Proto:Super Mario Kart/mkart

This is a sub-page of Proto:Super Mario Kart.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Music, graphics, maps, more.

A prototype of Super Mario Kart was discovered in July 2020, dated April 13, 1992.

To get the ROM working, change FF FF FF FF FF to 30 05 09 01 00 at 0x7FD5 to correct the header.

To get Vanilla Lake 1 working, use Pro Action Replay code 01FB4729. However, other tracks will crash if this code is activated.

General Differences

• The 150cc class is not present. (Can not be unlocked either).
• The Special Cup is unlocked from the start.
• All trophies for 50cc and 100cc are obtained from the start.
• Almost all of the text is different.
• Coins and Boos don't appear in the item roulette
• Lightnings appear in the item roulette, but can't be accessed, even with the debug mode.
• The Bullet Bill appears as a green shell.

Controls

• Hopping is not possible.
• Slight Drifts (Hopping and then holding Left/Right) are not possible.
• Sharp Drifts (Holding L/R while drifting) are slightly buggy and can slow you down.
• Bananas can't be thrown forward and shells can't be dropped.
• Driving out of the water gives you a big jump with a speed boost.
• Going into a pipe with a star makes you feather jump, instead of knocking the pipe over.

Graphical Differences

Characters

Prototype
Final

Several character sprites received minor tweaks. Also, Luigi doesn't use Mario's body graphics like in the final.

Prototype
Final

Peach and DK JR's ranking icons were redrawn.

Audio Differences

Here's the cheat to manipulate the audio: 000e0a:XX (change XX to any value). Enable the code, the game will go silent, and then disable the code. The song or sound effect will play.

Title Screen

Prototype	Final

The early title screen music is slower and softer in sound compared to the more upbeat final version.

Select Screen

Prototype	Final

The lead instrument is slightly different.

Race Start

Prototype	Final

Peach/Yoshi's kart engine is in a higher pitch.

Battle Mode

Prototype	Final

An early version of what will eventually be the music for the 2P Battle Mode, with slightly different instrumentation and no intro. This doesn't actually play in the Battle Mode at this point, but rather in Ghost Valley, Bowser Castle, and Mario Circuit.

Donut Plains

Prototype	Final

The music is in a different key than the final version.

Vanilla Lake

Prototype	Final

An entirely different song played during Vanilla Lake. Oddly enough, it's different from the other Vanilla Lake theme shown in an undumped Super Mario Kart prototype.

Star Theme

Prototype	Final

An early version of the star theme, which seems to be mostly the same except for the main instrument used.

Mario's Theme

Prototype	Final

Mario's ranking theme has lighter bass.

Peach's Theme

Prototype	Final

Opposite of Mario, Peach's ranking theme was heavier on the bass and uses a guitar sample not present in the final game's sample set.

Yoshi's Theme

Prototype	Final

Yoshi's theme uses a loud, shrill instrument, is slower, and lacks the "Yoshi!" sound.

Toad's Theme

Prototype	Final

Toad's theme is slower and lighter on bass.

DK JR's Theme

Prototype	Final

DK JR's theme uses an entirely different melody.

Koopa Troopa's Theme

Prototype	Final

Koopa Troopa's theme lacks the piano.

2nd-4th Place Ranking

Prototype	Final

The track for placing 2nd-4th in a race is different.

Coin

Prototype	Final

The coin sound was taken from Super Mario World and was later changed to a more unique rendition.

Title Screen

Prototype	Final (Japan)

Mario’s mouth is closed on the prototype title screen. Aside from that, it’s pretty much identical to the final Japanese version.

Debug Features

At the title screen, some debug features can be used by pressing a certain combination of buttons. These features are very buggy and read the menu choices (class, mode, driver and track) that were selected before, so the game may crash or give different results when using them.

Press Select and one of the following buttons on the title screen to access a debug feature:

Select + R

Loads a track selection screen. It uses a variant of the Time Trials one and Mario is set by default as the character for the player. If the player didn't access at least one track in Time Trials mode before (using the main menu), the selected track crashes as soon Lakitu's countdown finishes or when one of the players starts to accelerate (it may glitch and allow another player to participate).

When battle mode was accessed before, the game will send you to the battle arena selection instead.

Final choice before starting the race

Track Select	Time Trials

Select + Y

Starts a Match Race with the last selected drivers and track, when Match Race was selected before.

When Battle Mode was played before, it will start a battle.

By default it will start a glitched Match Race on Mario Circuit 3 that makes the game crash when it finishes, with Mario (Player 1) against an invisible character (presumably Luigi) for Player 2. The screen is almost blackened because the game is put in a "game over" state, but the players can move and sometimes even Mario can be invisible.

Any other mode, that was selected before, will crash the game or starts a 1-Player solo race that crashes the game as soon the start countdown finishes.

Select + B

Starts a Grand Prix with the last selected driver and cup. The Mushroom Cup with Mario set as character for the Player 1 will load by default.

When battle mode was played before, it will start with a glitched battle mode on the first track of the last selected Cup. When the battle is completed and you go to the driver or track selection, everything will be set back to normal battle mode.

When a Grand Prix in the 2 Player Game was played before, it will start a 2-Player Grand Prix instead of a 1-Player one.

If Match Race was the last choice, the game will crash.

Select + X

After the screen becomes black, the game softlocks or crashes.

Select + Start

Same as above. In later prototype builds it will load a Debug Menu.

Any other button combination won't do anything.

Select Screen

Prototype	Final

Everyone except Mario, Yoshi and Toad were rearranged.

Prototype	Final

An orange border and a heading with the selected cc class was later added to the cup selection. All trophies are obtained from the start.

Track List

The tracks are in a different order than the final game and the later prototypes, and some have different layouts. To make up for the prototype lacking Rainbow Road, there is instead a third Choco Island course.

