This page contains which are not marked for translation.

Mario Kart 8 features new anti-gravity mechanics and the return of gliders and underwater racing from the previous game. Also Koopalings.

The game was later ported to the Nintendo Switch as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. While the base game is largely the same, it did receive a number of balance tweaks and new features, such as the ability to hold two items at once, a revamped Battle Mode with new courses, six new playable characters (including the Inklings from Splatoon), and three new vehicles.

Cut Characters

Mario Kart 8 has one of the biggest rosters of playable characters in the entire franchise. Despite the size, emblem data suggests there were going to be more playable racers. Most cut characters would later be given second chances down the road, however.

• A Magikoopa character was planned to make an appearance. Their emblem still exists in the game.

• The color variants of Yoshi and Shy Guy were planned to be in the game from the start and not obtained by purchasing both DLC packs.

• Dry Bowser was planned to be in the game as his emblem is still in 1.0, but he was later added back as DLC in DLC Pack 2.

• Tanooki Mario was supposed to be in the vanilla game as well but was added through DLC Pack 1.

• The Mii character was originally split up into two categories: male and female. It was later decided to merge them into one.

• Gold Mario was planned to be in the game as well, but was scrapped. He was later added as a costume for Metal Mario in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

• Fire Mario was planned to appear in the game in some shape or form, but was ultimately decided against.

Unused Tracks

Test

This unused track is found at ID 0x01 . It's a copy of Mario Circuit from the Flower Cup, but without music. Additionally, the orange arrow signs are not animated. According to interviews, Mario Circuit was the first track designed for this game, so this is very likely intended for testing. It works the same in Battle Mode as well.



It is possible that this was the course used for rendering the demo videos in the menu, since the arrow signs there are not animated either.

ReservedXX

Unused tracks that are found in IDs 0x02 to 0x0F , where XX is a number, starting at 01, going upwards. The game crashes when they are loaded.

UnderConstructionXX

More unused tracks in IDs 0x30 to 0x4F . It is similar to ReservedXX, where the XX is a number, starting at 01. They also crash when loaded. If DLC packs 1+2 are downloaded, IDs 0x30 to 0x42 will load the DLC tracks. 0x43 to 0x4F will still result in a crash.

Unused Models

Pink Toad

There is an unused pink colored Toad, which is meant to be seen in N64 Rainbow Road with the others.

Fruit Basket

A model internally labelled as TEST_FruitBasketB. The textures used for the basket and fruits are obviously meant for tests, as they are simple rectangles with solid color and border.

N64 Tree

N64Tree

A model named N64Tree is a low-quality tree roughly based on the ones from Mario Raceway in Mario Kart 64. This model is notably different from the similarly-named model found in Mario Kart 7 and different in shape from the trees used for Mario Raceway in Mario Kart Wii.

(Source: MrBean35000vr (Discovery), Catley (model))

Snowless Mount Wario Tree

TreeTri

There is a non-snowy version of the trees everyone crashes against on Mount Wario. It is named TreeTri and correctly listed in the object table with ObjId 5019. Since the whole Mount Wario track takes place in completely snow-covered mountains, it would've looked quite unfitting. Maybe the track had some grassy parts at first.

Yellow Pylon

PylonY

While red and blue pylons/cones are seen throughout the game, there's also a yellow version which is not used on any track. It is correctly listed in the object table as PylonY (ObjId 1009).

These cones were eventually used in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the SNES Battle Course 1 stage.

Unused Pipes not Housing Piranha Plants

There are some pipes that are only seen in combination with a Piranha Plant. Versions without the plants exist anyway and go unused. This might implicitly tell that more pipes were once placed on track, or fewer pipes originally had plants in them.

DokanCake

Meant for Sweet Sweet Canyon, having a sugar frosting texture. There are 2 pipes with Piranha Plants on track. It is correctly listed in the object table as DokanCake (ObjId 1076).

