Mario Kart Wii/Oddities

This is a sub-page of Mario Kart Wii.

To do:

Get better images of everything. Maybe even in-game ones? Finish cleaning up this page and add lots of images, etc...
Add oddity on how the Miis portrait seen in places like the License Select Screen, the Time Trial Record thing, etc always use the Female Medium Mii's body model (/Scene/Model/MiiBody.szs -> /./ma_mii_f.brres), even though the other model variants are present in that file as well. Something similar happens with the Miis body model seen in the Online "Friends" screen (in this case the game only uses the Medium variants, but others are present there as well, and even have two animations leftover from the medium variants (stand.chr0 and wait.chr0).)
Add oddity on the characters' voices when picking a Team in multiplayer Team VS race/Battle.
Add how in some of the used music tracks (like o_FanfareMIlose_32.brstm), the "MI" part might stand for "Mission", in allegory to the early Mission Mode.
Add how some competitions/tournaments can actually save a ghost record in the save file and send it to the leaderboards.

Tracks

Luigi Circuit

Regular and Ending versions model differences

Normal	Sunset

For some reason, the version of Luigi Circuit used in the credits has a slightly different model than the normal one. The sunset version has a whopping 13 less triangles than the normal one.

Rankings Banner (Ending Version)

Sunset	Normal

At first glance it might seem that the tall pipe was originally red, but that's not the case, as we can see part of it through the fence and that half is still green. It turns out that the sunset banner of Luigi Circuit is actually just a poorly edited version of the normal banner, which we can see when we compare the two. Where the skybox meets the course has a weird red border, and the hills in the background are half gone.

Coconut Mall

Rainbow Boost Panel Pattern

Coconut Mall	All other courses

Coconut Mall is the only track where the boost panel's gradient is rainbow. Every other track uses the Pink/Red/Yellow gradient.

It is likely this is a leftover from earlier builds of the game, in which many of the courses used this same rainbow pattern. Another piece of evidence to support this is how Coconut Mall's rainbow pattern texture is named ef_rainbow.tex0, while it is named ef_rainbowRed2.tex0 in the rest of the tracks.

The boost arrow textures are also slightly different across Coconut Mall and the rest of the courses. In addition to this, in Coconut Mall they're named ef_arrowBump.tex0 and ef_arrowGrad.tex0 respectively, while in every other course they're named ef_arrowBumpS.tex0 and ef_arrowGradS.tex0.

Balloon's Codename

The balloon that appears inside the course is codenamed mii_balloon, despite no Miis (or Mii faces) ever appearing in said object.

DK Summit

Unusually Big AREA Object

AREAs are invisible regions in Mario Kart Wii where, when the player is in them, the game knows which camera to use for the replays and other things. For some reason, there is one on DK Summit that is massive, way bigger than the track itself.

Key Checkpoint 4 is missing.

Maple Treeway

ENPH Group 3 has no prev link.

Moonview Highway

Unusual Tire Objects

Just some wheels hanging out underneath Moonview Highway.

Bridge Collision Model Shape

Visual Model	Collision Model

The bridge has a very different shape in the collision compared to the visual model.

Bowser's Castle

Cannon sounds

Track slots that have cannons load up cannon sound effects from the revo_kart.brsar, and tracks that don't have cannons do not. Bowser's Castle loads the cannon sound effects even though there are no cannons on the track, suggesting that it had them earlier in development. Supporting this is the fact that course.0 had a cannon point.

Rainbow Road

GCN Peach Beach

Enemy routes 4, 5, 6 and 7 are exactly the same and duplicates of each other. ENPH Group 4 is missing a prev link.

N64 Mario Raceway

Unusually Long Invisible Wall

The walls on N64 Mario Raceway have invisible walls above them to prevent players from going over top of the walls, however on the U turn with the mushroom, the invisible wall just out a lot further than the brick wall.

Key checkpoint 3 is missing.

