Mario Kart 7

Template:Infobox Mario Kart 7 is a racing game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the ninth installment of the Mario Kart series overall, the seventh in the main series (hence the game's title), and the third on a handheld console. The game was released on December 1, 2011 in Japan, December 2 in Europe, December 3 in Australia, and December 4 in North America. In the game, players are able to exchange Ghost Data and play online in multiplayer mode. Nintendo stated that the game brings "a bunch of new elements" to the Mario Kart series.

Gameplay

Features

One of the innovations in Mario Kart 7 is the race in first-person views. By pressing the , the player can activate the view and then tilt the Nintendo 3DS to steer.

In this new installment of the Mario Kart series, Coins make a prominent return. Coins have not been featured in this way in the last Mario Kart games since Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Coins are to be found along a race track, and can be underwater, on the road, or in the air. Collecting coins on different tracks will allow the player to unlock vehicle parts used for customization. The option to select classic Mario Kart tracks is also available again in this game. Mario Kart 7 also has some new features. Players can now use air gliders, which can be useful for navigating through the air and also use propellers to drive underwater. In addition, players may now assemble their own karts, rather than select pre-set karts as in older Mario Kart games. It is possible to select the body of the kart, the wheels, and other additional accessories such as the glider, although some parts need to be unlocked before they can be used. When the player is selecting a character and changing things to their kart the selection theme is played. Mario Kart 7 marks the return of the traditional 8 characters per race, as opposed to the total of 12 as seen in the previous installment. It is also compatible with both SpotPass and StreetPass.

Among other gameplay's innovations is the vehicle's behavior in the courses. Each element to assemble the vehicle have a function that grant advantage on certain courses: for example, the type of wheel selected may work well in concrete road, soil or rough terrain that a course may have. Gliders also provide speed and duration for the vehicle when airborne and can be controlled using only the . Additionally, driving underwater, the kart's handling, speed and drifting can considerably change compared to when driving on land. Mario Kart 7 also introduces the option to race in a first-person view, where the player will watch the race from the character's own eyes, instead of the usual overview of the track from his/her back in the other six installments. In this view, the player can also see the vehicle's steering wheel in front of the character. In a minor note, a small additional beat of the track's music plays if the player gets ahead in first place. The small beat fades when the player slows down the kart via braking, going off-road, or getting hit by an item. This only happens when the player is playing on 100cc, 150cc or Mirror.

Motorbikes, which made their first appearance in Mario Kart Wii, do not return in the game. However, Tricks, which were also introduced in Mario Kart Wii, come back to be part of Mario Kart 7's gameplay and can be used with Gliders for more speed. Mission Mode and the Single Player version of VS mode are also absent from this game.

Controls

• : Steer/Auto Drift
• /: Accelerate
• /: Use Item
• : Hop/Manual Drift/Perform tricks in midair.
• : Toggle first person view
• : Brake/Reverse

Modes

Grand Prix

The game's main option mode.

As usual in the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart 7 has the Grand Prix, where a single player has to compete against computer-controlled opponents in order to obtain the trophies of the eight cups in the game. The Grand Prix has three engine classes, 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. The higher the engine class, the harder the races will be against the opponents. In this mode, by beating the first cups available, the user unlocks the other cups as well as new elements such as the kart's part (by collecting coins in each race) or a new playable character. By completing all the engine classes available at the start, the player unlocks the Mirror class.

Time Trial

The mode Time Trial allows the player to complete all the laps of a racecourse in the fastest time possible. Mario Kart 7 saves the player's records and the ghost that is the character and vehicle used in the race. Through the Nintendo's Wi-fi Connection, the player can exchange his/her ghost to other players, compare their records and even compete with their ghosts. Up to 7 ghosts can be raced against at the same time, making it an 8-player race.

VS

In Versus, players can customize the races selecting personally the order of the racecourses and change other settings, such as setting the computer difficulty, the requirements to win the races, and the engine class of the player's car and the computer's cars. This mode is not available in Single Player mode. In Download Play, the players that don't have the game Mario Kart 7 in their handhelds play as Shy Guy, like in Mario Kart DS, and are unable to customize their kart.

