This article is a work in progress.

...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.



Super Mario Maker celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. by finally letting players (officially) make their own courses, using elements from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U, with inspiration from Mario Paint.

A port was made for the 3DS, aptly named Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, which rather bafflingly removed the online sharing functionality (in favor of StreetPass) and the Mystery Mushroom (in favor of...nothing). Luckily, the sequel to the original game, Super Mario Maker 2, ended up better, with Multiplayer support, a 3D World style and more.

To do:

Unused actors.

Early order of course styles in course file: 0 = overworld, 1 = underground, 2 = castle, 3 = airship, 4 = water, 5 = ghost house (source: Ninjifox)

More unused text in the msbt files and the instruction manual file(s).

Unused course actor parameters (source: Ninjifox, RoadrunnerWMC & MrRean)

Manual contains some prerelease images, which can be used for the Prerelease page (source: Hiccup)

Unused course object settings, such as more sizes.

Unused layouts and objects in layout.

A whole lot of Splatoon layouts.

Unused Graphics

To do:

Add the locations of all of these graphics

Big Mushroom Alternate Sprites

Unused Used

In-game, collecting a Big Mushroom switches most enemies to alternate sprites in addition to some other effects. However, the final Big Mushroom version of the Koopa Clown Car just puts a 'stache on the original Clown Car, leaving this... "Mario Clown Car" unused.

Unused Used

These sprites of Bowser and Bowser Jr. carrying Peach and Luigi respectively are also unused; the used sprites give each enemy a hat/mustache, a slightly different palette and, for Bowser Jr., an alternate hairstyle!

Unused Used

This sprite seems to be for the Luigified cannonball (cruel indeed), but the final version is animated and has a slightly different palette.

Unused Used

This sprite seems to be an early Marioified Underground Goomba, but the final version has a different mustache, wears a Mario hat, and doesn't even recolor Goombas when underground.

Enemy Sprites

Found in the same location as the alternate Clown Car sprites are these sprites for Big Steely from Super Mario World and a tear drop for the Clown Car, neither of which appear anywhere in the final game.

Unused Used

These sprites for Stretch are very different from the final version, being less defined and using different colors and a different face. They also appear quite temporary and seem to have Big Mushroom versions.

Tiles

Super Mario Bros. SMM Unused

(Ground/Underwater) SMM Unused

(Underground/Ghost House/Airship) SMM Final

This graphic, which would be used for the bridge at the end of castle courses, is taken directly from the original game, whereas the final version is thinner and has a slightly different palette, presumably to match the other game styles. Curiously enough, it appears in all the tilesets except for the castle's one, which means it's either a placeholder or these blocks could once be placed.

Red Coin Pink Coin

An unused red coin graphic, which may or may not be related to the pink coins seen in the current version of the game.

Unused Used

A shiny, higher resolution version of the Goal Pole from the E3 2014 demo.

Character Sprites

An unused copy of a sprite of Fire Mario sliding down the flagpole intended for ground pounding. It's named "hipat".

As if Weird Mario could get any weirder, this sprite gives him an extra button. This one's named "appeal", meaning that it was going to have a pose, like Costume Mario.

Unused Used

Modern-colored Mario with a slightly different palette. This color scheme looks similar to the 8-bit Mario used in Super Mario 3D World, although it may just be a coincidence. Oddly enough, the Dr. Mario and Kart Mario costumes have the same shade of brown as the unused version of the Mario costume.

A smaller version of the Toad sprite.

Enemy Sprites

Unused Used

Unused Stretch gets another style, this time having almost the exact same palette as the original.

Tiles

Unused Used

The unused castle bridge returns with a graphical shift, which is strange since it's not even used in the original game. Like the Super Mario Bros. version, it appears in all tilesets except for the castle's version.

Red Coin Pink Coin

Another unused red coin graphic.

Character Sprites

Mario

These seem to show Mario either sliding or ground pounding, though both the name "hipdrop" and the lack of slopes in any of the themes suggest the latter.

While this also applies to the Super Mario World theme, it should be noted that (through hacking) these sprites can be seen in-game. By editing either game's control files to enable ground pounding, these sprites can be seen. However, even through enabling wall jumps, the wall_kick sprites can't be seen at all.