N64 Sherbet Land

MARIO KART Logo Texture Mapping Oddity

The finish line poles in N64 Sherbet Land don't have their own texture, instead borrowing from the "I" from the "MARIO KART" banner.

You can even see that the pole has a slight gradient to it:

DS Delfino Square

ENPH Group 7 has no prev link.

GCN Waluigi Stadium

Duplicated Item Boxes

GCN Waluigi Stadium has two item box objects placed in exactly the same coordinates (the top box over the first big jump). You can sometimes see them clipping through each other during gameplay.

SNES Mario Circuit 3

Key checkpoints 1 and 4 are missing.

GCN DK Mountain

Missing transparent transition

Mario Kart Wii	Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

When porting GCN DK Mountain to Mario Kart Wii, the developers seemed to have removed the transparent transition from rock to dirt from Double Dash!! making it look a lot more ugly. This occurs because the vertex colors that made up the transparent transition are missing (which is odd, since the rest of the track has pretty much the same vertex coloring as the original).

There are two key checkpoints with ID 2

Other

French Lap 3 Texture

For some reason, the French version of the "Lap 3" texture is stored in a palette format. All other HUD textures, no matter what language, are stored in an IA8 format instead.

Out-of-Bounds Button

There is a button that appears to have no text or properties tied to it just outside of the visible area of the menu.

Blank Text Entries

When online, the game shows the name of your country under your Mii when you join a room. For some reason, the text entries for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China are blank (but the game still tries to display them, there's just nothing to display)

Mii T-Pose Oversight

A very obscure oversight where if you are playing 2 player online and someone else in the lobby is using a Heavy Male Mii Outfit A on either the Wario Bike, the Shooting Star or the Phantom, then their Mii will be constantly in a T-Pose. The reason this happens is because Nintendo seems to have forgotten to put the Mii in the sitting back position in files le_bike-la_mii_m_4.szs, lb_bike-la_mii_m_4.szs, and lc_bike-la_mii_m_4.szs. This does not happen when you play as a Mii, and it doesn't appear anywhere else in the game because Mario Kart Wii loads higher quality versions of those files for offline play and single player modes (and these files don't have this oversight). If CPU racers were allowed to use Miis, then it would be possible to view this in 4 players multiplayer too.

Donkey Kong's feet texture mapping oversight

On the character selection screen (as well as in the Award Ceremony), looking closely at Donkey Kong's innermost toes shows a red texture resembling painted nails (left: normal view, middle: zoomed in). This is actually a texture mapping error that applies Donkey Kong's mouth texture to his feet (right). This is a leftover oversight from Double Dash!!, and the model used for single player gameplay fixed this.

(Source: Supper Mario Broth)

Miis Facing the Camera

To do:
It seems Miis do look at the camera even on 3/4 player modes. However, they barely turn their heads, hence why it looks like they're not looking at all.

Regular	3 player Local Multiplayer

Miis are the only characters in the game that face the camera when a race is over, as well as in the after-race and replay cameras, when it's close enough to them. However, this is not true for 3/4 player Local Multiplayer, as well as for 2 player Online mode. In fact, in online play, when looking at a Mii character on Live view, it won't face the camera either. Additionally, Miis do not look at the camera when a competition/tournament is over.

3rd Battle Balloon

The backmodel when in the battle menu normally shows two balloons and a coin, but previously it might have been meant to just show 3 balloons. There is a 3rd tiny balloon located in the same place as the coin. It is still visible in game but so small that no one would ever see it due to the low resolution of the Wii.

Additional German Text

German	Other Languages

Only in the German language version of the game, text is displayed in the bottom right while the track roulette is spinning. "Das Roulette entscheidet..." roughly translates to "The Roulette is Deciding...". In every other language in Mario Kart Wii, this text is left blank.

