super mario

Merry Xmas: Super Mario World Beta Remake released!

Did you enjoy all those differences that can be noticed in the Super Mario World beta screenshots? What if Nintendo had stuck with some of their original material while creating the Super Mario World we know and love today? Well, this SMW hack will let you play the game how it may have been in its beta version!

Yoshi Master (AKA Randy from the U64 Staff) has finally released his beta remake of Super Mario World. This hack is based and inspired by all of the pre-release screenshots, unused materials, ancient interviews, and some minor assumptions revolving around SMW, and it’s creation.

smw-beta-comparison3

smw-beta-comparison2

smw-beta-comparison

You can check more screens from the real beta in the Super Mario World Beta page.

Most of the GFX were made by Randy, as well as the levels themselves. The bosses also each have something “beta” about them. Search the Super Mario World Beta Remake Hack  (Lunar IPS File) on Google

How to patch the game to activate the Super Mario World Beta Remake? It’s easy:

1) Get SNESTooL
2) Select ‘Use IPS’ (Press Enter)
3) Select the Super Mario World Beta IPS file
4) Select the Super Mario World (USA) ROM (you’ll have to find this one by yourself)
5) Play it in your favourite SNES emu

Have fun! This is the best christmas gift for every Super Mario World Beta lover and it’s free. Play it, share it with friends.

Images:

Videos:

 

Super Mario World [Beta / Unused – SNES]

The formula setup by Super Mario Bros. 3 established the foundations for the SNES successor Super Mario World. Thanks to these uncovered beta photographs, the evolutionary connections from Super Mario Bros. 3 to Super Mario World are a bit more apparent. Interesting enough is that “World” once started out as simply Super Mario Bros. 4. Its “World” subtitle did not come development had actually progressed into planning and pre-production stages.

The images in this article represent a starting point as Nintendo journeyed from Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES to what would eventually become World. The structure of the geography, different icons, alternative floor on the castle entrance and castle texture, the flying fortresses and even mushroom houses show some serious evolutionary ties to its Mario Bros. 3 roots.

[Original description in italian by Sig. Bakke, english translation by MajorTom]

Would you like to play the Super Mario World beta? Check our Super Mario World Beta Remake Project!

Images:

Test map e Unused Characters from: www.themushroomkingdom.net

Thereʼs very little to say regarding the over world map. The beta version seems to have accommodated a much smaller adventure than what was produced in the final version. In this article, there are two opening screens. One of which shows “Super Mario World” against a “beta” world map. This opening showed a very muted color scheme and a 1989 copyright date. This opening screen could have been one of the earliest known builds Nintendo made during its transition from the NES to SNES hardware. The second title screen does not show any copyright date but what is notably different from the final version is that Nintendo excluded “Super Mario Bros” from the title in the final build.

On screen elements during game play have changed. Notably, there used to be Yoshi sign that disallowed the usage of a Yoshi (or specific colored Yoshi) after the player walked past that sign. Signs similar to these would reappear in the semi-sequel Yoshiʼs Island (with signs limiting Yoshiʼs power-up as it walks past them). In the Donkey Kong Country 2 & 3 games (which share various similarities with SMW), silimar signs appear for animal buddies – a possible influence for Rare.

Other small differences to note are beta sprites. Mario and the Koopas look slightly different from how they turned out in the final release. Mario tends to look more like his “Mario All-Stars” Super Mario Bros. 3 counterpart. The Koopa shells have a more rounded look to them. Some coins also had a look slightly larger and more oval (maybe they were a beta version of the Yoshi’s coin).

Raccoon Mario, who debuted in Super Mario Bros. 3, was either a place holder for the eventual cape/feather power-up or the concept of Cape Mario never came to fruition until much later in development. For a time, the leaf and resulting Raccoon Mario may have been the “de-facto” flying power-up for Mario in “World”. There are many screenshots that show Raccoon Mario in various parts of the game. For readers that frequent Unseen 64, you might want to check out the “SNES Hardware Test” in the SNES section. One specific image from that section has a Mario sprite that appears to be from “World” but with what appears to be ears on top of his head that look VERY similar to the raccoon ears similar to those in Super Mario Bros. 3 and beta shots of “World”.

