Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 Release Dates Revealed

This fall Nintendo will be releasing two games starring everyone's favorite Italian stereotype. Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 will be arriving in November and December, respectively.

Super Mario 3D Land, due on November 13th in North America, draws inspiration from both old and new Mario platformers. As in 2D Mario games, Mario will lose his power-ups and shrink to Small Mario when he's hit by an enemy. 3D Land also brings back the Super Leaf from Super Mario 3, which lets Mario slow his fall or do a tail attack. In a nod to more recent 3D Mario games, Mario will be able to wall jump and ground pound in this game. There are also Star Medals hidden throughout each level, sort of like how Super Mario Galaxy 2 had Comet Medals strewn about the game.

Mario Kart 7 will arrive on December 4th. It maintains the traditional Mario Kart core gameplay. The game shakes things up a bit, though, by introducing underwater segments with different handling. A hang glider attachment on the karts will let racers fly over obstacles and take shortcuts. MK7 will also let you customize the parts of your kart.

Nintendo has even more Mario planned for 2012. They'll be releasing new versions of Mario Tennis and Paper Mario next year, along with spin-off Luigi's Mansion 2.