The sprites was later reused as the sliding sprite used for the Slopes in Super Mario Maker 2 with the final sprites' palettes rather than using the different one.

These jumping Marios more resemble the "traditional" Mario jump, but their name of "wall_kick" suggests they were for wall jumping, which is also only available in the New Super Mario Bros. U theme in the final game. Strangely, Fire Mario is missing out on the unused wall jump party, and Small Mario's sprite is identical to the used one.

All the hipdrop and wall_kick sprites use slightly different palettes to the final sprites, being darker and more vibrant than the softened final sprites, suggesting they were directly ported from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Enemy Sprites

Unused Used

Unused Stretch returns, now in 16-bit! All in all, it looks like Stretch was originally going to be a bit scarier.

Unused Used

The Koopa Clown Car has alternate "hurt" sprites with much simpler shading than the final version. This is actually more reminiscent of the original Koopa Clown Car from the original Super Mario World.

Tiles

Unused Used

There's a bit of a theme here - the thicker castle bridge returns for all tilesets except the castle's, though this time it's identical to the Super Mario Bros. 3-style version.

Red Coin Pink Coin

Just like the bridge tile, there's another unused red coin graphic in this style.

A preview icon for the water-floating platform from Lemmy's Castle in Super Mario World exists. Since this game does not have this kind of platform, or even pools of water, it is likely that this design was meant for one of the other platform types.

Character Sprites

Mario

To do:

Compare with final?

Placeholder or testing graphics for Mario and his cape exist, which are simply the original shapes but with crosses on.

To do:

There are more unused SMW Marios that need clarifying on which sprites in particular are unused. There are supposedly more hipdrop and wall_kick sprites, and a duplicate of his cape sprites with a few changed pixels and possibly a different palette (which one is used?).

"hipdrop" (ground pound) returns with a graphical upgrade, the sprites was later reused as the sliding sprite used for the Slopes in Super Mario Maker 2.

"wall_kick" (wall jump) also returns with its own snazzy 16-bit makeover...although now it's the normal jumping sprite. So there's that.

Enemy Sprites

To do:

Sprites.

While all of Lakitu's sprites have feet, only the neutral and defeated sprites actually use them, which makes the throwing sprite's feet completely unseen.

Sprites for a death animation for the Hammer Bros. exist, but are strangely never used.

Tiles

Unused Used

Once again, an unused version of the castle bridge is present in all tilesets except the castle's, which has the most drastic makeover of them all. This time, the unused version is identical to the Super Mario Bros. version, except it has an incorrect pixel aspect ratio.

Red Coin Pink Coin

The unused red coin for this style as well.

Unused Used

A different preview image exists for the falling platform that has the design of the normal platform but with a down arrow on it.

Sample Course Image

A couple of placeholder images reside in /Model/Jpeg.szs. The first image is similar to the one (accidentally) seen in an earlier revision.

Debug Font

This rather boring font image is in vol/content/Pack/System.pack/System/Font/debug_font.gtx. The file is a leftover from the official NW4F "LayoutViewer" tool NW4F/LytTool/LayoutViewer/Cafe/data/gx2_font/debug_font.gtx. Oddly, it's not in the standard Wii U BFFNT font format - it's just an image with no extra data.

Debug Menu (E3)

In the base game, two files in vol/content/Layout have E3_DebugMenu in the name, being E3_DebugMenuNormalBtn_00.szs and E3_DebugMenuSelectBtn_00.szs, suggesting a Debug Menu is present in the E3 build of the game.

Early Mario Maker UI

Icons used back when the game wasn't Super but simply Mario Maker are split between a few files, in /Layout/Edit_TestDragBtn_00.szs, /Layout/Edit_TestPostBtn_00.szs, /Layout/Edit_TestListBtn_00.szs and /Layout/Test_ActorBtn_00.szs.

Nikki Photo

A drawing of Nikki, the Mii character originating from Swapnote is found in the game's Layout folder, simply titled image.jpg. It was a test image. It is dated October 4, 2012 and was edited in Photoshop. It originates from the Wii U SDK.

