Mario Kart 7

Ooh baby, Stan's got himself a 3DS! An XL model, to be precise, and one that came with Mario Kart 7 pre-installed. I've dumped several hours into this game over the past few nights, winning gold on all eight cups in both the 50cc and 100cc game modes. I figure this constitutes beating the game, but I'll certainly spend some time finishing off the 150cc and "mirror mode" cups as well for completion's sake.

The Mario Kart series is about as formulaic as can be at this point, and this isn't a bad thing. Going into the game, I knew I could expect sixteen new tracks and sixteen remade tracks from earlier games in the series. I knew this because that's exactly how the last two games in the series - DS and Wii - worked. I also knew that the last two races in the special cup would be Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road because that's what the last two races have always been in Mario Kart. Gameplay-wise, I could jump straight into my first set of races without any tutorial or peek into the instruction manual, knowing exactly how to drift and hop and get boosts and such. I was able to do all of this because Mario Kart 7 remains essentially the exact same game that Mario Kart DS was, with the graphical quirk of being in 3D and a couple of gameplay additions like driving underwater or gliding through the air after large jumps. There's also a new item, the raccoon tail, which gives you a temporary rear defense against shells and such.

I really enjoyed this rendition of Mario Kart just as I have enjoyed them all. As I sat there playing my new 3DS late into the night, it occurred to me that Mario Kart 7 was the perfect game to come pre-installed on the 3DS. "Hey, here's something you're probably very, very familiar with. Check out what it feels like in 3D. Neat, huh?" Anyway, I was a big fan and I look forward to completing those 150cc and mirror mode cups. I also look forward to plenty of great titles on the 3DS. Acquiring a new game system is a great way to increase your backlog, but it's also pretty damn fun, so whatever.