Battle

In Battle Mode, the player can select one of the two types of battles available in Mario Kart 7 and one of the six battle courses that appear in this mode. 3 of the six battle courses are new, and the remaining 3 battle courses are from previous installments in the series.

Balloon Battle

Racers compete each other by popping the opponent’s balloons to gain points in a time limit. All the racers start with three balloons and must use the items from the Item Boxes to take away a balloon from their opponents. Hitting a rival is worth a score. If the racer has a balloon remaining and is hit, a point will be taken out and will be momentarily out of the battle to respawn with three balloons again and continue to play.

Coin Battle

In Coin Battle (Coin Runners in North America), racers collect the Coins spread in the battle course within the time limit. The racer that has the most Coins at the end wins. Racers can use the items to hit the opponents and let drop the Coins they've taken.

Online Mode

With the Nintendo 3DS's online capabilities, players can look for other users for online play, local or global range. Players can choose a worldwide competition to race against other users that are connected, race with friends that were met via StreetPass or play in communities formed by users with customized rules for the races. Just like in Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7 has the Mario Kart Channel, that shows updates of online activity automatically through the Spotpass and Streetpass. With the StreetPass, the user can exchange their Miis, ghost data from Time Trials, players' names and information of communities, while the SpotPass, the user only will receive ghost datas from other users and information of the communities.

Characters

Mario Kart 7 includes 17 total drivers (8 starting drivers and 9 unlockable drivers). The following is the order of what weight classes go by in order from lightest to heaviest: Feather, Light, Medium, Cruiser, and Heavy.

Starting Drivers

• Simg mario.png

  Mario
  Medium

• Simg luigi.png

  Luigi
  Medium

• Simg peach.png

  Peach
  Light

• Simg yosshi.png

  Yoshi
  Light

• Simg donkey.png

  Donkey Kong
  Cruiser

• Simg kuppa.png

  Bowser
  Heavy

• 

  Toad
  Feather

• 

  Koopa Troopa
  Feather

Unlockable Drivers

• Daisy Mk7 idk.png

  Daisy
  Light

• Wairo MK7.png

  Wario
  Heavy

• Rosalina Mk7.png

  Rosalina
  Cruiser

• Metalmarionkart mk79w8h9.png

  Metal Mario
  Heavy
  New Driver

• 

  Shy Guy
  Feather

• MK7 queenbee.png

  Honey Queen
  Heavy
  New Driver

• MK7 wiggler.png

  Wiggler
  Cruiser
  New Driver

• Lakitunkart mk7hfczs.png

  Lakitu
  Feather
  New Driver

• Mii mk7.png

  Mii
  Medium

Unlocking Criteria

Criterion
Daisy	Win 150cc Mushroom Cup
Wario	Win 150cc Flower Cup
Rosalina	Win 150cc Star Cup
Metal Mario	Win 150cc Special Cup
Shy Guy	Win 150cc Shell Cup
Honey Queen	Win 150cc Banana Cup
Wiggler	Win 150cc Leaf Cup
Lakitu	Win 150cc Lightning Cup
Mii	Win all cups on any cc.

Character Bonuses

Just as in Mario Kart Wii, each character gets their own specific stat boost that accounts for kart customization, based on their weight class. The units are out of 6. In general, light characters have high values ​​of Acceleration, Handling, and Off-Road, while heavy characters have high values ​​of Speed and Weight. Hover over the weight column to see the characters in the represented weight class.

Character Bonuses
Weight Class	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Off-Road
Feather	3	4	2.25	3	4
Light	3.25	3.5	2.75	3	3.75
Medium	3.5	3	3.25	2.75	3.75
Cruiser	3.75	2.5	3.75	2.5	3.75
Heavy	4	2	4.25	2.5	3.5

Other

Goombas Swoopers Tiki Goons Screaming Pillars Cheep-Cheeps Clampies Unagis Chomps Banzai Bills Frogoons Lakitu Penguins

Goats Boos Stingbies Sidesteppers Snowmen Walking vases Fishbones Rocky Wrenches Piranha Plants Dinosaurs Mega Wigglers

Music Thwomps Miis Piantas Shy Guys Toads Walking Trees Monty Moles Birdos Shy Guys Thwomps Cars