3D Model

Present as /Model/SceneModel.szs, this model was likely a test model for materials. There are 13 materials, one assigning to each face. The materials go as:

dummy00, dummy01, dummy02, dummy03, dummy04, dummy05, dummy06, dummy07, gsys_assign_cubemap, gsys_assign_depthshadow, gsys_assign_gbuffer, gsys_assign_material, and gsys_assign_zonly.

There are no textures for this model.

Splatoon Icons EarlyIcons

To do:

Compare all of them with the final version of Splatoon, maybe?

Present in /Layout/ItemIcon_00.szs are a bunch of images from what appears to be an early version of Splatoon.

Gear

Weapons

Sub/Special Weapons

Unlike the final version of Splatoon, the sub-weapons are in full static colors. The final game keeps them mostly colorless due to the ever-changing nature of the Inklings’ ink colors.

Burst Bomb

Early Final

Suction Bomb

Early Final

It's likely that the tennis ball was merely a placeholder model for the Suction Bomb.

Splat Bomb

Early Final

One of the items that remained largely the same.

Squid Beakon

Early Final

The Squid Beakon originally took the form of a flag rather than a radar dish.

Disruptor

Early Final

The Disruptor originally looked like a sphere with holes, before the design was changed to a chemical flask.

Splash Wall

Early Final

The icon for the early Splash Wall looks untextured.

Sprinkler

Early Final

Bubbler

Early Final

Inkzooka

Early Final

Inkstrike

Early Final

The Inkstrike resembled more of a cartoon rocket rather than a missile, with no tablet.

"BigLaser"

Early Final

Likely an early version of the Killer Wail, or what would eventually become the Stingray in Splatoon 2.

Placeholder Icon

This image was used for weapons that didn't have an icon yet:

wsb_bomb_chase (Seeker)

wsb_timertrap (Ink Mine)

wsb_allmarking (Echolocator or Point Sensor)

wsb_freebombs (Bomb Rush)

wsb_kingsquid (Kraken)

(Source: NWPlayer123, rips by Dr. Yay [1])

Pause button

vol/content/Layout/PauseBtn_00.szs mentions some pause screen icons.

Cut Costume Mario Costumes

References to Cut Costumes

The /Mush/CharaMarioTable.byaml file contains data related to the Costume Mario transformations. Among these are 5 costumes [originally 13] that never made the final cut, all of which were removed in the v1.01 patch and onward. Five of these costumes (EGadd, Mashiko, MrSaturn, PinkRabbit, and Popo) were re-added via Event Courses, and an additional three (BabyMario, BalloonFight, and Nabbit) were added as rewards for completing the 100-Mario Challenge in the v1.40 update.

GoldenRetri MarioUs Muncher Tetris WindowsLogo

Unused Sounds for Cut Costumes

The sounds for MarioUs still exist!

MarioUs

These sounds are from Super Mario Bros. 2 (Super Mario USA in Japan, hence the filename) and would presumably be for Mario from that game. In the final game, the Peach, Shy Guy, and Birdo costumes use sound effects from that game. It became a power up in the sequel

"powerup".

"appeal".

"jump". It's (appropriately) the jumping sound.

"down". Funnily enough, it's the life-losing tune.

"goal". You'd never guess it but it's the course clear tune.

PinkRabbit (Baito/Arcade Bunny)

This costume was added into the game on December 17, 2015; its sound effects existed unused before then. However, one sound effect was modified in the final version - the "appeal" sound effect was changed from high-pitched gibberish to different, lower-pitched gibberish.

Unused (PinkBunny) Used (Boss011)

Placeholder Files

A handful of empty files can be found in the game's data. Most of them refer to objects already in the game, but one set seems to reference a cut enemy.

Bullet Bill

m3_lyt_p_killer_00

mw_lyt_p_killer_00

"Killer" is the Japanese name for Bullet Bill. While Bullet Bills are in the game, it is not possible to place these enemies directly in a course. The files are only present for the Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World game styles. Even though Bullet Bill has two forms in the game, regular and homing, only one file is present per theme.

Sun

m3_lyt_p_sun_00 m3_lyt_p_sun_01

mw_lyt_p_sun_00 mw_lyt_p_sun_01

wu_lyt_p_sun_00 wu_lyt_p_sun_01

These files likely refer to the Angry Sun, an enemy that has only appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 and the only sun-related enemy in the series. The files are present for all game styles except for the original Super Mario Bros. Each game style has two files, indicating the Angry Sun would have had an alternate form like most of the other objects.

