List of Super Mario Bros. 2 pre-release and unused content

This is a list of pre-release and unused content for the game Super Mario Bros. 2.

Prototype cartridge
In 2005, a prototype copy of Super Mario Bros. 2 was sold on eBay for $350. It was significantly different from the final release version of the game.

The prototype cart has a SNROM-02 motherboard rather than the final version's TSROM-04. This means that it uses CHR-RAM instead of CHR-ROM and utilizes batteries. This was probably changed because SNROM-02's ROM size is 1 Megabit, rather than TSROM-04's 2 Megabits.

The title and story screens of the prototype use a different color palette, which includes tans and oranges, as opposed to the final version's red and blue scheme. This color scheme returns in Super Mario USA, with a blue sky.

On the prototype version's character select screen, an ellipsis divides the phrase "EXTRA LIFE" from the number of lives remaining. No ellipsis is shown in the final release; however, the ellipsis returns for Super Mario All-Stars remaster. Also, the tableau curtain on the character select screen is slightly flatter than in the final version. Additionally, the prototype offers unlimited continues (similar to the later All-Stars remaster and the GBA remake Super Mario Advance), whereas the final product only offers two continues.

The character's sprites are not significantly different between the two versions, but Mario and Luigi lack sclera in the prototype, and the Princess's sclera are pink. This may be because Mario, Luigi, and Peach's sprites have more colors than the NES hardware can normally handle, and so their sclera actually have to be rendered as a separate sprite from the rest of their bodies.

Several other character sprites are slightly different. For example, the princess has more hair in the prototype. One noticeable incongruity of the prototype's sprites is that, although all the "item carrying" sprites are finished, the items being carried float at the height the original Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic characters would have carried them at.

In Doki Doki Panic, players couldn't use the B button to run; this was in fact, almost exclusive to Mario games at the time. This mechanic hadn't been added when this prototype was compiled, as the player cannot run, only Luigi and Peach can get to the shortcut in World 1-1.

The prototype used a Magic Lamp to access Sub-space, as did Doki Doki Panic. The final version uses a Magical Potion.

The underground music in the prototype sounded very reminiscent of the Super Mario Bros. 3 underground music, but with different noise waves, but it was ultimately reverted to the Doki Doki Panic underground theme in the final product, albeit with a slower tempo and sounding more richer with the usage of the NES/Famicom's DPCM channel. The Invincibility music had different noise waves, as the square waves were same as Super Mario Bros. 3 version, and the noise waves were same as the original Super Mario Bros.

In the prototype the player only had to throw four vegetables at Wart to defeat him. The ending also gave out Prize Money instead of Contributions. Depending on how many times the character died, the player would be rewarded with a different amount of money at the end of the game.

For a complete comparison, see here.