Prototype	Final
Mushroom Cup
Donut Plains 1	Mario Circuit 1
Choco Island 1	Donut Plains 1
Ghost Valley 1	Ghost Valley 1
Bowser Castle 1	Bowser Castle 1
Mario Circuit 1	Mario Circuit 2
Flower Cup
Koopa Beach 1	Choco Island 1
Choco Island 2	Ghost Valley 2
Donut Plains 2	Donut Plains 2
Bowser Castle 2	Bowser Castle 2
Mario Circuit 2	Mario Circuit 3
Star Cup
Ghost Valley 2	Koopa Beach 1
Vanilla Lake 1	Choco Island 2
Donut Plains 3	Vanilla Lake 1
Bowser Castle 3	Bowser Castle 3
Mario Circuit 3	Mario Circuit 4
Special Cup
Vanilla Lake 2	Donut Plains 3
Koopa Beach 2	Koopa Beach 2
Choco Island 3	Ghost Valley 3
Ghost Valley 3	Vanilla Lake 2
Mario Circuit 4	Rainbow Road

Track Differences

Note that when playing in Grand Prix some tracks have their objects (like pipes, thwomps and monty moles) in a different position or are lacking them completely. When playing the tracks in Time Trial or Match Race the objects will appear in their correct position.

Donut Plains

Donut Plains 1

The road at the bottom is straight and littered with Monty moles, rather than the large bending road in the final.

Proto	Final

Donut Plains 2

There is a diverging road that passes through the lake, as well as a straight path at the bottom of the track.

Proto	Final

Donut Plains 3

Top right is a much narrower bending road than the final game's. Furthermore, the bridge is shorter. After the bend following the bridge, the path is straight, rather than bending like the final. The bottom right turn is much wider, and then the road is a straight, narrow path, as opposed to bending like the final version. There are substantially more Monty Moles at the bottom right of the course.

Proto	Final

Choco Island

Choco Island 1

There is no mud located at the bottom of the track and there are no bumps on the top.

Proto	Final

Choco Island 2

The big mud puddle is split up into smaller sections of offroad.

Proto	Final

Ghost Valley

Ghost Valley 1

The layout is identical, but coins, ramps and ? blocks are in a different position and some tiles on the edge of the track are missing.

Proto	Final

Ghost Valley 2

Apart from a different number of objects and their position being different, many tiles on the edge are not present. The track is colored uniformly rather than having a dark-colored part.

Proto	Final

Ghost Valley 3

Coins and ? blocks are in a different position and there are fewer of them compared to the final version. The shortcut is absent.

Proto	Final

Bowser Castle

Bowser Castle 1

The arrows are positioned differently and there are more zippers and less ? blocks. The coin formation is wave-shaped instead of being crown-shaped like in the final version and there are no coin lines scattered through the course.

Proto	Final

Bowser Castle 2

An additional STOP is placed halfway through the track.

Proto	Final

Bowser Castle 3

An additional platform can be found to the left side of the track, and as a result, the platform following the previous platform's ramp is wider. This prototype also contains a STOP that is not present in the final version.

Proto	Final

Vanilla Lake

Vanilla Lake 1

The middle is an inverted T-shaped rather than the final's large box. This results in a wider road near the starting line and on the right side of the track. Additionally, there are 3 barriers located on the right side of the track, rather than the final's 1. Exposed water was added in the final version, as it's absent in this version.

Proto	Final

Vanilla Lake 2

Ice blocks on left are together, forming one giant block. In the final, they are separated into 3 groups.

Proto	Final

Koopa Beach

Koopa Beach 1

A zipper, not present in the final version, can be found. A lonely coin can be found on the top-right part of the map, probably left here by mistake.

Proto	Final

Koopa Beach 2

The barrier on bottom left is horizontal, rather than diagonal like in the final version. The ? block near the center of the track was removed in the final version.

Proto	Final

Mario Circuit

Mario Circuit 1

It contains an oil slick that was removed in the final version.

Proto	Final

Mario Circuit 2

The objects are arranged differently and more coins were added in the final version. After the zippers, only one ramp can be found.

Proto	Final

Mario Circuit 3

The coins and item panels have been moved and there are no oil slicks.

Proto	Final

Mario Circuit 4

The oil slick and coins were moved, the wall after the second turn is thinner. A misplaced coin can be found in the top-center part of the track.

Proto	Final

Battle Course Differences

Battle Course 1

Equivalent to Final's Battle Course 4. Prototype has a Donut Plains theme, rather than Mario Circuit.

Proto Battle Course 1	Final Battle Course 4

Battle Course 2

No direct equivalent in the Final version. However, the ice box in the center would be used for Final Battle Course 3, as both share Vanilla Lake Theming. There are 2 larger ice boxes that enclose the battle course. There are three barriers in each corner of the Battle course, similar to the Final Battle Course 1's 2 barriers in each corner.

Proto

Battle Course 3

Takes place on Choco Island as opposed to Vanilla Lake in the final Battle Course 3. All vertical barriers are turned into ice in the final, with the exception of 4 larger barriers which were removed entirely in the final. Diagonal ice blocks have no equivalent in the prototype. Ramps also are scattered throughout, unlike the final.

Proto

Battle Course 4

Equivalent to Final Battle Course 2

Cut Track

Choco Island 3

Unique course layout not seen in the final. Replaced by Rainbow Road.

It has a few similarities with Choco Island 2, notably the similar routing with almost the same starting position and the idea of the curve with the shortcut through the mud after the starting line (although the curve is longer, which makes it faster to use the shortcut without an item instead of driving the curve along).

This track is known as dart01 and D1 in the source files, so this may be the first Choco Island track to be created.

Proto