Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart 7^[a] is a 2011 kart racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD in cooperation with Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. In Mario Kart 7, the player takes control of one of seventeen Mario series characters, who participate in races on various Mario-themed race tracks using specialized items to hinder opponents or gain advantages. In single player mode, players can race against computer-controlled characters in 4 multi-race cups consisting of 32 tracks (4 in each cup) over three difficulty levels. Alternatively, players can race against the clock in a Time Trial mode.

New additions to Mario Kart 7 include hang-gliding attachments for karts, which meant that aerial sections were also introduced. The ability to drive underwater, the ability to drive in first person, and the ability to fully customize the vehicles' builds. Additionally, Mario Kart 7 supports both local and online multiplayer through Nintendo Network for up to eight players, the ability to play online was discontinued on April 8, 2024 along with Nintendo network as a whole.

The development of Mario Kart 7 began in late 2010 as a port of Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo video game producer Hideki Konno; who previously produced, and directed Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart DS returned as a producer.

Mario Kart 7 received generally positive reviews; It was praised for its innovation in the Mario Kart series, the gyro controls, and the new race tracks introduced in Mario Kart 7. It won several awards—winning Digital Spy's "Best Game of 2011" award. Mario Kart 7 was also a commercial success—becoming the best-selling game on the Nintendo 3DS with over 18.99 million copies sold worldwide.

Mario Kart 7 retains traditional Mario Kart gameplay in which players race against each other in go-karts across 32 courses.^[3] Most are based on various locations in the Mario series, but two new courses are set on Wuhu Island location from the Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort games.^[4][5] In addition to traditional button controls, Mario Kart 7 can be played using the Nintendo 3DS gyroscope, in which the action is viewed in first person and the player steers the kart simply by tilting the entire game system.^[6] While most of the race occurs on the top screen of the 3DS hardware, the bottom screen shows an overhead map of the race course.^[7] While driving, the players may use power-up items, obtained from running into item boxes located at specific points on the track, that are used to hinder the progression of opponents or to help the player in the race. Some of these power-ups include the series staple items Koopa Shells, Banana Peels, and Super Mushrooms. Three new items were added: Fire Flower, which allows the player to shoot up to ten fireballs, the Super Leaf, which gives the player a tail that allows them to flip over nearby players, collect nearby Coins, and deflect items, and the Lucky Seven, which bestows seven items at once.^[8] Coins are also scattered about the tracks; collecting them increases the kart's top speed. Up to ten coins can be collected in each race, but some will be lost if the player comes into contact with hazards or goes out of bounds. Jump actions let players obtain a brief burst of speed when hitting a button prior to driving off ramps, hang glider attachments sometimes allow for controllable gliding segments as well.^[9][10] In Mario Kart 7, the karts are now fully submersible, thus adding fully underwater track segments.^[11]

The game features sixteen playable characters, including Wiggler, Honey Queen, Lakitu, and Metal Mario, who are new to the series, as well as Mii characters saved in the Nintendo 3DS Mii Maker, bringing the total to seventeen. Like in the previous installments, characters are divided into three different weight classes, which impact their driving styles. Mario Kart 7 introduced the ability to customize vehicles prior to races. Vehicle bodies, tires, and hang gliders can be customized with differing control attributes. Mario Kart 7 offers 32 different race tracks, which consist of 16 new tracks and 16 tracks from prior Mario Kart games.^[9]

Mario Kart 7 features four single-player game modes: Grand Prix, Time Trial, Balloon Battle, and Coin Runners. Some modes feature multiplayer options. In Grand Prix, the player races against seven computer-controlled opponents in one of eight different cups, each featuring four tracks. The player receives points based on their finishing position in each race ranging from one to ten. After all four races, there will be an award ceremony and the player receives a trophy if they place in the top three of the final standings. Players will also receive a star rank for their performance ranging from one to three stars. In Time Trial, the player races alone to finish the course in the fastest time possible using a Triple Mushroom that can be used at any time during the run. The best time for each track is saved and recorded as a ghost, which the player can compete against in later trials. If the player has SpotPass enabled on their Nintendo 3DS, they will be able to download ghosts from other players and can race against up to seven other ghosts simultaneously.^[5][12] In the Balloon Battle and Coin Runners battle games, the players drive around one of six arenas (three for this game and three from the previous installments) to collect items and attack their opponents to score points within the time limit of two minutes. The player could play online via Nintendo Network until April 2024,^[13] participating in races or battles with up to seven other players.^[14]

