This page details development materials of Super Mario Kart.

1991 AlphaA very early driving test, including hovercrafts! November 29, 1991 ProtoA rapid-fire gun battle, a Coin Runners mode, and a top-down view à la Mario Kart DS? It's all here. February 13, 1992 ProtoEven more battle modes are here, such as a gate race mode, and... Whack-A-Mole? This build also contains extra title menu options like viewing records and items/no items race modes.

File Info#

Debug Controls#

Some of the debug commands found in the final game also work in the uncompiled prototype builds and are accessible by default. These can be activated by pressing a certain button combination. The RAM viewer that crashes the final game at race start (Pro Action Replay code 7E1F0608) does not crash in the November and February builds and can be accessed without action replay codes too.

Early Assets

Sub-Pages#

Sprites and TilemapsPegasus Boots, Kirby, and Hitodamas? Tracks and TilesetsThe lost tracks.

OBJ Files#

These are used for HUD layouts and more.

OBJ-MOJI-ENG.OBJ#

Contains early versions of the menu options and related screens for the international version. Most of the frames have the same lettering as the final, but some are different. The file was last modified on April 13, 1992, the same date as mkart.rom.

Frame 3#

The set of options that appear when quitting or finishing in Time Trials or quitting or losing in Match Race or Battle Mode. There is a "CONTINUE" option instead of "RETRY", and it says "CHANGE MAP" and CHANGE KART" instead of "CHANGE COURSE" and "CHANGE DRIVER". The options have also been rearranged.

Frame 6#

The "1P GAME" options menu. The option for Time Trials instead says "TIME ATTACK".

Frame 7#

The "2P GAME" options menu. The option for Battle Mode instead says "BATTLE GAME".

Frame 8#

The Match Race and Battle Mode game over screen. It's spelled "WIN" instead of "WON", and it says "VS" inbetween the number of wins and losses instead of a dash. The "W" and "L" above the numbers are also absent.

Frame 13#

Part of the course selection options in Time Trials. Bowser's name is misspelled as "BOWSEW".

Sounds#

To do: There's more! Two more sound files can be found in kimura/kart/mak called sound1.bin and sound2.bin, with the latter having some samples from Pilotwings.

Watch on YouTubeFound in sound.bin from the risc.lzh\bin folder are sound and instrument samples, inlcuding some of the final instruments but with a slightly longer length, plus some samples not used in the final.

Songs from SimCity using these instrument samples can also be found in this file. Interestingly, the Budget theme has a descending opening riff rather than an ascending one. Both games were composed by Soyo Oka.
Sim City (1992-01-21) SPCs Download

Samples#

An opera-like sound somewhat reminiscent of the "Bah"s from New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64. This sample comes from the AKAI S1000, which is where several other instrument samples from Super Mario Kart were derived from.

The xylophone sample from SimCity.

Songs#

A basic organ melody that sounds similar to the final game's menu theme. May be a very early rendition.

Code#

To do: There is more commented out and early stuff.

Animated Chocopuddles#

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

The mud in Choco Island was initially supposed to be moving according to code in BG_move.asm. When uncommenting some code the mud will move back and forth.

It can be seen in action here.