50 best Nintendo 3DS games right now

Best Nintendo 3DS Games – #22 Mario Kart 7

Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 1, Retro Studios

Release Date: December 4th, 2011

Synopsis: Mario Kart! We were lucky enough to get both a handheld and console Mario Kart this generation–Mario Kart 7 came first and brought plenty of new features to the series with it. The traditional “Mario characters racing karts” format gained added spice with vehicle customization for weight, tires, and choice of a new feature, hang gliders, that affected gliding portions of courses and helped with certain shortcuts. For the first time, all karts could not only travel through the air but also underwater–some courses were even partially submerged!

Then there was the new first-person racing POV, which may not have returned in Mario Kart 8 for a reason, but was still an incredibly nifty way to view the course and the race. Mario Kart 7 included seventeen characters (four new, plus Miis), 32 tracks (sixteen new, sixteen remakes from prior games), and a total of 1,190 possible kart combinations with customization of their three parts.

Why It’s One Of The Best Nintendo Games: It’s fairly hard to get Mario Kart wrong after the series has time and time again proved how enjoyable it can be. Racing multiple tracks on multiple difficulty levels is good fun on its own when they are as well-designed as Mario Kart’s tend to be, but throw in the online and local multiplayer and Mario Kart 7 becomes a title you return to again and again. The new additions of underwater racing, hang gliding, and kart customization improved on the existing formula without breaking it. Kart customization in particular stands to become a staple of all future entries in the series to come. While not necessarily groundbreaking, Mario Kart 7 is strong enough to stand on its own as one of the better titles on the Nintendo 3DS.

Next: 21 - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon