Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8
Developers: Nintendo EAD, Namco Bandai Games Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Wii U Released in JP: May 29, 2014 Released in US: May 30, 2014 Released in EU: May 30, 2014 Released in AU: May 31, 2014 Released in BR: May 30, 2014 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prerelease article

To do: Apparently, there are more unused graphics.

Mario Kart 8 features new anti-gravity mechanics and the return of gliders and underwater racing from the previous game. Also Koopalings.

Unused Tracks

Test

This unused track is found at ID 0x01. It's a copy of Mario Circuit from the Flower Cup, but without music. Additionally, the orange arrow signs are not animated. According to interviews, Mario Circuit was the first track designed for this game, so this is very likely intended for testing. It works the same in Battle Mode as well.

ReservedXX

Unused tracks that are found in IDs 0x02 to 0x0F, where XX is a number, starting at 01, going upwards. The game crashes when they are loaded.

UnderConstructionXX

More unused tracks in IDs 0x30 to 0x4F. It is similar to ReservedXX, where the XX is a number, starting at 01. They also crash when loaded.

To do: Check if all of them crash, most of them haven't been tested yet.

Unused Models

Pink Toad

There is an unused pink colored Toad, which is meant to be seen in N64 Rainbow Road with the others.

Fruit Basket

A model internally labelled as TEST_FruitBasketB. The textures used for the basket and fruits are obviously meant for tests, as they are simple rectangles with solid color and border.

(Source: MrBean35000vr (Discovery))

N64 Tree

A model named N64Tree is a low-quality tree roughly based on the ones from Mario Raceway in Mario Kart 64. This model is notably different from the similarly-named model found in Mario Kart 7 and different in shape from the trees used for Mario Raceway in Mario Kart Wii.

(Source: MrBean35000vr (Discovery), Catley (model))

Unused Graphics

DLC Cup Icons

There are four unused cup icons. They reuse older artwork for the central objects and lack the same extra decorations that the normal icons have. Their file names refer to them as CupIconDLC00 to CupIconDLC03, indicating that these were placeholders for the DLC cups. Of the released DLC cups, only the Yoshi Egg has been used, albeit with a brand new icon.

Magikoopa/Kamek Emblem

Emblem_Kmc.szs

An unused emblem for Kamek (or an unnamed Magikoopa). Magikoopa/Kamek does not appear as a playable character in the game, so either he was scrapped or is set to appear in currently-unannounced future DLC.

Eight Emblem

A generic emblem with the logo eight is included in the emblem folder, but goes unused. It is indirectly seen in pre-rendered graphics for the kart previews.

Placeholder Emblem

A placeholder texture for kart emblems found inside most kart model files.

Toad Harbor Placeholder Texture

ct_house_window_alb

There are two copies of the building windows texture in Toad Harbor, one of which has big red numbers in the place of where the posters should go. The positioning of the numbers don't match the final poster placement and seem to indicate that taller or thinner posters were planned. There is also a small white and blue image next to the eighth spot. The texture itself is used on all of the windows outside of the marketplace area, and was likely left in due to the windows being identical in both versions.

Rainbow Road Early Screen

Early	Used

The computer screens in Rainbow Road have 8 frames of animation, but a 9th animation frame is present. This last frame is actually an early version of the first frame. The bar charts are all empty, the info boxes use solid lines instead of fake text, and the blue glow around the edges is missing. The Blooper shuttle is shown with different lighting and with a parallel projection, but the model itself appears to be the same. The space station is shown without any textures or background. It is possible that this was a stylistic choice and does not necessarily indicate that the image was made before texturing of the course was complete.

Title Screen Placeholder

A placeholder version of the default title screen image.

(Source: NWPlayer123)

Final Lap / Section 2 Board

Lakitu contains a texture showing a final lap or section 2 (hence the 2 is golden), but the final game always displays the 3/3 board for the last lap, no matter the number of total laps. However, during E3 2013, there were Mario Kart 8 demos in which people could try out Mario Kart 8 before its release - all races that were in the demo only had two laps, which required the use of this graphic.

Gu_Menu Test Texture

nasi_06_02

File:MarioKart8 Gu MenuRender.png

This is how Gu_Menu would look like.

