Mario Kart DS/Unused Courses
This is a sub-page of Mario Kart DS.
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There are a total of ten unused tracks in the game. The textures for them don't load in the final game because the way the game loads textures changed between builds: the textures of the unused courses are located in their model file, whereas the textures of the used tracks are in a separate archive.
These tracks can be loaded by using an Action Replay code to load texture data from a track that is used, although there may not be any textures shared between the two tracks, so it will appear as if they are fully untextured. All tracks from the Kiosk Demo version have the textures in their model files.
Contents
old_mario_gc (GCN Mario Circuit)
A remake of the Mario Kart: Double Dash!! course that didn't make the final cut, although it was later featured in Mario Kart Wii.
For the most part, this track is unfinished. Some of the textures are poor in quality and the vertex coloring on the castle isn't finished, plus not all details and features are there from the original, such as the door on the castle, or the stained glass window with Peach on it.
Most surfaces that aren't a wall tend to use the collision type for normal road, and it's easy to go out of bounds since the collision data is unfinished. There aren't really any objects, either, aside from three item boxes right after the starting line. There're also three routes (POIT 0, 1 and 2, each have two points) defined for each Goomba, but no Goombas are placed on the track.
nokonoko_course
An unused beach-looking track that, judging by the filename ("Nokonoko" being the Japanese name for Koopa Troopa), was going to be a Koopa Beach type of track.
Judging by the similar theme, textures and ramps to Cheep-Cheep Beach, this might be a proof-of-concept for the said track.
There is a Goomba on the course. It appears to be glitched, and missing a frame of its animation due to the Kiosk Demo version of the Goomba object being used.
Although there are 10 respawn points on the course, the game still crashes when you go out of bounds. This is because the file course_map.nkm is in an older version of the format (0x1E), where the respawn index IDs (0, 1, 2..) are taken as IPOI (item point) IDs by the game, resulting in no index IDs. Driving onto the grass where the 3 trees are located after the first ramp either crashes the game, or you just fall through the ground, since the collision type is listed as "sound trigger" in the final.
The water still exists in the final, and the Kiosk Demo version, but since the position of the water object is hardcoded the Y axis of the course model is too high for the water to ever be able to reach the surface of the course.
dokan_course
A course with two pipes, which was scrapped very early in its proof-of-concept state. The green checkered plane does have collision data, but it's set to a "Fall" value and doesn't align with the model. It's likely that the course was also used to test falling off of certain tracks.
There are six respawn points on the course, but like nokonoko_course they cause the game to crash when you or anyone else falls off the track due to an earlier version of the course_map.nkm file used (0x1E).
This is also one of the only unused tracks not to have the skybox as part of the main model (or one in the first place on that note).
Mario Kart Tour added a course that appears to be inspired by this course's concept, called Piranha Plant Pipeline, though its map is a bit different from dokan_course's.
test_circle
A very small circular test track with only one item box that can be completed in a single lap. It's likely this was a secondary test track used to quickly test settings such as the lap counter and game modes without the developers having to trawl through lots of object placement or other such data.
The IPOI (item path) formation of this course also appears in StaffRoll tracks, which might suggest that this track was copy-pasted to StaffRoll slots at first, or this track might be a proof-of-concept for the staff credits.
mini_block_course (GCN Block City)
A remake of the Block City battle course from Double Dash!! that was never finished. Only the main model is present, while some features of the original, such as the blocks, are missing. This course may have been used to test both the Balloon Battle and Shine Runners battle modes, as it contains an updated but still unused Shine Sprite model, as well as the sprite-ified MKDD balloon objects from the Kiosk Demo having been converted into a format suitable for the final (nsbmd/nsbtp as opposed to multiple nsbmd files).
Oddly, Block Fort's textures internally go by the name blockCity and re-uses a texture from this arena (albeit brighter), which might suggest the said arena might've replaced this one.
The Big Bully boss mission file from the Kiosk Demo version is still present in the course data, although unused. It also contains and earlier CPOI (checkpoints) formation for SNES Mario Circuit 1, with 19 points instead of 23.
luigi_course
A very early version of Waluigi Pinball, seemingly in a proof-of-concept stage.
