Mario Kart Wii/Early Character Models

This is a sub-page of Mario Kart Wii.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Add the following characters: Daisy (it uses the default TEV/Shader apparently, has polygon differences), Donkey Kong (DK's feet oversight is in almost all model variants (save those used for single player)) and Toadette. Curiously, Daisy's early low poly model (model_lod) is identical to the high poly version (model), resulting in her T-posing when replaced in-game when the camera gets far enough from her. This is present on all her unused vehicles except on the Standard Bike M, Sugarscoot and Zip Zip. In the case of these 3 vehicles, her low poly model uses an earlier 64x64 texture (the final version uses a 32x64 variant). Said low poly model also seems to contain polygon differences.

Some of the early "_2" vehicles found in /Race/Kart/ also contain early character models.

In this article, only the elements (model files, textures, etc.) and characteristics that are different from the used characters will be documented. For everything else, it is assumed they're identical between the early and final versions.

Activate the code below and enter a VS Race / Time Trial / Battle to see these models in-game. This code will also display early character animations in some cases:

	PAL	NTSC-U	NTSC-J	NTSC-K
Gecko Code	06001498 0000000B 68616E64 6C655F6C 6F6400FF FFFFFFFF 04026050 4E800020 04553FCC 3A600001 04577084 38000001 04577108 38000000 04577950 3C608000 04577958 60631498 04577960 7C7F1B78	06001498 0000000B 68616E64 6C655F6C 6F6400FF FFFFFFFF 04025fb0 4E800020 0454dfac 3A600001 04570820 38000001 045708a4 38000000 045710ec 3C608000 045710f4 60631498 045710fc 7C7F1B78	06001498 0000000B 68616E64 6C655F6C 6F6400FF FFFFFFFF 04025f70 4E800020 0455394c 3A600001 04576a04 38000001 04576a88 38000000 045772d0 3C608000 045772d8 60631498 045772e0 7C7F1B78	06001498 0000000B 68616E64 6C655F6C 6F6400FF FFFFFFFF 040260b0 4E800020 04542024 3A600001 045650dc 38000001 04565160 38000000 045659a8 3C608000 045659b0 60631498 045659b8 7C7F1B78

(Source: MarioKartWii.com)

Rosalina (Biker)

Early	Final

• Rosalina has shorter arms in the early version.
• The hair bang as well as the hair in the upper part in the back of the head both have less polygons in the early version.
• The early version has more prominent vertex coloring, resulting in it having darker shading.

The shorter arms and darker shading imply that this early model was originally ported from Peach and Daisy's biker outfit, as they do have these features as well.

Early	Final

Although hard to notice, the back of the neck in the unused version is completely flat. A few polygons were added in the final version so that it looks slightly more rounded.

Early	Final

In the unused variant, the texture mapping mode for the hair and body is set to Repeat (in the final version it's set to Mirror). This makes the hair in the back of the head have a dark thin line in it, as it is merging with the upper part of the texture a little bit.

Bowser

Early	Final

Bowser originally had darker shading around the limbs, the interior of his shell and its spikes.

The final versions of Bowser's multiplayer variants (those with filenames ending with *_4.szs) still use this model as well (as they also have the same darker shading). The only difference is that, in the early version, the model has bones, and it's not already posed.

Curiously, an identical copy of this early model is actually used in the Award Ceremony cutscene.

Dry Bones

Early	Final

In the same way, Dry Bones has darker shading around the interior of his shell and limbs in the early version.

The final versions of Dry Bones's multiplayer variants (those with filenames ending with *_4.szs) still use this model as well (as they also have the same darker shading). The only difference is that, in the early version, the model has bones, and it's not already posed.