GDC 2008

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Mario Kart Wii.

The game later debuted at GDC 2008¹, held during the penultimate week of February 2008. While the game was not present in playable form, several screenshots and a few trailers were released during this time, showing a build of the game that was much closer to the finished build.

Trailers#

Trailer 1#

Watch on YouTube

• At 0:38 the bullet has a different smoke effect, looks more like the one from Mario Kart DS.
• Originally, the item icons didn't blink when using the item.

Trailer 2#

Watch on YouTube

Trailer 3²#

Watch on YouTube

• The trick sound effect is now present, but it sounds different to the final one.
• Some of Yoshi's animations are missing.
• In 2-player multiplayer, the camera was a bit closer to both characters.
• In multiplayer, the item boxes used to transition through its colors differently. For example, the whole box could originally get colored in a single solid color, such as yellow or pink.
• At 0:32, when Waluigi performs a slipstream while doing a wheelie, the slipstream effect moved upwards with the nose of the bike. In the final version, the effect always stays in the same spot, no matter if doing a wheelie or not.

Trailer 4#

Watch on YouTube

Although this trailer originates from the Nintendo Media Summit 2008³ (April 2008), some footage seems to originate from the builds shown at GDC 2008.

Courses#

GCN Waluigi Stadium#

The area with the half pipes and the Piranha Plants originally had sets of 2 item boxes instead of 3.

HUD and Screen Layouts#

Single Player	2 Player Multiplayer (Teams)

4 Player Multiplayer	4 Player Multiplayer (Teams)

All footage from this period of time had a slightly different LAP and TIME graphics. They were smaller and a bit more stretched. They were also a bit darker as well.

The position tracker in 4 player splitscreen didn't change colors to match the player (however, the screenshot also shows that the timer and lap count, as well as the item roulette did change color). It also shows that the black bars that divided the screen into 4 used to be layered on top of the minimap, where in the final game the minimap was layered on top of the black bars.

The character icons next to their names (as seen with Luigi in the screenshot above) is a lot bigger, and the lines pointing out other human players aren't color coded, and they remained white for everyone in Team Mode (rather than becoming red/blue to indicate that players team). In fact, these lines use a slightly different, with the end of it being opaque instead of semi-transparent. A similar (if not the same) texture is present (but unused) in the final game files.

The red halos that appear around Mario's triple red shells in the Multiplayer Team VS Race appear more pink than in the final game. The frame of the square graphic that holds the item used to have a slightly different shade of blue for the Blue Team. In Solo multiplayer matches, this frame graphic had a slightly different shade of pink for the 3rd player as well.

Mii Minimap Icon#

The Mii's icon on the minimap shows that originally it had way darker shading, much like on the license screen (see below).

VS Race Introduction Text#

Originally, the English text seen on top of the screen in the course introduction said "VS Race", instead of "VS" only. In the European version, it does say "VS Race", but the number of races left is written as " - CURRENT RACE of TOTAL RACES", instead of "CURRENT RACE/TOTAL RACES" like in the image above.

License Screen#

To do: /Scene/UI/Title.szs contains a file called national_flag.brlyt inside the folders ./button/brlyt, which could potentially be related to these country flags. In the same file, in the subdirectory ./button/ctrl, there are three files named LicenseSelect.brctr, LicenseSelectT.brctr and LicenseSelectB.brctr that reference the national_flag.brlyt file. Could it be restored in-game? Write the rest of the differences.

• Licenses used to display your country flag on them. The file Title.szs in /Scene/UI (which stores graphical data for the Title and Main Menu screens) in the final releases of the game still contains all the country flags images that appear in the game (except for the Korean version, which only has the Japanese flag leftover), which is a leftover from this build.
• In the final game, the Mushroom Cup icon was updated to use Mario Kart Wii's icon as opposed to Mario Kart: Double Dash's, although the final game still uses Double Dash's star icon on the license screen.
• The lighting on the Mii's head was noticeably darker.
• The empty boxes are black instead of blue.
• The "Options" text is darker and positioned differently.

Online Main Menu#

Prerelease	Final

• The number 1 text seen on the upper left part of the screen was originally wider, causing the spacing of the text to be a bit wider as well.

