Mario Kart Wii Has Been Hiding A Secret Mode For Almost Ten Years

Mario Kart Wii has been harboring a deep secret for the last nine years--an unused mission mode hidden within the game's code. Eagle-eyed YouTuber MrBean35000vr uncovered the mode.

MrBean35000vr, a Mario Kart 8 hacker and streamer, claims that within the 2008 title, the main menu actually has five options in its code rather than the four we've come to know. In his video, he shows this to be true, pulling up sub-menus that lack any text but do work as options for some sort of Mission Mode similar to the one seen in Mario Kart DS.

"The menus for Mission Mode have no available text, but the game is trying to load them; they’ve simply been erased," he says. "Similarly, a massive file that would’ve contained mission parameters is not present, and without it, the mode can’t start – UNLESS you simulate its existence, which is what I did. It attempts to load files out of the /Race/MissionRun folder on the disc, but that folder is empty, but that affects nothing since that folder would only have contained extra data (like where to place goombas or similar). As such, I was actually able to play a few games with the game in Misson state, and show off some of the game modes."

Mission Mode, as it was in Mario Kart DS, was a mode that presented players with a number of challenges to take on. It was a sort of mish-mash of races, mini-games, and the like. MrBean35000vr says this iteration sports 12 or 13 different missions, with one most likely deleted as it doesn't do anything. The missions include wheelies, defeating enemies, drifting, collecting item boxes and more. To see the mission mode in action, check out the video above.