Like chucking turtle shells while carting? Have I got a group of gamers for you. Today, Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 7 would be bringing community features to the long-running Mario Kart series.
The center piece is a "Mario Kart Channel", which will serve the same function that the Wii Channel does, namely providing players with new info. Here, players can find stuff they collect during StreetPass mode on the 3DS or the StreetPass races.
It's also possible to play friends or folks you've passed in StreetPass online. What's more, Mario Kart players can make groups to meet with their friends.
Mario Kart now features community leaderboards.
The StreetPass and SpotPass features allow Mart Kart 7 players to exchange data, like racing scores, number of coins, winning record, etc. Via SpotPass, players can get "ghost data" and then race up to seven other ghosts.
Online, up to eight players can race at once. Races are a smooth 60 frames per second. Mario Kart players will be happy to know that Nintendo is taking steps to combat unfair play or cheating. Nintendo did not go into great detail about what these steps will be exactly.
Additionally, Nintendo stated that the Mushroom and Flower Cups will have 8 new courses, including one created by Retro Studios, set in the jungles from Donkey Kong Country Returns.
In total there will be 16 new courses and 16 classic courses, with the Banana and Shell Cups pulling tracks from previous versions of the game.
Also of note are new power-ups, including the Fire Flower, which lets you launch fireballs at opponents, and the Super Leaf, which gives the back of your kart a Tanooki Tail to knock opponents away.
Community features are now standard on many racing games and are a welcomed addition to Mario Kart. Add those to the new courses and power-ups, and it looks like Nintendo is doing a pretty good job of trying to keep things fresh.
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