
There are only three retro battle arenas, unlike in Mario Kart Wii, where there are six battle arenas.

Several courses from the past Mario Kart games return in the Retro Cups, including NES Rainbow Road, Wii Mushroom Gorge, GCN Daisy Cruiser, N64 Kalimari Desert, and GBA Bowser Castle 1. The game also introduces Retro Karts (Karts returning from the other Mario Kart games). The game also has kart customization options, allowing players to make custom Karts out of a set of pieces, but some of the pieces need to be unlocked first. This is the first time a character can go underwater. At specific points in the game, the karts will sprout either hang gliders and propellers, allowing for racing in the air and underwater. Players now have the option of collecting Coins while racing, making a return after Mario Kart: Super Circuit. This game had many several radical changes to make it different from the previous Mario Kart games. They would eventually come back in Mario Kart 8.

The bikes from Mario Kart Wii would not be included in this game. Thanks to this, players can drive underwater and glide in midair. This installment allows players to customize their own vehicle instead of driving default vehicles in the previous games, including custom parts such as hang gliders and propellers. This game's release date in the U.S was on December 4th, 2011.

Ghost data is able to be exchanged and online gameplay is available in multiplayer mode in this game. It was released for the Nintendo 3DS, and is the seventh mainline installment of the Mario Kart series and the third to be released for a handheld (following Mario Kart: Super Circuit & Mario Kart DS). The game was the predecessor to Mario Kart 8.

Mario Kart 7 (Japanese:マリオカート7 Mariokāto 7) (マリオカート7 Mario Kāto Sebun) (often abbreviated as MK7) is a game in the Mario Kart series.
