List of Mario Kart Tour pre-release and unused content

This is a list of pre-release and unused content for Mario Kart Tour.

Closed beta
On April 23, 2019, Nintendo opened applications for participating in a closed beta test of Mario Kart Tour to users in North America and Japan, which began on May 22, 2019 and ended on June 4, 2019. The following lists the features included in the beta version of the game. Several of the characters, karts, and gliders listed were not made available in the final game at launch.

General

 * Rubies were originally emeralds.
 * An element seen in other free-to-play games that was included in the closed beta was a stamina bar consisting of five hearts total. One heart would be consumed every time a player raced, and once the stamina was depleted, players would not be able to play until it recharged. Players would replenish hearts when they leveled up, if they waited out the timer, or if they purchased hearts with emeralds. This element was removed in the final game at launch, with players instead being able to play indefinitely.
 * Originally, there was no way to speed up the unlocking process for the cups restricted by timers. In the final game, this can be done using quick tickets.
 * The classes "Common", "Rare", and "Super Rare" in the beta were renamed to "Normal", "Super", and "High-End" respectively in the final game.
 * The names of the four bonus challenges "Rocket Start!", "Race through the rings", "Don't crash", and "Beat Up Goombas" in the beta were changed to "Ready, Set, Rocket Start", "Ring Race", "Steer Clear of Obstacles", and "Goomba Takedown" respectively in the final game.
 * The Daily Selects Shop had only six items, as opposed to nine.
 * Players could receive Metal Mario, the B Dasher, and the Gold Glider in the final tour gift, which was the first spotlight pipe.
 * Combo bonuses were not implemented.
 * Higher tier karts originally increased speed, while higher tier gliders only increased item luck.
 * The items on the character selection screen were Mushrooms. In the final game, they are Green Shells instead.
 * The maximum level for each driver, kart, and glider was 10, while in the final game, it was decreased to 6 (later increased to 7 in the Snow Tour and again to 8 in the 2022 Mii Tour).
 * Music and sound effects were different from the final game.
 * The menu music had a different arrangement.
 * The jingle when acquiring a Normal item or a Grand Star was different. In the final game, this jingle is instead used in the ranked cup results when the player places 4th or lower.
 * The countdown sound effect was taken from Mario Kart DS (this was also the sound effect used in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7). In the final game, the sound effect is instead taken from Mario Kart 8.
 * The text signifying the last lap originally read "FINAL LAP!"; in the final version, it instead reads "2/2" ("3/3" for 3DS Rainbow Road and GCN Baby Park T, and "5/5" for every other GCN Baby Park variant).
 * The rearview button was placed in the top right corner of the screen, below the options button.
 * In the Coin Rush menu, the description read "Speed through a course containing over 400 Coins! Gold Mario can really rake them in."; in the final version, it instead reads "Over 300 coins are waiting for you on this course! Gold Mario will draw them in as he gets near."
 * Completing a bonus challenge originally rewarded three Grand Stars immediately, and reaching certain requirements granted bonus coins.
 * Tour gifts were immediately claimed upon reaching the required number of Grand Stars.
 * In the beta, each challenge from the Tour Challenges set gave out three to five Grand Stars when completed. In the final version, each challenge from the Tour Challenges set only gives out one or two Grand Stars when completed.
 * Shortcut ramps were reflected on the minimap in all courses that had them. In the final game, these were all removed.

Drivers
Most of the drivers retain their special items in the final game; however, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby Rosalina, and Lemmy's special items are replaced by the Bubble, Morton's special item is replaced by the Giant Banana, Larry's special item is replaced by the Boomerang Flower, King Boo's special item is replaced by the Lucky 7, and Ludwig's and Rosalina's special items are replaced by the Dash Ring. Additionally, in the beta, both Rosalina and King Boo were classified as High-End drivers, whereas in the final version, they are classified as Super drivers instead. The Triple Bananas, which were Larry and Lemmy's special item, went unused until the London Tour, where they were properly introduced as Waluigi (Bus Driver)'s special item. Additionally, Daisy's artwork used in the beta is taken directly from Mario Kart 7, whereas in the final version, she uses new artwork that resembles her artwork from said game, but with darker hair and different shading.