DokanHone

Meant for Bone Dry Dunes, having a slightly muddier green. There are 2 pipes with Piranha Plants on track. It is correctly listed in the object table as DokanHone (ObjId 1105).

Start Flag

This generic start flag simply called FlagStartMario (ObjId 5024) goes unused. It looks like a modern version of the start flag used in GBA Mario Circuit, but the final version uses the classic Mario Kart font on it and slightly different coloring.

Unused Skyboxes

There are several skyboxes which are not referenced in any track.

VRfair

VRfair (ObjId 7006) is a rather generic cloudy sky, but with a weird yellow tint towards the horizon.

VRcloudSea

VRcloudSea (ObjId 7012) might have been used for Mario Circuit at first, as it includes several grassy rocks at the horizon which look like the floating ones seen on that track. However, it is hard to say if this was really the case since the resolution of them on the skybox is so small.

VRCustomizer

VRCustomizer (ObjId 7030) is a unicolor, light blue sky. The name might suggest it was seen in a track editor as a placeholder until the real skybox was created.

VRClock

While VRClock (ObjId 7034) is actually referenced in Tick-Tock Clock and Super Bell Subway, they are never seen as the track model completely encases the racers. It is a unicolor dark blue box.

VRMenu (reflection map)

VRMenu (ObjId 7025), referenced in the internally used track Gu_Menu to draw the menu background, is not rendered when used on tracks. It only consists of the reflection map which can be indirectly seen on karts in the character and parts selection screens. On tracks, it results in no skybox being drawn at all, leaving traces of models previously rendered in front of the sky. The reflection map represents an empty hall with a lot of pillars. The game uses special coding for VRMenu, since when removing or replacing it in Gu_Menu, no menu background graphics like the main menu characters or the blue backgrounds are drawn anymore, and the whole online lobby will not be rendered at all - only the UI above remains.

Additionally, there are skyboxes listed as DL_VRAnimalSpring (ObjId 7054) and DL_VRAnimalWinter (ObjId 7055) in the object dictionary. These would've obviously been used for the spring and winter seasons of the Animal Crossing track, but spring reuses VRWaterPark and winter VRSherbet instead. They either have no data or the game doesn't render them too, as placing them in a track result in the same effects as with VRMenu.

Unused Graphics

To do:

Apparently, there are more unused graphics.

Menu Graphics

A placeholder version of the default title screen image.

(Source: NWPlayer123)

A placeholder for snapshots of 16 DLC tracks to be shown as the background in Grand Prix result screens of the corresponding cups, existing in version 1.0 of the game. Named from ym_awardbg_dlc_course_00^o.bflim to ym_awardbg_dlc_course_15^o.bflim

A placeholder snapshot of Mario Circuit for the results screen.

There are four unused cup icons. They reuse older artwork for the central objects and lack the same extra decorations that the normal icons have. Their file names refer to them as CupIconDLC00 through CupIconDLC03, indicating that these were placeholders for the DLC cups. Of the released DLC cups, only the Yoshi Egg has been used, albeit with a brand new icon. These icons possibly imply that DLC content for the game would be more related to the Mario franchise itself, and not crossover with other franchises like the Zelda and Animal Crossing franchises.



Two unused stamps. The first is a placeholder and the second is an early version of Pink Gold Peach's stamp missing the shading.



An early kart icon for the Pipe Frame. In this icon, the vehicle in question uses a design more closely resembling that seen in previous games than its final design in this one.



Five unused kart icons for a 13th Mii variant. The kart's variant relies on what color a player's Mii is, but there are only 12 colors to choose from. All five of the icons are placeholders using graphics from Mario Kart 7.





Icons for two planned variations of the Prancer. The Prancer is a vehicle for Peach, and since Rosalina and Daisy have alterations of Peach's vehicle parts, they were most likely planned for them. Both icons are placeholders.

Object Textures

An unused emblem for either Kamek or a generic Magikoopa. Neither appears as a playable character in the finished game or DLC packs, so he was probably scrapped during development. Kamek also appeared in prerelease screenshots of Mario Kart 64 (then called "Super Mario Kart R").