As Sammy has noticed, there was a Sears commercial that showed 3 Super Nintendo games; they were Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Pilotwings. On that commercial, it showed the title for SMW but with a little difference. Right next to the little beta “Super Mario Bros.” text of the beta title, there was a blue “4″ on the right of the text. You can check the video below thanks to Youssef!

Thanks to Jamie and Assjerk for the contributions!

 

Video:

 

Super Mario Bros 3 [NES – Beta / Concept / Unused]

There were going to be two new enemies called Gold Cheep Cheep (a golden version of a Cheep-Cheep), and Green Parabeetles (green colored Parabeetles). The Gold Cheep Cheeps would come in groups and swim faster than regular Cheep-Cheeps and the Green Parabeetle is a green Parabeetle that flies faster than normal ones. The game coding reveals an item-sized Toad icon among some of the game’s suits; this is interpreted by several as a sort of “Toad Suit”, although it makes no changes to gameplay when granted to Mario. This is likely due to it being scrapped early and never given any purpose. Designers also considered a power-up to turn Mario into a Centaur (half-man, half-horse), although this was rejected (Tilden 1990, 21).

Koopa Troopas and and Hammer Bros. were going to host the mini-games. They were replaced by Toad. However, it could also be possible that they were all around at the same time, but all got scrapped except for one due to memory size. There were also different kinds of mini-games, similar to the ones in New Super Mario Bros..

Finally, fifteen extra levels exist within the coding of Super Mario Bros. 3. Some of these are strange and unique, while others bear much resemblance to levels in the final version and were very likely redone as those. Also, the back of the box of some copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 depicts Mario traversing a hilly grassland stage with tons of Parabeetles and two Note Blocks about. This particular stage is not any of the lost ones present on the cartridge, nor is it in the final game. It could even be a press mock-up from Nintendo. Reports say it might be in the Japanese version either hidden ingame or in code, but there is no proof of it’s existance on the American Version. The “special” boxes also feature a beta map of Grass Land. [Info from Mariowiki]

In december 2008, Linkin800 found some unused sprites in the game code and posted them in the Mushroom Kingdom Forum:

I found some unused Mario overworld sprites.

It seems like Nintendo was originaly going to have it so that mario could walk in all derictions instead of just facing the screen all the time.

some beta buildings I found. (palletes could be wrong): the first one looks like some kind of wooden toy block fortress thing, the second im not sure what it is and the last one looks like a factory to me, or it could be a beta fortress, the thing underneath the 3rd building is it crushed after you beat the level.

I also found something small but intresting. (palletes are also wrong) its the mario that appears in mini games, but there are 2 bodys found in the game, one is fatter then the other, the fat body is used in the game but the skinny one isn’t, I think originaly Nintendo was going to make a diffrent sprite for luigi but never did, not sure.

 

Thanks to Linkin800, Keith Sass, Inferno and Luiszena for some of these images!

Images:

Videos:

This Famimaga video shows the various differences of this early version to the final that the annotations go over. For one, none of the levels are recognizable (except perhaps one particular part), and the HUD is different.

 

Super Mario 64 [N64 – Beta / Unused Stuff]

Super Mario 64 was probably one of the first titles developed for Nintendo’s 64 bit console. There are rumors of a 3D prototype existing on the SNES using the systems Super FX chip, but this prototype was kept behind closed doors, so no images of it exist. It’s safe to assume that this would have been an isometric platforming adventure, and played similarly to the older games of the Mario name.

