Beta64 - Super Mario Kart

Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo was not only the first Mario Kart ever created, but it also marked the beginning of the pet racing game trend. Who gave us "wonderful" titles like: M&M's Kart Racing Except Super Mario Kart is really good! Like...really good. Cited as the beginning of the

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racing genre. It took the fun racing elements of previous driving games and added them to combat in the form of projectiles, lightning bolts, and oil spills. No, wait, they were replaced by banana peels, that's right. Sorry, there were so many small changes that occurred throughout the development of Super Mario Kart.

In fact, after learning about the existence of the game's discovered prototype, this video went from being about six minutes long to about 20. So in this episode of Beta64, we'll learn all about the development of Super Mario Kart. Since the beginning of the development of Super Mario Kart, the team's main focus was always to create a multiplayer racing game with two players on the screen at the same time, which was different from Nintendo's previously released F-Zero racing game, which It could only support a single player. player But that doesn't mean that the team just wanted to create another F-Zero with only multiplayer, but rather that they wanted to create a game with two players on the screen at the same time.

That's all. However, due to this approach, Super Mario Kart did not implement very complex tracks like those seen in F-Zero due to the limitations of the SNES. In fact, some say that this focus on multiplayer is the reason why we even play Super Mario Kart in single player. The game still has a split screen mode only with the map taking up the bottom half of the screen. But while racing is the main focus of Super Mario Kart, there's also that fun battle mode that was added by the team. to provide a mode that allowed for 101 gameplay without players' victory being decided simply by having them compete for rank.

During this time in the development process, Mario or even racing in general was nowhere to be found. Instead, the main driver in this game was just some random guy in overalls driving around aimlessly. That held up for about three or four months of development when the team finally got two players driving on screen at once while watching what they were doing. Until now, the team was wondering what it would be like if Mario drove the car instead of this random guy they had. And after implementing this design change, they jointly decided that having Mario in the game looked better than what they had previously designed, and Super Mario Kart was born.

Now, in case you didn't know, to achieve the 3D effect of the game. the team used a graphics mode on the SNES called mode 7. But what is mode 7? In short, it basically allowed developers to create a 3D effect by rotating and scaling planes freely. It was implemented in F-Zero and later uses Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, and many other SNES titles, including Super Mario Kart. But in order to handle the 3D floating point math associated with this effect, Super Mario Kart also had to use an additional DSp. A chip that later became the most used DSP chip in all SNES games.

Fast forward to around July 2008, when Simon Belmont, a well-known prototype collector, sold a large portion of his collection to help fund his business ventures. Among all of these prototypes sold, including Earthbound, two Super Mario

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development cars were actually purchased. While one of them was an exact duplicate of the final US version, the other was not, and the lucky guy who got this prototype swap was digital press user Van Halen. If you're watching this Van Halen, email me at contact@.

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.tv I really like talking to you about this. To tell a little bit of the story of how that prototype came to be, it was actually owned by Jason Wilson, who was the senior editor of "Tips and Tricks" magazine.

And after years of moving around, he finally found his way to Van Halen and, thank God, he did. Being the awesome guy that Van Halen is, he took several screenshots and videos of the games to show the differences. So, what do you say? We take a look at those differences there. Now, a little disclaimer, while Van Halen has gone to a lot of trouble to clarify the differences for us, we still don't have many screenshots or videos of these changes. Unfortunately I won't be able to show you many of the changes. I'll be arguing, so I guess just imagine and take our word for it.

Alright, let's first start with the title screen which has the brand logo in a different place at the end. Mario Kart text above instead of below, and not only that the logo box on this prototype is not as wide as the final US one. release. However, it turns out that the reason behind this logo change is that the prototype, despite being in English, uses the Japanese logo on the title screen. However, it doesn't seem to be exactly the same as the Japanese version. As some pointed out, Mario's mouth appears to be somewhat different. Maybe a little more open in the final version compared to the prototype.

Besides the logo, the other thing that's different in this version is that you can't press the select button on the prototype to move the cursor. Even though you can do that in most SNES games, it probably means they haven't implemented that functionality yet. Additionally, if you stay on the title screen for a while in both versions, you'll be able to see a demo of a race. However, until the final one of the four races will be shown, in the prototype. There is only this one. Next is the driver selection screen, which also has some small changes.