Items

Many classic items will make a return in Mario Kart 7. However the Thunder Cloud, POW Block, and Mega Mushroom, introduced in Mario Kart Wii are absent from the game. Instead, it features three new items – the Fire Flower, the Super Leaf, and the Lucky 7. The Fake Item Box, from previous installments is also absent along with Boo. Similar to its predecessors, players receive items by driving trough an Item Box found on courses. When players drive through an Item Box, the Item Roulette will select an item. In Mario Kart 7, Coins can be found on the track. Players can collect the coins by driving through them. Picking up a coin increases a player's top speed. If players collect ten coins, their kart is at maximum speed. Players lose coins if they get hit by an item. Collecting a certain amount of coins on various tracks unlocks vehicle parts to select them in the vehicle's customization menu.

Items found on the track

• 

  Item Box
• Mk7 coin.jpg

  Coin

Items received from Item Boxes

• Mk7 banana.jpg

  Banana
• Mk7 bananas.jpg

  Triple Bananas
• Green Shell MK7.jpg

  Green Shell
• Mk7 triplegreenshell.jpg

  Triple Green Shells
• Mk7 redshell.jpg

  Red Shell
• Mk7 tripleredshells.jpg

  Triple Red Shells
• Spiny Shell.jpg

  Spiny Shell
• Mk7 supermushroom.jpg

  Mushroom
• Mk7 triplemushrooms.jpg

  Triple Mushrooms
• Mk7 goldenmushroom.jpg

  Golden Mushroom
• Mk7 star.jpg

  Super Star
• Mariokart7 lightning.jpg

  Lightning
• 

  Blooper
• Mk7 bob-omb.jpg

  Bob-omb
• 

  Bullet Bill
• FireFlower-MK7.jpg

  Fire Flower (New Item)
• SuperLeaf-MK7.jpg

  Super Leaf (New Item)
• 

  Lucky 7 (New Item)

Courses

Mario Kart 7 introduces 32 courses that include sixteen new courses and sixteen Retro courses. It also features three new battle stages, and three Retro ones. Only the Mushroom Cup and Shell Cup, as well as the battle courses are available from the start, but upon unlocking them they are available for all game modes, and not just for that specific Engine Class, unlike past installments. Mario Kart 7 makes a feature of some race courses where players complete the track in sections. These courses are Wuhu Island Loop, Wuhu Mountain Loop and Rainbow Road. Instead of a single finish line, these courses have three lines that divide the tracks in three sections and the banners over them indicate the player that a lap has been completed showing stars rather than the Mario Kart logo. The following charts show the European English names of the tracks with their North American variants in italics.

New Courses

File:ToadMK7New.jpg

Toad in the Shy Guy Bazaar course.

Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Star Cup	Special Cup
Toad Circuit	Wuhu Island Loop Wuhu Loop	Piranha Plant Pipeway Piranha Plant Slide	DK Jungle
Daisy Hills	Mario Circuit	Wario's Galleon Wario Shipyard	Rosalina's Ice World
Cheep Cheep Cape Cheep Cheep Lagoon	Melody Motorway Music Park	Koopa City Neo Bowser City	Bowser's Castle
Shy Guy Bazaar	Alpine Pass Rock Rock Mountain	Wuhu Mountain Loop Maka Wuhu	Rainbow Road

Retro Courses

Luigi on Kalimari Desert.

Shell Cup	Banana Cup	Leaf Cup	Lightning Cup
N64 Luigi Raceway	N64 Koopa Beach	N64 Kalimari Desert	Wii Koopa Cape
GBA Bowser Castle 1	SNES Mario Circuit 2	DS DK Pass	GCN Dino Dino Jungle
Wii Mushroom Gorge	Wii Coconut Mall	GCN Daisy Cruiser	DS Airship Fortress
DS Luigi's Mansion	DS Waluigi Pinball	Wii Maple Treeway	SNES Rainbow Road

Battle Courses

File:MK7-screenshots-7.jpg

Mario battling at GBA Battle Course 1.

