Mario Kart 7 recently received its first update in 10 years. Mario Kart has been one of Nintendo’s best-selling franchises across various console generations. The latest mainline entry Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still going strong, as it continues to be a part of sales charts despite being over five years old.
Mario Kart 7 was released for the Nintendo 3DS in December 2011, a few months after the handheld’s launch earlier in the year. Mario Kart 7 received positive reviews upon its release and the game has sold 18.97 million units as of March 31, 2022. While this number seems impressive, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold an astronomical 48.41 million copies by comparison. Now, Nintendo has released a new update for Mario Kart 7 around 10 years after the previous patch.
As reported by Nintendo Life, Mario Kart 7 received a surprising new update on December 13, 2022, over 10 years after the previous patch which came out on May 15, 2012. With this latest release, Mario Kart 7 has been updated to version 1.2, but it doesn’t seem to add anything substantial to the game. The patch notes state the new update consists of general fixes, with the exact description being “Several issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.”
According to the same report, the previous patch from 2012 was more significant as it eliminated some shortcut exploits when playing online. Version 1.1 was also required to play online multiplayer in Mario Kart 7, but it had no impact on the single-player experience. However, there might be a big reason why Nintendo decided to release this update at this point.
According to SantamealDome on Twitter, version 1.2 may fix a severe security exploit present in Mario Kart 7. The user makes note of other Nintendo games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Splatoon 2 that received updates due to a major security issue. SantamealDome speculates that Mario Kart 7 could also feature the same problems as it may share the same netcode that was found to be at risk in these titles.
The Nintendo 3DS was a popular handheld system and some consider Mario Kart 7 to be one of the best games on the platform. It joins an esteemed list of titles including Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Bravely Default, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Super Mario 3D Land, Fire Emblem: Awakening, and more.
Mario Kart 7 is available on Nintendo 3DS.
Source: Nintendo Life