Mario Kart 7/Unused Graphics
This is a sub-page of Mario Kart 7.
Contents
Textures
Character Emblems
Two dummy textures for character emblems. They are 32x32 pixels each, whereas the final emblems are 64x64. The first one featuring the letters "L" and "R" can be found in many archives, while the second is only found in a single archive.
Early Mario Emblem
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
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An early version of Mario's emblem can be found in /Kart/Emblem/emblem_mr/emblem_mr.bctex in the RomFS (the final version is in the same directory, albeit named emblem_mr.bcmdl instead). The early version doesn't have the gray ring that surrounds the red "M", and it also doesn't have mipmaps.
This graphic is also found on Mario's Standard Kart in the unused banner model, and it also matches with prerelease footage from E3 2010.
Dummy Mario Circuit image
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
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A dummy image that appears in two track archives: Neo Bowser City/Koopa City and N64 Luigi Raceway. This image is used as a placeholder for the giant screens found in those courses, until the game replaces them with other data. The image was originally rotated 90° clockwise, but has been rotated for ease of comparison. The image is from an early version of Mario Circuit, and the differences are as follows:
- Mario is racing against himself, something only possible in local or online multiplayer mode.
- The finish line banner's shadow appears to be glitching the floor texture in the dummy. It appears to have been manually edited out using an image editor.
- The dummy's item boxes are closer to their Mario Kart 64 design.
- There are four item boxes in the dummy and five in the final.
- The coin formation is the same as in the beginning of the credits in the final.
- There are lighting differences on Mario and the pink hill in the background.
Debug Title
In the /UI/Debug directory is a copy of the Japanese title screen, stored into two files for the left and right eye images. The archives are called title_capture_top_l.bclim and title_capture_top_r.bclim.
Test Glideboard Texture
In the files for DK Pass, there is an unused texture called test_glideboard. It is the same as the used texture, but without transparency.
"Press A Button" E3 Demo Leftover
 | To do: In the same directory there seems to be a layout (bclyt) and animation (bclan) file that use these graphics. Get a preview of these (Switch Toolbox or Every File Explorer should be able to preview them). |
Exclusive to the kiosk demo versions of the game are three leftover graphics from the title screen of the E3 demo of the game. These are the graphics for pressing the A button, shown in the bottom screen.
They're located in /UI/menu.szs. When the file is decompressed, they're located in the following addresses within the file (start - end address):
- E3_press.bclim (Press): 0x38000 - 0x3A027
- E3_Abtn_l.bclim (A): 0x66400 - 0x67427
- E3_button.bclim (Button): 0x2B2F00 - 0x2B4F27
Unused Online Community Icon
| Icon | In-game Screenshot (Mockup) |
|---|---|
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 |
An unused Earth icon for online communities. It looks very similar to the icon shown in the button for Online mode in the Title screen. It's named com_official_icon.bclim, and it can be found in /UI/menu.szs/. Its ID (UI::CommunityIcon::EIdx) is 0x4B.
Models
Blue Shell
An unused blue Koopa shell model, found in /RaceCommon.szs/Item/ (which contains all the item models), and named itemKouraBlue.bcmdl (the Spiny Blue Shell model is named itemTogezo.bcmdl). The texture is slightly different from the one used for the Spiny Blue Shell item.
Soccer Ball
An unused soccer ball model (named F2_Item_Ball_Soccer internally) with a texture and a normal map, likely used for testing purposes, also found in RaceCommon.szs. The model and textures are also in Nintendogs + Cats, indicating this may possibly be a leftover from that game since they were in development around the same time.
Early Garage
| To do: A page of Nintendo Company Guide Book 2012 shows this early garage. |
The model Garage.bcmdl in /Menu3D/Garage is an early version of the garage that serves as the background for the character/kart select screen (the final version is located in /Menu3D.szs/Menu3D/Garage.bcmdl). Unlike the final garage, the door is on the right-hand side instead of the back, and the only decorations it has are some cables and a set of tires. It has no textures, but the vertex shading still remains.
Unused Banner Model
There's an unused model for the Home Menu banner found in /banner/*/banner.bnr in the RomFS (the final banner model is located in the ExeFS). It features an animated model of Mario driving on his Standard Kart.
The models for both Mario and the Standard Kart, while mostly identical to the final gameplay models, feature slightly different textures. For example, Mario's skin is a bit paler in the unused banner model. In the final game, the banner model is in much higher quality than the models used in gameplay.
The icon stored in banner.icn under the same directory is the same icon that was used for the Download Play version. In addition, the unused banner doesn't have any sound.