The Angry Sun would later appear in Super Mario Maker 2, with an alternate form known as the "Moon".

Shoe Goomba

wu_lyt_p_kutsukuribo_00 wu_lyt_p_kutsukuribo_01

Files for Shoe Goomba in the New Super Mario Bros. U game style are present, even though Yoshi replaces Shoe Goombas in this game style and Super Mario World.

Super Leaf

wu_lyt_p_superkonoha_00

A file for the Super Leaf in the New Super Mario Bros. U game style is present, but the Super Leaf is replaced by the Propeller Mushroom when using this game style.

Unused Object Settings

Unused Sizes

There are two unused object sizes: 150% and 300%. These do not give the object special behavior like the used 200% size does.

Diagonal Pipes

The variable that controls the direction the pipe is facing actually allows for full 360 degree movement, allowing for diagonal/slope pipes. However, they do not appear to have been fully implemented, as they are graphically glitchy, and they act as a sort of "staircase" and not a real slope. It does not seem to be possible to enter them by conventional means (apart from in the editor).

Unused Music

Gnat Attack

To do:

Hard Mode music.

The Gnat Attack minigame's 30-second time limit keeps the level themes from playing all the way, thus leaving all portions (and the loop) beyond that unused. The original Mario Paint version didn't have a time limit, so it's possible that the Super Mario Maker version originally worked like that too.

Oddly enough, the music heard in the Hard Mode added in v1.20 is also like this!

BGM_Hae1_BassPlus



The full music for the first stage, including its sudden end and loop. "Hae" is Japanese for "fly", for those wondering.

BGM_Hae2



The full music for the second stage.

BGM_HaeBoss_A



The full music for the final stage.

BGM_HaeBoss_B



The full "pinch" music for the final stage when the boss is at low health and it turns red. Surprisingly, people thought this was completely unused - however you would only really hear this for about five seconds before you ran out of time or the boss died.

Internal Project Name

Super Mario Maker is named Block internally.

Regional Differences

To do:

Compare the American and European versions.

Sunday celebration in the Japanese version.

Manual introduction in the Japanese version.

R.O.B. Costume

Like with Mario Kart DS and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, R.O.B.'s coloration matches that of the Famicom in Japan and that of the NES elsewhere.

Japan International

Editing vs. Creating

In the Japanese version, the clapper board that takes you to the course building screen says "つくる", which means "make", "create", or "build". In the American version, this was changed to "Edit", while the European version uses "Create".

Sunday Celebration

When the game is played on a Sunday, after the normal boot-up screen, the game will either display "Happy Sunday!" in USA regions or "Today is Sunday!" in EUR regions.

Manual introduction

Upon accessing the game's manual for the first time, the player witnesses a one-time cutscene introducing the Mary O./Mashiko character.

America Europe Oh, hey! How's it going? My name's Mary O. Nice to meet you! I'm the Super Mario Maker Manual Guide! You know that icon you just tapped? It leads directly to the Super Mario Maker manual. You can reach me from anywhere, at any time! So come on by whenever you're not sure about something. I've got tons of really cool info to share! Sound good? Great! See you inside the manual! Oh! Hello there! Thank you for purchasing Super Mario Maker! My name's Mashiko, the Manual Guide. It's a pleasure to meet you! Now, about this icon you just selected... This extremely useful icon will take you directly to the Super Mario Maker manual from anywhere, at any time! Feel free to give it a tap whenever there's anything you're not sure about. You might discover some fun new ways to play! Well then, I'll see you inside the manual!

Magikoopa and Skewer Placing Sound

In the European version of Super Mario Maker, Magikoopas and Skewers are called Kameks and Spike Pillars, respectively, and the placing sounds are changed accordingly. Interestingly, despite Magikoopas also being called Kameks in Japan, the Japanese version uses the "Magikoopa" placing sound. The sound changes aren't replicated in the sequel, either.

Revisional Differences

To do:

Versions 1.40 and 1.41.

Version 1.01

Please elaborate.

Having more detail is always a good thing.