New Courses	Retro Courses
Honeybee House / Honeybee Hive	GBA Battle Course 1
Sherbet Rink	N64 Big Donut
Wuhu Town	DS Palm Shore

Kart Customization

File:BoltBuggyScreenshot.jpg

The Kart customization menu allows the player to build his or her own kart; choosing the body, the wheels, and the glider. Here, Bowser selects the Bolt Buggy, the Monster wheels, and the Parafoil glider.

Mario Kart 7 introduces the option to personalize the player's vehicle before getting to the race. The player can select the body, the wheels, and the glider to build the desired kart. By collecting many Coins from the races in Grand Prix mode, the player can unlock a new body, wheel, or glider to use. It is possible to acquire ten coins in a race. As the user chooses the parts, the stats may vary, regarding to the parts' combination and that the vehicle works better in particular situations. The resulting type of vehicle can be described in this way in general:

• A speedy Kart = great speed, moderate weight, humble acceleration, and poor off-road and handling.
• A robust Kart = low speed, off-road, great acceleration and handling, in contrast with a very low weight.
• A heavyweight Kart + great speed = off-road and weight, but very poor acceleration and handling.
• A lightweight Kart + mild speed = low weight, good off-road and handling, and great acceleration.

Karts	Wheels	Gliders
Standard Kart* Bolt Buggy Royal Ribbon** / Birthday Girl	Standard Monster Roller	Super Glider*
Unlockable Karts	Unlockable Wheels	Unlockable Gliders
B Dasher Barrel Train Blue Seven Bumble V Cact-X Cloud 9 Egg 1 Gherkin / Zucchini Gold Kart / Gold Standard Growlster / Bruiser Koopa Clown Pipe Frame* Soda Jet Tiny Tug	Gold Tires Mushroom Red Monster Slick Slim Sponge Wood	Flower Glider Ghastly Glider / Beast Glider Gold Glider Parafoil / Paraglider Peach Parasol** Swoop / Swooper
*Changes color, depending on the character. **Changes color, only when used by female characters.

Unlocking Criteria

To unlock a part requires certain total of coins collected from every race in Grand Prix. Once the player has reached that amount, a random kart part is unlocked. The only exception to this rule are the gold parts and the Ghastly Glider, which each must be unlocked with this criteria:

• The Ghastly Glider can be unlocked by collecting 5000 coins.
• The Gold Glider can be unlocked by making 100 StreetPass connections or by collecting 10000 coins.
• The Gold Tires are unlocked by obtaining a minimum of one star ranking in all cups of every engine class or by collecting 15000 coins.
• The Gold Kart can be unlocked by obtaining 10000VR or by collecting 20000 coins.
• The Gold Steering Wheel can be unlocked by racing 100 races using gyro-controls for 80% of the time. The golden steering wheel is lost once 20 races are played without gyro controls.

Stat Boosts

Each part affects each kart's stats differently. The following is a list of the stat boosts that are applied, and the units are out of 6.

Kart Part Bonuses
Kart Bodies
Body	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Off-Road
Standard Kart	0	0	0	0	0
B Dasher	+0.5	-0.5	0	+0.25	-0.25
Barrel Train	+0.25	0	+0.25	-0.5	0
Blue Seven	+0.5	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25	0
Bolt Buggy	+0.25	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25	+0.25
Bumble V	0	+0.5	-0.25	-0.5	+0.25
Cact-X	-0.25	-0.25	0	+0.25	+0.25
Cloud 9	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	0
Egg 1	-0.25	+0.5	-0.25	0	0
Gherkin	+0.5	-0.25	0	-0.25	0
Gold Kart	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-0.5
Growlster	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	-0.5	0
Koopa Clown	0	-0.25	0	+0.5	-0.25
Pipe Frame	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	0	+0.25
Royal Ribbon	-0.5	+0.5	-0.25	+0.5	-0.25
Soda Jet	+0.25	+0.25	-0.25	0	-0.25
Tiny Tug	-0.5	0	+0.25	0	+0.25
Kart Wheels
Wheel	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Off-Road
Standard	0	0	0	0	0
Gold Tires	+1	-0.5	+0.5	-1.25	-2.5
Monster	+0.75	-0.75	+1	-1.25	+1.25
Mushroom	+0.25	-0.25	-0.5	+1.25	-1.25
Red Monster	+0.75	-0.5	+0.75	-1.25	+1.25
Roller	-0.75	+0.75	-1	+2	-1.25
Slick	+1	-0.25	+0.25	-1.25	-2.5
Slim	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	+1.25	-1.25
Sponge	-0.25	+0.5	-0.75	0	0
Wood	-0.5	+0.5	-0.5	+1.25	0
Kart Gliders
Glider	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Off-Road
Super Glider	0	0	0	0	0
Flower Glider	0	+0.25	-0.25	0	0
Ghastly Glider	0	0	0	0	0
Gold Glider	0	0	0	0	0
Parafoil	0	+0.25	-0.25	0	0
Peach Parasol	0	+0.25	-0.25	0	0
Swoop	0	+0.25	-0.25	0	0

