List of Super Mario 64 pre-release and unused content

This article pertains to the beta elements of Super Mario 64.

Early ideas
32 courses were initially planned for the game, but only 15 of them made it into the final product. In some sketch-ups of the game's early development in Super Mario History, Mario is seen jumping on a piano. He is also seen climbing a ladder, swinging around a pole, pushing a door and a block of ice, and crushing a rock with his head.

During a interview between Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto regarding New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Iwata stated that there used to be a multiplayer function that was scrapped from Super Mario 64, likely due to hardware limitations. It was also stated that one could see Mario and Luigi meet in the corridor. This, apparently, inspired the multiplayer function of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

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 64, 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...

During a more recent interview between Iwata and Koichi Hayashida regarding Super Mario 3D Land, it was mentioned during a discussion about the Flagpole that it was once considered to be incorporated into Super Mario 64.

Iwata: The impression the goal pole makes has a big influence over the impression that the game makes. I suppose he thought this was an area that deserved effort. Hayashida: Later, I asked (Yoshiaki) Koizumi-san, and he said that they tried a goal pole once for Super Mario 64. Iwata: Oh, is that so. Hayashida: But at the time, when they thought about what was the most fun about playing in 3D, it was going to all sorts of places and looking for something, so they decided on players getting a Star.

Early builds
Mario was originally voiced differently, possessing a screechy, childlike voice rather than his current Italian accent. Bowser sounded more tiger-like. Big Boo held a key instead of a Power Star inside of him. The purpose of the keys were to unlock a variety of the various doors in Big Boo's Haunt; there was even a "key counter". The upgraded Triple Jump Mario receives after talking to Yoshi in the final game is the same animation used for when Mario enters any level in earlier builds.

Items and objects
Water mines (with graphics identical to spike bombs) were going to be in a water level. Yoshi Egg graphics are stored in the game's code, along with a yellow ! Switch. The presence of Yoshi Eggs implies that Yoshi was originally going to play a more prominent role in the game. VL-Tone, the creator of Toad's Tool 64 (a Super Mario 64 level editor), found graphics of what looks like a red, black and white trampoline, with a yellow "?" painted on the side. It would be Used To get to A Higher place or platform. There are some unused platforms in the game, such as a flat, checkered platform, resembling the two elevator platforms in Whomp's Fortress. This platform however, does not do anything other than let Mario stand on it. Another beta platform is like the previous one, except it rotates after every couple of seconds. A moving flower with a face was also left unused. Its purpose and where it was to be used in the game is unknown.

Enemies
There was originally going to be a Blargg, which is still in the game's data, that was to appear in the Lethal Lava Land, Bowser in the Fire Sea, And Wing Mario Over the Rainbow courses. In the game, there are small and large bullies, using two models; a related species called "Chill Bully" appeared in Course 10: Snowman's Land. It too had a small and large model, but only the large model was used.

Textures
Some unused textures found in the game can be extracted. One of the textures found among the castle paintings is a classic NES painting. This could have been from one of the scrapped levels. Another texture in the game is found in Cool, Cool Mountain. It is much like the ice texture that is used, but it has cracks in it. A Cactus was also found in the data for Shifting Sand Land. Frames of a flower can also be found in the Lethal Lava Land textures. It seems like it was going to be used as a background object.

Music
Four tracks were left unused. Two were alternate versions of music in the final version, and two were used in the Bowser battles.

Miscellaneous
A debug function stored in the game is the "level select". In the menu, some of the courses have different names and some symbols can only be seen in the Japanese game. Eg. Whomp's Fortress is simply called "Mountain".

Trivia

 * It is frequently rumoured that Super Mario 64 was born out of a cancelled SNES project titled Super Mario FX, which would have been a 3D platformer using the Super FX chip. However, reports of "Super Mario FX"'s existence seems to have been born out of a misinterpretation of a statement Shigeru Miyamoto made in an interview with Nintendo Power, in which he stated that he had the idea of making a 3D Mario game during Star Fox's development. There are no actual proof that a Super FX-using Mario platformer was in development in any point and furthermore, Dylan Cuthbert, who contributed to the development of the Super FX and worked with Miyamoto on Star Fox, claims that "Super Mario FX" was actually a codename for the Super FX chip itself..
 * Hotel Mario reused both the Beta Coin texture and SFX while Paper Mario just reused the SFX.