Mario Party 8/Unused Graphics and Models

This is a sub-page of Mario Party 8.

Unused Graphics

Unused Star Carnival Guests

Several characters that appear in this sprite sheet for the airborne characters that roam around the Star Carnival aren't actually used. While Fly Guys, Paratroopas, and Paragoombas appear, Lakitu, Klepto, Magikoopa, Swoops, and Bullet Bills do not.

Hotel Owner Texture

If you view the hotel models in a model viewer you will see these unused textures for where the owner icon should be instead of a blank icon. The text translates to "Dummy 1" and "Dummy 3".

Board Resources (board.bin)

Unused Board Minimap Sprites

The Board minimap have several early and unused sprites.

Star Sprite

Unused	Used

The unused star sprite is fully rendered, while the final is just a silhouette.

Hotel Sprites

Unused	Used

Like the star sprite, the unused sprites for the hotels were fully colored, instead of silhouettes.

Dolphin Shuttle Sprite

A sprite for the Dolphin Shuttles that appear in Goomba's Booty Boardwalk exists but aren't used.

Cursor

A pointing hand cursor. It's the same cursor that is used in the GameCube Mario Parties.

Board Results (bdresult.bin)

A placeholder texture for the monitor seen in the results screen after a Party Tent battle.

Party Tent Roulette (bmgcall.bin)

Unused Minigame Roulette Icons

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Three placeholder images using a thumbnail of an early version of Swing Kings overlayed with text, intended for the three unused minigames. They translate to Mini game 09, Mini game 13, and Mini game 53.

Bonus Minigame Roulette Icons

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  Early version of Puzzle Pillars

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Thumbnails for all eight bonus minigames exist in the .bin file, but are never used in the minigame roulette, as these are accessed exclusively through the Extras Zone.

Unused Roulette Category

There also exists in the same .bin file an unused graphic for the minigame roulette, titled '1-Player Minigame'. It's most likely this were what Challenge Minigames were referred to earlier in development.

In-Game Messages (gamemes.bin)

Lose Text

Splash text supposedly for when a minigame is lost, is unused for unknown reasons. Instead, if a minigame is lost, the character sulks with no splash text displayed.

Minigame Tent Roulette (mgroulette.bin)

A red box with an 'A' button and Japanese text next to it that translates to "Stop", that probably would've been used to stop the roulette wheel that appears in certain minigame modes.

Mosh-Pit Playroom (m807.bin)

Early Playroom	Final Playroom

While technically used for the ballpit's wall, the rest of the texture is not used by any object, thus making it unseen. The unseen portion of the texture is actually an early version of the playroom this minigame takes place in! Compared to the final version, the walls are more colorful & vibrant, the curtains for the window are yellow instead of blue, and some textures in the sheet are arranged differently.

The most intriguing part of these early textures is what would've been on the bookshelf. Instead of books, the early texture features Japanese box art for various Nintendo games: in order, Mother 1+2, Mario Party 5, Mario Kart DS, Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten DS, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Mario Party 6, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, Wario Land 2 and Wario Land 3 can be seen. There are also what seem to be a few placeholder games (& books?) as well, such as a few named ABCDEF, one bearing the MARIO BROS. logo without boxart, one called DICTIONARY, and the rest being blank.

(Source: McKraken)

Grabby Gridiron (m810.bin)

A texture that translates to "Monitor Screen Dummy".

Picture Perfect (m821.bin)

Numbered circles.

Pour to Score (m871.bin)

Unused Monitor Screens

Used Blue Screen	Unused Green Screen	Unused Red Screen

The monitor in the background of all three challenge minigames have several unused screens. Normally, the blue screen is the one that is shown at all times. There are two unused screens: one that changes green and has the segments around the Star emblem spin faster, and one that changes red and has each segment drop one-by-one, until the emblem drops, and a large blue 'X' graphic appears.

(Source: McKraken)

Placeholder Sign Graphics

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  What the sign would look like with dummy textures.

The sign used to indicate how much sand should be poured has placeholder textures for the numbers. Oddly, they're letters, and uses two different font and color choices.

