A Super Mario variety blog.
Screenshots, photos, sprites, gifs, scans and more from all around the world of Super Mario Bros.
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Top: it is well known among Super Paper Mario enthusiasts that the Korean version of the game contains a set of 11 unused areas that appear to have been a test or prototype for a new game in the same engine, referred to as “Korean Cat Adventure” due to the absence of an official name.
The rooms are designed in the same colorful style as the rest of the game, but contain five cat characters that are named after various character designers at Intelligent Systems. Evidently, the Korean Cat Adventure concept was abandoned, as no other material related to it was ever published.
Bottom: however, merely viewing the extracted graphics on their own does not provide a scale for how large the characters would have been. By loading the rooms in-game through modifying the code, Mario can explore them and compare himself to the cats, which reveals that they would have been approximately 1.3 times his height.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Source: dimensio_italian_magician
Top: officially licensed 1996 Japanese poster for Super Mario RPG.
Bottom: interestingly, the Mario image in the poster is not a real render, but a combination of two other pieces of official art overlaid over each other; using a base image of Mario standing in isometric perspective with a head that is looking directly at the viewer.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source
In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a glitch may occur on the online menu whereby two of the astronaut Toads that float randomly in the background may accidentally spawn at the same time, causing them to appear fused together as seen in the footage.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: footage, info: sybeez
Top left: this Mario illustration was commonly used in various video game magazines, such as the British Computer and Video Games magazine, starting with 1997. Mario’s expression and the light being emitted by an unseen object in front of him is intended to convey amazement at e.g. a new reveal.
Top right and bottom: a version of this artwork was used in the Mexican “Nintendomanía” TV show as part of the background. However, due to removing the light effect and slightly changing Mario’s mouth shape, it inadvertently made him appear to express fear or a similar emotion of unease instead.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: elrohpro
A Mario Paint reference appears in the Homestar Runner game “Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate”, where one of the random lines after a Game Over is “Undo Dog! Undo Dog!”, referring to the Undodog character that debuted in that game and later also appeared in the Super Mario Maker games.
The choice to reference Mario Paint specifically may be due to the very first Homestar Runner animation being made in Mario Paint in 1996 (four years prior to the official launch of the website), to acknowledge its part in the series’ history.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source
In Super Mario Bros. 3 (shown here in the Super Mario All-Stars version, but applicable to all versions), diagonal Thwomps have faulty collision that does not turn off entirely after their death.
As such, defeating one of them with a Star will allow Mario to “juggle” it after death for additional points, as seen in the footage.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: MrPyt1001
Super Paper Mario contains unused sprites that seem to depict Mario, Luigi and Mr. L either jumping while crouching, or hitting a brick with their heads in a painful manner. Neither of these scenarios use those sprites in-game.
Interestingly, the Mario sprite already existed in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but was also unused. Please note that Mr. L’s sprite is smaller due to him not being subject to the same Wii graphics upgrade Mario and Luigi received during development, as explained in this previous post.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: papermariobeta
In Super Mario Galaxy, Mario’s eyes and hands are a separate model from the rest of his body, so that they are affected differently in certain scenarios (e.g. some reflections show Mario with no eyes, or with different hand positions than the real Mario; Mario’s afterimages as Rainbow Mario have no hands; and so on).
Interestingly, different major versions of the game treat Mario’s eyes differently during the brief window of a few frames while switching from regular gameplay to first-person view:
Left: in the original Wii version of the game, Mario’s irises disappear and his eyes are completely blank.
Middle: in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars version, his eyes take on a temporary red/orange texture.
Right: in the Nintendo Switch version, his eyes disappear completely and only the darker skin outline of them remains, which also may give off the impression of Mario closing his eyes.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: cometobservatory
