Prerelease:Mario Kart Wii

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Mario Kart Wii.

To do: This needs to be organised better, with the screenshots sorted by date/event and a development timeline added. Add references for the Development Timeline section. Also add sources and references for all prerelease images. This image seems to contain slightly different positions for the TIME and LAP graphics? Same here? Document how in some of the videos in the /thp directory the inside drifting bikes slightly slip when starting a drift (this is also similar to how Mario's Mach Bike seems to drift in the Fall Press Conference 2007 video.) Add how the GCN DK Mountain rankings banner has the "Donkey Cannon" text instead of "DK Cannon" like in the final version. In GCN Waluigi Stadium's ranking course banner, Mario on the Standard Kart M can be seen in one of the course's TVs.

Development Timeline

• 2005
  • Konno-san decides to name the new Mario Kart game "Mario Kart X"
• 2006
  • Near the end of 2006 - Ashida-san gets a call from Konno-san, telling him that he was thinking about making a steering wheel for the Wii.
• 2007
  • Early 2007 - Konno-san plays a pre-production build of Mario Kart Wii with the Prototype Wheel, and thinks that it has potential.
  • July 11 - Mario Kart Wii was officially announced by Reggie Fils-Aime at Nintendo's E3 press conference, showing this trailer.
  • August 30 - Course.0 was created.
  • October 10 - Nintendo had their Fall Press Conference in which they revealed Motorbikes and the Wii Wheel.
• 2008
  • February 19-29 - Ghost metadata confirms that the games staff ghosts were created during this period. This means that the physics engine and track design were final as well.
  • March 13 - Mario Kart Channel metadata confirms that the final build of the 3 main versions of Mario Kart Wii was created.
  • April 3 - Kart Wii Iwata Asks was released.
  • April 10 - Mario Kart Wii released in Japan.
  • April 11 - Mario Kart Wii released in Europe.
  • April 27 - Mario Kart Wii released in the Americas.
  • July 11 - Mario Kart Channel metadata confirms that the final build of the Korean version of Mario Kart Wii was created.
• 2009
  • April 30 - Mario Kart Wii released in South Korea.
• 2011
  • January 27 - Konno reveals that Nintendo used a special build of Mario Kart Wii to test the 3D effect on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS.
• 2014
  • February 27 - Nintendo announces the termination of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection will take place on May 20, 2014.
  • May 20 - Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is terminated, and all online functions of Mario Kart Wii no longer work.

Concept Art

To do: Translate the rest of the text, and compare the text in the game screenshots to that of the final game

Early Concept Art for Luigi Circuit shows that there was originally a Blooper Blimp as well as a Cheep Cheep Blimp.

Dry Dry Ruins's Concept Art shows that the track almost completely changed during development. The oasis is much larger in this version, and the ruins themselves have a sort of "Boobytrapped" vibe. Mii Heads were planned to appear on a bunch of objects (The sphynx, mummy statues, wall paintings and some thwomp like object). But in the final game, the only place a Mii could appear was on the sphynx's head.

Concept art for several bikes. There are early designs for the スーパーカメック (Sūpā Kameku, translated to Super Kamek) which would end up being the Magikruiser in the final game, and the Quacker. The two scrapped bikes were based off of a MechaKoopa, called the メカクッパ DX (mekakuppa DX, translated to Mechakoopa DX), and a bike based off of Lakitu's cloud.

Trailers

E3 2007 Footage

This is the first and only video of E3 footage, there are a bit of differences from this to the final.

• The item box is in the top left corner, and is longer in length.
• The number that tells you what place you're in has no "st," "rd," or "th" at the end.
• Whenever you did a trick, your character did not do an animation, and their vehicle simply spun around.
• No effects around the vehicle when you did a trick.
• The icons in the item bar were different, and replicate the ones from Mario Kart DS.
• Luigi's animation when he lands an attack is different.
• Yoshi's animation where steering his kart is different.
• The flames from the exhaust used to have a more detailed appearance.
• The icon for the flower cup is very different.
• The lap counter is on the bottom right.
• The cows in Moo Moo Meadows were faster.
• There are less details on the wall of the cave in Mushroom Gorge.
• One of the brown walls on Mario Circuit is missing.
• Luigi Circuit's skybox seems to be the same as the one seen on GCN Mario Circuit, albeit with the texture flipped horizontally.

Fall Press Conference 2007 Footage

This is the footage from the Fall Press Conference of 2007, only changes that were not known in the E3 video will be mentioned.

• The engine sounds are from Mario Kart DS.
• There was a wall bonk sound effect when going off of half pipes (probably a glitch).
• The camera worked differently when on a half pipe.
• Half pipes looked different, and the color would transition from red to blue.
• The fences on DK Summit were blue instead of red.
• Tricking had no sound effects.
• Wheelies had no visual effect.

The most interesting thing is DK Summit, as this seems to be a totally different version, unlike Mario Circuit which is pretty much identical to the final one.

February 2008 Trailer

• The trick sound effect is now present, but it sounds different to the final one.
• Some of Yoshi's animations are missing.