Karts
Most of the karts retain their rarities in the final; however, in the beta, the Soda Jet, Super Blooper, and Bolt Buggy were all classified as Normal karts, and the Blue Seven was classified as a High-End kart, whereas in the final, they are all classified as Super karts. The Koopa Dasher had a sprite used in the beta with Pipe Frame tires equipped instead of the tires the Turbo Yoshi had. The Gold Standard was a selectable kart to race with in the beta, whereas in the final game, it was exclusive to the Coin Rush mode until the 2022 Mario vs. Luigi Tour.

Gliders
None of the gliders' rarities changed from the beta to the final game, and most of them retain their glider skills; however, the Super Glider's glider skill was replaced with Mushroom Plus, and the Parafoil's glider skill was replaced with Green Shell Plus. Mega Mushroom Plus was absent in the beta, but was added as a glider skill in the Tokyo Tour.

Tour
The beta only featured one tour, named Beta Test (Beta Test Tour in the news section). There were no T variant or R/T variant courses featured in the beta and only four of the thirteen courses in the beta had R variants.

Cups

 * Names in other languages

Multiplayer betas
Nintendo held two multiplayer beta tests: one exclusive to Gold Pass members from December 18, 2019, 11:00 p.m. (PT) to December 26, 2019, 9:59 p.m. (PT), and one for all players from January 22, 2020, 11:00 p.m. (PT) to January 28, 2020, 9:59 p.m. (PT), the latter of which allowed players to play with each other in their immediate vicinity based on their device's location data. The player could either join a random lobby or create their own to play with friends. The cup played rotated every 30 minutes instead of 15.

The music playing in the multiplayer's menu was the same music as the game's menu in the two betas. The icon was also different, being a globe instead of Toads.

Courses
Several text strings referencing objects from courses not featured in the game can be found in the files; several of the courses that are in the game had these text strings present before their release. However, some of these objects are used in courses other than the ones they were originally created for, such as the Skating Shy Guys (HeyhoSkateRed and HeyhoSkateBlue), which are used in Vancouver Velocity 2 but originate from GCN Sherbet Land. The following courses that are not in the game have unused text strings referencing objects from them:


 * "Mobmu" - EnclosureMobmuTest, StartGateMobmuTest
 * "Mobnu" - MorayMobnuTest1, MorayMobnuTest2
 * GBA Cheese Land - WanwanFork*
 * Wii Grumble Volcano - RoadGuraGuraTest
 * 3DS Wuhu Loop - ClownWuhu
 * 3DS Music Park - Dancing Piranha Plant animations*
 * 3DS Maka Wuhu - RockWuhu
 * 3DS DK Jungle - GoldenBanana, AirShipDK, BarrelDK
 * Wii Block Plaza - BlockRedTest, BlockBlueTest, BlockGreenTest, BlockYellow

An (*) asterisk means that the course assets are leftovers from Mario Kart 8, meaning that it is unclear if these assets were intended to be used or not. "Mobmu" and "Mobnu" are named with the "Mob" prefix, which is used for new courses in the game's data, suggesting that they may have been new courses that were scrapped or used for testing.

An environmental file named after SNES Ghost Valley 3 is present in the files of tours which feature RMX Ghost Valley 1.