The placeholder / internally used track Gu_Menu actually consists of a finite small plane on which karts are placed at race start, which is also correctly textured with a test texture. This texture is unseen when running the placeholder track in the game as no shader programs are included in the track to actually render the plane (or the skybox).

Unused/Test Items

Two Test Items

In the item slot table file ItemSlotTable.byaml, there are two test items called Test3 and Test4. Most likely, these items are holdovers (and serve the same lack of purpose) as the same-name items in Mario Kart 7#Test Items.

Lucky Seven in Mario Kart 8?

In the Item Slot Table file ItemSlotTable.byaml, in a Hex Editor, there's an item called Seven. It could just be a leftover for testing the Crazy 8 during development and they forgot to change the name.

Regional Differences

Like Mario Kart 7, many tracks and parts have name differences between versions:

Track Names

The names for tracks are mostly the same between Japanese and English, standard localization aside. Unlike with the vehicle parts, the only name differences between the American version and European version are a spelling changes (Toad Harbor to Toad Harbour) and punctuation changes.

Japanese	European	American
Sweets Canyon (スイーツキャニオン)	Sweet Sweet Canyon	Sweet Sweet Canyon
Toad Harbor (キノピオハーバー)	Toad Harbour	Toad Harbor
Shy Guy Mine (ヘイホーこうざん)	Shy Guy Falls	Shy Guy Falls
Dolphin Cape (ドルフィンみさき)	Dolphin Shoals	Dolphin Shoals
Electro Dream (エレクトロドリーム)	Electrodrome	Electrodrome
Wario Snow Mountain (ワリオスノーマウンテン)	Mount Wario	Mount Wario
Sky Garden (スカイガーデン)	Cloudtop Cruise	Cloudtop Cruise
Bone Bone Desert (ホネホネさばく)	Bone Dry Dunes	Bone-Dry Dunes
Koopa Castle (クッパキャッスル)	Bowser's Castle	Bowser's Castle
Excitebike (エキサイトバイク)	Excitebike Arena	Excitebike Arena
Dragon Road (ドラゴンロード)	Dragon Driftway	Dragon Driftway
Slippery Twister (ツルツルツイスター)	Ice Ice Outpost	Ice Ice Outpost
Nature Road (ネイチャーロード)	Wild Woods	Wild Woods
Doubutsu no Mori (どうぶつの森)	Animal Crossing	Animal Crossing
Ring Ring Metro (リンリンメトロ)	Super Bell Subway	Super Bell Subway

Retro tracks keep any name changes from the games they originated from. For example, Music Park is called Melody Motorway in the European version. For the Animal Crossing course, the Japanese version uses the game's Japanese title.

Retro Track Systems

Keeping with their Retro Track Naming traditions started in Mario Kart DS, there is a slight difference in the initials used to indicate which system a retro track originated from between the Japanese version and other versions.

Japanese	International
SFC	SNES
GC	GCN

Bodies

Japanese	European	American
Skeleton (スケルトン)	Pipe Frame	Pipe Frame
G Force (Ｇフォース)	Mach 8	Mach 8
Steel Diver (スティールダイバー)	Steel Driver	Steel Driver
Cat Classical (ネコクラシカル)	Cat Cruiser	Cat Cruiser
Turbo One (ターボ・ワン)	Circuit Special	Circuit Special
Tri-Mush (トライマッシュ)	Tri-Speeder	Tri-Speeder
Beat Demon (ビートデイモン)	Badwagon	Badwagon
Princess Coach (プリンセスコーチ)	Prancer	Prancer
Pata Tenten (パタテンテン)	Buggybud	Biddybuggy
Koopa Ship (クッパシップ)	Landship	Landship
Sneakart (スニーカート)	Bounder	Sneeker
Superstar (スーパースター)	Sports Coupé	Sports Coupe
Gold Kart (ゴールドカート)	Gold Kart	Gold Standard
Super Comet (スーパーコメット)	Comet	Comet
Mach GP (マッハＧＰ)	Sport Bike	Sport Bike
Maximum (マキシマム)	The Duke	The Duke
Burning Bowl (バーニングボウル)	Flame Rider	Flame Rider
Moto-Dozer (モト・ドーザー)	Varmint	Varmint
Soramame (そらまめ)	Mr Scooty	Mr. Scooty
Jet Rider (ジェットライダー)	Jet Bike	Jet Bike
Standard ATV (スタンダードＡＴＶ)	Standard Quad	Standard ATV
Hana-chan Buggy (ハナチャンバギー)	Wild Wiggler	Wild Wiggler
Kuma Ride (くまライド)	Teddy Buggy	Teddy Buggy
Tanuki Buggy (タヌキバギー)	Tanooki Kart	Tanooki Kart
B Dash (Ｂダッシュ)	B Dasher	B Dasher
Wakuwaku Beetle (わくわくビートル)	Streetle	Streetle
Kisekae Scooter (きせかえスクーター)	City Tripper	City Tripper
Bowser Trike (バウザートライク)	Bone Rattler	Bone Rattler