Searching for Players Online#

Prerelease	Final

• Just like in the Mario Kart Channel screen (see above), the shading of the Mii is more yellowish. The Mii was also positioned slightly higher.
• The text saying what mode it is is absent. The "Back" button originally did not appear either.

Prerelease	Final

• The globe isn't as zoomed in.
• The row of Mii heads in bubbles isn't as high.

Friends Main Screen#

Prerelease	Final

• Two brackets were removed in the final version.
• Originally, the Mii didn't have the blue rings on their feet.
• Both the Mii name and friend code texts were both smaller in size. The Mii name was also positioned more to the left.

Friends List Screen#

To do: Compare with the final game.

• The friend online icon looked a bit different.
• In addition, the Miis' heads are more zoomed in.

Mario Kart Channel Main Menu#

Prerelease	Final

• The Mii icon was originally smaller, and it looked more yellowish.
• The "GO" graphic was placed a bit more to the right.
• The laurel wreath seen in the "Competitions/Tournaments" icon had a bit different shading.
• The curved header graphic was slightly more positioned to the left.
• The squared tiles seen at the upper right part of the screen were originally positioned a bit more upwards.
• The squared tiles seen at the bottom right part of the screen were originally opaque in this screen. While they're transparent in the final game, a few screens still show them opaque. Besides, many other screens originally had this graphic opaque as well, as seen in many of the prerelease pictures in this article.
• The space seen in the bottom text that appears when highlighting the "Friends" was narrower.
• The shadowing of the buttons was slightly brighter (this is more noticeable when looking at Australia in the globe.)

Rankings Screen#

Prerelease (Japanese)	Prerelease (English)

Final (Japanese)

• The bottom text that appears when highlighting the player's personal record was different.
• The square that appears when highlighting the player's personal record doesn't show the class.
• The time at the bottom of the screen only went up to 2:00. In the final game, it goes up to 2:20.
• The Mii icons had a thicker outline, and the drop shadow was originally darker.
• The light used to hit the Miis from the left, instead of from the right.
• The head of the Miis seem to be positioned slightly lower in their bodies than in the final version (see the Miis highlighted in yellow/blue)
• The "Back" (in the Japanese version only), course and record type buttons, as well as the arrow graphics were originally positioned more towards the left.
• The GameCube's A and B buttons also use an older version of their icons, both being darker than in the final version.

Top 10 Rankings#

The player in 10th place seems to have an early icon for the Wii Wheel next to his name, which can still be found inside the final game's data.

Time Trial Card#

Prerelease	Final

• The "World Champion" text that appears in the upper left part of the screen was different.
• The vehicle slot features the Mach Bike icon that can be seen on the Mario Kart Channel's banner, which suggests that all the icons seen there originally were meant to appear in the Time Trial Card.
• The Mii's head is more zoomed in. It also has a more yellowish shading.
• The name box and the flag box were switched.
• The name text is slightly bigger as well, and the time for numbers look taller. The spacing in the course name text was also a bit wider.

Competitions/Tournaments#

DK Summit Gates Competition#

Prerelease	Final
500px‎

This screenshot shows an early version of the DK Summit Gates competition:

• The final version has the player starting at the top of the mountain, while this version had you starting at the bottom (and driving backwards).
• The gate positions are also different.
• Regarding the minimap, the pink circles that symbolize the gates are smaller. The starting line graphic is present in the early footage, but missing in the final version.
• The timer seems to be counting down instead of up like it does in the final game, which is a behaviour seen in the unused Mission Mode.
• The "SCORE" HUD element is missing.
• The Standard Bike L has a simpler shadow design.

SNES Mario Circuit 3 Coins Competition#

Prerelease	Final

This is an early version of the SNES Mario Circuit 3 coins competition:

• There were many more coins in the early version, and most of them were in different positions compared to the final version.
• The timer also seems to be counting down instead of up, like in the early DK Summit Gates competition. This would suggest that both these images are from the early Mission Mode, rather than the online competitions/tournaments, which would also suggest that the aforementioned mode was cut very late in development.
• The "SCORE" HUD element is also missing.
• The starting line graphic is present in the early footage, but missing in the final version.
• The Mini Beast has a slightly simpler shadow design.

Sources and references#

References#