Mario Kart 7: New battle courses shown alongside kart customization

Here's a look at the three new stages for Mario Kart 7's Battle Mode, joining retro arenas from the GBA, N64 and DS iterations of the series. Earlier this week, you saw the new courses available for the game's racing mode; these added Battle courses round out the title's selection of fresh tracks. There's also a look at the game's new vehicle-customization mode.

Honeybee House will be familiar to anyone who's visited the Galaxy titles' apiary-themed stages; other players will probably lose a game or two trying to work out how surfaces made of wax and coated in honey are meant to offer any traction whatsoever.

Sherbert Rink is an ice-skating arena located within the ever-tricky Sherbert Land. Expect to slip all over the place and endure no end of frustrating, unavoidable accidents – unless you're the player who comes out on top, in which it's all perfectly fair and everyone else should just learn to play Mario Kart already.

Wuhu Town leaves the Mushroom Kingdom behind for a visit to Wii Sports Resort's Wuhu Island, which is also the setting for two of the game's racing courses. Also available for battle play are the GBA's Battle Course 1, N64's Big Donut, and Mario Kart DS' Palm Shore.

Nintendo's European site (via Siliconera) also has a look at what might be the seventh game's biggest strategic addition, the ability to refit your kart's body with different tires and gliding apparatus. You'll likely spend a while trying to find the most race-worthy combination, a while longer trying to make your kart look as cool (or stupid) as possible, and round out your customization time coming up with clever names for your user-created rig. And then, who knows, maybe you'll even win a race or two! Mario Kart 7 sees release across the four corners of the globe in the first week of December.