Specifically: Describe the Easter egg.

How many objects need to be placed to unlock a tool set?

Released as a patch alongside the game at release.

Adds a small Easter egg when making courses.

In the initial release, players gradually unlocked tool sets daily. This was intended to ease new players into the Course Maker and give them time to use and understand each course element. Version 1.01 retains this behavior, but adds an alternate unlock method: after a scheduled delivery is announced, placing a very large number of objects in the course (as well as placing/switching to/using each of the newly-unlocked items from the previous set) will unlock the tools immediately.

Version 1.10

Released on September 23, 2015, and makes minor unspecified adjustments.

Version 1.00/1.01 Version 1.10

Some stray pixels were removed from the Super Mario Bros. 3 goal point's Star sprite.

Version 1.20

Released on November 4, 2015, with the following changes:

Adds checkpoints, based on New Super Mario Bros. U' s, accessible by shaking the arrow sign object. Players now must beat their levels from both the beginning and all checkpoints in order to upload them.

s, accessible by shaking the arrow sign object. Adds a harder difficulty level to the Gnat Attack minigame, with a Fighter Fly costume unlocked for clearing it.

A mushroom can now be placed on top of any other powerup, granting the player the mushroom if Small Mario and the other powerup if any other form of Mario.

An "Official" tab has been added to the Makers section of the Course World, containing courses made by Nintendo.

An Events section has been added to the Course World, containing special courses made by Nintendo's partners, some of which unlock costumes when beaten.

More costumes are added, unlockable by beating specific event courses.

The invincibility and Invisible Block glitches were fixed.

Improved loading times when browsing Course World.

Adds an Easter egg where tapping several times on a door in Edit Mode will cause someone to knock on the door in response. Tapping enough times on the door will cause Weird Mario to open the door in a random pose and random power-up, based on the current game style. Powerups include the Frog Suit and Tanooki Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3; the Cape Feather and Yoshi from Super Mario World; and the Penguin Suit, Ice Flower, Mini Mushroom, and Super Acorn from New Super Mario Bros. U.

Version 1.21

Released on November 13, 2015, and makes minor unspecified adjustments.

Version 1.30

Released on December 27, 2015, and makes various changes.

Bookmark section added to Courses. The update allows players on the Wii U and their devices to "bookmark" courses to appear in this section.

Adds P-Warp Doors, which need a P-Switch to activate. P-Switches are now colored consistently in Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. U , and have a "P" instead of a "?" in New Super Mario Bros. U .



Version 1.21 Version 1.30

Version 1.21 Version 1.30

Adds a Fire variant to the Koopa Clown Car when shaken, which lets Mario shoot fireballs and charged fireballs from the Clown Car. The voice heard when placing course elements in a course now refers to the Koopa Clown Cars as Junior Clown Cars in New Super Mario Bros. U .

Mario plays his "lava death" animation from New Super Mario Bros. U when touching lava, something he didn't do before.

when touching lava, something he didn't do before. The placement of the wings on the Weird Mushroom was adjusted.

Adds Bumpers, which can be used by shaking Grinders.



Selecting 100-Mario Challenge now displays "x100" next to it.

Adds a "World Record" Time to the level's preview. The first completer of the course is shown in the level's details.

Adds the course's ID to the course loading screen, below the creator's name.

Fixes soft-locking bugs involving going underwater through a pipe at the top, and going through a door into a giant Muncher riding Yoshi.

Fixes other bugs.

Version 1.31

Released on December 28, 2015, and makes minor unknown adjustments.

Version 1.32

Released on January 27, 2016, after a period of maintenance. This patch fixes a bug that caused players to edit powerups into levels online by downloading the course, adding powerups on rails, and replacing said powerups with long firebars.

Version 1.40

Released on March 9, 2016.

Adds Keys, Locked Doors, Pink Coins, and Skewers.

Adds a new button in Course World for creators to view exact positions of death markers and comments in their own courses.

Adds Super Expert mode for the 100-Mario Challenge, unlocked after clearing Expert mode.

Adds new Mystery Mushroom costumes for Normal mode, Expert mode, and Super Expert mode of the 100-Mario Challenge.