The course has no item boxes and the cannon is only a slope with boost pads. Near the end, where all the bounds and flippers are located, there's a passage where the player can go underneath the course. The flippers themselves look different and have less details, and cause the course to crash in the final game due to lacking the animation data the final flippers use for their electrical effect. The course has a single respawn point but it doesn't work due to the course_map.nkm file being in an earlier format (0x1E), so it'll crash if you manage to fall off.
In the Kiosk Demo version, the bound uses a very early model, while the final uses the bound model found in the files of donkey_course (pinball_course in the Kiosk Demo).
The placements of the pin object are also still present in the .nkm file, although it doesn't load since its functions have been removed from the final version.
test1_course
A course that was used to test objects and collision. The objects that are used here are the bridge from Defino Square, one of the gears from Tick Tock Clock, and the blocks from Bowser Castle. The course also contains a lot of speed boosts, ramps, and the pipes that were only used in dokan_course. It also has a bunch of loops that aren't used anywhere else.
Originally, this course would crash the game because it contains the early version of Bowser Castle's block object with the filename test_brock.nsbmd. By adding the final model to the object folder, the course will load. It will also work if you rename said object to koopa_block.nsbmd, although it is a lot smaller than the final version's block, meaning that the object's collision won't match with this model.
The original course model was overwritten by an early version of Rainbow Road, making it very difficult to navigate unless you follow one of the AI to complete the race.
donkey_course (early Waluigi Pinball)
The earlier version of Waluigi Pinball from the Kiosk Demo, with a very different layout. It also doesn't contain any pinballs.
The original donkey_course was replaced with this. The objects to original said course, however, still remain in the object folder.
The object behavior for the slots has also been changed. In the final version of Waluigi Pinball, the object file was made larger and flipped vertically, but the earlier version of the course still uses the Kiosk Demo model, which is why it appears to have been flipped horizontally. The collision data for them was also removed.
Like luigi_course, the pin object placements still exist in the .nkm file, but it doesn't load since its functions have been removed from the final. The flippers also still use the Kiosk Demo version of their models as well, but again the flipper model causes the final game to crash, due to it lacking the animation data for the electrical effect of the final model.
Bounds, however, use a slightly later model with a brighter blue light texture.
Interestingly, the Waluigi light sign textures originally had the text "Wario" on them, suggesting that the track was originally a Wario themed pinball machine.
MR_stage4 (Earlier Wiggler Race)
A later (somewhere after the Kiosk Demo) version of GCN Mushroom Bridge, containing a different NKM compared to Kiosk Demo and final versions' NKMs. The NKM has one less object (OBJI) compared to the final NKM. Route (PATH & POIT) settings are the same as those of Kiosk Demo, and the intro and replay cameras are the same as those of final.
Both the main track and the mission bundle a slightly earlier version of the course_map.nkm file format (0x24), rather than 0x25 of the final.
Possible cases:
- This was meant to be used for Mission 7-Boss, with Wiggler, but the game uses the normal course instead.
- There was a fourth battle arena at one point in development and was overwritten with this version of GCN Mushroom Bridge (as happened with donkey_course, see above)
Notably, this course contains an earlier version of the mission, with the following differences:
- Unfinished intro; the unused PATH 2 is meant for this intro, but the PATH ID of the intro camera is set to FF (no path), despite the camera being set to use a PATH. It's also different; it's a copy-paste of the main track's first intro camera path. Route speed settings are also set at 0, resulting in a static camera. See the video below for how this camera would have looked like.
- Cars and Wiggler have no sound.
- Different starting position.
- Mario does not have any balloons, which is also the case with the unused boss mission NKM in mini_block_course.
- End-of-mission AREA uses incorrect settings (camera instead of end-of-mission, and 23 laps instead of 3).
- Because of the two above, it is impossible to fail the mission.
- Wiggler doesn't move, due to the incorrect POIT settings.