First, Bowser's jaw sticks out a little more on the proto and the back of Mario and Luigi's kart sticks out a little more as well. What I found most interesting about these pilots is that Luigi is looking up in the final, but in the prototype, he is looking forward. I don't know why the artist would have changed it intentionally. So he looked up, but that's exactly what they did and I'm not going to judge his artistic choices, even though all the other Kart Racers look forward. Now, those differences may have been small, but don't worry, the cup selection screen that follows is very different.

It's missing all the outer trim that comes with it, as well as the CC class label, so why don't we head over? for the races now first? There are general differences related to all races that need to be covered in both versions. When there is no item in the item box, the player number will be displayed in the box. The difference is that a "P" for player will be shown in the proto. next to the number that was eventually removed from the commercial version. Oh, too. Remember in the final game that if you drive in too many circles, you'll spin right?

That doesn't exist in the prototype, so feel free to drive it as many times, sir, to your heart's content, because the game won't care either way. I mean Lakitu could care and tell you that you are going the wrong way, which by the way he does it differently in the proto, the flag he uses in this version is missing the "X" that is in the final flag and Also speaking of Lakitu, unlike the ending, he doesn't charge coins to save you in the prototype. That's cool ^^ There are also other big differences, like the fact that you can get a speed boost at the start of a race in the prototype and you also can't throw banana peels in front of you or place green shelves behind you.

Speaking of items, even though the lightning bolt is shown in the Roulette item, you will never be able to get it with sadness or perhaps joy. I never liked it. Also, if you hit a pipe while using a star, instead of kicking it off the screen like in the ending. In fact, you'll jump on it as if you were using a feather power, and speaking of jumping, you can also jump a little higher on the proto. Just a little. Some other changes include not being able to drive over sunken drivers, no extra lives, cup and with Luigi.

No matter what your car will always keep rolling forever. Next, let's talk about Thwomps. One thing you want to know is that in the retail version the Thwomps don't start moving until the second lap, however, in the prototype they always move throughout the entire race. Oh, and remember those special star strikes shown in Rainbow Road? ? Well in the proto they do not appear but are replaced by the normal version of thwomp and since we are already on Rainbow Road It turns out that in the prototype of the track it is much more difficult to move because the track is in fact narrower than the end.

It's so tight that computer drivers constantly fall out. As usual. Now let's look at other tracks like Mario's Circuit, where the only change is the oil spill. Does not spin the player. Which is very strange, which is probably why it hadn't been implemented at the time of the prototype being built. Next up is Donut Plains 2, and there's Monty Moles, who actually changed fundamentally between both versions. To upgrade in the final game when you hit a Monty Mole. It will stick to the front of the car, slowing it down and causing you to drop coins until you knock it down on the prototype.

It will simply spin the player and cause them to lose coins. It's a little boring, yeah, so I'm glad they changed that. Now let's move on to Donut Plains 3, which as you probably remember contains a broken bridge. Well, it turns out that the AI ​​in the prototype isn't exactly perfected for this stage because they will constantly fall into the water. trying to cross the bridge. This was fixed before release, unlike most games coming out today. Time for Choco Island, which van Halen says feels a little slipperier when driving in the mud compared to the finale. Now for Choco Island 2 specifically, there are a couple of differences with each track layout.

In the first mud puddle unlike the end where the scratched wall comes out at an angle. The prototype has been making sharp 90 degree turns until it reaches almost the same place and since we are in this mud puddle there is also a big change since it originally had a break in the mud around the end of the puddle. It's more shaped like a paw print than the huge puddle it is at the end. Vanilla Lake 1 also has some differences associated with its scratched wall. First into the second immediately instead of there being just a couple of walls.

There were actually going to be two, see, and at the end of the third there's immediately a little bit more wall hitting compared to the end. The last specific track we'll look at is Koopa Beach. And there are a couple of general differences with its tracks, such as the fact that the waves are not animated and the Cheep Cheeps are upside down when they fall, unlike the ending. Specifically for Koopa Beach. Although there are many more algae on this island than were ultimately formed. Ugh, now we finish a race? Let's take a look at the results screen, which has a difference.

