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

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

Development
New Super Mario Bros. was designed as a successor to the Super Mario Advance series; Hiroyuki Kimura decided that an original 2D platformer for the conveniently-released Nintendo DS would take the place of a prospective "fifth" entry of the series.

Early builds
The Mega Mushroom originally had an appearance similar to the a Super Mushroom from Super Mario 64 DS. Mega Mario was also able to run.

There also was an underwater stage in VS. Mode which featured a Manta Ray.. Spindrift was also supposed to be in the game, but got replaced by the blue spinning platforms in World 1-3 and other levels.

There was also supposed to be a Mario and Luigi race mode at one time. The E3 2005 trailer showed some VS Mode levels that are not available on the final release, including a desert stage, an underwater stage and a few others. There were originally three item reserve spots rather than one. The Mega Mushroom is now red and white.

The desert music featured in certain kiosk demos that were playable in 2005 had an orchestra-like "hit" instead of the vocals "ba-baa" and the main song did not have the vocals. Additionally, the game did not pause as Mario transformed after obtaining a powerup. It was possible to kick and punch in the game while Super, Fire and Mega forms. Mario was also able to sideflip.

A screenshot featuring of early map icons still exists as a screenshot on page twelve of the first version of the final US manual.

During a near-final state featured in screens that were shown in a certain page of a Monthly Nintendo News issue published in March, there were some very slight differences in level design, etc. A screenshot at this stage suggests that World 3-B, a sky level, was originally intended to be a desert level.

In one version shown in a video showcasing 1-1 the game appears to be the same as the final except the vocals "ba-baa" are still "hits" in the main theme.

Unused data
There is also data to support a single player snowball throwing mini-game.

In the map directory, there are eight 3D models that are based of the 8 world themes in the game. However, World 4 and 6 do not display forest and mountain themes, respectively, but rather World 4's texture is named "ancient" with an island with a volcano in its graphic. World 6's texture is named "machine" and its graphic seems to be a placeholder. This implies that the world themes were much different in the early builds.

There is an unused fauna-like image named "Junglekusa" hidden in the game. It is used by an unused actor (actor number 280, sprite number 255). The actor has a setting that can make the area it covers "swimmable".