Ending Screen Mii Oversight

Regular	Fixed

In the ending screens, the Mii's body incorrectly has a transparent square located in its chest, roughly in the place for the "M" graphic. While the actual reason behind this behaviour is still unclear, it seems to happen because the associated model (found in /Scene/UI/MenuOther.szs -> /./ma_mii_m.brres / /./ma_mii_f.brres for Male / Female Miis respectively) has a square (polygon1) placed behind it in said position, which uses a material named dummy and also uses a placeholder texture seen here. Changing the material used by this polygon to other, like for example, ma_mii_all / lambert6 (the material used by the Mii's body for Male / Female Miis respectively in this particular model) will fix this.

Obscure sound effect

A few of the now unused competitions/tournaments could only be played using the Wii Wheel / Wii Remote. Because of this, a confirmation screen, exclusive to this mode, can be seen right before starting. If the player connects any controller other than the Wii Wheel / Wii Remote and attemps to use it by pressing A, a unique sequenced sound effect, named SE_UI_CTRL_REJECT, can be heard. This is the only instance of this sound effect ever being able to be played in the game.

Rare Mario Voice Clip

In one of Mario's Title Screen images (when the game is completed), Mario has a voice clip assigned to it, with him quickly saying ma-ma-Mario Kart. While not unused, this sound plays very rarely. This is actually an edited version of Mario saying Mario Kart in the Mario Kart Channel's banner.

It can be heard in this video.

Game's font origin

The propietary text font files the game uses are stored in /Scene/UI/Font.szs. Among the files in that archive, there's one, named tt_kart_font_rodan_ntlg_pro_b.brfnt whose filename indicates the game's font origin: RodinNTLGPro-B, made by FontWorks Japan in 2003.

Unseen White Square

In the course selection screen videos that are used when the player has not selected a cup in the course selection screen (/thp/course/cup_select.thp and /thp/battle/battle_cup_select.thp), there is a white square at the very bottom of the video that moves from left to right when the video switches to the following course.

This is actually used to highlight the text corresponding to each course shown, which explains its movement.

Opaque Screen Footer

Most of the menus	Top 10 Rankings screen

Normally, the squared pattern seen at the bottom right part of the screen is semi-transparent. However, a few menus actually show it opaque (such as the Top 10 rankings screen), despite the graphic being stored with transparency in the files. This could also be seen in many prerelease screenshots, such as this one.

CPU racers driving backwards in the ending sequence

When the ending sequence in Luigi Circuit is almost over, the CPU racers will start going backwards when reaching the first curve of the course (although the player's character continues to drive in the correct route). This is not seen in regular gameplay, as the camera points upward when this happens.

Absent CPU racers' tagnames in Grand Prix

For some reason or another, the tagnames that show the CPU racers' names in VS. Race do not appear in Grand Prix mode.

Dry Bones's Standard Kart S Body Texture Versions

Vehicle Selection Screen	Gameplay

In the vehicle selection screen (as well as in an official render), Dry Bones's Standard Kart S has the line in front of the vehicle in white, while in gameplay, it is black. In addition, much of the yellow line that appears in the sides of the kart has been covered in black in the version used in gameplay.

Home Menu Banner Logo Flash

Ripped Texture	Screenshot

The flash logo texture used in the Home Menu banner always uses the Japanese version of the logo, despite the language or version of the game that is inserted, as the Japanese name can be seen blurred. As a matter of fact, the banner in all versions of the game (except the Korean one) contains both the international and Japanese versions of the logo.

Home Menu Banner Item Codenames

The items seen in the Home Menu banner are named P_bike_X and P_kart_X (with X = a number from 0 to 5), depending on the item. This implies kart and bike icons would have originally appeared here, much like in the Home Menu version of the Mario Kart Channel.

These don't seem to be simple leftovers from the aforementioned version either, as the vehicle icons in there are named differently: kartX_Y (where X = 1 or 2, and Y = a number from 00 to 35).

Misspelled name

In the credits of the game, Mercedes Rose (who voiced Rosalina) has her name misspelled as "Mercedez Rose".

Untranslated Character Names

In the American French and Spanish translations, the character names were not translated from English, unlike in the European version.