With Nintendo’s prototype next-generation console, “Project Reality”, the game went from a FX chip prototype to a 3D beta on the 64-bit new hardware. The SNES prototype was never seen or heard about again. Even with this project on the Nintendo 64, original designs still stuck to the isometric viewpoint. Like with the older games, this one had players taking their chances jumping form platform to platform to reach the end of a level. As the game went on, this concept was kept intact for the game’s boss stages were the player would fight bowser.

This game was officially presented to the public in November of 1995. During its development Nintendo released a lot of images, some of which were from a playable demo. This was very important since it allowed people to take photos, and record videos which we can look back at to see how much the game has changed from the beta to now.

The beta version of Mario 64 appeared to be very similar to the final: Many of the levels were similar seeing only minor changes. Some of the biggest changes were made to the hub world which didn’t seem very much like a castle to begin with. Changes can also be seen in the lives – stars – coin counter in the HUD, as well as Mario’s health bar which is an image of his head in the final version. Some changes are noticeable like different textures, and colors. Bowser also sports some different textures. We can also see the castle interior is dark blue with some moons on the columns.

The inside of the castle was very different in the beta. We do not know if the doors here are different than the ones in the final, or if they lead to the same places, or if they were simply place holder images. One of the more interesting images had Mario in a snowy level with penguins, and a different background that isn’t found anywhere in the final game. It is also noted that the stars used to be 2D in design. In conclusion, the face texture for the yellow desert enemy was really scary.

As we can read from the NSMB Wii Iwata Ask article, one of the early Mario 64 prototypes had a coop multiplayer mode, but it was never used in the final game and it’s not clear if they could have confused it with Mario 64 II (as M64II was rumored to have that same Mario – Luigi coop).

Iwata: Ever since Mario Bros., you’ve had your heart set on making a multiplayer Mario game. You’ve tried each time, but it’s never quite come together… Even with Mario 6423, it started with Mario and Luigi running around together, didn’t it?

Miyamoto: That’s right. The screen was split and they went into the castle separately. When they meet in the corridor, I was incredibly happy! (laughs) Then there was also the mode where the camera is fixed and we see Mario running away, steadily getting smaller and smaller.

Iwata: Yes, that’s right.

Miyamoto: That was a remnant of an experiment we did where Mario and Luigi would run away from each other but you could still see them both. But we were unable to pull it off…

Some unused red shells were also found in the game’s code:

Those beta red shells models were found a long time ago both by rstewart215804 and VL-Tone.

In this video, I show a complex hack written by me in C which gives them a similar behavior as the red shells from the Mario Kart series. They will protect Mario and if you press D-Pad Up they will go after the nearest enemy (actually, the nearest animated object).

Many other unused models (as a trampoline, a Boo Key and a Blaarg) are hidden in the game.

Blargg— An eyeless, largely untextured model for Blargg, an enemy from Super Mario World, exists in the game. It has an animation which shows it jumping out of the lava, but there doesn’t seem to be any functionality left. It was definitely planned for the lava levels, and possibly replaced by the very similar flame enemy.

Water mine— Found in the water object set, but never used in the game, is an object very similar to the bombs that appear in the Bowser levels, but a bit smaller. How it would have been used is fairly obvious. It’s possible to see it in major part of SM64 beta videos, in Dire, Dire Docks.

Yoshi egg— The Yoshi egg has a model, textures, and a bouncing animation. It’s likely that Yoshi was planned to have a larger role in the game than he actually does, and he would have appeared out of these eggs, just as he does in Super Mario World, and as he would later do in Super Mario Sunshine . This egg loads to memory in Whomp’s Fortress and Wet Dry World

Small chill bully— A smaller version of the Chill Bully. There are large and small normal Bullies in Lethal Lava Land, but the only Chill Bully in the game is a large-sized one in Snowman’s Land. They have they own behavior and 3D model, but sometimes when trying to put it in the game, it crashes.

Beta trampoline— The most known unused object in the whole game. Some sort of trampoline. It has no model in-game, and its behavior was never created. Fairly obvious how they’d have been used, however. Anyway, some hackers tried to recreate its behavior, which can be seen in the video made by messiaen, one of the best hackers (yeah, thas one who wrote M64 Level Importer!)

