Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart 7
File:Mario Kart 7.jpg Mario Kart Seven!
Genre(s): Racing Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Release: Original release: JP: December 1, 2011 EU: December 2, 2011 AU: December 3, 2011 NA: December 4, 2011 KOR: May 31, 2012 HK: September 28, 2012 CHN: December 7, 2012 Nintendo eShop: PAL: October 4, 2012 NA: October 18, 2012 JP: November 1, 2012 Developer(s): Nintendo EAD Publisher(s): Nintendo Series: Mario Kart Predecessor: Mario Kart Wii Successor: Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 7 is a racing game released by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011. This is the seventh main installment of the Mario Kart series, being the sequel to 2008's Mario Kart Wii for the Wii and being succeeded by Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U in 2014.

Why It's A Lucky Seven

1. The vehicles are even more customisable than previous entries of the franchise, which is a very nice change from the previous games, which are stuck in separate vehicles that are only equipped with their own wheels. Now, you are able to do your own combinations of the kart's body, its wheels and its glider, meaning it is entirely up to you to choose the one with the best statistics that suit you.
2. Another one of the best features introduced in the whole Mario Kart franchise is the aforementioned glider, which has just been added to this game. By jumping from a blue booster
3. Many great tracks, most notably Music Park, Piranha Plant Slide, and DK Jungle.
   • These three tracks also appeared on Mario Kart 8 in the base game, along with Koopapolis in a DLC pack or the Deluxe version.
4. There are now tracks that loop around once and are divided up into 3 sections. These tracks are Wuhu Loop, Maka Wuhu, and Rainbow Road.
5. The retro track selection is solid.
6. You can play online, just like in Mario Kart Wii. And like the latter, it has full functionality with online features unlike Mario Kart DS; that is, all tracks can be played and the maximum of 8 racers can play together in this mode.
7. Much better controls on a handheld console, compared to Mario Kart DS due to the 3DS now having a Circle Pad, which gives you freedom on how tightly you want to turn.
8. 3 new items: the Super Leaf, Fire Flower, and Lucky 7.
9. If you hated the Fake Item Box and Thunder Cloud, we have good news for you: Both of those items are finally gone starting with this game. Talk about good riddance!
10. Very amazing graphics on par with Mario Kart Wii.
11. The karts are very unique and have stats that make for different gameplay.
12. This game also introduced the underwater features, which turn on your underwater fan attached to your kart. This also cause the controls to be a bit more slippery, and makes the gravity lower.
13. The track Wario Shipyard is one of the few instances where a song from the Wario Land series gets remixed, in which the music that plays during the track is a remix of the boss theme from the first Wario Land.
    • The track also has other references to Wario Land.
14. First-person view is introduced, but unfortunately the only game in the series to support it and the driver's hands become invisible when switching to it, unlike other racing games where they are still visible anyway. By pressing up on the D-pad, you can switch to that mode, and also take advantage of the 3DS's gyroscope to turn the kart by simulating a wheel's controls. Press again to go back to a third-person view.
15. This is the first game in the franchise to receive a patch, thanks to its platform finally supporting it. Although it did not fix the balance of characters, it fixed ultra shortcuts in every track in the online mode, which prevents players from cheating easily and make them instead play normally.
16. The game can be enhanced with a mod pack named CTGP-7, similar to CTGP Revolution on Mario Kart Wii, which adds new modes and community-made tracks, and also allows for character customization.

Bad Qualities

1. Mediocre character roster. There are only 8 of them available to play when first playing the game, 9 others are unlockable (if you count the Mii character choice), and Shy Guy in other colors is only playable on local multiplayer if you decide to play without a cartridge via the Download play application.
   • The character roster also suffers from questionable character choices, like Metal Mario, Honey Queen, and Wiggler (especially the latter two)
   • Waluigi Pinball from Mario Kart DS returns, but strangely, Waluigi himself isn't in the game due to time constraints. However, he returns in Mario Kart 8.
2. Sadly, if you liked the Mega Mushroom and POW Block from the previous game, they aren't in this game.
3. Metal Mario with the B Dasher and Slick tires is extremely overpowered in this game. Considering that he is the fastest and heaviest character and the B Dasher and Slick tires are the fastest kart body and tires in the game respectively, this gives him a very good advantage over other players.
4. There is no single player VS Mode, as it can only be played online.
5. Missed Opportunity: The devs would have add N64 Wario Stadium to complete all the retro tracks from Mario Kart 64, but due to time constraints, they decided to choose SNEES Rainbow Road instead.
   • GCN Mushroom City would have been added in the Lightning Cup but they instead chose Dino Dino Jungle due to the said time constraints.

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews for the gameplay, tracks, characters, and vehicles, but some criticisms were towards the lack of a single player Vs. Mode and the character roster, which has only 17 characters as opposed to Wii's 25 characters. The game currently holds a score of 85 on Metacritic based on 73 reviews. IGN gave the game a score of 9/10, but Destructoid was more mixed towards the game, giving it a score of 5/10.

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