I sometimes feel like I had a good fill of the 3DS's library during its heyday, but then I remember I was playing stuff along the lines of Tails Adventure on Virtual Console and Ketzal's Corridors, and not like, I don't know, any of the actual top 20 best selling games on the damn thing. So, somehow, my first experience with Mario Kart 7 happens to be in 2024.
Much like what I feel Smash Ultimate did for Smash 4, I feel like Mario Kart 7 has lost a lot of its identity and purpose in a post-Mario Kart 8 + Deluxe + Booster Course Pass world.
But also much like how I feel about Smash 4, I don't find their experiences inessential, because both Smash 4 and Mario Kart 7 have just enough unique quirks and intricacies worth taking a look at.
The paragliding, as it was introduced here, plays so much more elegantly than I was used to for the past 10 years. It's the poster feature of the game along with the underwater traversal, but it's moreso introduced as a reward for hitting the off-path blue ramps and not entirely the frontfacing feature this game's marketing of yesteryear would have you suggest. Interestingly enough, sailing is more responsive to player input here. You can actually make some intricate moves in the air and keep your altitude, as opposed to how automated it feels in 8. It feels a lot more in-hand with how, unlike the mandatory aquatic karting, paragliding is treated as a reward here and not an automated falling section granted upon every player off the same track-wide ramp as neutered it felt in 8. You can actually take your sails pretty far here, moreso than when on even the same tracks in Mario Kart 8 and Tour. The underwater segments, on the other hand, felt just as weightless in handling as they do in variety and purpose, sadly not much different from how they are now. The trick system takes the runway median here, signified by the fact that they're actually on a humanly possible button to activate this time (You don't remember having to press Up on the D-pad back on Mario Kart Wii? Because I do.) Tracks are garnished with half-pipes and ramps, moreso than they did on Wii, and trick boosting feels more powerful than it ever did in the series here, especially when chained. That final stretch of this game's Rainbow Road that's just a long stretch of ramps on straights to the finish line? Exhilarating; S tier track for that alone.
Balancing changes are definitely felt, what with the attainability of triple mushrooms available all the way up to second place, drift boosts taking just a bit longer to activate so they feel less spammable, and the infamous series CPU rubberbanding is felt here one last time before I feel it was finally nerfed greatly in 8. (I personally never minded the rubberbanding, playing at a high skill level feels too boring in 8, where you can practically lap the back half of Hard CPUs at 150-200cc.)
Unfortunately the biggest hit this game has taken with its age is within its track relevancy - 8's returning track list perhaps favored from Mario Kart 7 a bit too much, so a lot of a first time playthrough in 2024 will be a lot of “been there, done that." (Doubly so if you've played Mario Kart 8 and Deluxe pre-Booster Course Pack, where these tracks dominated the popular vote online. Christ, Piranha Plant Slide makes me physically ill in this day and age.) Though that is not to say Mario Kart 7 would be a pointless retread today, because there's still some great tracks in here exclusive to this title: both Wuhu Island tracks are fantastic, some of the highest tier in the series for me personally, I loved Bowser’s Castle in this one, and my biggest shock of all was seeing the only two tracks in my Booster Course Pass wishlist that didn't make it here - DS Airship Fortress and GCN Dino Dino Jungle. Loved seeing them here again. (Also, to everyone complaining about how Coconut Mall’s aesthetics were "ruined” in 8’s Booster Course Pass, did we just gloss over how it was here? Same thing.) Mario Kart 7's Rainbow Road though? I already mentioned it earlier, but it's the best in the series, or at least tied with Wii.
Mario Kart 7, as it is now, lives a very contradictory existence. As most of its content lives on in both 8 and Tour, the actual intricacies of its mechanics and balancing feel exclusive to itself here. Much like how you can always go back to Smash 4 for Smash Run and Smash Tour (both of which are fun, my comments are always open for discourse), Mario Kart 7 still has its reasons for going back to, and I will be doing so, because God damn those Wuhu tracks are good, I can play as Wiggler and Honey Queen for some reason, and to witness a glimmer of the uber-polished, arguably best era of Mario Kart that was yet to come. Mario Kart 8 ran a long lap before I realized it was my favorite, but before then, Mario Kart 7 refreshed the series in an under-appreciated way. The seeds of the series' current generational quality streak were planted here, though seeds they were.