Are runners who did not cross the finish line labeled "out" on the time list? However, in the commercial version he gives them a time anyway even though they technically never finished after finishing a cup. It's time for the awards ceremony, which has quite a few differences in the prototype that aren't seen in the retail release. The first difference I notice when comparing both versions is that the clouds are generic in the proto instead of the mushrooms like in the final, but now for this image specifically when winning first place in the 100cc Mushroom Cup as Toad The word " Gold" in "Toad Wins Gold" is in the same vein as "Big Race", unlike the final version which separates the two.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the other characters winning in the prototype, so I don't know if this is just for Toad in the 100cc Mushroom Cup or if it's a format difference that happens with more characters in other cups. Another thing that stands out in this image is Donkey Kong Jr. Notice that his signature letter is missing from his shirt, which is strange to forget. to see that he always had one even since it was first created. Now this is where the real changes come in. When you come second in the proto, instead of that giant cheep cheep coming out and giving you a silver cup, you get nothing.

And instead Super Koopa loops the screen only to be hit by the champagne bottle cork. For the third place you also get a different cinematic with four Koopa Parachutists flying across the screen and unfortunately for the last one he is also hit by a cork from the champagne bottle. And after that amazing Special Cup award ceremony, instead of rolling the end credits and unlocking the 150cc class, nothing happens in the proto. Basically, you can only play 50cc to 100cc in the prototype and there is no way to unlock the rest, if they even exist there. Ok, what about the time trials now?

Is there a difference? Well, it turns out there are some like when you completely lose control after finishing arace, when the computer takes control of your kart or how the replay option is not available after completing a test even if you get a good enough time. in the end the course selection screen changed even more than all of these or should I say the course "selection" screen because select has been misspelled in the prototype regarding the cup selection text on the left side of the screen . You should have noticed a big difference by now. The default text is white and flashes red when selecting a course in the prototype, however in the end it is supposed to read backwards and flash white.

One thing that is very interesting is that Bowser's Castle 3 in time trial mode has something that normally isn't on the track in the center of the three lanes of the course. There is one of those dreaded striped walls. I'm just hanging out though. It was most likely put there by accident since this level isn't supposed to have a colored wall to begin with. Finally, battle mode. There is actually only one changing table, but it is quite large. It turns out that Battlefield 3 was actually originally going to be themed around Choco Island instead of Vanilla Lake, but while they may look similar in design, these two arenas are actually slightly different.

Here let me point out some of these changes. One interesting thing that is a big problem for this battle course in the proto is that Lakitu can't seem to figure out how to get back to the stage if you manage to jump off of it. Obviously, that was just a bug that they luckily managed to fix before the final release. It turns out that there are actually many early music tracks and sounds in the prototype that have been documented. However, most of them have not been copied yet, so unfortunately we will not do this. to be able to hear what most of them sound like, so I've decided in this video to only talk about the ones that we can definitely hear and a few others that piqued my interest.

If you want to see the descriptions of the other sounds, click. link in description So let's start with an early version of Donkey Kong Jr's Victory theme that was obviously played after winning a race while playing Donkey Kong Jr. It sounds very different from the final version in almost every way, just listen and you'll know what I mean. Yoshi, Peach, and Toad's themes were changed in one way or another, but we have no way of hearing them, so you'll have to take our word for them. There are also other interesting little details about other tracks: like how the Bowser's Castle theme plays on Rainbow Road or no matter where you are in the cup, the music from 4th place will always play.

Also, every time you cross the finish line in time trial mode, the "Done" music doesn't even play. In case you don't know, there are quite a few problems with this version of the game. The most interesting musical track we can hear is the Vanilla Lake theme, which, oh god, sounds completely different. To be honest, this first theme sounds like something out of Star Fox. And in my opinion it doesn't even fit with the rest of the game. All in all, it's

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good, very catchy, listen. Now it turns out that there is only one unused thing in Super Mario kart besides debug mode, and that thing is an unused multicolored block.

It has the same colors as the walls in the game, however, placing the blocks in the game despite looking like walls, does not act like them. In reality, it simply acts as the road, allowing you to pass over it with ease. And that's it. This is the development of Super Mario Kart. You know, despite the lack of unused things in the game, they have been found. The fact that there is a prototype of the game and that the owner is willing to give us so much information about it is fantastic. I hope in the future we can get more screenshots, videos and audio of the prototype to see what else we can discover.

But until then, this has been Beta 64 with the development of Super Mario Kart. Thanks for watching.