Mario Kart 7 MASSIVE Update

With Nintendo planning a small launch in a couple of weeks for a couple of small titles known as The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land,  you could be forgiven in thinking that Nintendo have forgotten about every other title they produce. With the exception of Kid Iccurus, Pikmin and Mario Party 100 you’d be right. However they haven’t forgotten about Mario Kart 7. In fact, Nintendo have provided us with a few screenshots to keep us happy until December.

Having had a chance to play on a demo version at GAMEfest a few weeks ago and only a few characters to choose from, Mario Kart 7 is looking like the best entry we’ve in the series. The game throws out 3 customizable choices that were previously unavailable. The chassis, tyres, and gliders. Although I could only change tyres. The wheels that are chosen do make a difference to how the races pan out. The Monster truck tyres I got to ride with alters the on hard ground slower. However going underwater, the kart caught up to the rest of the pack quickly.

The change to gliders and submarine is seemless and does not detract from the gameplay at all. Flying is as easy as driving. While in the air you can get hit by shells, particularly pesky red ones. An annoyance is that when hit, you take a tumble to the ground and have to drive the path, loosing speed. What struck most is that there seemed to be a lot less weapons on the track than previously seen. Weather this is changed for the final release, only time will tell.

Mario Kart 7 will also have new weapons and new racers. For the first time, the raccoon tale which is making quite a comeback this year, will be available. This will be used to swipe at passers by who think they can have a go. Also, our red helicopter friend – Shy Guy is making an appearance as a driver. Lakitu and Metal Mario have also been confirmed.

If that wasn’t enough for you, Streetpass will be utilised to swap ghost data with whoever owns the game that passes by. It will also register each user to the other’s system so they can race together over the internet! Laps will also depend on the size of the circuit. Wuhu Island has been confirmed as one big lap with a plethora of obstacles & hazards, throwing the conventional 3 lap race out of the window.

4th December cannot come soon enough for Nintendo 3DS owners.