The Quacker used to have a completely different model, having a smaller head, handlebars coming from the head instead of a pole from the seat, and a glass barrier around the driver's seat. All the characters except the Miis have an older version for this kart.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Baby Daisy
Baby Luigi
Baby Mario
Baby Peach
Dry Bones
Koopa
Toad
Toadette
Bullet Bike[]
Textures[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Baby Luigi
Baby Daisy
Baby Peach
Dry Bones
Koopa
Toad
Toadette
Shading[]
The early texture of the Bullet Bike has one additional mipmap.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Model[]
The early version of the Bullet Bike has the front tire and the handlebars are missing with the back tire being positioned more upwards compared to the final game.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Type
Notes
Toad
Kart
The early version appears more shiny compared to the final game as the reflection texture (low_light.tex0) is mapped differently within the model.
Toad
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also a bit less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Sugarscoot[]
In the early version of the Sugarscoot, which shows the front part of the bike being shorter and the handle looking more shinier. The early body model did make it into the final game where it can be shown in the vehicle selection screen, as well as in the final multiplayer version of the vehicle.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Notes
None
Image shows the differences for it's body model.
None
Image shows the differences with it's handle models.
Birdo
Bowser Jr.
Upong hacking the early version of these graphics, it lacks some of the textures used for the specular shading. However, the model materials still reference them. This results in some wrong shading effects when loading Bowser Jr.'s early texture graphics in-game.
Peach
The rest of the characters have the same texture design as the final version, but the texture itself is pixelated in a different way.
Diddy Kong
None
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Mach Bike[]
The Mach Bike seemed to have had more textures planned into it, as compared to it's final design.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Super Blooper and Sneakster[]
All of the character's unused versions of this vehicle (except for Mario) use Mario's body and tire textures. The textures themselves, however, are identical to their final counterparts.
Daytripper[]
All of the early versions of the Super Blooper contain an extra body texture that consists of an early version of Peach's Daytripper body texture. In comparison, some parts of it (such as the golden pieces or the wings) are a bit darker unlike it's final counterpart. Additionally, the early version lacks the little white square that's used to texture the back of the kart.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Zip Zap[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Type
Notes
Mario
Body
The main huge difference between the two is one of the graphics being changed from orange to grey, a color that cannot be found on the Zip Zap vehicle.
Mario
Tire
The tire graphics on the Zip Zap are the same difference with the Mach Bike, with the color being the only noticeable thing.
Battle Team Standard Vehicles[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Vehicle
Type
Notes
Bike
Body
The only noticeable change are the darker graphics being switched out to the more lighter graphics.
Bike
Tire
The pallets for the early versions of the bike are more darker compared to the final game.
Kart
Body
Loading these graphics into the game, King Boo's version will lack it's pallet from the model.
Kart
Tire
Thought the blue variant is just a brighter color between the two, the red variant was changed from red to orange between the early and final games. It's unknown why this action was changed.
Classic Dragstar[]
Textures[]
In the final game, the texture for the body uses a small portion of the graphics for the screen's coloring. The only noticeable difference for all them is a blue square being added compared to it's earlier counterpart.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Notes
Peach
Yoshi
Yoshi's emblem originally had the same orientation as the front one. In the final version, the back emblem has been mirrored.
Birdo
Bowser Jr.
Daisy
Diddy Kong
Luigi
Luigi's front emblem is mirrored in the early version of the game, which was seen in a pre-release screenshot of the game.
Mario
Models[]
Note: Bowser Jr. is used as an example.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Type
Description
Geometry
The tire models in the unused version are missing, despite their textures being present in the file.
The driver's emblem seen in the plate on the back of the kart is a regular square in the early version, while in the final a few polygons have been added on its corners.
Texture Mapping
The texture mapping for the body of the kart is slightly different across both variants. Most notably, Bowser Jr.'s front emblem appears slightly cut because of this.
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also less tall compared to it's final counterpart and was seen in the first trailer of the game of E3 2007. It is also seen within other pre-release footage for the game.
Jetsetter[]
Textures[]
The only noticeable difference with all of them between their counterparts is the color palettes being from darker to being more brighter.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Notes
Rosalina
The unused variant reveals an early version of Rosalina's emblem.
Donkey Kong
The DK Logo was originally surrounded with red where in the final game shows it has grey along with a white circle surrounding it.
Model[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Type
Description
N/A
N/A
Geometry
The unused variant, while pretty much identical in design, features a lower poly model in which some elements are missing (such as the back of the seat, metallic elements in the wheel, and missing polygons on the elements found on both sides of the kart).
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Shading[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Filename
Description
low_light.tex0
The early texture has three additional mipmaps.
N/A
N/A
metal3.tex0
The early texture has three additional mipmaps.
