In a curious pattern, the top speed of the initial eight drivers in Diddy Kong Racing scales proportionally to their height, while their handling scales inversely with their height, as pointed out in the official Nintendo Power guide for the game.

However, please note that this applies specifically to the height of the renders instead of the characters themselves, as Conker is shorter than Bumper, but his upright tail in the artwork reaches further up. As such, it appears as though the renders may have specifically been designed like this with the speed/handling correspondence in mind, though it also may have been a serendipitious coincidence.

(Note that the renders have not been resized compared to the characters’ in-game models, which would have been an easy way to make their heights fit any pattern. The heights in the renders are the characters’ actual in-game sizes.)

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The files of Super Mario Galaxy contain an unused, oddly mesmerizing object that was supposed to be part of the Bowser’s Dark Matter Plant galaxy geometry. The object is two squares joined by a round opening, with a modeled pattern on the inside of the squares that can only be seen by looking between them.

The undulating space texture on the object is actually seen in-game whenever a platform passes through a transparent dark matter cube and temporarily becomes not solid; however, since those gaps disappear quickly, it is difficult to see it in detail during gameplay.

Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: SMG (NA, Wii)

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team contains a hidden loading zone in one of the Driftwood Shore areas that leads to a test area with many untextured surfaces with numbers on them.

While the loading zone is very close to a point normally reached during gameplay, it is slightly out of bounds and requires modifying the game to actually access.

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Mario Kart Wii contains a bizarre error on the Mario Circuit track whereby the shadow of one of the houses has the chimney on the wrong side (note how the house has the chimney on the right while the shadow’s chimney is on the left).

This would obviously be impossible with modern games’ lighting engines that create real shadows based on the actual shapes of objects and light direction, and is only possible due to the game using premade textures covering the ground as a low-tech alternative to actual shadows.

It is likely the texture was made when the house was facing the other direction, and not updated when it was rotated or mirrored.

Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: kevinvg207

In Super Mario Odyssey, a New Donker man is sitting on a bench in front of the Crazy Cap store in Bowser’s Kingdom. Normally, if Mario stands on the bench, he will enter a sitting animation next to the man.

However, by capturing a nearby Jizo statue and strategically uncapturing it while it occupies the other half of the bench, it is possible to make it push Mario into the man’s hitbox. This will cause Mario to sit down inside of the man instead.

Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: SMO (Switch)

Officially licensed cardboard drawers based on Mario blocks, from Japan.

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Left: the first appearance of Sidestepper, as an enemy in the Mario Bros. arcade in 1983.

Right: the first playable appearance of Sidestepper in Mario Kart World in 2025.

Sidestepper currently holds the record for the longest time between a Mario franchise character’s introduction and becoming playable, being 42 years. The previous record holder has been Pauline, with 38 years between her introduction in the Donkey Kong arcade in 1981 and becoming playable in a Mario Tennis Aces update in 2019.

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In Paper Mario: The Origami King, the Fire Vellumental Cave features two rooms where Mario is locked until he defeats a number of Paper Macho Shy Guys carrying buckets of burning oil.

As a unique easily missed interaction, during these segments, it is not actually possible for Mario to restore health. If he attempts to use a Mushroom item, a Fire Vellumental statue will peek its head it from the top of the screen and spit a fireball, which will incinerate the Mushroom as seen in the footage.

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The cover of a 1992 Chinese book, “Secrets of Researching Video Game Consoles”, features a bizarre recreation of the original Japanese Famicom box art for Super Mario Bros. 3.

While Mario and Bowser are relatively on-model, the other characters are drawn in a very unique way. Particularly, Peach has no face for an unknown reason.

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For many years, it has been known that the Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy for the Super Paper Mario boss Fracktail contained unused palm tree textures, though it was unknown what their purpose was and whether they were tied to Fracktail itself or simply some oversight accidentally left in.

However, it was only in 2026 that the original model that used the textures was finally restored from the files. Fracktail was seemingly planned to have the palm tree on its head in place of the antenna.

It is possible that the original vision for the boss battle was that Mario would encounter a lone palm tree in the desert, which would then be revealed to be Fracktail’s antenna as it emerges from the ground, though that is merely speculation.

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