- There's only one PATH (3) where Wiggler should go, suggests Wiggler was originally programmed to follow the same PATH through three laps. In the final version Wiggler shifts to the next PATH ID (4, 5 and so on) each lap, along a duration setting on the next PATHs' first POITs (set to 200). Due to this Wiggler goes randomly around the track after the first lap.
- The car uses an earlier model, which is from the Kiosk Demo version.
- Static itemboxes that give only mushrooms don't appear in the used mission.
- Moving itemboxes can still give bananas, shells etc. due to unfinished settings. There're also two of them instead of six.
- The course uses the boss theme, while the final uses the original course's music.
- When playing the course in Grand Prix or Versus, the AI will drive for only a few seconds.
The course's data also contains an earlier version of the bottom screen map for MR_stage3 (King Boo coin boss), where the lava and the track are drawn on the same map. The used map separates both through local2 and local3.
The following video shows how the intro would actually have looked like (using the unused route), complete with the route and speed settings:
wario_course
An earlier (duplicate) version of Wario Stadium with slightly different textures, lacking any objects save for three item boxes at the start. The model is internally named 'stadium_course': it's unknown why this course even exists, however a proof-of-concept track may have existed in this spot earlier in development and was simply overwritten with the finalised design.
In comparison to Kiosk Demo and Final models, wario_course uses more detailed but lower-resolution road textures.
The course layout actually seems to slightly differ from that of both the Kiosk Demo and final versions, which can be shown by racing a ghost Time Trial set on Wario Stadium and using the 'play on track' code to load this course - just after the first jump or so, the ghost will go out of sync due to the differing collision.
The replay camera is also different, compared to stadium_course in both Kiosk Demo and final, notably having two more routes (9 and 10).
| wario_course | Wario Stadium |
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course_map.nkm File Formats
The game's actual tracks use course_map.nkm files with the format 25 00 4C 00, however the unused tracks above use earlier versions of this file.
Five different formats exist, counting the final's used one.
1E 00 44 00
Used by luigi_course, dokan_course, test1_course and nokonoko_course.
KTPC and KTPM don't exist.
Other parameters are the same as the final format.
KTPJ
IPOI ID parameter doesn't exist and the index is in 2 bytes (0X 00) instead of 4 (0X 00 00 00); this is the cause of the tracks with this format crashing on respawn, as the index ID parameter is being (mis)taken as IPOI ID, resulting in no index parameter.
Respawn angle settings are also different; they're defined in sine value (value / 90) rather than a simple value, hence why they always face the y=0 direction in the final.
IPOI
It's missing the last 4-byte parameter (which is usually 00 00 00 00).
20 00 48 00
Used by test_circle and mini_block_course.
KTPM doesn't exist.
Other parameters are the same as the final format.
KTPS and KTP2
Each KTPS and KTP2 have an extra 4-byte parameter at the end; FF FF 0X 00
X being the ID (FF FF 00 00, then FF FF 01 00 etc.); More likely to be the index ID as in PATH and KTPJ. This parameter doesn't appear in other formats.
KTPJ
Respawn angle settings are different; they're defined in sine value (value / 90) rather than a simple value, hence why they always face the y=0 direction in the final.
KTPC
KTPC contains an extra four-byte index ID setting (00 00 00 00), which doesn't appear in later formats. The only NKM with this format to contain a KTPC is the Airship Fortress mission NKM in the Kiosk Demo, however.
IPOI
It's missing the last 4-byte parameter (which is usually 00 00 00 00).
22 00 48 00
Used by old_mario_gc, donkey_course, wario_course and the unused mission NKM in mini_block_course.
As in the 20 00 48 00 format above, KTPM doesn't exist.
Other parameters are the same as the final format.
KTPJ
Respawn angle settings are different; they're defined in sine value (value / 90) rather than a simple value, hence why they always face the y=0 direction in the final.
24 00 4C 00
Unique to MR_stage4.
In short it's the same as 22 00 48 00 above with the addition of the KTPM section.
KTPJ
Respawn angle settings are different; they're defined in sine value (value / 90) rather than a simple value, hence why they always face the y=0 direction in the final.