The Japanese version also calls this part a frame rather than a body.

Tires

Japanese	European	American
Normal Tire (ノーマルタイヤ)	Normal	Standard
Wild Tire (ワイルドタイヤ)	Monster	Monster
Roller Tire (ローラータイヤ)	Roller	Roller
Ring Tire (リングタイヤ)	Slim	Slim
Slick Tire (スリックタイヤ)	Slick	Slick
Metal Tire (メタルタイヤ)	Metal	Metal
Button Tire (ボタンタイヤ)	Button	Button
Block Tire (ブロックタイヤ)	Off-Road	Off-Road
Sponge Tire (スポンジタイヤ)	Sponge	Sponge
Wood Ring (ウッドリング)	Wooden	Wood
Cushion Tire (クッションタイヤ)	Cushion	Cushion
Normal Blue (ノーマルブルー	Normal Blue	Blue Standard
Wild Hot (ワイルドホット)	Funky Monster	Hot Monster
Sky Roller (スカイローラー)	Azure Roller	Azure Roller
Spicy Ring (スパイシーリング)	Crimson Slim	Crimson Slim
Cream Block (クリームブロック	Retro Off-Road	Retro Off-Road
Gold Tire (ゴールドタイヤ)	Gold Wheels	Gold Tires
GLA Tire (ＧＬＡタイヤ)	GLA Wheels	GLA Tires
Triforce Tire (トライフォースタイヤ)	Triforce Tyres	Triforce Tires
Leaf Tire (リーフタイヤ)	Leaf Tyres	Leaf Tires

The European version also calls this part a wheel rather than a tire.

Gliders

Japanese	English
Super Kite (スーパーカイト)	Super Glider
Billowing Balloon (もくもくバルーン)	Cloud Glider
Wario Kite (ワリオカイト)	Wario Wing
Zunguri Kite (ズングリカイト)	Waddle Wing
Flower Kite (フラワーカイト)	Flower Glider
Koopa Kite (クッパカイト)	Bowser Kite
Sailplane (セイルプレーン)	Plane Glider
Parafoil MKTV (パラフォイルＭＫＴＶ)	MKTV Parafoil
Gold Kite (ゴールドカイト)	Gold Glider
Hyrule Kite (ハイラルカイト)	Hylian Kite
Paper Airplane (かみひこうき)	Paper Glider

Other

There are also some regional differences in other parts of the game, like the menu text or chat macros, such as removing slang to make translation into different languages easier.

Text	European	American
200cc mode description	Super fast - braking is crucial!	CRAZY FAST! Braking is crucial.
Chat macro	So unfair!	Not fair!
Chat macro	I'm using motion controls!	I'm using tilt controls!
Chat macro	I'm heading off...	I'm outta here.
Chat macro	Thanks very much!	Thank you!
Chat macro	Good night!	Goodnight!

Version Differences

Version 2.0

The Version 2.0 update was released on August 27, 2014, and boasted the following features:

• Adds an in-game shop menu on the main start screen to purchase and download downloadable content.
• Adds a statistics menu accessible from the main start page, giving players access to the number of coins they’ve collected, win–loss record play, favorite courses and characters, number of boosts and super boosts, etc.
• Adds the ability to display a course minimap on the TV screen by pressing the minus ("-") button on the Wii U GamePad.
• Changes the default menu option after a race to whichever option was selected after the previous race (either “Next Race” or “Watch Highlight Reel”).
• Saves each player's most recent vehicle customization to system memory, restoring it even after the Wii U is powered down and rebooted.
• Increases the maximum player race or battle rating to 99,999 from 9,999.
• Improves stability for online races and battles, as well a number of other fixes for overall player enjoyment.