A generic emblem with the logo eight is included in the emblem folder, but goes unused. It is indirectly seen in pre-rendered graphics for the kart previews.

A placeholder texture for kart emblems found inside most kart model files.

Lakitu contains a texture showing a final lap or section 2 (hence the 2 is golden), but the final game always displays the 3/3 board for the last lap or section, no matter the number of total laps (except for 7 laps which it handles correctly to support Baby Park). However, during E3 2013, there were Mario Kart 8 demos in which people could try out Mario Kart 8 before its release - all races that were in the demo only had two laps, which required the use of this graphic.



Crude textures made for the Standard Mii Glider. Both colors were dependent on which sex the Mii was; blue for female and red for male.

Track Textures

Early Used



The computer screens in Rainbow Road have 8 frames of animation, but a 9th animation frame is present. This last frame is actually an early version of the first frame. The bar charts are all empty, the infoboxes use solid lines instead of fake text, and the blue glow around the edges is missing. The Blooper shuttle is shown with different lighting and with a parallel projection, but the model itself appears to be the same. The space station is displayed at a different angle and has no textures or background. It is possible that this was a stylistic choice and does not necessarily indicate that the image was made before the texturing of the course was complete.





There are two copies of the building windows texture in Toad Harbor, one of which has big red numbers in the place of where the posters should go. The positioning of the numbers don't match the final poster placement and seem to indicate that taller or thinner posters were planned. There is also a small white and blue image next to the eighth spot. The texture itself is used on all of the windows outside of the marketplace area, and was likely left in due to the windows being identical in both versions.





Gu_Menu looks with front face culling disabled. This is howlooks with front face culling disabled.

The internally used track Gu_Menu actually consists of a finite small plane on which karts are placed at race start, which is also correctly textured with a test texture. This plane is not visible when running the track as the material defines to cull both back and front faces rather than only back faces. Together with no skybox being added as an object, only drawing artifacts are visible around racers.





A placeholder signboard texture found alongside a number of other signboard textures for the Excitebike track. The text on the bottom left translates to "※4:1 Non-Sign Logo Variation".

(Translations: Glitterberri)

Unused/Test Items

Test Items

In the item slot table file ItemSlotTable.byaml, there are two test items called Test3 and Test4. Most likely, these items are holdovers (and serve the same lack of purpose) as the same-name items in Mario Kart 7.

Lucky Seven Leftover

In the Item Slot Table file ItemSlotTable.byaml, there is an item called Seven. It could just be a leftover for testing the Crazy 8 during development and they forgot to change the name.

Fake Item Box Leftover

In the file RaceLogData.exbin, appears the text "FakeBox" as well as all other known cut items. Since it is only referred to in that file, players can assume that they cut it really early in development.

Super Leaf Leftover

In the file RaceLogData.exbin, appears the text "Tail" as well as all other known cut items. Since it is only referred to in that file, players can assume that they cut it really early in development.

Regional Differences

Like Mario Kart 7, many tracks and parts have name differences between versions:

Track Names

The names for tracks are mostly the same between Japanese and English, standard localization aside. Retro tracks keep any name changes from the games they originated from. For example, Music Park is called Melody Motorway in the European version. For the Animal Crossing course, the Japanese version uses the game's Japanese title.