Much like what I feel Smash Ultimate did for Smash 4, I feel like Mario Kart 7 has lost a lot of its identity and purpose in a post-Mario Kart 8 + Deluxe + Booster Course Pass world.
But also much like how I feel about Smash 4, I don't find their experiences inessential, because both Smash 4 and Mario Kart 7 have just enough unique quirks and intricacies worth taking a look at.
The paragliding, as it was introduced here, plays so much more elegantly than I was used to for the past 10 years. It's the poster feature of the game along with the underwater traversal, but it's moreso introduced as a reward for hitting the off-path blue ramps and not entirely the frontfacing feature this game's marketing of yesteryear would have you suggest. Interestingly enough, sailing is more responsive to player input here. You can actually make some intricate moves in the air and keep your altitude, as opposed to how automated it feels in 8. It feels a lot more in-hand with how, unlike the mandatory aquatic karting, paragliding is treated as a reward here and not an automated falling section granted upon every player off the same track-wide ramp as neutered it felt in 8. You can actually take your sails pretty far here, moreso than when on even the same tracks in Mario Kart 8 and Tour. The underwater segments, on the other hand, felt just as weightless in handling as they do in variety and purpose, sadly not much different from how they are now. The trick system takes the runway median here, signified by the fact that they're actually on a humanly possible button to activate this time (You don't remember having to press Up on the D-pad back on Mario Kart Wii? Because I do.) Tracks are garnished with half-pipes and ramps, moreso than they did on Wii, and trick boosting feels more powerful than it ever did in the series here, especially when chained. That final stretch of this game's Rainbow Road that's just a long stretch of ramps on straights to the finish line? Exhilarating; S tier track for that alone.
Balancing changes are definitely felt, what with the attainability of triple mushrooms available all the way up to second place, drift boosts taking just a bit longer to activate so they feel less spammable, and the infamous series CPU rubberbanding is felt here one last time before I feel it was finally nerfed greatly in 8. (I personally never minded the rubberbanding, playing at a high skill level feels too boring in 8, where you can practically lap the back half of Hard CPUs at 150-200cc.)
Unfortunately the biggest hit this game has taken with its age is within its track relevancy - 8's returning track list perhaps favored from Mario Kart 7 a bit too much, so a lot of a first time playthrough in 2024 will be a lot of “been there, done that." (Doubly so if you've played Mario Kart 8 and Deluxe pre-Booster Course Pack, where these tracks dominated the popular vote online. Christ, Piranha Plant Slide makes me physically ill in this day and age.) Though that is not to say Mario Kart 7 would be a pointless retread today, because there's still some great tracks in here exclusive to this title: both Wuhu Island tracks are fantastic, some of the highest tier in the series for me personally, I loved Bowser’s Castle in this one, and my biggest shock of all was seeing the only two tracks in my Booster Course Pass wishlist that didn't make it here - DS Airship Fortress and GCN Dino Dino Jungle. Loved seeing them here again. (Also, to everyone complaining about how Coconut Mall’s aesthetics were "ruined” in 8’s Booster Course Pass, did we just gloss over how it was here? Same thing.) Mario Kart 7's Rainbow Road though? I already mentioned it earlier, but it's the best in the series, or at least tied with Wii.
Mario Kart 7, as it is now, lives a very contradictory existence. As most of its content lives on in both 8 and Tour, the actual intricacies of its mechanics and balancing feel exclusive to itself here. Much like how you can always go back to Smash 4 for Smash Run and Smash Tour (both of which are fun, my comments are always open for discourse), Mario Kart 7 still has its reasons for going back to, and I will be doing so, because God damn those Wuhu tracks are good, I can play as Wiggler and Honey Queen for some reason, and to witness a glimmer of the uber-polished, arguably best era of Mario Kart that was yet to come. Mario Kart 8 ran a long lap before I realized it was my favorite, but before then, Mario Kart 7 refreshed the series in an under-appreciated way. The seeds of the series' current generational quality streak were planted here, though seeds they were.