Something to look forward to: It's been over a year since Nintendo released details of its Mario Kart Tour mobile game, and we've had very few updates since then---apart from news of a delay. Now, however, the company has announced that a closed beta for the title will begin next month.

It was the start of 2018 when Nintendo announced Mario Kart Tour would launch sometime before March 2019, but that release date was changed a few months ago to "summer 2019."

If you're an Android user and can't wait to try out the game, Nintendo is accepting applications for its closed test beta. You can apply using the QR code on the Mario Kart Tour website. It's only available to those in the US and Japan, and the beta runs from May 22 to June 4.

Bloomberg reports that news of the game's upcoming release has seen shares in Nintendo's mobile partner DeNA jump 5.7 percent. Other mobile games to come from the companies include the short-lived Miitomo, which despite finding massive success at launch was killed off just two years later.

Unlike Super Mario Run, which first arrived as an iOS exclusive before launching on Android a few months later, the beta test will be exclusive to users of Google's operating system. The final version of Mario Kart Tour will be available on both Android and iOS.

"In the mobile business, we have plans to release Dr. Mario World and Mario Kart Tour. In addition, we will strive to expand the business by ensuring that more consumers can continue to enjoy the applications we've released already," the company wrote, in its earnings statement.

In other Nintendo news, it's rumored that the firm will release a cheaper version of the Switch as early as June this year.