Trailer (Date Unknown)

• At 0:38 the bullet has a different smoke effect, looks more like the one from Mario Kart DS.

Trailer 2 (Date Unknown)

• At 2:41 the sound that a friend has an open room is lower pitched.
• At 2:49 we can see early icons and banners for the Mario Kart Channel. The question mark icon is still present in the final game's data.

Images

These are all screenshots of pre-release versions of the game, presumably distributed by Nintendo to various news sites.

Early Wii Wheel Icon

The player in 10th place seems to have an early icon for the Wii Wheel next to his name, which can still be found inside the final game's data.

Early License Screen

To do: /Scene/UI/Title.szs contains a file called national_flag.brlyt inside the folders ./button/brlyt, which could potentially be related to these country flags. In the same file, in the subdirectory ./button/ctrl, there are three files named LicenseSelect.brctr, LicenseSelectT.brctr and LicenseSelectB.brctr that reference the national_flag.brlyt file. Could it be restored in-game? Write the rest of the differences.

Prerelease	Final

• Licenses used to display your country flag on them. The file Title.szs in /Scene/UI (which stores graphical data for the Title and Main Menu screens) in the final release still contains all the country flags images that appear in the game, which is a leftover from this build.
• In the final game, the Mushroom Cup icon was updated to use Mario Kart Wii's icon as opposed to Mario Kart: Double Dash's, although the final game still uses Double Dash's star icon on the license screen.
• The lighting on the Mii's head was noticeably darker.

Early DK Summit Rings Competition

This screenshot shows an early version of the DK Summit Rings competition. The final version has you starting at the top of the mountain, while this version had you starting at the bottom. The ring positions are also different.

The timer is also seen counting down instead of up like it does in the final game, which is a behaviour seen in the unused Mission Mode.

The "SCORE" HUD Element is also missing, and the ring symbols on the minimap look different.

Early SNES Mario Circuit 3 Coins Competition

The coins are in different positions in this version compared to the final. The timer also seems to be counting down instead of up, like in the previous case. This would suggest that both these images are from the early Mission Mode, rather than the online competitions/tournaments, which would also suggest that the aforementioned mode was cut very late in development.

The "SCORE" HUD Element is also missing.

Early Wario's Gold Mine

Prerelease	Final

This screenshot has several unused things. The HUD is completely different, featuring early item icons. The flame coming out of Wario's exhaust is purple, when it is orange in the final game. The "Super Wario" sign is also different, as the one in the early versions seems to be an edited version of a sign from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Darker Mii Icon Shading

The Mii's icon on the minimap shows that it had way darker shading, much like on the license screen.

Multiplayer HUD Differences

Tthe position tracker in 4 player splitscreen didnt change colors to match the player (however, the screenshot also show that the Timer and Lap Count, as well as the item roulette did change color)

It also shows that the black bars that divided the screen into 4 used to be layered on top of the minimap, where in the final game the minimap was layered on top of the black bars.

Luigi's icon next to his name is a lot bigger in this screenshot, and the lines pointing out other human players aren't color coded. In fact, this texture is actually present (but unused) in the final game's files.

Team Mode Differences

The lines that appear under the player's name in Team Mode originally remained white for everyone (rather than becoming red/blue to indicate that players team)

The red halos that appear around Mario's triple red shells appear more pink than in the final game.

Early Friend Icon

The friend online icon looked a bit different. In addition, the Miis' heads are more zoomed in.

Early Leaderboard HUD

In the final game, Miis on this screen do not have shadows, the B button also uses an old version of the icon.

Early Time Trial Card

• The vehicle slot features the Mach Bike icon that can be seen on the Mario Kart Channel's channel preview, which suggests that all the icons seen there originally were meant to appear in the Time Trial Card.
• The Mii's head is more zoomed in.
• The name box and the flag box were switched.

Early Online HUD

Prerelease	Final

In the prerelease version, the globe isn't as zoomed in, the row of Mii heads in bubbles isn't as high, and the text saying what mode it is is absent.

Early Luigi Circuit

This is interesting because it seems to be an old version of Luigi Circuit, presumably from the E3 2007 build.

• The ramp is completely different.
• The boost panels are different.
• The "Sunshine Parts" billboard on the left was changed to a "Luigi Circuit" one.
• The "Mario Kart" logos next to the hat on the stands were changed to "Nintendo" logos.
• The "Mario Kart" sign on the mushroom on the right was changed to "Luigi Kart".
• The white fences beneath the trees on the right were changed to be digital and have arrows on them.
• Billboards were added on top of the buildings in the centre of the track.
• DK's Standard Kart has an early design.
• Luigi's Classic Dragster has blue wheels in the prerelease. (final version for comparison)

Early Offroader

Prerelease	Final

Waluigi's Offroader was originally supposed to be more blue rather than purple. He and Wario are also missing the flag that appears in the final.

Early Yoshi's Wild Wing

Prerelease	Final

Yoshi's Wild Wing originally had a blue stripe in the lower side of the body. This was changed to green in the final version of the game.