Nintendo eShop Descriptions

The newest installment of the fan-favorite Mario Kart™ franchise brings Mushroom Kingdom racing fun into glorious 3D. For the first time, drivers explore new competitive kart possibilities such as soaring through the skies or plunging into the depths of the sea. New courses, strategic new abilities and customizable karts bring the racing excitement to new heights!

Beta Elements

Main article: Mario Kart 7/Beta elements

Glitches

Main article: Mario Kart 7/Glitches

Staff

Main article: Mario Kart 7/Staff

References to Other Games

• Super Mario Bros.: The Fire Flower appears for the first time as a usable item that throws fireballs. The layout from the course, Piranha Plant Pipeway, greatly resemble the tile sprites from this game but with a more modern look.
• Super Mario Bros. 2: The Shy Guy Bazaar course makes references to the elements from this game such as the addition of Magic Carpets (being ridden by Shy Guys) and vases in their original color schemes.
• Super Mario Bros. 3: The Super Leaf appears as an item.
• Mario Kart 64: Some musical pieces are remixes from this game such as the main title screen, the results screen and Rainbow Road. A segment of the theme for the course Toad's Turnpike can be heard on the newer course Neo Bowser City.
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Part of its Rainbow Road theme can be heard on this game's Rainbow Road. Also, part of its Bowser's Castle theme can be heard in the new Bowser's Castle.
• Mario Kart Arcade GP: The way that Coins give the kart a small boost upon being collected originated from this game.
• Mario Kart series: The game again has retro courses from past Mario Kart games. Also some kart bodies reappear in this game.
• Mario Kart Wii: Most of the gameplay in Mario Kart 7 is based off of this game. The first part of the Award Ceremony fanfare music is from this said installment as well.
• Super Mario Galaxy: The Comet Observatory appears in the background in the course, Rosalina's Ice World.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tiki Goons and Screaming Pillars return in this game. DK Jungle is also based on this game.
• Super Mario 3D Land: The new look for the Super Leaf, introduced in this game, is reused; it is also used for the logo for the Leaf Cup. Also, the cardboard cut-out Goombas reappear in Piranha Plant Pipeway.

Reception

GameXplain has given the game's Multiplayer 4.5 stars out of 5, and Single-Player a 3.5 out of 5.. IGN gave this game a 9.0/10. Gametrailers gave this game a 8.8/10.Joystiq gave this 4.5 stars out of 5.Gameinformer gave this an 8.50/10. 1up gave this a B- grade. Gamesradar gave this a perfect 10/10. However, Destructoid gave this a 5.0/10. Gamespot gave this game a 8/10. .

As of December 10, 2011, Metacritic has an average score of 85%, including 41 positive reviews, and 6 mixed.. Gamerankings has an average score of 84.03% based on 32 reviews.. This game has sold over 420,000 units in its first 4 days in Japan.

Trivia

• The banners at the start/finish lines of new courses use the new Mario Kart logo. Retro courses still use the old Mario Kart logo.
• This is the second installment in the Mario series overall (excluding crossover installments) to be translated to Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian (the first was Super Mario 3D Land).
  • Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land are marketed by Nintendo as the first Mario games to be released in these languages.

External Links

• Official Japanese Website
• Official European Website
• Official Australian Website
• Official American Website