Super Mario Kart

Super Mario Kart
Developer: Nintendo EAD Publisher: Nintendo Platform: SNES Released in JP: August 27, 1992 Released in US: September 1, 1992 Released in EU: November 21, 1992 This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

Super Mario Kart ist ein verrücktes Rennspiel für das SNES mit Mario, Luigi, Yoshi und noch vielen weiteren Charakteren aus dem Mario-Universum. Dies war der Beginn der Mario Kart Serie und startete den begehrten "Mascot Racer"-Trend.

Debug Mode

Es gibt viele Debug-Commands, die man mit dem Pro Action Replay-Code 7E1F06?? einsetzten kann. Dabei steht "??" für Folgendes :

• 04 - Der L-Knopf setzt dich in die letzte Runde.
• 08 - Spielabsturz, wenn man ein Rennen startet.
• 10 - Item Debugger. Verschiedene Knöpfe lassen dich verschiedene Items sofort einsetzen.
  • L - Grüner Panzer
  • R - Roter Panzer
  • A - Pilz
  • X - Stern
  • Y - Feder
  • Select - Banane
  • Y + Runter - Blitz
  • Y + Hoch - Geist
• 40 - Das Rennen startet sofort.
• 80 - CPU-Auslastung wird angezeigt.

Man kann mehrere Kommandos auf einmal aktivieren, wenn man bestimmte Zahlen zusammen eingibt (wenn man z.B. 14 in der Stelle von "??" eingibt kann man mit L in die letzte Runde und gleichzeitig den Item-Debugger aktivieren).

Regionale Unterschiede

In der japanischen Version haben Bowser und Toadstool eine Animation in der Siegerehrung, wo sie Champagner trinken. Doch damals verbieteten die Richtlinien von Nintendo of America Darstellungen von Drinken in Videospielen, und so wurden diese Animationen entsprechend verändert.

Mario Circuit Unused Block

This block can be found in the tileset from the Mario Circuit courses. It acts like road and not like a normal block if placed on a course with an editor.

Rainbow Road Unused Coin

An alternate version of the coin from Rainbow Road, which act as road and not like a normal coin.

It can also be found in the source files, where it was in place of the coin graphic in early tilesets.

Interestingly, this is found at the beginning of the tileset among the main track's graphics, while the objects such as item fields, jump bars and the normal coin itself are always at the end of the tileset, so it may be something different and part of the main track. Or it was just kept there by mistake.

It also has some shining on it, unlike the used coin.

(Source: Louis Miles)

Unused Tile Features

Loaded within every track theme are the graphics for Item Fields, Coins, Zippers, but also the Oil Slick can be found there. They use their own unique pallette, which is different for each track theme, to fit the tracks.

Oil Slick

The Oil Slick is loaded within every track theme, however it is only used in Mario Circuit tracks. Its palette is altered for each track theme to fit the tracks (except Rainbow Road).

There is also some extra detail around the Oil Slick, which looks like dirt, meant to fit Donut Plains or Choco Island. This can not be seen in the Mario Circuit theme, because the dirt uses the same colour as the road.

Tilesets are in this order: Donut Plains, Ghost Valley, Bowser's Castle, Choco Island, Koopa Beach, Vanilla Lake and Rainbow Road.

The Choco Island oil slick can be seen in the April prototype where it's placed in every Choco Island track.

(Source: Louis Miles)

Zipper

Just like the Oil Slick, the Zipper has a unique palette to fit every track theme. However, some tracks don't use Zippers at all, so its palette's colour goes unused.

Tilesets are in this order: Donut Plains, Choco Island, Koopa Beach, Vanilla Lake and Rainbow Road.

The Koopa Beach zipper can be seen in the April prototype where one is placed in both Koopa Beach tracks.

(Source: Louis Miles)

Unused Object

Objects consist of a set of tiles, which are placed on the track and are not visible in Time Trials. Item Fields, Oil Slicks, and Coins are an example.

However, there is an unused object consisting of the 4 colored blocks. This was used in the May prototype, to block a path in Bowser Castle 3.

More Unused Graphics

Unused Treetop

A smaller treetop, meant for Mario Circuit's background.

