Mario Kart 7 Gets Its First Update In Over A Decade

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Mario Kart 7
Image: Nintendo

Update [Tue 20th Dec, 2022 03:45 GMT]: Dataminer OatmealDome has shed some light on last week’s Mario Kart 7 update. It appears changes have been made to the game’s netcode, and there’s also been an update to stop Version 1.1 from being used with Version 1.2.

3DS homebrew developer and Mario Kart 7 modder PabloMK7 goes into a more detailed breakdown (via Twitter):

I have finished calculating the differences in the new Mario Kart 7 v1.2 update, here are all of them: Of the game’s 20000+ functions: – 27 functions have been changed. – 2 new functions have been added. – A small compiler glitch disappeared.

Most of the changes and added functions are related to netcode, specifically, the handling of the communication protocol between players. None of the changes add new functionality or gameplay features (I cannot give more details, you will have to wait).

Some of the changes are related to parameters sent to the server so that players running v1.1 don’t matchmake players running v1.2 during the time the update had just released, as already logged in players wouldn’t be required to update until they reenter online mode.

One last change involved bumping the game’s version number for when the game launches the in-game updater. This number is not used at all for checking for updates, only for starting the update, so unless the game updates again, this change will probably never be used

About the compiler glitch, there was a “-1” next to a particle related function that was unused, and has been removed. The fact the “-1” was in the code at all was probably a compiler glitch, and both it’s addition and removal were most likely unintentional.

Original story [Wed 14th Dec, 2022 03:05 GMT]: In surprise news, the excellent 3DS title Mario Kart 7 has today been updated for the second time ever. Yes, despite being released in 2011, Nintendo has randomly issued a new patch for the game bumping it up to Version 1.2.

According to the official patch notes, several issues have been addressed to improve the overall experience. This follows a previous update (Version 1.1) in May 2012. Here’s the full patch note history for this game, featuring updates a decade apart:

Ver. 1.2 (Released December 13, 2022)

General

Several issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.

Ver. 1.1 (Released May 15, 2012)

  • An update has been made available to eliminate shortcut exploits in the Wuhu Loop, Maka Wuhu, and Bowser Castle 1 tracks when they are played in the Online Multiplayer Mode.
  • The update is required to play the game’s Online Multiplayer Modes. However, the tracks in Single-Player and Local Multiplayer Modes will not be affected by this update. Players can continue to play in these modes without installing the update.

Dataminer OatmealDome has suggested this patch may fix certain security exploits. Nintendo issued similar patches for a number of older Switch games in recent times.

In somewhat related news, Nintendo last week updated Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with the Wave 3 DLC. It adds another two cups and eight more courses to the game. You can learn more about it in our recent Nintendo Life coverage.