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

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

Princess Peach
At one stage during development, Shigeru Miyamoto considered making Princess Peach a playable character, like in Super Mario Bros. 2, but eventually decided against it because of how difficult it would be to animate her dress.

Mega Mushroom
The game was originally going to have the Mega Mushroom power up, which would have transformed the player into Mega Mario. The idea was abandoned.

Red Toad
An early picture showed Mario, Luigi and Blue Toad in bubbles. However, instead of Yellow Toad, the picture showed the Red Toad, meaning he may have been an original character. The idea was left out.

HUD during gameplay
As seen in early screenshots of the game, the HUD originally appeared transparent during gameplay; additionally, the text appeared very different, with only generic font; possibly as a placeholder. Later screenshots and videos of the final build show that the HUD is now solid (only turning transparent if a player goes behind it), certain icons were updated and brightened up, along with the trademark Mario text. Notably, the life box was sized down, while the score and timer stretched out slightly.

Also, when a Yoshi is ridden, a music note was originally meant to appear on the upper-right side of the screen. Keys were originally going to appear in the game. When obtained, the key moves to the HUD, next to the lives and coins counters.

"Level Clear!"
In the E3 2009 demo, whenever a character completes a stage, the message "Level Clear!" was seen. Later, "Level" was changed to "Course" in the final build for unknown reasons.

Results screen
In demos shown at Press Conferences, after finishing each level a results screen would pop-up showing the player how many enemies were stomped and how many coins were collected, which is only seen in the Free-For-All mode in the final game. However, in New Super Mario Bros. U, once the game is beaten, players have access to a purple Records Toad House, containing aforementioned information. Also, in New Super Mario Bros. 2, the coin counter shows how many coins have been collected throughout in the game.

Flag and midway flag
The Goal Pole and the Checkpoint Flag were originally going to have an image of a skull on them. This was changed to Bowser's emblem in the final version. The skull flag was previously used in New Super Mario Bros.. Additionally, an early image shows the Midway Flag as a circular sign with a skull on it.

Power-Up Panels
In the final game, the "Your Turn" message does not appear in single player mode while playing the Power-Up Panels minigame.

Early platform models
The platforms in World 7-4 were normal platforms in one pre-release build. The tracks were black instead of yellow and the end points were red.

A later version of the game had the emblem of the player who was controlling the platforms as the end of the trails, while the platform itself was gray with a bolt all the time, just like when they are off in the final version.

Level themes
The underground, desert, castle, athletic themes and the level clear tunes were ported from New Super Mario Bros., most likely as a placeholder. The snow, forest, lava and Ghost House songs did not exist.

Yellow Toad's Victory Pose
This was shown in GameStop's E3 demo video. Yellow Toad says "Yay!" and he jumps twice while punching fist in the air, and it shows that there is no standing animation so when he just stands after his pose he just freezes for a while.

Sound effects
During the E3 2009 demo, coins had 8-bit sound effects, just as they did in the first New Super Mario Bros.. This was later replaced with different sound effects. The Propeller Mushroom's sound effect was also different in one pre-release build.

Mario was originally going to speak while flying saying what he says when dismounting Yoshi in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Also, the power-up sound effect was originally the sound effect from New Super Mario Bros., but this was changed to the 8-bit version.

One-way gate
This gate allows the player to cross only from one direction. The only usable ones are "enter from the right" and "enter from the left". The variety which allows the players to "enter from the bottom" and "enter from the above" can only be used once.

Swinging pendulum platform
A swinging pendulum platform from was to appear. They self-rotate (the player doesn't need to attach them to a rotation controller for them to move), and the level editor can adjust their swing arc, speed and size.

Red Yoshi
While the game was still in development, Nintendo confirmed that a Red Yoshi was ridable and an artwork was made. However, as seen in a later trailer, Red Yoshi got replaced with Pink Yoshi and the artwork was changed.

Blue Yoshi
Blue Yoshi was also set to appear in the game, but he got replaced by Light Blue Yoshi.

Note
When a Yoshi is ridden, a music note was to appear on the upper-right side of the screen next to the time counter. This was removed in the final version.

Changes
In the first battle against Larry Koopa as presented in the E3 2009 demo, whenever he goes into his shell, he barely covers any ground. Also, the first battle with Morton was held in in the demo, not in  (as that level wasn't featured in the demo). In the demo, Morton doesn't have skewers stabbing the platforms to the side; instead, there were Lava Bubbles jumping out of the lava. Also, the geography of the arena was different, as it was using the castle tileset, instead of the tower tileset that would later be used in the final build.

Dropping in on the Koopalings
In the E3 2009 demo, after players go through the boss door, they fall from the top of the screen and land in the boss room, as the initial Larry and Morton videos showed. This was just like in the original New Super Mario Bros., where the player also enters the Bowser Jr. battles the same way. In the final version, the players are already on the ground when the boss room is first shown.

Early Roulette Block
The Roulette Block was suppose to look like the ones in New Super Mario Bros.. They had different item icons too.

Conveyor Belt Spikes
Spikes were to be on Conveyor Belts, but were taken out for unknown reasons.

Gray ? Blocks
At E3, it was shown that there were originally going to be gray ? Blocks in the ice levels, but they were scrapped for unknown reasons. Also gray Brick Blocks were shown with the gray ? Blocks.

Yoshi Cookie
Yoshi Cookies were going to appear in the game, with the same purpose as a Berry.

Level Designs

 * World 1-1 had the first Star Coin in the level on the overworld area. The underground area with the second Star Coin was shown differently, and the Red Coins and Red Rings were absent; they were replaced by Coins.
 * had a different background, and the walls were light green and made up of small blocks.
 * World 7-5 had the World 1 background.
 * World 5-3 had the World 1 background.
 * World 3 had cyan stripes instead of brown. The desert background had a green sky.
 * World 8-7 was going to be an autoscroll level. This was changed because the screen moved too fast and the Spine Coaster could not keep up with the screen.