Japanese European American Sweets Canyon (スイーツキャニオン) Sweet Sweet Canyon Sweet Sweet Canyon Toad Harbor (キノピオハーバー) Toad Harbour Toad Harbor Shy Guy Mine (ヘイホーこうざん) Shy Guy Falls Shy Guy Falls Dolphin Cape (ドルフィンみさき) Dolphin Shoals Dolphin Shoals Electro Dream (エレクトロドリーム) Electrodrome Electrodrome Wario Snow Mountain (ワリオスノーマウンテン) Mount Wario Mount Wario Sky Garden (スカイガーデン) Cloudtop Cruise Cloudtop Cruise Bone Bone Desert (ホネホネさばく) Bone Dry Dunes Bone-Dry Dunes Koopa Castle (クッパキャッスル) Bowser's Castle Bowser's Castle Moo Moo Country (モーモーカントリー) Moo Moo Meadows Moo Moo Meadows Kinopio Highway (キノピオハイウェイ) Toad's Turnpike Toad's Turnpike Crispy Desert (カラカラさばく) Dry Dry Desert Dry Dry Desert Donut Plain 3 (ドーナツへいや３) Donut Plains 3 Donut Plains 3 Peach Circuit (ピーチサーキット) Royal Raceway Royal Raceway Music Park (ミュージックパーク) Melody Motorway Music Park Tick TaClock (チックタックロック) Tick-Tock Clock Tick-Tock Clock Piranha Slider (パックンスライダー) Piranha Plant Pipeway Piranha Plant Slide Rumbling Volcano (グラグラかざん) Grumble Volcano Grumble Volcano Excitebike (エキサイトバイク) Excitebike Arena Excitebike Arena Dragon Road (ドラゴンロード) Dragon Driftway Dragon Driftway Slippery Twister (ツルツルツイスター) Ice Ice Outpost Ice Ice Outpost Wario Mine (ワリオこうざん) Wario's Gold Mine Wario's Gold Mine Nature Road (ネイチャーロード) Wild Woods Wild Woods Doubutsu no Mori (どうぶつの森) Animal Crossing Animal Crossing Neo Koopa City (ネオクッパシティ) Koopa City Neo Bowser City Ring Ring Metro (リンリンメトロ) Super Bell Subway Super Bell Subway

An odd oversight as a result of this is that the signs in the European versions of "Music Park" and "Neo Bowser City" still use their American names.

Retro Track Systems

Keeping with their Retro Track Naming traditions started in Mario Kart DS, there is a slight difference in the initials used to indicate which system a retro track originated from between the Japanese version and other versions.

Japanese International SFC SNES GC GCN

Bodies

Japanese European American Skeleton (スケルトン) Pipe Frame Pipe Frame G Force (Ｇフォース) Mach 8 Mach 8 Steel Diver (スティールダイバー) Steel Driver Steel Driver Cat Classical (ネコクラシカル) Cat Cruiser Cat Cruiser Turbo One (ターボ・ワン) Circuit Special Circuit Special Tri-Mush (トライマッシュ) Tri-Speeder Tri-Speeder Beat Demon (ビートデイモン) Badwagon Badwagon Princess Coach (プリンセスコーチ) Prancer Prancer Pata Tenten (パタテンテン) Buggybud Biddybuggy Koopa Ship (クッパシップ) Landship Landship Sneakart (スニーカート) Bounder Sneeker Superstar (スーパースター) Sports Coupé Sports Coupe Gold Kart (ゴールドカート) Gold Kart Gold Standard Super Comet (スーパーコメット) Comet Comet Mach GP (マッハＧＰ) Sport Bike Sport Bike Maximum (マキシマム) The Duke The Duke Burning Bowl (バーニングボウル) Flame Rider Flame Rider Moto-Dozer (モト・ドーザー) Varmint Varmint Soramame (そらまめ) Mr. Scooty Mr. Scooty Jet Rider (ジェットライダー) Jet Bike Jet Bike Standard ATV (スタンダードＡＴＶ) Standard Quad Standard ATV Hana-chan Buggy (ハナチャンバギー) Wild Wiggler Wild Wiggler Kuma Ride (くまライド) Teddy Buggy Teddy Buggy Tanuki Buggy (タヌキバギー) Tanooki Kart Tanooki Kart B Dash (Ｂダッシュ) B Dasher B Dasher Master Bike (マスターバイク) Master Cycle Master Cycle Wakuwaku Beetle (わくわくビートル) Streetle Streetle Kisekae Scooter (きせかえスクーター) City Tripper City Tripper Bowser Trike (バウザートライク) Bone Rattler Bone Rattler

The Japanese version also calls this part a frame rather than a body.

