Mario Kart 7

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, December 4 in North America, and May 31, 2012 in South Korea. 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.

Features
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 Mario Kart Wii. It is also compatible with both SpotPass and StreetPass. Similar to preceding games, an overall "game ranking" of ★, ★★, or ★★★ is shown next to the player's nationality flag if the player has earned the designated ratings in all cups, all classes. The overall ranking can also be seen while participating at a Grand Prix. Interestingly, the game shows the overall ranking at the results of the last course before the overall results of the last cup being shown.

Among other gameplay's innovations is the vehicle's behavior in the courses. Each element to assemble the vehicle has a function that grants an 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 watches the race from the character's viewpoint and can race by tilting the system, instead of the usual third person view 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 happens only 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, do return and can be used with Gliders for more speed. Mission Mode and the Single Player version of VS mode are also absent.

Controls

 * /: Accelerate
 * Brake/Reverse
 * Steer / Auto Drift
 * Hop / Manual Drift / Perform tricks in midair.
 * /: Use item
 * Switch map view
 * Pause
 * Display HOME Menu
 * First-Person Camera
 * Tilt: Steer / Auto Drift (First person view only)

Grand Prix
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 Trials
Time Trials allows the player to complete all the laps of a race course in the fastest time possible. Mario Kart 7 saves the player's records, and a Ghost for the combo that he/she used. Through the Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection, the player can exchange his or her Ghosts to other players, compare their records, and even compete with their Ghosts. Up to seven 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 Mario Kart 7 game card 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 Runners
In Coin Runners (Coin Battle in Europe), 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 Multiplayer
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 modes. With StreetPass, the users can exchange their Miis, Ghost Data from Time Trials, players' names, and information of communities, while the user will only receive Ghost Data from other users and community recommendations, via SpotPass.

VR
When racing online, players gain VR (short for VS Rating) points based on their finishing position. Unlike Mario Kart Wii, when someone finishes last, that player loses VR instead of earning some. Also, players start with 1000 VR, rather than 5000 VR from the previous game. The basic use of VR is determining the skill of players and putting them against players of the same skill level in online races. Race and battle online play can now affect VR, but Community races do not.

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.

Character Stats
Just as in Mario Kart Wii, characters get 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 class column to see the characters in the represented weight class.

Body Frame
Depending on the character, the kart body that's chosen may appear bigger or smaller. This affects how big of a target that character's kart will be; for example, smaller body frames are harder to hit.

Items
Many classic items 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 Seven. The Fake Item Box from previous installments is also absent, along with Boo. Similar to its predecessors, players receive items by driving through 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 unlocks vehicle parts to select them in the vehicle's customization menu.

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 has three courses -- Wuhu Loop, Maka Wuhu, and Rainbow Road -- that have three sections each, with each section counting as one lap. The following charts show the North American English names of the tracks, with their European variants in italics. Like in Mario Kart DS, the retro tracks' lengths have been shortened, except the DS retro courses, which have been widened.

Kart Customization
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.

Kart Parts and 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. However, only the Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Handling, and Off-Road stats are visible in-game. This list shows the North American kart names. If the kart has a different name in Europe, the European name will be put in parentheses under the North American name.

All kart parts are sorted based on how they're ordered in-game, starting with the standard parts.

Unlocking Criteria
The only parts that don't need to be unlocked are the Standard kart, the Birthday Girl, the Bolt Buggy, the Standard wheels, the Roller wheels, the Monster wheels, and the Super Glider. To unlock a different kart part requires a 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 exceptions to this rule are the gold parts and the Beast Glider.

Random Parts
Players can unlock random parts by collecting the following coin values:

Special Parts
The special parts must be unlocked with this criteria:
 * The Beast Glider can be unlocked by collecting up to 5000 coins, but if players earn kart parts with the StreetPass feature, the amount of coins needed to unlock it will decrease.
 * 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 Standard can be unlocked by obtaining 10000 VR, 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.

Ghosts
Just like in Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7 has Normal Staff Ghosts and Expert Staff Ghosts, which appear in the Time Trials game mode. The Normal Staff Ghosts are available at the start, but when players achieve a certain time, the Expert Staff Ghosts will be unlocked.

Patches
Mario Kart 7 is the first Nintendo 3DS game to utilize the 3DS's ability to patch games, spurred by significant shortcut exploits found on certain courses. Updating is free, with the data being categorized as 3DS Add-On Content; the patches can be deleted at any time, and have no effect in Single Player and Local Multiplayer, but are mandatory to play online. An SD Card is required to download the patches, however.


 * Version 1.1 of May 15, 2012 (43 SD Card blocks)
 * Resolved shortcut exploits for Wuhu Loop, Maka Wuhu, and GBA Bowser Castle 1 when playing online. Does not affect offline play; the exploits remain in Single Player and Local Multiplayer, and ghosts that used these exploits are unaffected.
 * Starting on May 16, 2012, all players must download this update to access Online Multiplayer.

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!''

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 Slide, 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.
 * Super Mario Kart: The Pipe Frame returns in this game.
 * 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. Also, this is the second game the Pipe Frame comes from.
 * Mario Kart: Super Circuit: This is the third game the Pipe Frame comes from.
 * 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. The Barrel Train returns in this game.
 * Mario Kart Arcade GP: The way that Coins give the kart a small boost upon being collected originated from this game.
 * Mario Kart DS: The Egg 1 and B Dasher return from 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. Minecarts from Wario's Gold Mine can be seen on Wario Shipyard.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: The Comet Observatory appears in the background in the course, Rosalina's Ice World. A part of Space Junk Galaxy's Music is also remixed in the course.
 * 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 shown as one of the newest items for the Mario Kart series. It is also used for the logo for the Leaf Cup. Also, the cardboard cut-out Goombas reappear in Piranha Plant Slide.
 * Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3: Wario Shipyard contains remixes of some of the Wario Land's music.

Reception
The game has recieved mostly critical acclaim from reviewers. GameXplain has given the game's Multiplayer 4.5 stars out of 5, and Single-Player a 3.5 out of 5. . IGN gave the game a 9.0/10, Gametrailers gave it a 8.8/10, Joystiq gave it 4.5 stars out of 5, Gameinformer gave it an 8.50/10, 1up gave it a B- grade, Gamespot gave it a 8/10, and Gamesradar gave it a perfect 10/10. However, Destructoid only rated the game a 5.0/10.

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. The game 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 of Europe as the first Mario games to be released in these languages.
 * Although there is no logo present on the box art, Mario Kart 7 is the first Mario game to use the Nintendo Network service as it offers the ability to create custom communities, which would then become one of the features of the service.
 * The Korean version of Mario Kart 7 does include the Nintendo Network logo on the box.
 * One of the newer Puzzle Swap panels in the StreetPass Mii Plaza app for the Nintendo 3DS is Mario Kart 7.