(Source: My Nintendo News)

This update also changed how rating points were distributed through online matches: the required placement to gain ranking points was raised significantly for players with a large rating advantage, possibly to arrest VR and BR inflation. (This change was effectively reversed in Version 3.0.)

As of 2.0, the "random" option in online matches no longer has a chance of selecting one of the three tracks up for election.

Version 3.0

The Version 3.0 update was released on November 13. This patch is required for online play.

• Adds DLC characters Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, and Link and courses from the Egg and Triforce Cups to online rotation, if DLC Pack 1 has been purchased. An option is provided to play online mode with downloadable courses or without, although no such feature is provided for downloadable characters.
• Preemptively implements amiibo functionality and adds the appropriate icon to the main menu (the first wave of amiibo would not be released until November 21). This feature allows players to unlock themed racing suits for Mii characters by placing a compatible figure on the Game Pad's NFC area. The Mii icon in the character select was updated to indicate this.
• Fixes balance issues and implements a number of other fixes for overall player enjoyment.

(Source: Nintendo Support)

This change reverted the online rating system to follow rules similar to Version 1.0, making it easier for high-rated players to gain points.

Version 4.0

The version 4.0 update was released on April 23, 2015.

• Adds DLC characters Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser, and courses from the Crossing and Bell Cups to online rotation if DLC Pack 2 has been purchased.
• Adds 200cc as a selectable class.
• Adds new amiibo-unlocked outfits for the Bowser, Sonic, Villager, Mega Man, Rosalina, and Toad amiibos, and preemptively adds outfits for the Olimar, Wario, and Pac-Man amiibos, which would be released later.
• More Miiverse stamps are included.

(Source: My Nintendo News)

Version 4.1

The version 4.1 update was released on May 1, and automatically unlocks the Mirror and 200cc classes if they weren't unlocked already, among other minor fixes.

Totaka's Song

To do: With all the locations found in the retail game and DLC Pack 1, there'll definitely be areas of interest in checking for DLC Pack 2, Animal Crossing track (K.K. Slider might be singing it), as well as the possibility that Villager and Isabelle may sing the song if sitting idle for long enough.

A short signature tune of Kazumi Totaka's, this tune is hidden in almost every game in which he has composed music for. Some tracks in the game feature Yoshis that cheer for the racers, and there is a chance one of them will be singing the song (as Totaka is also the voice of Yoshi). But to make it even harder to listen to, it is low in volume and easily drowned out by the background music, the Yoshis' animations and sounds are set randomly every race, and you cannot hear it in MKTV replays. You must actually be racing the course.

Track	Where it can be heard (Locations are set randomly)
GBA Mario Circuit	One of the Yoshis near the pitstop.
SNES Donut Plains 3	One of the Yoshis standing on blocks.
Sweet Sweet Canyon	One of the Yoshis at the starting area, or at the house just after the tracks merge.
GCN Yoshi Circuit (DLC Pack 1)	One of the Yoshis at the start or in the tunnel.
N64 Yoshi Valley	One of the cheering Yoshis along the fence at the start of the track.
GCN Baby Park (DLC Pack 2)	One of the cheering Yoshis along the edge or center of the track.
Super Bell Subway (DLC Pack 2)	One of the cheering Yoshis around the starting area.

Character Audio Filename Oddities

The audio for most of the characters is mainly comprised of recordings from earlier games. Characters such as Mario, Luigi, and Wario have cleaner recordings of their Mario Kart 64 voices, but mainly for boosting and tricks. Tanooki Mario, on the other hand, has recordings coming from a slew of Mario games, such as Super Mario Advance and Sunshine to name a few. The developers even included the source game in the name of each sound file where applicable: "Kart64" for Mario Kart 64, for example.

Internal Project Name

The game's executable is referred to as Turbo.rpx. Like Super Mario 3D World, it has files throughout the game data that also refer to the project name.

(Source: ItsEasyActually, Catley)