta tests, which were held back in 2007 and 2008. A full version of the game was promised for last year, but it obviously never happened. The title is now skipping consoles altogether, and going to straight to Android and iOS.

The mobile version will be free to download, but players will have to pay for extra tracks, characters and other items. KartRiderRush will feature four-player offline-racing, cel-shaded cartoon visuals and a choice of either tilt or touch controls. You can view a video of the app below this post.

What do you think of the KartRiderRush game? Will it give Mario Kart a run for its money?