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

These are beta elements from New Super Mario Bros..

Beta elements
The working title for this game was Super Mario Bros. DS. Also, during early stages of production, Mega Goombas were going to be a generic species (the result of a Goomba colliding with a Super Mushroom and powering up) rather than an individual boss. (It is possible that other enemies were to be compatible with this situation, too, considering the giant enemies like Super Dry Bones and Super Piranha Plant that remain in the game in generic, already-large forms.) There was also supposed to be a Mario and Luigi co-op mode at one time, which is now available in the direct sequel of the game. Interestingly, an illustration of early map icons still exists as a screenshot on page twelve of the final game's manual. There were originally three item reserve spots rather than one. There also was an underwater stage which also featured Manta Ray in VS. Mode. Spindrift was also supposed to be in the game, but got replaced by the blue spinning platforms in World 1-3 and other levels.

As seen in another image, it was possible to obtain the Blue Shell by first defeating a Blue Koopa Troopa. Then when the player Ground Pounded on the shell, the player got in the shell and became Shell Mario. This feature is removed possibly because the designers wanted a power-up that can be obtained from a ? Block; however, it survives in Vs. Mode, although the player no longer had to Ground Pound the shell. The advertisement showing the Vs. mode revealed some levels that were not available on the final release, including a desert stage, an underwater stage and a few others. The Mega Mushroom was originally just a Super Mushroom from Super Mario 64 DS; later, it was red with white spots instead of yellow with red spots.

It was possible to kick and punch in the game, but it was removed because of the way Mega Mario moves in the game. Mario was also meant to sideflip. Mega Mario was also meant to have point counters and run.

The game contains among its mini-game data sprites and graphics from Wrecking Crew. The file names suggest that these sprites were intended to be in both a single and multiplayer mini-game. There is also data to support a single player snowball throwing mini-game (which was actually used in Multiplayer Mode), that was probably scrapped due to the DS's inability to support sophisticated enough AI. Also, in a video footage the way the enemies die is different.

During the near-final state when screens were shown in Nintendo Power, 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. The coin sprites were different and the music wasn't at its final state (the vocals "ba-baa" were originally an orchestra-like "hit" similar to one made by a MIDI keyboard). The Desert overworld was shown in a video from E3 2006 (before the other songs were known), and the main song was completed but did not have vocals; therefore, the enemies did not dance. Additionally, the game did not pause as Mario transformed after obtaining a powerup.

Unused Ring
There is an unused E3 ring object called "obj_e3_ring.nsbmd" in the final rom.

Unused Beta Kick
There is an unused animation in a unused Mario model that is the exact one used in E3, when Mario kicked. It is located in the final rom.

Early 3D Models
At the end of the map directory in the final rom, there are 8 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 is named "ancient" with an island with a volcano in its graphic, and World 6 is named "machine" and its graphic seems to be a placeholder. This implies that the world themes were much different in the early builds.

Unused Jungle Image
There is an unused fauna-like image named "Junglekusa" hidden in the game. It is sprite number 255, and apparently is not only a default sprite (like Goombas or Koopa Troopas), but also has a "Swimmable" nybble.