Mario Kart Wii [Wii - Beta / Unused Stuff]

Hideki Konno, producer of Mario Kart Wii, had wanted to include extra online features like the ranking system and Ghost Data inside of Mario Kart DS, but he wasn’t been able to in time for a 2005 release. Now, on Mario Kart Wii, these features could finally be implemented. Konno had also been proposing ideas involving BMX ever since Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, but the ideas had been rejected. For Mario Kart Wii they were able to put the motorbike in, “making the world of Mario a little more for boys” as Miyamoto put it.

The game was even called Mario Kart X internally for a while, before deciding on Mario Kart Wii. During the development of the Wii Wheel, the designers tested roughly 30 different prototypes with different shapes, colors and weights, before deciding on the final Wheel design. During these evaluations the developers also realized it would be good if the voice actors actually played the game during recording session, so the lines were recorded while the actors were playing the game. [Info from Wikipedia]

In the beta version of the game, Boo was a playable character, but in the final version they choose to use King Boo instead. Also, Paratroopa, Hammer Bro and Petey have icons hidden in the data as well.

On the E3 Presentation, there are some differences of the Final and Beta game:

-Much more zoomed on the bikes gameplay;
-Different tricks, just spins;
-Some different cup icons (flower cup an example)
-Item box stays always
-Mario Kart Wii beta logo

Too, there are 2 test tracks on the game, called old_mario_gc_b/draw_demo:

Also, Gabrielwoj found lots of unused sprites on Mario Kart Wii, let see them:

These ones are some unused characters on the data files, Hammer Bro/Petey Piranha, Paratroopa and Mii Outfit C.

Some testing charcter map icons

An very old project for the country flags, weird, it’s started with USA instead of Japan.

I have no idea what this could be…

These looks an very old prototype icons, for ranking etc…

Unused items… NOTE: Wiggler and Fireball (as much commented) are USED, on some special online events

Misc… Okay, first of all, Mario on a kart could be an beta banner icon from Wii Menu, but on another folder… This mii is named: “Matuoka”, may some testing with licenses. And this wiimote is used, but only with nunchuck… Maybe, when you pressed the Wiimote without the wii wheel, it should appear this, but was pretty difficult and Nintendo maybe rejected that Idea.

This is a very weird “earth” of the Online screen, I can say it’s unused, because it says DUMMY, and there is no model!
Much of those pixels, are written: usa/japan and other countries…

At the end of all, on the data files, there is a folder called “Debug” but there is nothing inside, maybe they used while making the game, and they forgot to delete the folder…

Also, I did found some interesting image, but it don’t looks unused…
You know at the credits, the Luigi Circuit is with another hour etc…
At the file with the Selection screen images (tracks), there are a Luigi Circuit as the same on the credits… Maybe for a tournament

After a little success of Mario Kart CW Project, you can check the new Mario Kart CWii Project Wiki!

Thanks to The King, Nastykill, YamiHoshi.nl/UltimatePisman, Shuckle and Gabrielwoj for the contributions!

Images:

Do you want to add more info, screens or videos to this post? Click on the “Edit” link below! It’s just like Wikipedia (maybe).

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1. Super Mario Galaxy [Wii - Beta]
2. Mario Kart: Super Circuit [GBA - Beta]
3. Mario Kart [DS - Beta / Kiosk Version Comparison]
4. Super Mario Kart [SNES - Beta / Proto]
5. New Super Mario Bros. [Wii - Beta]