List of Super Mario 64 pre-release and unused content

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

Beta elements

This game was originally to be called Super Mario FX and was planned for the Super Nintendo, using the Super FX chip, before being moved to the Nintendo 64 due to technical limitations. In the beta version, it had a numbered health bar instead of the pointed one. Many stages and bars were different. The Thwomps also had a scarier look with round shadows, and Mario had a different jump (one that let him spin around after a triple jump in a way similar to the result of being hit by a Tweester in Shifting Sand Land). Early screenshots also show a tan Cheep-Cheep, not found in the final game. Other screenshots show a Pokey with interestingly different graphics, a skinnier Penguin, Princess Peach's Castle was different and also used darker shades of color. Also, Lethal Lava Land was different.

Mario was voiced differently (possessing a screechy, childlike voice rather than his current Italian accent), and Bowser sounded more tiger-like. There was also going to be a Blargg, which is still in the game's data, that would appear in the Lethal Lava Land stage. Also, in the beta, Big Boo held a key instead of a Star inside of him. The purpose of the keys was to unlock a variety of the various doors in Big Boo's Haunt - there was even a "key counter". 32 levels were planned for the game, but only fifteen of them made it into the final product. In the game, there are small and large bullys, using two models; small and large bully 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, its possible that there were going to be small and large like in Lethal Lava Land but was scrapped. Water mines (with graphics identical to spike bombs) were going to be in a water level, this can be seen through a hack. Yoshi Egg graphics are stored in the game's code, this too can be seen through a simple hack. VL-Tone, the creator of Toad's Tool 64 (Super Mario 64 level editor) found graphics of what looks like a red, black and white trampoline, with a yellow "?" painted on the side.

There are some unused platforms in the game; a flat, checkered platform, resembling the two elevator platforms in Whomp's Fortress. This platform however, is single, it is flatter and it doesn't do anything other than Mario standing on it. Another beta platform like the previous one except it rotates after every couple of seconds. Some unused textures sound in the game can be extracted. One of the textures can be 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. Frames of a flower can also be found in the Lethal Lava Land textures, (similar to the Yoshi egg), It seems like it was going to be used as a background object, however it seems unlikely because it is found in the lava-themed textures. It could be a power up, however, that been said, it resembles Power Flowers in the Nintendo DS remake, though it could just be a coincidence. A debug function stored in the game is the "level select", in this, 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".

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, likely due to hardware limitations. They also stated that one could see Mario and Luigi meet in the corridor. It is unknown however, if this was a plotpoint of some kind, or just the result of the brothers aproaching each other. This, apparently, inspired the multiplayer function of said game.

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 meant 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 (Shigeru Miyamoto) 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.

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 like that of a door a block of ice and crushing a rock with his head. Also through hacking the player can see that there was a yellow ! switch it was possible that it had something to do with the storyline but Nintendo might have wanted to have blocks already solid.

There was also unused music. Two were alternate versions of music in the final version, and two were used in the Bowser battle.

• SM64beta.jpg

  Early screenshot of Super Mario 64.
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  The unused Blargg found in the code, put into the final version of Super Mario 64.
• 64 Beta 001.jpg

  A screenshot of the early Penguin.
• 64 Beta 002.jpg

  A picture of the original Pokey graphics.
• SM64BetaBooKey.jpg

  Early screenshot of Super Mario 64, showing the mysterious unused Boo key.
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  The small chill bully graphics were not used in the final game.
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  A screenshot of the early Princess Peach's Castle. The text says "Welcome to Mario Wonderland. People who like adventures, go ahead to the castle right up ahead."
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  Early version of Lethal Lava Land. (Note also, a Power Star with a similar design to those that appeared in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This early Power Star design is most likely a placeholder. However, it's texture is stored in the ROM.)
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  The original, spookier Thwomp.
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  Early Lethal Lava Land.
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  A early Sliding Stone, with a early Whomp Fortress.
• Super-mario-beta-key.JPG

  An image of the unused key.
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  Mario collecting a key, with the "key counter" on the screen. (The "key counter" is stored in the game code, holding up to 6 characters, however, the key symbol is only in the Japanese version, in the PAL, it is replaced with the "Ü" symbol)
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  The Ü replacing the key symbols.
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  The early Yoshi Egg in Wet-Dry World and still remains in the games code.
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  The mysterious unused flower.

External Links

• A video showing some of the beta elements
• Another video showing the unused trampoline
• Another video showing the working early flower