Tires

Japanese European American Normal Tire (ノーマルタイヤ) Normal Standard Wild Tire (ワイルドタイヤ) Monster Monster Roller Tire (ローラータイヤ) Roller Roller Ring Tire (リングタイヤ) Slim Slim Slick Tire (スリックタイヤ) Slick Slick Metal Tire (メタルタイヤ) Metal Metal Button Tire (ボタンタイヤ) Button Button Block Tire (ブロックタイヤ) Off-Road Off-Road Sponge Tire (スポンジタイヤ) Sponge Sponge Wood Ring (ウッドリング) Wooden Wood Cushion Tire (クッションタイヤ) Cushion Cushion Normal Blue (ノーマルブルー) Normal Blue Blue Standard Wild Hot (ワイルドホット) Funky Monster Hot Monster Sky Roller (スカイローラー) Azure Roller Azure Roller Spicy Ring (スパイシーリング) Crimson Slim Crimson Slim Cream Block (クリームブロック) Retro Off-Road Retro Off-Road Gold Tire (ゴールドタイヤ) Gold Wheels Gold Tires GLA Tire (ＧＬＡタイヤ) GLA Wheels GLA Tires Triforce Tire (トライフォースタイヤ) Triforce Tyres Triforce Tires Leaf Tire (リーフタイヤ) Leaf Tyres Leaf Tires

The European version also calls this part a wheel rather than a tire (or tyre, as it would happen).

Gliders

Japanese English Super Kite (スーパーカイト) Super Glider Billowing Balloon (もくもくバルーン) Cloud Glider Wario Kite (ワリオカイト) Wario Wing Zunguri Kite (ズングリカイト) Waddle Wing Flower Kite (フラワーカイト) Flower Glider Koopa Kite (クッパカイト) Bowser Kite Sailplane (セイルプレーン) Plane Glider Parafoil MKTV (パラフォイルＭＫＴＶ) MKTV Parafoil Gold Kite (ゴールドカイト) Gold Glider Hyrule Kite (ハイラルカイト) Hylian Kite Paper Airplane (かみひこうき) Paper Glider

Other

There are also some regional differences in other parts of the game, like the menu text or chat macros, such as removing slang to make a translation into different languages easier.

Text European American 200cc mode description Super fast - braking is crucial! CRAZY FAST! Braking is crucial. Chat macro So unfair! Not fair! Chat macro I'm using motion controls! I'm using tilt controls! Chat macro I'm heading off... I'm outta here. Chat macro Thanks very much! Thank you! Chat macro Good night! Goodnight!

Version Differences

Version 2.0

The Version 2.0 update was released on August 27, 2014, and boasted the following features:

Adds an in-game shop menu on the main start screen to purchase and download downloadable content.

Adds a statistics menu accessible from the main start page, giving players access to the number of coins they’ve collected, win-loss record play, favorite courses, and characters, number of boosts and super boosts, etc.

Adds the ability to display a course minimap on the TV screen by pressing the minus ("-") button on the Wii U GamePad.

Changes the default menu option after a race to whichever option was selected after the previous race (either “Next Race” or “Watch Highlight Reel”).

Saves each player's most recent vehicle customization to system memory, restoring it even after the Wii U is powered down and rebooted.

Increases the maximum player race or battle rating from 9,999 to 99,999.

Improves stability for online races and battles, as well a number of other fixes for overall player enjoyment.

This update also changed how rating points were distributed through online matches: the required placement to gain ranking points was raised significantly for players with a large rating advantage, possibly to arrest VR and BR inflation. (This change was effectively reversed in Version 3.0.)

As of 2.0, the "random" option in online matches no longer has a chance of selecting one of the three tracks up for election (except for Battle mode, where this is still possible).

Version 3.0

The Version 3.0 update was released on November 13, 2014. This patch was required for online play.