N/A
N/A
metal6.tex0
The early texture has two additional mipmaps.
sphere9.tex0
An early, and higher quality variant, of the sphere9.tex0 texture can be found within the early vehicle's files. It is a 64x64 (with the final game using a 32x16) and uses the RGB565 format (with the final game using I8). Almost identical variations of the final texture are also used in other vehicles with a different filename (metal5.tex0).
Miscellanious[]
The early variant, much like with most other vehicles, features an empty folder (param). Inside it are 3 additional empty folders that can also be found named lb_bike, ldf_bike and ldf_kart. The final version only has the ldf_kart folder.
Flame Runner[]
The shading texture, which is used in the screen model, is mapped differently as body's shading texture is slightly differently mapped to it. The final version adds color to the screen model, appearing brighter, which is achieved by mapping the polygons for this model inside one of Bowser's teeth in the body's texture.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Type
Description
Donkey Kong
Geometry
The tire models in the unused version are missing, even though their textures are still present in the game's file.
Donkey Kong
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Shooting Star[]
The early version of this vehicle has the foot rest being more of a round shape, along with the glass looking darker, and the shading being a bit different comparing to it's final counterpart.
Designs[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Notes
Dry Bowser
The big star in the front of the bike was originally darker and the emblem for the character is missing.
Bowser
The color pallets seem lighter in the early design compared to it's final counterpart.
Donkey Kong
Funky Kong
The earlier design of the model is missing the emblem.
King Boo
Rosalina
The color pallets seem lighter in the early design compared to it's final counterpart.
Wario
The colors of the big star in front of the bike was originally inverted compared to the final version (which better matches the color pallets of the vehicle overall). In the early design, it was originally colored in purple rather than orange along with having orange eyes rather than purple (much like with every other character in the final game).
Waluigi
The colors of the stripes and the big star in front of the bike were completely different in the early design as it was colored in dark purple rather than yellow. In addition, the big star had orange eyes in the early version rather than purple in it's final counterpart (much like with every other character in the final game).
Shadow[]
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also a bit less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Standard Kart L[]
The directory /Scene/Model/Kart stores the model files for the vehicles that can be seen in the vehicle selection screen. On Battle Mode, both the kart and bike textures can be different depending on the team selected. However, the files related to these versions of the vehicles (the ones ending with "_BT") actually contain a regular texture as seen on VS and Race screens. For the characters, for both the kart and bike models, they contain Baby Mario's textures for the small vehicles, medium characters contain Mario's textures for the medium vehicles, and heavy characters contain Waluigi's bike texture and Bowser's kart texture left in the files. Out of all of these, Bowser's leftover texture is an earlier version of the texture for his Standard Kart L.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Character
Bowser
Piranha Prowler[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Type
Description
Model
The early version of the Piranha Prowler is identical to the one seen in the vehicle selection screen, which seems to have the body centered properly with respect to the tires unlike it's used counterpart, in which the body is positioned slightly higher up. The final version also adds two animations for the vehicle for when losing (bad.chr0) and for winning (good.chr0) used a match.
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also a bit less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Wario Bike[]
Although never used in gameplay, the early version of the Wario Bike did make it into the final game, as the model seen in the vehicle selection screen still has this early design. This older version also seen in several prerelease footages, including in-game videos.
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Type
Description
Full Body
Seat Model
Full Body
Seat Model
Full Body and Seat Models
The engine was originally located lower and also rotated a bit more downwards. Because of this, the back tire is in a higher position in the early design. The tire rim was also originally a bit shinier.
Bottom Body
The beginning of the exhaust pipes were originally positioned lower and were also slightly wider compared to it's final counterpart.
In both the used and unused multiplayer version of the vehicle, there are leftover handlebar models from the single player variant (handle_lod.mdl0). The game doesn't use this however as the handlebars appears alongside the rest of the vehicle's model in one single filename (model_lod.mdl0). This would possibly explain on why the unused multiplayer version lacks the handlebars when loaded in-game.
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also a bit less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Sprinter[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Type
Description
Model
The Sprinter originally had much paler shading, which can be seen in the ending credits videos. The unused multiplayer version only features the body model for some odd reason. The character's emblem was also originally positioned slightly lower, generating some Z-fighting (which could explain why it was raised up in the final version).
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also a bit less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
Booster Seat[]
Image (Early)
Image (Final)
Type
Description
Model
The unused version of the Booster Seat matches with the one for the multiplayer version in the final game as both are showing an early design of the vehicle. Part of the roof had a different shape with the inside of it being a different color too. The early version does not open the roof when throwing items as it lacks an animation filename (throw.chr0).
Shadow
The early shadow, aside of having a much simpler design, is also a bit less tall compared to it's final counterpart.