Enemy Changes
The Bramballs in the E3 trailer had brown feet instead of yellow feet.

Micro Goombas were able to be defeated by running into them. They acted like the ones in New Super Mario Bros., but were changed to the Super Mario Bros. 3 style where the Micro Goombas would stick to Mario and hold him down.

Defeated King Bills
King Bills were able to be defeated, but this was changed in the final version.

Unused Power-up
While never revealed or used in the game, a power-up that appears to be a "chicken suit" was originally intended to be in the game. Concept art of the suit had been discovered, though its purpose or effects on the characters who were to use it is unknown. The idea was eventually changed into the Penguin Suit. The chicken suit appears in volume 44 in Super Mario Kun.

Penguin Suit
The Penguin Suit was going to have white eyes with a blue pupil, but was changed to black eyes.

Propeller Mushroom
The orange Propeller Mushroom was originally a Propeller Suit, with a red letter "P"-like suit with a propeller at its top. It's unknown why it was changed.

Fire Toads
Originally, the Fire Toads had mushroom caps which had their respective colors reversed with white spots on them. However, in the final version of the game (and later trailers prior to its release), the Toads' fire forms instead have them with caps with reversed colorations of their respective colors, and with red spots instead of white ones.

Additionally, the early Fire Blue Toad and Fire Yellow Toad had their vests of the same color while their pants remained a maroon like color. However, in the final version of the game, the Toads received a reddish/maroon color for both their vests and pants.

Icons
The early power-up icons were very simple. There was no Mini Mushroom, as it got replaced by a 1-Up.

Yoshi
As seen in this video (at 9:12), Yoshi has a somewhat unfinished animation not seen anywhere else in the game. Since this animation is only viewable by 'hacking' Yoshi into a Castle/Temple Level, it further hints at the theory that Yoshi was originally planned to be able to be used in boss fights.

Additionally, Yoshi does interact with certain enemies differently from Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad, which can only be spotted by hacking the game. For an example, Yoshi can't safely jump on a Cooligan or a Mecha-Koopa, but he can eat them. Similarly, Yoshi can defeat a Wiggler by ground pounding it. Another oddity is that Yoshi can defeat a Big Wiggler by eating it, or by spitting a fireball at it.

Enemies
Information for a Big Buzzy Beetle exist within the game. However, it was not used in any level. The Big Buzzy Beetle can be used as a platform, and will only move continuously in one direction; it does not fall while airborne. It does, however, change direction when it hits walls or collides with certain enemies. Finally, it is immune to every known attack method, apart from throwing a POW block. The enemy concept was revisited and used in later installments.

It is also likely that Fishin' Boo was intended to be in the game at one stage, since an empty object is called 'EN_GHOST_JUGEM'.

King Bills had an animation for being defeated, and through hacking methods, the player is able to defeat it.

Music
The only unused track in the game is "cheepfanfare_lr.ry.32".

Sound Effects
In the games files, unused voice clips from New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 DS can be found, these voice clips may have been used for the demo versions of the game.

Platforms
There were unused platforms. These include four rotating platforms (similar to the ones during the Reznor battle from Super Mario World), see-saw, and controllable platforms like the ones from 1-2 and 7-2 in New Super Mario Bros., respectively. Trampoline platforms that bounce the player to the opposite direction are also seen. These platforms were simply long gray blocks.

Arrows
Arrows that were used in New Super Mario Bros. were found in the game through hacking methods. They do the exact same thing as they did in said game.

Broken Warp Pipe model
Within the game's code, "obj_dokan.arc" contains a broken Warp Pipe model. This could be linked to the planned Mega Mario appearance.

Event Switch
A magenta ! Switch can be found in the game files, but is never used in the game. This ! Switch is an Event Switch. The Event Switch allows an event to activate one of up to four event IDs specified and do something else. It can be used by hacking the game.

Key
An unused key can be found in the game's files. They may have unlocked doors on Airships.

Larry Koopa model
A shorter version of Larry Koopa exists in the game's code. Compared to the used model, this Larry has shorter eyes, shorter hair, and shorter stature.

Snake Block Texture
The Green Snake Block found in New Super Mario Bros. was supposed to be used in the game, but instead Ice Snake Blocks replaced it. The only area Snake Blocks were found was in Lemmy's Castle.

Toad Balloon
Toad Balloons were originally meant to be green coins. This can be proved because the name of the object is "EN_GREENCOIN". "obj_coin.arc" also contains a model and texture for a green coin, but is never used in the game.

World Layouts
In the World Map folder on the disc, left behind is an unused configuration file for the "Collected Star Coins" screen ("CollectionCoinCourseSort.arc"). From it, early level layout can be assumed.


 * World 1 didn't have 1-6.
 * World 2 had a Ghost House and lacked 2-6.
 * World 3 had two Ghost Houses.
 * World 4 had 4-7 and didn't include the Ghost House and Airship.
 * World 5 had 5-7.
 * World 6 had 6-7, and no airship.
 * World 7 had 7-7 and didn't have the Ghost House. It could have included a cannon.
 * World 8 had a second tower, marked as "Secret".
 * World 9 didn't yet exist.

Concept box art
A proposed box art for the game featured a hand-drawn sketch depicting Mario, Luigi and the Toads facing Bowser and the Koopalings. This concept box art was included as part of a recruitment kit for prospective Nintendo employees.

Trivia

 * Ironically, Princess Peach was planned to be the damsel in distress in Super Mario 3D World until Yoshiaki Koizumi decided to make her a playable character in that game as well as leading to the creation of the game's damsels in distress, The Sprixie Princesses