List of Super Mario Galaxy 2 pre-release and unused content

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

Early concepts
Early in production, the development team suggested that the game should feature cameos from the Pikmin and Donkey Kong series. Shigeru Miyamoto did not approve of the idea, however. One of the reasons was that the Pikmin's body shape would make them awkward to jump on. This suggests that they would have been featured as enemies or friendly non-playable characters.

Rosalina noticably has a much smaller role in the game, appearing only in the game's first and second endings. This is because Shigeru Miyamoto thought the Storybook in the first game covering her backstory distracted gamers from the first game's gameplay, and made the game focus too much on her instead of the Mario Bros. The game was originally going to have a new subplot involving Rosalina, including exactly how she met Lubba in the first place (which in the final version is reduced to a brief mention by Lubba in the game's ending).

A proposed Bone Mario power-up was rejected by Shigeru Miyamoto.

Early builds
In the debut trailer from E3 2009 and the two Media Summit Trailers, there were several changes before the game's release date. The game was originally titled More Super Mario Galaxy.

E3 2009 Trailer

 * A planet shaped as Mario's head could be seen. This planet is an early version of the Starship Mario.
 * In Cosmic Cove Galaxy, the switch which freezes the water into ice is placed on a wooden floating platform, similar to the place where Penguru is standing. In the final version, the switch is found on a tower.
 * Yoshi was seen in Cloudy Court Galaxy, but he never appeared in that galaxy in the final game.
 * The switch that slows time, which appeared in a lot of galaxies, was originally activated by a Spin, and not by Ground Pound.
 * Yoshi's Dash Pepper was originally called Dash Fruit (its Japanese name).
 * In the Spin-Dig Galaxy's second level, Silver Stars Down Deep, Star Chips were supposed to be collected instead of the Silver Stars, indicating that there could have been another planet.
 * In the Cloudy Court Galaxy, it was shown that the cymbals didn't have a Launch Star on them.
 * The starting planet in Boo Moon Galaxy was originally going to look similar to the Crystal Planet in Space Junk Galaxy from the first game.
 * When fighting Digga-Leg, Spin-Dig Galaxy's background became purple.
 * A giant Silver Chomp seemed to appear as a boss, possibly in the early Battle Belt Galaxy.
 * Hightail Falls Galaxy had a different color and terrain.
 * An early screenshot of Puzzle Plank Galaxy revealed a 1-Up Mushroom in place of the galaxy's Comet Medal.
 * On the Wiggler planet in Puzzle Plank Galaxy, four tree stumps are present. This was changed to four Ground Pound Switches.
 * The Ground Pound pillars had a yellow top instead of brown.
 * Whittles are seen to inhabit the planets of Puzzle Plank Galaxy.
 * Ground Pound symbols looked brighter and shinier.
 * Tall Trunk Galaxy's Trunk Slide Planet was apparently its own galaxy. The slide is also made of stone instead of wood.
 * The fruits that Yoshi can eat to get Star Bits originally looked more like peaches.
 * After the player fights King Lakitu, the entire galaxy can be seen as opposed to only that planet.
 * When a player used a Dash Pepper, the player did not glow or leave a glowing trail as in the final version.
 * In the trailer, it can be seen that the Dash Pepper looks more like a berry, and the Blimp Fruit looks like a simple sphere.
 * A Spin Drill shown on Digga-Leg's planet is always there, even when the player is currently using one. In the final version, they only appear when the player doesn't have one. Additionally, its dome did not crack when Mario attacked it.
 * Sorbetti's planet originally had crystals instead of snow mounds.
 * The room in Puzzle Plank Galaxy where the Purple Coins are has a different color scheme.
 * Diggas' eyes resembled those of Bullet Bills.
 * At least two of the Ground Pound Switches on the first planet of Puzzle Plank Galaxy (which were actually tree stumps at that point) were not present. One space was taken by a Whittle.
 * In Sky Island Galaxy, an early galaxy, a red Koopa Troopa was shown in the far back. In the final game, only green Koopa Troopas appear.
 * In the E3 trailer, Sky Station Galaxy's music had an extra part (that sounded like part of Gusty Garden Galaxy's music) that did not make it to the final version.
 * In an early version of the Blooming Garden Planet in the Supermassive Galaxy, it was shown that Goombas appeared. In the final version, they don't appear.
 * In an early version of Cloudy Court Galaxy, it was shown that the cymbal had a checkered-like pattern and that the drums which bounce the player up to the cymbal were red. There were also green mushroom platforms, which were removed from the final version.
 * It was revealed in ONM that Starship Mario was originally going to be mushroom-shaped.
 * One trailer showed Yoshi eating a thorny flower without having to use the strength to pull. In the final version, Yoshi has to move to eat the thorny flowers.
 * Good Egg Galaxy's background was used in Tall Trunk's Slide, and in Space Storm Galaxy's Topman's tower.
 * When the Airships coming out of worm holes were shown in the E3 trailer, it appeared to be a cutscene rather than actual gameplay.
 * While the game was in development stages, it was dubbed "Super Mario Galaxy 1.5".
 * In the Honeybloom Galaxy, a Bee Mushroom is in a octohedron power-up crystal, like in Super Mario Galaxy. In the final version, the power-ups are in neither octohedron crystals, regular crystals, nor the opaque crystals first introduced in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
 * The early version, in Freezy Flake Galaxy was much longer and emptier than the final version.
 * had darker bricks in the E3 2009 trailer.
 * A screenshot showing an unknown platform with Mario jumping on three Twirlips in a row also shows a planet in which resembles none of any of the planets and galaxies in the final release of the game.
 * There is a planet very similar to the Second Fleet Ship planet in Sky Station Galaxy. The only differences are that there is a Red Koopa Troopa (another early element of SMG2), a few Pull Stars, and one Banzai Bill Cannon instead of just a few.
 * Another planet is the same as the one in the second mission of Sky Station Galaxy. This planet has hardly changed since earlier versions of the game. The only difference is that there are electric barriers instead of Amps.

