When it comes to interesting content that never made it into the final game, the Mario series has quite the history of it. From the unused Hammer Bro or Petey Piranha in Mario Kart Wii to the Yoshi Egg or Blargg in Super Mario 64, almost every game in the series seems to have at least one interesting idea or character that never made the final cut.

And as it turns out, this is still true of the more recent games! So here they are, here are five interesting unused things found in more recent Mario games and spinoffs!

5. Kamek as a playable character in Mario Kart 8

So let’s start with an interesting one. Kamek (or perhaps just a generic Magikoopa, it’s hard to tell) was originally planned as a playable character in Mario Kart 8!

Yes really! After his removal from Mario Kart 64 and conspicuous non presence in every Mario Kart roster since, Bowser’s most loyal Magikoopa servant might just have ended up playable in a new Mario Kart game! They even have his emblem ready in the game files:

Alas, it’s not to be, and Kamek isn’t playable in this Mario Kart game either. But hey, given the DLC and the new characters those modes have introduced, perhaps there’s still hope for the Yoshi’s Island villain yet. Or maybe Nintendo will decide yet another clone of Mario or Peach is needed because originality is apparently too difficult for them any more. Either way…

4. Mario & Luigi Dream Team’s scrapped attacks

Next on the list, something a tad less interesting. Namely, some beta attacks from Mario & Luigi Dream Team, complete with animations and sprites for how they’d work in game!

But do you know the real interesting thing here?

These attacks are from the last game, Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story. We’ve got the Yoo Who Cannon, the Jump Helmet, the Ice Flower…

Okay, that last one was actually from Partners in Time. But it was nearly included anyway, with it and the other unused attacks all having various animations and programming set up for them. For example, here are the graphics used for the Jump Helmet:

As well as some of the animations for it, courtesy of the Cutting Room Floor wiki:

As you can see, it was going to have Mario launch into the background rather than to the side, taking advantage of the console’s 3D visuals. But alas, the Jump Helmet (along with the other aforementioned attacks) was scrapped from Dream Team and never saw the light of day. Maybe we’ll find a way to bring it back in future?

3. Wario Land 4’s Beta Tiles are actually used?

If you know anything about Wario Land 4, you probably know all about the debug level. Only accessible with a Game Shark or Action Replay and made up of various monochrome grid like tiles, it’s an area designed to test the game’s features and how Wario’s different moves and abilities work. Here’s a video:

But did you know that these very tiles are actually used in game? That an actual level in Wario Land 4 somehow uses them?

We’re not kidding. Look what happens when you disable layer 1 in Palm Tree Paradise…

Yep, those are tiles from the debug level alright. They’re just hidden away underneath the floor, presumably so the creators can test the collision detection in an actual level rather than a blank void. They might also prove that Palm Tree Paradise was actually the first Wario Land 4 level ever made, given that these test tiles are only present there rather than any of the 17 or so levels in the game.

Cool eh?

2. Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon’s Unused Music

Now, onto a few interesting things found in a more recent Mario title. Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon, just like its predecessor, has a whole array of unused content including music and sound effects!

So what is this stuff? Well, how about a creepy nursery rhyme for starters? This Haunted Towers esque version of the ‘Ring around the rosies’ song isn’t used anywhere in the final game, but it sure sounds menacing:

As does this… possibly also unused march like tune:

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg! You see, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon… has a very interesting soundtrack format. Namely, it’s not labelled in any way whatsoever, meaning that trying to figure what’s actually used in game and what isn’t is virtually impossible.

Did I mention there are nearly 1050 songs in the game? Or that some poor shmuck at some ‘beta’ content site is gonna have to sort through that list somehow?

Yeah, it’s pretty obvious there are going to be a good thirty or so ‘beta’ songs in there, perhaps minimum. Either way, the game has some interesting unused music, and will likely have even more of it found and identified in the foreseeable future.

1. The scrapped costumes of Super Mario Maker

Finally, let’s get to something that everyone wants to hear about. Namely, unused content in the game of the moment, Super Mario Maker.

You know how Mario can get certain mushrooms to become ‘Costume Mario’ and take the form of characters from other games?

Well, it seems like the list of costumes/forms we got wasn’t all that was planned. Oh no, there were some very interesting Costume Mario forms planned for Super Mario Maker. Namely:

Baby Mario

Balloon Fight

E Gadd

Golden Retriever

SMB 2 Mario

Mashiko

Mr Saturn

Muncher

Nabbit

Pink Rabbit

Popo

Tetris

Windows Logo

Quite the list eh? Based on the names, we’re assuming that Baby Mario is the one from Yoshi’s Island, the Balloon Fight one was based on the NES and arcade game of the same name and that Professor E Gadd would be another Luigi’s Mansion reference perhaps complete with the Poltergust or songs from those games. But a Golden Retriever? Like the dog from Nintendogs?

Above: E Gadd was a planned costume Mario form

A playable Muncher from Super Mario World (aka SMW Central’s worst nightmare?).

The rabbit form from A Link to the Past?

The bloody Windows logo?

Huh, seems like Nintendo sure had some interesting ideas for Mario forms back in development. What’s more, given the presence of what I assume is a Microsoft character, does that mean the likes of Banjo-Kazooie could have been possible as a form? Or someone from Minecraft or such likes?

And that concludes our list. Do you like it? Do you think some of these elements should have been included in the final game? Post your thoughts on the list either here in the comments or at the Gaming Reinvented forums today!

Sources:

The Cutting Room Floor Wiki

Private Research