Early Wario Design

Wario originally had long sleeves, just like in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. In the final game, he has short sleeves instead. Curiously, his low-poly model still has long sleeves.

Early DK Summit Billboards

Prerelease	Final

Everything is exactly the same as the final apart from the billboards, which are completely different.

Early Coconut Mall

Coconut Mall has a few tiny changes:

• The umbrella table up on the ledge (between the red and yellow flowers) is not there in the final.
• There seem to be weird white squares right next to it, these seem to be placeholders for the 2D Miis in the final, since they're placed where the Miis in the final are.

Course Banners

The game has a little banner for each course that it displays when viewing the time trial rankings of that course, but these images seem to have been taken on earlier versions of the tracks, because we can see some differences.

GCN Cookie Land

The final version removed the 2 item boxes that could be found between the pink and green jelly (and presumably the other long jellies too)

Moo Moo Meadows

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

The cows on the right used to be 2D, but are 3D in the final game.

Mushroom Gorge

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

The flowers on the left seem to be orange instead of pink like in the final game. Note that it seems that the flowers are still orange in the multiplayer version of the track, as seen in the screenshot below, just not the single player version for some reason.

DK Summit

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

In this image, DK summit still has its old billboards, which can also be seen in a prerelease screenshot.

Wario's Gold Mine

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

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

Luigi Circuit

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

Some signs on the top of the further building in the center of the track have changed.

Daisy Circuit

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

The fence that protects the audience on Daisy Circuit was changed, probably because originally it looked like it was supposed to be guarding a prison. The banners were removed from the lamp posts, the umbrella colours were changed, and the shadows on the buildings are a lot less dark in the final.

Rainbow Road

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

Rainbow Road originally had a different looking skybox and cannon. The floating starbits near the halfpipe are missing, and the boost panel a litte after the halfpipe is also missing. We can see what seem to be asteroids barely peeping out over the first downhill, but these seem to be more brown, whereas in the final game they are grey.

Dry Dry Ruins

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

In this image, the two statues on part of the road are completely gone, and two billboards in the far background have been changed. There is also an extra palm tree.

Koopa Cape

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

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

N64 Mario Raceway

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

There originally was a piranha plant near the first turn.

N64 DK's Jungle Parkway

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

The arrows on the signs were originally red instead of blue.

GBA Shy Guy Beach

MK Channel Banner	Final Track

Originally had fewer palm trees and umbrellas.

Luigi Circuit Sunset Oddity

Sunset	Normal

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

Luigi Circuit's 3rd Version

The picture that you receive at the end of the game depicts all the characters standing on a podium on Luigi Circuit, but the track itself has some discrepancies from both the final version and the version seen in the pre-release screenshots and the early banner. For some reason here, the signs have became "Mario Kart" signs instead of Nintendo ones, and the Luigi hat is missing. This particular version of the track can also be seen from another angle in this promo poster.

Final Game	Credits Image

In-game Videos

Some of the videos seen through the game contain footage for an earlier version of the game, with some subtle differences. All of these videos can be found in the /thp directory.

/title/top_menu.thp

The Miis seem to have flatter shading than in the final game. In addition, the Top 10 graphic has the circle outline in yellow instead of blue (with the background circle also having a bit more detail than the final) and it does not have the "0" from the "10" number.

/button/single_top.thp

Headless Miis

In the Time Trial section of the video, the Miis behind the circuit's walls are headless.

/button/class_top.thp

Early Vehicles

In the buttons for 150cc and Mirror Mode in the Grand Prix class selection screen, the early Bullet Bike, as well as the early Wario Bike, can be seen.

/battle/battle_wii.thp and /battle/battle_cup_select.thp

Early Funky Stadium texture

In the course selection screen videos, the one for Funky Stadium shows a darker texture for the circular dirt paths.

/course/star.thp

Unused Koopa Cape Shell Flags

In the course selection screen videos, the one for Koopa Cape shows three unused flag objects on top of the big green shell.

/ending/ending_normal.thp

Racers apparition

In Koopa Troopa's segment in DS Yoshi Falls, Yoshi and Rosalina suddenly appear out of nowhere (this is more apparent when comparing frame 2641 and 2642 of the video).

Misplaced Exhaust Pipe Fire

The fire that comes from the exhaust pipes is mispositioned in some vehicles.

Wario Bike

The fire is on a noticeable lower position than in the final. In ending_true.thp, it has the correct placement.

/ending/ending_true.thp

2 Marios

Oddly enough, two Marios can be seen for a few frames at the beginning of Mario's segment in Moonview Highway.

Misplaced Exhaust Pipe Fire

The fire that comes from the exhaust pipes is mispositioned in some vehicles.

Flame Flyer

The fire is on a noticeable lower position than in the final.

Dolphin Dasher

The fire is further from the exhaust pipes.

Shooting Star

Although hard to notice in the above picture, the fire here is located in the center of the vehicle on its inside. It is very likely this is due to the developers not setting up the exhaust pipes' properties for this vehicle before making the video, given how by modifying the game to change the fire's position to 0 (the default position) replicates this behaviour.