Nintendo Media Summit Trailer

 * Megahammer was originally going to be named Mallettoid.
 * Digga-Leg was originally going to be named Digg-Leg.
 * Comet Medals were designed differently, as the comet's star had no eyes.
 * In the Media Summit Gameplay Trailer, it was shown that there was a Piranha Plant in the patch of blue flowers next to the pillar on the Starting Planet of Yoshi Star Galaxy. In the final version, there is an Octoomba.
 * On the Marble Blocks planet in Yoshi Star Galaxy, the Launch Star is revealed after Yoshi eats the giant fruit, there is a Twirlip instead of a Lakitu and Spiny, and the planet is smaller. In the final version, the Launch Star is in a cage. Page 16 of the game's manual shows a Launch Star misplaced on the Starting Planet in Yoshi Star Galaxy. The Launch Star is supposed to be in a cage near the pillar that has a Comet Medal in the first mission.
 * In the Hightail Falls Galaxy, on the Slope Planet, it was shown that the big coin would activate a row of Star Bits. In the final version, it was changed to coins.
 * In Flip-Swap Galaxy, there were more giant Empty Blocks. In the final game, there is only one giant Empty Block, which is where the Cosmic Spirit stands.
 * In Upside Dizzy Galaxy, there was a spring where the row of Empty Blocks are.
 * The Blooming Garden Planet is still made of dirt.
 * Gobblegut's bulbs could be popped simply with a stomp.

Unused Zones
Zones are spatial areas of a galaxy, and they include planets, objects, and various other data used in that part of the stage.

There are only three unused zones in the game, and two of them are minor variations of used zones. There are also a lot of zones with "E3" in the file name, but these appear to be empty.

ChaosStartZone


ChaosStartZone is placed in Upside-Dizzy Galaxy, but never visited. The name indicates it was meant to be the start of the stage. The only thing it contains is a spherical atmosphere object.

EarthenPipeRoomEZone


EarthenPipeRoomEZone is a version of the flat bonus room with three coin blocks. It has an entry in the zone data for Sky Station Galaxy.

StaffUnbabaHomePlanetZone


StaffUnbabaHomePlanetZone is a copy of Melty Monster's final zone, but with only the planets and paths. It was meant to appear in the credits.

Unused data
There are two unused world map songs and an unused galaxy song within the soundtrack.

Track 9, "Galaxy Song 25", is never played in the game at all in the final release. The game's coding also showed an unused track called "SMG2_galaxy08_strm". This track was scrapped before reaching the orchestra stage, since it is performed with synthesized instruments.

Gobblegut, Digga-Leg/Whomp King, Megahammer, and Glamdozer all have "angry" versions of their music in the game's files, but none of them are used, as none of them get angry except Glamdozer, who doesn't have an "angry cutscene". Even so, these fast versions seem unfinished, as they all lack intros.

Although they are not found in the final game, Ice Mario and Flying Mario from the previous game can be playable via hacking, and their music is even altered to match the other power-ups. In addition, Flying Mario is complete on the disk, unlike Ice Mario (who only has his theme remaining in the code), suggesting it was cut significantly later and very late in development.

When defeated and facing down, Whomp King has an otherwise unused expression that can be seen only by hacking.

Mario Animations
Mario has most, if not all, of his animations from the first game, including the unused ones. Some of Mario's previously-used animations, such as his crouch pose for the Cosmic Clone races, are not used in this game.

Oddly, three new unused animations were added for Mario's skeleton. There are animations of him breaking apart, waiting as a collapsed pile, and reforming. Even when Mario dies from electrocution in the first game, he simply falls over like normal. This animation appears to have been cut before being fine tuned, as one bone has a point rigged to the wrong bone, causing it to fly around when the model breaks apart.

Yoshi's E3 Animations
Yoshi has a couple of unused animations with E3 in the name. Unlike most of the E3 content, these were not removed in later production.

King Lakitu Animation
An unused animation file StarPiceReaction.bck shows King Lakitu being hit so hard that his glasses fly off, causing him to search his face for the spectacles. Oddly, his fingers and face are not animated at all. There is no animation for him putting them back on.

Whomp King's Face


When defeated in Throwback Galaxy, the Whomp King changes his expression when he is defeated. However, since he is face down on the floor, it is impossible to see without the use of hacking.

Super Mario World Block Snake Colors


The texture for the Snake Block reveals that it was originally intended to be brown, like its appearance in Super Mario World. The game uses shaders to make it appear purple.

Chance Cube X & O
These textures are bundled with ItemDice, but are never used. Compared to the used textures, they are very dull and lackluster in appearance.

(Source: CometMedal)