Changes the appearance of Rocky Wrench's wrench in the New Super Mario Bros. U style to be brighter and have a red part in the middle.

style to be brighter and have a red part in the middle. Subtly changes the P-Door in the New Super Mario Bros. U style to make it more compressed.

Version 1.41

Adds a "Comment" button in the course completion screen.

Version 1.42

Released April 6, 2016.

Fixes various (unspecific) bugs.

Version 1.43

Released May 19, 2016.

The Star Ranking list in the Course World was modified to display courses that have gotten the most stars relative to the number of people who have played them.

Added Super Expert difficulty to the filters list when searching for courses.

Version 1.44

Released July 21, 2016.

Commenting on courses during or after playing them no longer caused them to receive a star.

Changed the conditions that cause the fly to appear while creating courses.

Bug fixes.

Version 1.45

Released November 30, 2016.

Bug fixes.

Version 1.46 (Hotfix)

Released April 27, 2017.

Bug fixes.

Released September 5, 2017.

Fixes an issue where the e-manual can display broken text.

Version 1.47

Released November 7, 2017.

Following the ending of the Miiverse service, you can no longer leave comments on levels. All existing comments can no longer be viewed on uploaded levels.

Bug fixes.

Unused Sounds

Mahjong Tile Sounds

Alternate versions of the unique victory jingle for the Mahjong Tile Mystery Costume exist with different voice clips played before the actual jingle. These are the "tsumo" and "ron" exclamations made upon winning a game of Japanese Mahjong. Bizarrely, these are placed directly in the Sound directory unlike the other Mystery Mushroom sound effects.

CharaMario_MahjongTile_tsumo



CharaMario_MahjongTile_ron



Oddities

Super Mario Bros.

One of Modern Mario's swimming sprites lacks gloves. The sprite is fixed in Super Mario Maker 2 as while the Mystery Mushroom was removed, the Big Mushroom still exists and Big Mario uses the modern palette.

Super Mario World

All of Mario's running-while-jumping sprites are missing their feet, aside from Small Mario. The sprites are fixed in Super Mario Maker 2.

Anything referencing Super Mario World by its logo uses the Japanese logo, even in countries outside of Japan. This was not the case in the prototypes. The oddity still exists in Super Mario Maker 2.

10/100-Mario Challenge

The sprite of Mario on the 10/100-Mario Challenge map screen has a different skin palette than the regular sprite. It also has a different mustache.

Title Screen Whispering

Sometimes the title call on the title screen is whispered. The sounds for these (located in Pack\Sound.pack\Sound\Resource\UI_Play_Title_00_L_SuperBtn_00.bars) are called yr_v_SMM_NOA_AUDREY_pxsps_l_ear* and yr_v_SMM_NOA_AUDREY_pxsps_r_ear*. "NOA" is short for Nintendo of America and signifies that these are sounds for the USA version (and European version). The unusual bit is "AUDREY" - presumably the name of the voice actor. Maybe it's the Nintendo Treehouse writer Audrey Drake?

(Source: Original TCRF research )

Ow sound effect

The sounds for these (located in Pack\Sound.pack\Sound\Resource\yr_SToy_03_Aw) are called yr_SToy_03_Aw_2D*, yr_SToy_03_Aw_3D_L_pxsps_r_ear* and yr_SToy_03_Aw_3D_R_pxsps_r_ear*. even though the sound is "Ow" not "Aw". probably a typo or the Super Mario maker 2 Aw sound was originally going to be in Super Mario Maker 1.

(Source: Original TCRF research )

Hoo sound effect

The sounds for these (located in Pack\Sound.pack\Sound\Resource\yr_SToy_03_How) are called yr_SToy_03_How_2D*, yr_SToy_03_How_3D_L_pxsps_r_ear* and yr_SToy_03_How_3D_R_pxsps_r_ear*. even though the sound is "Hoo" not "How". probably a typo or a sound effect saying "How" sound was originally going to be in Super Mario Maker 1 at some point.

(Source: Original TCRF research )

Heaven Sound effect

The sounds for these (located in Pack\Sound.pack\Sound\Resource\yr_SToy_06_Godd) are called yr_SToy_06_Godd_01* and yr_SToy_06_Godd_01_pxsps_r_ear*. Good or God is misspelled "Godd".