Recently, Nintendo held an event for Mario Kart World. In that event, participating players could race online at a certain time, with the highest-ranking ones being displayed on a leaderboard on the Nintendo website. It was an interesting enough setup, and one which various YouTubers have covered in great detail:
But it may have also revealed some other information too. That’s because the list of results includes every player’s equipped sticker next to their name.
And those stickers seem to be the same assets used in-game, file names included. As a result, not only can we figure out the track names based on the stickers used on the results page, but we can edit the URL of the resulting file to figure out the sticker names for almost every other track in the game too. Here’s a list with most track file names:
| Track | Codename |
|---|---|
| Mario Bros Circuit | FirstCircuit |
| Crown City | WestCity |
| Whistlestop Summit | Coaster |
| DK Spaceport | DonkeyKong |
| Desert Hills | DesertHills |
| Shy Guy Bazaar | ShyGuyBazaar |
| Wario Stadium | WarioStadium |
| Airship Fortress | AirshipFortress |
| DK Pass | DKPass |
| Starview Peak | RosalinaIceWorld |
| Sky-High Sundae | IceBuildings |
| Wario’s Galleon/Shipyard | WarioShipyard |
| Koopa Troopa Beach | KoopaTroopaBeach |
| Faraway Oasis | DKJungleParkway |
| Peach Stadium | Central |
| Peach Beach | PeachBeach |
| Salty Salty Speedway | LagoonCity |
| Dino Dino Jungle | DinoDinoJungle |
| Great ? Ruins | |
| Cheep Cheep Falls | |
| Dandelion Depths | Cave |
| Boo Cinema | Cinema |
| Dry Bones Burnout | DinoBones |
| Moo Moo Meadows | MooMooFarm |
| Choco Mountain | ChocoMountain |
| Toad’s Factory | ToadFactory |
| Bowser’s Castle | Lava |
| Acorn Heights | BigTree |
| Mario Circuit | SFCMarioCircuit |
| Rainbow Road | Rainbow |
Plus some of the stickers from the site…
-
- DK Spaceport Sticker
-
- Wario Stadium Sticker
-
- Acorn Heights Sticker
-
- Rainbow Road Sticker
This gives us a few interesting titbits about the game’s development, and what tracks nearly made the cut.
Like say, DK’s Jungle Parkway! Yep, the codename for Faraway Oasis seems to be DKJungleParkway, with the map mostly matching that of the original Mario Kart 64 track.
DK’s Jungle Parkway may have been planned for Mario Kart World
As a result, it seems likely that the original intention was for Faraway Oasis to be an updated version of the MK64 course, and that the name/theme change occurred when the design became way too different from its supposed namesake.
Similarly, Moo Moo Meadows is known as MooMooFarm internally. This implies it was either meant to be a port of the Nintendo 64 track before being replaced with its Mario Kart Wii counterpart, or a new cow themed track altogether. Given how recently Moo Moo Meadows appeared in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, we’re not sure why they went back on this one.
Then there’s Starview Peak. This one is known as RosalinasIceWorld internally, with a map that seems somewhat suspiciously similar to the Mario Kart 7 track. As a result, it was clearly meant to either be that track in particular, or a new one that was heavily inspired by it.
Starview Peak may have been intended to be Rosalina’s Ice World
Other less interesting details here include Dry Bones Burnout being named DinoBones (indicating that it was meant to be more fossil themed at some point, or that the skeletons were going to be dinosaur ones rather than Koopa ones), Whistlestop Summit being named Coaster (which gives us the impression it may have been a bit more minecart themed at some point) and DK Spaceport being named DonkeyKong (if it’s Donkey Kong arcade roots weren’t obvious enough already).
Meanwhile the rest of them are exactly what they say are the tin. Salty Salty Speedway is a LagoonCity, Mario Bros Circuit is indeed the FirstCircuit, and the rest of the retro tracks were clearly always meant to be said retro tracks. So, this version of Desert Hills was always intended to be Desert Hills, while tracks like Airship Fortress, Shy Guy Bazaar and Wario Stadium were clearly planned from the outset.
Still, those are some of the track codenames found on the Mario Kart World website, and how they may indicate that other tracks were planned at some point in development. So, what do you think of them? Are you happy to see Faraway Oasis and Moo Moo Meadows over DK’s Jungle Parkway and Moo Moo Farm? What other codenames do you find interesting in the above list?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!
Source: