Mario Kart Wii 3DS

A native Nintendo 3DS port of Mario Kart Wii, continued by MiniBandit from the original port by dudewhat.

This repository contains no Nintendo files. It builds an installable CIA on your own computer from your own Mario Kart Wii disc.

It isn't an emulator. The game runs natively on the 3DS: kart physics come from Kinoko, a recreation of Mario Kart Wii's physics, and rendering, audio and menus are written for the 3DS hardware. The builder converts the disc's courses, characters, vehicles, menus, movies and sound into 3DS formats.

What's new in this continuation

On top of dudewhat's original release (Solo VS, 24 drivers, the 6 starting vehicles each):

• Grand Prix in 50cc (karts), 100cc (bikes) and 150cc: the cup's four courses in order, with points and standings
• Time Trials: solo, a Triple Mushroom, best time per course saved to the SD card
• All 12 vehicles for every driver, including the unlockables
• Speedometer on the race HUD (SELECT toggles it)
• Tricks on R off ramps (Mario Kart 7 style), plus X/Y for tricks and wheelies
• Smoke and dust: start-boost smoke, burnout, drift smoke, off-road dust, landing puffs
• Balloon Battle on all ten arenas, with CPU opponents, balloon scoring and a three-minute match
• Two-screen menus (v0.6.0): the Wii menu buttons and art on the lower screen with touch, the highlighted choice shown large on top, and a course tour on the lower screen during the pre-race fly-over
• Save data with four licenses, unlocks and best times (v0.6.0, Epic0522)
• Race overhaul (v0.6.0, Epic0522): course materials, driver and vehicle animation, effects, course objects, CPU drivers, items, sound and Rosalina's Luma
• Model and HUD fixes
• HOME Menu name and icon, and the standard Nintendo 3DS start-up logo

Still in progress: Coin Runners and Team VS. Not yet: Mirror, online play.

What you need

• Mario Kart Wii (USA), game ID RMCE01, dumped as .iso or .wbfs. Convert RVZ or NKit dumps to ISO in Dolphin first.
• About 15 GB of free space and an internet connection
• devkitPro with the 3DS tools (3ds-dev)
• Python 3.11–3.14 and Node.js LTS (Python 3.15 is not supported yet)
• Git
• macOS: Xcode command line tools (xcode-select --install)

Building

macOS: double-click Build MKW CIA.command, drag your disc image into the window and press Return.

Windows: double-click Build MKW CIA.bat, drag your disc image into the window and press Enter. (New: please report how it goes.)

v0.6.0 needs a new build. Its converted game files changed, so a game built with v0.5.x can't be updated to v0.6.0 with an update CIA: run the v0.6.0 builder in a new, empty folder (not your old builder folder), install the new CIA and copy the new build/release/sd-card/3ds folder to your SD card.

The first build takes about 30–60 minutes. Your CIA is saved to build/release/mkw-3ds.cia. If a build stops partway, run it again: finished steps are skipped. If it fails, share build-cia-log.txt when asking for help.

Installing

You need a 3DS with custom firmware (3ds.hacks.guide).

1. Copy mkw-3ds.cia to your SD card and install it with FBI.
2. For sound, run DSP1 once to dump your sound firmware.

New 3DS / New 2DS run at 60 FPS (30 FPS with the 3D slider up); Old 3DS / 2DS at 30 FPS.

Please don't share built CIAs: they contain Nintendo's game files. Share this builder instead.

Quick updates (no rebuilding)

Who can use the QR code, and who has to build

You are…	What to do
Built your game with v0.6.0 or newer and copied build/release/sd-card/3ds to your SD card	✅ Scan the QR code below whenever there's a quick update. That's all.
Built with v0.5.x or older	❌ The QR code will NOT work for you. v0.6.0 needs a new build: download the latest builder, build the game again, install the full CIA and copy the SD folder. After that, later updates are quick updates.
Never built the game (no CIA from your own disc)	❌ The QR code is not the game. It is a small update of a game you build yourself from your own Mario Kart Wii disc. Without a built game and its SD files it only shows a "build the game first" message. Use the builder.
Built with v0.6.0 or newer but didn't copy the SD folder	❌ Copy build/release/sd-card/3ds to the root of your SD card first, then scan.

v0.6.0 itself has no update CIA (it needs a new build), so the QR codes find nothing to install until the first update after v0.6.0.

If you're unsure which version you built with, build again with the latest builder: it always works. The game also tells you on start-up when its files are too old for an update.

How to update

Once: copy the folder build/release/sd-card/3ds from the builder to the root of your SD card (it adds the converted game files as sd:/3ds/mkw-3ds).

Then, for every update, install the small update CIA (about 2 MB, no game files) in one of these ways:

FBI: Remote Install → Scan QR Code	<img src="docs/fbi-update-qr.png" width="160">
Universal-Updater: Settings → Add store → scan this, then install Mario Kart Wii 3DS (update) whenever there's a new version	<img src="docs/universal-updater-qr.png" width="160">
Manually: download MKW-3DS-Update.cia from the latest release and install it with FBI

The update installs over your game like any CIA update: your saves and SD files stay. After an update, the game shows what's new on its first launch.

The QR codes always fetch the newest update. If an update ever needs newer game files, the game tells you on start-up: download the latest builder, build again and copy build/release/sd-card/3ds to your SD card again.

Performance log (for testers)

To record how the game runs on your 3DS (useful on Old 3DS), create an empty file named performance.txt in sd:/3ds/mkw-3ds/, play a race, then send the performance.csv the game writes in the same folder. Delete performance.txt to switch it off. Nothing is recorded without that file.

Controls

Button	Action
Circle Pad	Steer; up/down when using an item throws forward/back; up/down in the air tilts the kart
A	Accelerate
B	Brake / reverse
R	Hop and drift; trick off a ramp
X / Y	Trick (Circle Pad picks the direction) / bike wheelie
D-pad	Trick / wheelie (Wii Classic Controller style)
L	Use item
START	Pause
SELECT	Speedometer on/off
Touch screen	Menus: tap a button on the lower screen. Races: switch the lower-screen map view

Contributing

Bug reports and suggestions go in Issues. Pull requests are welcome. Please test changes on an emulator (Azahar) or real hardware before submitting.

Credits

• dudewhat: the original Mario Kart Wii 3DS port and CIA builder this project continues
• MiniBandit: this continuation
• Epic0522: graphics upgrades: lighting, kart shadows, water, effects and menu highlights; v0.6.0's race overhaul (course materials, driver and vehicle animation, effects, course objects, CPU drivers, items, sound, Rosalina's Luma) and save data with four licenses
• DarthMDev: Old 3DS drawing performance fix, race sound fixes and menu cadence
• Codiak540: Old 3DS performance testing and optimisation research (course-object detail distance, particle limit, performance log idea)
• janedoemk3ds: Old 3DS performance research with Codiak540 (lighter models, visibility culling, faster course drawing; PR #40)
• Kinoko by vabold (MIT): Mario Kart Wii physics
• noclip.website (MIT): BRRES model reading
• gclib by LagoLunatic (MIT): disc and texture tools
• citro3d by fincs (zlib): 3DS graphics
• ogws and mkw decompilation references (CC0)
• makerom and bannertool for packaging

Mario Kart Wii is © Nintendo. This is an unofficial fan project with no affiliation with Nintendo. See NOTICE for licensing.