List of Super Mario Bros. 3 pre-release and unused content

The following are the beta elements of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Early ideas
Designers considered a power-up to turn Mario into a Centaur (half-man, half-horse), although this was rejected before being implemented into the game.

Early builds
As seen in early screenshots, Koopa Troopas and Hammer Bros. were going to host two mini-games. The minigames were a Dice Block and a Question Block game respectively. These minigames and their hosts seem to have been replaced by Toad. An early build of the game was previewed in a promotional VHS tape coming with the September 1988 edition of the magazine Famimaga. The preview shows several levels unused in the final game, a different sprite for the Wooden Block and a slightly different status bar.

The back of the box of some early copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 depicts Mario traversing a hilly grassland stage with many Para-Beetles and two Note Blocks. This particular stage is not any of the lost ones present on the cartridge, nor is it in the final game. These boxes also feature a beta map of Grass Land.

Enemies
There were going to be two new enemies called Gold Cheep Cheep (a golden version of a Cheep-Cheep), and Green Para-Beetles (green colored Para-Beetles). The Gold Cheep Cheeps would have be seen in groups and swim faster than regular Cheep-Cheeps. The Green Para-Beetle flies faster than the normal varieties.

Objects
The game's graphics reveal an item-sized Toad icon among some of the game's suits; this is interpreted by several as a sort of "Toad Suit", although it makes no changes to gameplay when granted to Mario. This has been recently proven to actually be a Hammer Suit with palette errors, and appears clearly in a "?" block in 7-8, giving Mario the Hammer Suit.

A set of blocks, with a large "?" block surrounded with smaller "?" blocks was also a scrapped object. This may have been something used in a bonus game/area.

Levels
Fifteen unused levels exist within Super Mario Bros. 3. Some of these are unique, while others bear much resemblance to levels seen in the final version.