Mario Kart 7 was developed by Nintendo EAD and Retro Studios.  The game was published by Nintendo.  The game was released worldwide in December 2011.  Nintendo later re-released the game onto the Nintendo e-Shop in October 2012.

     Nintendo had to get help to finish the game when staff wasn't available.  Nintendo contacted Retro Studios to co-develop the game.

      The game features several new additions to the game.  Players can now fully customize their karts changing the wheels or adding a hang-glider. Players can also drive underwater now. Some races are completed in stages and not laps.

     Players can once again race players across the world with the Nintendo Network connection.  Players will race up to sever different players.

     A glitch was discovered in three of the tracks.  Nintendo released a patch in May 2012.  Players had to download the patch in order to play in multiplayer online races. Nintendo originally had no plans to release a patch but did anyways.  The patch doesn't change single player or local multiplayer tracks.

     The game received mostly positive reviews.  Some critics complained about the game not being radically different then previous titles in the series.  It was the second Nintendo 3DS game to sale over 5 million copies. As of January 2018, the game has sold nearly 16 million copies.