Within the game's data, every course has numerous IDs referencing the renders used for it in-game. This list was refreshed with each tour and after most game updates. There are four individual numbered lists, with every ID in each list sharing a prefix: "Classic" for classic courses, "New" for new courses, "Remix" for remix courses, and "Battle" for battle courses (including both classic and new courses). Within these lists, the IDs are sorted alphabetically and are numbered starting from 101000. Every course has up to five IDs that are visible in the list, ending with "_BG" (the first ID for a course), "_sub" (the last ID for the normal variant), "R_sub" (the last ID for the R variant), "RX_sub" (the last ID for the R/T variant) and "X_sub" (the last ID for the T variant). Many of the game's courses had their IDs present in the list prior to release, as evidenced by the numbering of the IDs, though they were not visible. Normally, the "X_sub" ID of a course and the "_BG" ID of a course after it are numerically after one another (for example, if "Track1X_sub" is numbered 1010050, "Track2_BG" should be numbered 1010051), but when an unreleased course was present between two released courses, there would be a larger difference between the ID numbers. Since the IDs are ordered alphabetically, these gaps could be used to identify courses before they were released. For example, a gap between "Ggc_YoshiCircuit" and "Gn64_ChocoMountain" would imply that N64 Bowser's Castle or N64 Banshee Boardwalk is present under the name "Gn64_BowserCastle" or "Gn64_BansheeBoardwalk", respectively. The size of the gap, when it was increased, and the amounts in which it was increased could also be used to estimate when a course in it may debut and how many courses were present within it. Pre-existing courses being increased could also help determine the themes of upcoming tours, such as how increases to all routes of Tokyo Blur, Singapore Speedway, and Bangkok Rush starting in the second Peach vs. Bowser Tour foreshadowed the 2023 Winter Tour. Though most of the ID gaps in the game's files were filled in with courses that were later added, two remain, each having two slots: a gap in the classic course list between GBA Bowser's Castle 4 and GBA Cheep-Cheep Island (which could have fit GBA Broken Pier or T and R/T variants for GBA Bowser's Castle 4) and a gap in the new course list between Paris Promenade 3 and Rome Avanti. Additionally, prior to the 1st Anniversary Tour, a gap of size four existed that could have fit either N64 Banshee Boardwalk or N64 Bowser's Castle; this gap subsequently vanished and never resurfaced in the files. The final courses in the game's internal lists are Wii Rainbow Road for classic race courses, Yoshi's Island for new race courses, RMX Vanilla Lake 2 for remix courses, and Paris Promenade B for battle courses, so any courses following these alphabetically cannot have their ID gaps seen (if there are any).

Karts
Some karts have specific files for their positions. Most of these karts are in the game, but there are references to several unused karts, including the Mario Kart 8 appearance of the Blue Falcon (BFalcon8). Several kart models can also be found in the game's files, including a light-blue Comet Tail with a yellow stripe in the middle, which was added in the Vancouver Tour along with the Comet Tail itself. Textures for a gold variant of the Apple Kart and files relating to a yellow variant of the Cheep Charger are also present.

Gliders
Files relating to recolors of the Peach Parasol and a Valentine's-themed variant of the Glitter Glider are present in the game's data.

Tires
The StdR_Red tires can be found in the game's files, but are currently unused.

Sprites
When the Para-Wing was added in the London Tour, a sprite was added in the files which appears to be identical to the kart, except it has the Pipe Frame's tires on it, which are also used by the Koopa Dasher. Starting with the Super Mario Kart Tour, sprites of every colored variation of the Pipe Frame with the Gold Blooper's tires equipped can be found in the files.

Icons
Some unused icons known as BoostItem, ItemExchange, PartsScoreUp, and PartsSkillUp can be found in the game's files. The BoostItem icons also have icons of them on a ticket.

Sounds and music
Several unused voice clips exist for when a driver finishes 5th or below, indicating that drivers were originally going to have voice clips for losing. Some drivers from Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe retain their losing voice clips from said games, while Peachette and Pauline have newly recorded losing voice clips. Drivers added later in the game that were not present in Mario Kart 8 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe lack unused losing voice clips.

An unused alternate version of the Singapore Speedway theme that lacks synth and percussion can be found in the files. Additionally, the Wii Koopa Cape underwater music has an intro portion in the game's files that is never used in the game, even in the underwater challenge where the player starts in the section in which the underwater variant of the theme plays.

Event token obtaining method
In the in-game news for version 2.10.0, Nintendo announced that the player could obtain event tokens by keeping combo bonuses. This method was never used in the game.

Course icons
Several in-game course icons were altered, either to reposition the character depicted in them or to change the screenshot shown to be more accurate to what is really in the game. The table below documents the differences between the original and updated versions of these icons.