Sub mode is triggered whenever you go underwater (you can even drift underwater, up on two wheels) and one of the courses in the demo let you continue racing in sub mode if you dropped off while the rest of the racers continued on land-there were actually a number of branching paths, even if some were simplistic, in the courses in the demo. You’ll pop out a hang-glider during certain situations when you’re launched into the air, switching you to a slide-pad-navigated gliding mode where you can either choose to nose-dive for the ground to get back down faster or hold back on the stick to drift farther. The transformations are the new thing in Mario Kart for 3DS.

It is the seventh Mario Kart game in the series, (ninth including the arcade games) and the third for a handheld console. And, of course, holding the accelerate button down at the right time during the countdown will give you a turbo boost to start the race. Mario Kart 7 (styled as MARIOKART7 and commonly abbreviated as MK7) is a Mario based racing game exclusively made for the Nintendo 3DS (however, it can be played on the 2DS and New 2DS XL, just like every other 3DS game). Widespread dissatisfaction with the drifting mechanic in Mario Kart Wii seems to have led to a return to the old wiggle-the-stick mini-turbos. Coins on the track have returned from the old Mode 7 outings, and the show-floor consensus is that collecting more of them does indeed make you go faster. In fact, some of this 3DS Mario Kart installment is kind of a look backward. Sure, there’s a couple neat new touches, like context-sensitive hang-gliders and sub transformations, but in the end, it’s still Mario Kart.

I didn’t have to spend a lot of time with Mario Kart for 3DS to realize that Nintendo’s playing it pretty safe with the formula. N-Sider has served the Nintendo community for more than a decade.) (This article comes courtesy of N-Sider, a site for well-adjusted Nintendo fans.

Mario kart 7 3ds demo