Exclamation Mark

Unused	Used

An alternate version of the big Exclamation Mark, which has actually more detail than the used one.

Unused Font

Found among the graphics for the Item Storage and the Race Time numbers.

Most likely used for debugging purposes and such while the game was still in development.

(Source: Louis Miles)

Unused Background Palettes

To do: There are more.

The backgrounds have 2 reserved palette rows, one for the foreground and one for the back layer. Each row has four palette sets consisting of four colors (with one being the transparent color) for the background graphics. However, there are some backgrounds, that don't use all palette sets, making them unused.

Mario Circuit

Used	Unused

Ghost Valley

Used	Unused

Bowser's Castle

Used	Unused

Only one palette was used. Note that the fourth palette uses red colors, maybe for a scrapped lava animation?

Choco Island

Used	Unused

Only one palette was used for the tasty choco mountains.

Vanilla Lake

Used	Unused

A slightly darker palette, which could have given some mountains more contrast. The third and fourth palette are the same as the unused Mario Circuit palette (most likely leftovers).

Koopa Beach

Used	Unused

Same as above, it could have given some clouds more contrast.

(Source: Louis Miles)

Regional Differences

Quite a bit was changed between the Japanese and international version, mostly related to censorship and minor touch-ups.

Title Screen

Japan	International

In der japanischen Version hat der Titelbildschirm kleinere "O"s und die Buchstaben überlappen sich wesentlich mehr als in den internationalen Versionen. Der japanische Titelbildschirm ist dem von Super Mario Bros. 3 sehr ähnlich, während die internationalen Versionen sich eher an einen fein geschliffenen Titelbildschirm gerichtet haben. Zusätzlich ist das "TM" in einer anderen Position.

(Source: The Mushroom Kingdom)

Japan
International

Auf dem Hintergrund vom japanischen Titelbildschirm findet man sogenannte Ai-Ai Gasa (相合傘; übersetzt: Einen Regenschirm teilen), wo auch "Mario" und "Peach" sowie "Mario Kart" in japanisch dazu geschrieben sind. Dies wurde in den internationalen Versionen entfernt und der Pilz wurde mehr in die Mitte geschoben, um den Hintergrund nicht so leer aussehen zu lassen.

(Source: The Mushroom Kingdom)

(Translation: Kobosuke)

Censored Victory Animations

In the Japanese version, Bowser's and Princess Peach's victory animations depict them drinking champagne. Nintendo of America's policies at the time did not allow depictions of drinking in games, so the animations had to be changed accordingly. These changes were kept for the European release.

Japan	International

Normalerweise hätte Bowser in seiner Pose seinen Champagner getrunken. In den internationalen Versionen posiert er nur glücklich mit seinem Champagner.

Japan	International

In der japanischen Version gönnt sich Toadstool kleine Schlückchen von ihrem Champagner, und das obwohl ihre Gesichtsfarbe schon verrät, dass sie warscheinlich schon betrunken ist. In den internationalen Versionen wirft sie es in die Luft.

(Source: The Mushroom Kingdom)

Yoshi

Japan
International

Mehrere Sprites von Yoshi sind etwas anders in der japanischen Version. Er hat einen dünneren Hals. Interessant ist aber, dass die internationalen Sprites und die von dem ungedumpten Prototypen ziemlich ähnlich sind im Gegensatz zur japanischen Version, dabei wurde die zuerst veröffentlicht.

Interestingly, the Yoshi graphics used in the US version more closely resemble those in the undumped prototype than the European and Japanese versions, though the latter was released first.

Menu Memory

Unlike the Japanese version, the international version saves your menu choices leading up to the racer select screen and will have your previous choices already selected the next time you go through the menus. This change allows you to mash the B button to quickly choose the same game mode that you played last time.

Hidden "Unlock Special Cup" Function

The Japanese version plays a Boo sound when you unlock the Special Cup using the L, R, L, R, L, L, R, R, A cheat on the Time Trial menu, while the international version doesn't.

Engine Burn

Your kart burns shorter in the American version than in the other versions, when failing the turbo start at the beginning of the race.

Virtual Console Changes

The flash from using the star and the lightning was toned down to avoid risk of seizures.