Adds DLC characters Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, and Link and courses from the Egg and Triforce Cups to the online rotation, if DLC Pack 1 has been purchased. An option is provided to play online mode with downloadable courses or without, although no such feature is provided for downloadable characters.

Preemptively implements amiibo functionality and adds the appropriate icon to the main menu (the first wave of amiibo would not be released until November 21). This feature allows players to unlock themed racing suits for Mii characters by placing a compatible figure on the Game Pad's NFC area. The Mii icon in the character select was updated to indicate this.

Fixes balance issues and implements a number of other fixes for overall player enjoyment.

This change reverted the online rating system to follow rules similar to Version 1.0, making it easier for high-rated players to gain points.

Version 4.0

The version 4.0 update was released on April 23, 2015.

Adds DLC characters Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser, and courses from the Crossing and Bell Cups to the online rotation if DLC Pack 2 has been purchased.

Adds 200cc as a selectable class.

Adds new amiibo-unlocked outfits for the Bowser, Sonic, Villager, Mega Man, Rosalina, and Toad amiibo, and preemptively adds outfits for the Olimar, Wario, and Pac-Man amiibo, which would be released later.

More Miiverse stamps are included.

Version 4.1

The version 4.1 update was released on May 1, 2015, and automatically unlocks the Mirror and 200cc classes if they weren't unlocked already, among other minor fixes.

Totaka's Song

A short signature tune of Kazumi Totaka's, this tune is hidden in almost every game in which he has composed music for. Some tracks in the game feature Yoshis that cheer for the racers, and there is a chance one of them will be singing the song (as Totaka is also the voice of Yoshi). But to make it even harder to listen to, it is low in volume and easily drowned out by the background music, the Yoshis' animations and sounds are set randomly every race, and the player cannot hear it in MKTV replays. Players must actually be racing the course.

Track Where it can be heard (locations are set randomly) Sweet Sweet Canyon One of the Yoshis at the starting area, or at the house just after the tracks merge. GBA Mario Circuit One of the Yoshis near the pitstop. SNES Donut Plains 3 One of the Yoshis standing on blocks. N64 Yoshi Valley One of the cheering Yoshis along the fence at the start of the track. GCN Yoshi Circuit (DLC Pack 1) One of the Yoshis at the start or in the tunnel. GCN Baby Park (DLC Pack 2) One of the cheering Yoshis along the edge or center of the track. Super Bell Subway (DLC Pack 2) One of the cheering Yoshis around the starting area.

To do:

With all the locations found in the retail game and DLC Pack 1, there'll definitely be areas of interest in checking for DLC Pack 2, Animal Crossing track (K.K. Slider might be singing it), as well as the possibility that Villager and Isabelle may sing the song if sitting idle for long enough.

Oddities

Revision files

Beyond the base game, there are two files going by resourcerev.dat and srcrev.dat, these appear to be copied over accidentally from the stripped debug directory of the final game, they appear to contain the revision of the game data and source files.

DLC placeholders

In DLC directories, excluding 13, 15, 17 and 19, there are some text files with no data at all, possibly to help the developers note what DLC would go here if any were added.

course_dummy.txt

course dummy file.

course_permission.txt

course permission file.

dl_permission.txt

have a permission.

dl_reservation.txt

have a reservation.

Character Audio Filename Oddities

The audio for most of the characters is mainly comprised of recordings from earlier games. Characters such as Mario, Luigi, and Wario have cleaner recordings of their Mario Kart 64 voices, but mainly for boosting and tricks. Tanooki Mario, on the other hand, has recordings coming from a slew of Mario games, such as Super Mario Advance and Sunshine to name a few. The developers even included the source game in the name of each sound file where applicable: "Kart64" for Mario Kart 64, for example.

Internal Project Name

The game's executable is referred to as Turbo.rpx. Like Super Mario 3D World, it has files throughout the game data that also refer to the project name.

(Source: ItsEasyActually, Catley)