Beta green & red shells— A pair of small Koopa shells, these have been found as only data (though clever hackers can get them to work in-game). They are about the size as spiny shells, and have unusual blue bottoms. Their use is currently unknown, but there’s a behavior code that could fit them. Them can be picked up and throwed, but the stick to wall when they hit it.

Yellow switch & Yellow transparent box— The yellow switch and the yellow box are quite similar to their red, blue, and green-colored brethren. This suggests there was another type of box (not necessarily the one in the final game) that needed to be activated with a switch. The yellow switch is always in its pressed state when spawned. It’s possible that there was another powerup inside the yellow box, and that the switch was activated in Peach’s secret slide, because the swicthes load to the memory, when you enter that level, exactly as happens for Wing Tower, Metal Cavern and Vanish Sewer.

Early Solid Red Box— An early solid red box can only be found in the Wing Cap area, and probably served as a test for item boxes. The color changes depending on the angle viewed from.

Boo Key— The boo key was likely intended to be collected from a Big Boo upon defeat, as is shown in an early screenshot. As a leftover, the Japanese version actually has a key symbol for use in the HUD which has been replaced in the other versions with a German character (a U with two pints on its top). Also we know that you was able to collect at max 6 keys, to use only in that level.

Cactus texture— A texture which resembles a small, round cactus. It was most likely intended as scenery in Shifting Sand Land.

Cracked ice— A texture depicting cracked ice. Possibly a leftover from one of the ice worlds.

Metal wings— There’s a unique “metal wings” texture the game uses when Mario wears the Wing Cap and the Metal Cap at the same time. However, there’s no level in the game which has both of these caps, so the only way to see the texture in the game is using a GameShark or replacind objects with ToadTool64 or a HEX editor

Pink flowers— Discovered by Mr. Game during the exploration of game’s textures. This environmental effect causes flowers to appear. Where it may have been used, and what purpose it may have served, is still unknown. When activated, it appears only on perfectly horizontal walls.

Blizzard— This effect creates a blizzard. It is still under investigation, but was likely meant for use in the snow-based levels. It works same as snow effect, but it’s fastest. It was also used in SM64DS, in the battle with Chief Bully (the one you needed to beat to unlock Wario).

Chain Chomp— In the beta v3 in Bob-Omb Battlefield, you’ll notice that the Chain Chomp’s growling sound is different than the final version, and about similar to the sound of the Chomp in Japan.

English translation by Tobias

Thanks to forotsuki for the contribution!

Images:

Videos:






 

Super Mario RPG 2 (Paper Mario) [Beta – N64]

mariorpg2logo.jpg

Early beta screenshots of Paper Mario / Super Mario RPG 2 showed that Poochy was going to play some sort of role in the game. Another screenshot showed that Nep-Enuts were going to be in this game also. Also the early version of Forever Forest showed that it would be much smaller, with all the forest’s trees having sinister faces. Paper Mario was also originally going to be named Super Mario RPG 2, though due to complications involving Square Enix, the makers of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the name was changed to Super Mario Adventure and later Paper Mario. Also, it was originally in development for the failed Nintendo 64DD. However, it was released in cartridge. A screenshot had also shown a strange, beta Whale. [Info from Mariowiki]

Also, in an Iwata Asks interview, they shared a super early Mario RPG 64 concept:

Mario RPG 64 beta Paper Mario

Yeah, we really did. And most of all it was a Mario game! We couldn’t determine the route to take with visuals. At first, we broke into teams and worked in parallel on making about three sample models.

Oh, it’s from 15 years ago on March 5, 1997.

It’s made of 3D polygons, but I drew it to have an atmosphere like that of a picture book transplanted into a video game—with paper-thin 2D background and characters.

[Thanks to Henrique Resende for the contribute with some images!]

Images:

Videos: