Prerelease:Mario Kart Wii/Course Banners

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Mario Kart Wii.

The game has a little banner for each course that it displays when viewing the Time Trial rankings for that course. Interestingly, the versions used in Mario Kart Channel seem to be taken from earlier versions of the tracks. These graphics are located in the file /Scene/UI/Channel.szs, inside /./ranking/timg

Wii Grand Prix

Luigi Circuit

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The bloom effect does not seem to be present, making the course overall a bit darker.
• The Miis faces have darker shading.
• Some signs seen on top of the further building in the center of the course have changed. They were presumably using the "MarioKart" design seen in prerelease footage. In addition, the blue "Luigi Kart" billboard seen in front of the mushroom when making the first turn might originally had that "MarioKart" design as well. This is a possibility since not only the billboard in question has a red color in the early picture, but these billboards had said design in an earlier screenshot of Luigi Circuit.
• The shadows seen in the road originally extended further.
• The mushroom seen in the ground on the left seems to be a bit smaller in size in the early version. It was also seemingly located a bit closer to the big blue pipe, and an additional piece of grass was located right next to it.
• The pink flowers standing right next to that mushroom were originally positioned a bit closer to the road.

Moo Moo Meadows

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The cows on the right are 2D. They're 3D in the final game.
• On the left, there were originally only 2 pink flowers instead of 3.
• The mountains looked more shaded in the early version.
• The bloom effect does not seem to be present, making the course overall a bit darker.
• The barn doors originally looked slightly brighter. In the multiplayer version of the track, those doors still retain their look from this early version, as shown below.

Single Player	Multiplayer

Mushroom Gorge

MK Channel Banner	Final

The flowers on the left seem to be orange instead of pink like in the final game. Interestingly, these flowers are orange in the multiplayer version of the final track:

Toad’s Factory

To do: Upload images of the banner and a screenshot of the final version of the track.

The 2D Audience texture is reused from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. This is most noticeable from the left and right sides of the banner, as Donkey Kong Jr. can be seen.

Mario Circuit

To do: Upload an image of the final version.

The MarioKart logo in the pipe billboard seen in early versions of the course, such as E3 2007/Fall 2007 Press Conference or loser_demo can be seen here.

DK Summit

MK Channel Banner	Final

DK Summit still has its old billboards, which can be seen in prerelease footage.

Wario's Gold Mine

MK Channel Banner	Final

The "Super Wario" sign from the prerelease screenshot is present. There are also some weird red dots in the background.

Daisy Circuit

MK Channel Banner	Final

The fence that protects the audience was changed, probably because the early version looks more like prison fencing. The banners were removed from the lampposts, the umbrella colors (and their positions) were changed, and the shadows on the buildings are a lot less dark in the final. In addition, in the early version, the bloom effect does not seem to be present (making the course overall a bit darker), and the skybox was mirrored.

Koopa Cape

MK Channel Banner	Final

Koopa Cape has Wario's Gold Mine's start banner and a cloudless skybox.

Maple Treeway

To do: Upload an image of the banner and an image of the final version of the track that matches the banner as much as possible.

The Wiggler appears to lack specular shading.

Dry Dry Ruins

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The two statues on part of the road are completely gone.
• There is an extra palm tree. In addition, none of the palm trees have shadows.
• Two billboards in the far background originally had different shape, and they recycled textures from Dry Dry Desert from Double Dash!! (much like other courses at this point in time).

Moonview Highway

To do: Upload an image of the banner and an image of the final version of the track that matches the banner as much as possible.

The trucks’ textures are recycled from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, more specifically the P-Wing Express trucks from that game.

Rainbow Road

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The long stripe in the star cannon was originally colored blue.
• There was a galaxy in the skybox that was removed from the final version. This graphic actually made it into the final game, where it can be seen in the roof of Chain Chomp Wheel.
• The floating Star Bits near the halfpipe are missing, and the boost panel a litte after the halfpipe is also missing.
• What seem to be asteroids are barely peeping out over the first downhill. If so, they seem to be more brown, whereas in the final game they are gray.

Retro Grand Prix

N64 Mario Raceway

MK Channel Banner	Final

There originally was a Piranha Plant near the first turn.

N64 Sherbet Land

To do: Upload an image of the banner and an image of the final version of the track that matches the banner as closely as possible.

The giant penguin in the center of the track is casting a reflection across the ice, which it does not do in the final. This can also be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

GBA Shy Guy Beach

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The palm trees looked a bit smaller.
• After the first turn, there was originally only one tree after the curve and another one before the next curve. The final version added more palm trees in this section. This is how the palm trees distribution looked in the original version from Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
• In the first straightaway, only one umbrella seems to be present, in more or less the center of the road. It seems to be closed too.

DS Delfino Square

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The Piantas looked much darker.
• One of the billboards in the early version had the "MarioKart" logo seen in the original version from Mario Kart DS. In the final version, it was changed to a "Nintendo" logo instead.
• The bright trees were originally much bigger and brighter, while the dark trees were darker. They seem to be rotated differently, since the orientation of the tree top looks different.
• The bloom effect does not seem to be present, making the course overall a bit darker.

N64 DK's Jungle Parkway

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The arrows on the signs are red instead of blue, matching the course's design in Mario Kart 64.
• Shadows are darker.
• The tree on the right has a shadow extending towards the road.

GCN DK Mountain

MK Channel Banner	Final

• The "DK CANNON" billboard originally said "DONKEY CANNON". It was also less stretched, and contained a few more supports.
• The wooden wall on the left is slightly bent in the early version.
• The bloom effect appears to be missing, given how the edges of the walls do not look as bright and blurred as in the final version.

Notably, all of the above differences are present in the Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, version of the course, indicating that the Wii version was initially ported directly from that game.

Retro Battle

GCN Cookie Land

To do: Upload a screenshot of the final version of the course.

The early version had two item boxes between the pink and green jelly (and presumably the other long jellies too), similar (but not exactly the same) to the original version from Double Dash!!

Other

Galaxy Colosseum / Galaxy Arena

To do: Upload a screenshot of the final version of the course that matches the banner as closely as possible.

• The Spiky Topman looks much darker than in the final version.
• There is only one item box in the center ring. In the competitions/tournaments, there were multiple item boxes spread through the map.