Nintendo EAD began development on Mario Kart 7 in early 2010.^[16][17] The game was initially conceived as a port of Mario kart Wii for the 3DS, during the development, the idea to have hang gliding and submersible karts, which were planned for the prior game, were implemented. ^[18] The ability to customize the player's kart was added in order to make gameplay more strategic and to boost the multiplayer experience.^[19][20] The game was first publicly announced at E3 2010 under the tentative title Mario Kart 3DS and then shown again at E3 2011, where it was announced for a late 2011 release.^[21]

Producer Hideki Konno described that completing Mario Kart 7 was an "act of emergency" due to the Nintendo 3DS' slower-than-expected sales.^[15][22] Because Nintendogs + Cats was scheduled to be released first, Mario Kart 7 was given lower priority and only eight staff members were assigned to begin work on it.^[15] When it was time to focus on the game, producer Hideki Konno realized that there was not enough staff available due to many other titles being developed at the same time, including The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which had its production extended into 2011. In order to finish the game in time for the 2011 Christmas season,^[9] Nintendo consulted with Retro Studios, which had just finished making Donkey Kong Country Returns, to co-develop the game.^[16][15] Retro started work on Mario Kart 7 in December 2010.^[23] The team focused on producing the classic racing courses, remakes of courses from the earlier Mario Kart titles, in order to learn both "lessons about the development process [for Mario Kart games]" and "about what makes a good course from a design perspective."^[24] One of the lead artists for Mario Kart 7—Masaaki Ishikawa expressed confusion to whether or not Retro Studios was located in Japan. The team behind Mario Kart 7 expressed nervousness over Retro Studios' part in the development of Mario Kart 7—since the team is used to the games being developed by a standalone team in Japan.^[17]

When asked about one of Mario Kart 7's new additions—the Kart customization feature, producer Hideki Konno stated that to make Mario Kart 7 more strategic to players, the Kart customization feature was added, which allows the player to choose the frame, kart and glider.^[23] Konno's main objective was to make Mario Kart 7 accessible enough for new players "can start playing immediately". Konno compared the Kart customization screen to a slot machine.^[23] Parts of Mario Kart 7's online community features was originally going to be used in the Nintendo 3DS system software as a whole, including creating online communities, and exchanging individual friend codes. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that development time was limited and those features couldn't be added in time, although it was later added in a system firmware update.^[17][20]

The game's soundtrack was composed by both Kenta Nagata, who worked on the previous Mario Kart titles Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Star Fox 64 3D composer Satomi Terui.^[9]

Shortly after its release, it was discovered that three race tracks (Wuhu Island, Maka Wuhu and GBA Bowser Castle 1) had contained glitches that allowed players to skip over a significant portion of the track, often exploited as a cheat during online play. An update to fix it in online play was released in May 2012.^[25][26][27]

Mario Kart 7 has received generally favorable reviews. It holds an 85/100 rating on Metacritic based on 60 critic reviews and an 85.17% rating on GameRankings based on 45 reviews.^[28][29] IGN praised "a handful of incredible innovations" and the game's multiplayer, particularly community features and customizable racing rules, but criticizing the small roster of only 17 characters, compared to that of Mario Kart Wii's 25 characters, he ended the review saying "Overall [Mario Kart 7 is] a well-polished experience that fans of the kart-racing genre - or of the Mushroom Kingdom - should not hesitate to pick up."^[11] Nintendo World Report stated that it is more of the same and the gliding mechanics feel underutilized.^[41]

On the more critical side, James Stephanie Sterling of Destructoid stated that "sticking to tradition has not worked in Nintendo's favor" and saying the new glider and underwater sections "exist to provide the illusion of variety rather than actually altering the core experience".^[31] Giant Bomb noted that "your enjoyment of Mario Kart 7 will likely hinge on your continued appreciation of [the series] formula".^[39]

IGN awarded Mario Kart 7 the IGN's Editors' Choice.^[11] Mario Kart 7 was nominated for "Best 3DS Game" and "Best Driving Game" at GameTrailers' 2011 Game of the Year Awards, but lost both respectively to Super Mario 3D Land and Forza Motorsport 4.^[43][44] Digital Spy awarded Mario Kart 7 the "Best Game of 2011" for the Digital Spy readers' awards of 2011.^[45] Edge awarded Mario Kart 7 as the best portable game of 2011.^[46] During the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Mario Kart 7 for "Racing Game of the Year" and "Handheld Game of the Year".^[47] Retrospectively, GamesRadar ranked Mario Kart 7 to be the 12th best Nintendo 3DS game of all time.^[48]

Mario Kart 7 sold 3.48 million units in the U.S. as of August 2014.^[49] In Japan, the game has sold over 1.5 million units as of January 25, 2012.^[50][51] By March 31, 2023, the game had sold 18.99 million units globally.^[52]

• Official website (in Japanese)