Extras Zone (mgdota8.bin)

A blank minigame thumbnail, of which there are several.

win.bin

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Two character portraits in win.bin are unused. One of them is for Koopa Kid, who does not appear in this game. He also seems to be clipped poorly. Another is of MC Ballyhoo at an angle where Big Top is barely visible.

Unused Models

board.bin

3D UI Assets

Several unused 3D models of the button graphics in board gameplay suggests the UI was at one point going to use these 3D models instead of 2D grpahics.

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  A dice block with different numbers on each side.

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  A blank piece of Green Candy.

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  The magnifying glass used to view the board map originally had a Star at the end, a detail not present in the final graphic.

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  A red arrow pointing clockwise.

Ztar

The Ztar does not make an appearance in Mario Party 8, but it still exists in the files. Unlike the previous Mario Parties in which it was featured, this one also includes lighting.

Pointing Hand

A hand pointing downwards.

candychk.bin

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  The odd one out.

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Every character has an early version of their Bowser Candy outfit, looking more like the real Bowser than the used plush suit, Boo however didn't wear a full suit and instead originally wore Bowser's shell and Bowser arms.

mdota.bin

mdota.bin seems to be an early version of the Fun Bazaar, and has some differences in its models.

Surprise Wagon

Early	Final

The Surprise Wagon had its textures changed.

Minigame Wagon

Early	Final

The Minigame Wagon also had its textures changed. Most interesting is that strange image of two humans dressed as Mario and Toad on the television. It was changed to minigame screenshots.

Records Board

Early	Final

The Records Board also went through texture changes.

Carnival Caliope

Early	Final

A Koopa Troopa was added to the side, and the top hat's color was slightly darkened. The used one also seems to have some texture issues not seen in the early one, most visibly at the base.

Unused Wagon

Penguin Wagon?

One wagon didn't seem to make to make the final cut. It appears to be based on the Surprise Wagon's model but with different textures and a tank with penguins. Purpose unknown.

candy.bin

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  Switcho Candy

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  Spino Candy

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Three unused candies are present. The first two have references in the messdata files, while the third is probably a dummy.

The following are their unused names and descriptions:

Candy Name	Description
Switcho Candy	Switch places with an opponent you choose by throwing dice.
Spino Candy	Take 10 Coins from each player you pass.

Judging from Spino Candy's description, it may have been replaced by the Bowlo Candy later in development.

Dry Bones's Cane

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  He's an old chap.

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All of Dry Bones's models (karonmdl0.bin, karonmdl1.bin, karonmdl2.bin, karonmdl2b.bin, excluding karonmdl3.bin) contain an unused cane prop. Several characters in Mario Party 8 use unique props, which are contained in their model files (Waluigi's Rose, for instance). It's likely that this cane was meant for Dry Bones' victory animation, similar to both Waluigi's rose and Hammer Bro's hammer, but was left unused.

(Source: McKraken)

DK's Treetop Temple (w01.bin)

Mario Party 2 Model

Mario's model from the second game is here for some reason. His texture is a flat color.

Unused 2D Placeholder Models

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Two crudely drawn placeholder models of the Jungle Shy Guys and Donkey Kong exist.

King Boo's Haunted Hideaway (w03.bin)

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A wheel with primitive textures, one side reading first person (ひとりめ) and the other second person (ふたりめ).

Flip-Out Frenzy (mgxpanel.bin)

Toadsworth

Toadsworth from Mario Party 7 is left exclusively in the files for Flip-Out Frenzy. It is unknown what purpose he would serve.

(Source: McKraken)

Bumper Balloons

To do: There's also an out-of-bounds Goomba and unseen blue curtain in the Fun Bazaar, and more.

The garage in Bumper Balloons contains objects such as tires and crates, which are never seen in-game since the garage door never opens.

(Source: Mario Party 8 - Boundary Break)

Picture Perfect (m821.bin)

A numbered box.

Unused Animations

Mii

Mii Characters seem to have unfinished animations for actions they can't normally execute (Since they are limited to the Extras Zone mode). However, most are filled with a placeholder duplicate animation.

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  Alert Status (Click to animate)

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  Idle Swimming