In a 1997 interview with IGN about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that the Deku Baba enemies from that game (new at the time, ubiquitous in the Zelda series now) were envisioned by him through combining a dog with the snapping clams from Jolly Roger Bay in Super Mario 64.

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

An amusing glitch may occur in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U if Wario’s Final Smash effect (his Wario-Man transformation) runs out with precise timing exactly at the end of the match.

If this occurs, Wario is playable on the results screen, though the camera will not follow him, allowing him to continuously walk in and out of view as seen in the footage.

Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: ToastHatterAbC123

High-quality scans of the 1994 Nintendo Power insert for their promotional Donkey Kong Country VHS (please zoom in to view).

The bottom middle of the front (top) of the insert is the source of a famous image of Diddy Kong exclaiming “Tri-linear bitmap interpolation!”, which is often posted online without context due to its absurd nature.

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

The 2003 Chinese official trailer of Super Mario 64 for the iQue Player (the China-exclusive plug-and-play version of the Nintendo 64) features a unique arrangement of the Metal Cap theme from the game. It appears to be a MIDI version of the song that was possibly downloaded from the Internet and converted to MP3 using a soundfont for the trailer.

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

In Super Mario Bros., a bizarre code oversight results in some enemy types changing species if they are hit from below while 14 to 18 pixels away from the left edge of the screen specifically. A Spiny will turn into a green Koopa Troopa, while a green Koopa Troopa will turn into a red one, and finally a red one will also turn into a green one.

The footage shows all three of these interactions happening by using a Multi-Coin Block so that the enemy can be hit several times in a row. Note the enemy changing species three times in sequence. The change is permanent; the newly created Koopa Troopa will eventually get back up and resume walking, being identical to a regular Koopa Troopa.

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

In Donkey Kong Bananza, the Ostrich Bananza Rehearsal post-game challenge features a gliding section between the beginning and the big triangular platform that splits into two paths.

If the platform is approached while gliding in such a way that Donkey Kong would hit the edge, it becomes apparent that the collision of the edge is not entirely solid and Donkey Kong will pass through and die, as seen in the footage.

While this would not be noticeable in other places in the game, the fact that this platform is specifically meant to be reached by gliding means that this has a high chance of happening organically during regular gameplay, and has in fact been encountered by many players.

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

The famous Gangplank Galleon theme from Donkey Kong Country, used later in many different arrangements and remixes as King K. Rool’s theme, is actually loosely based on the title theme from Pirates! for the NES, also developed by Rare, which David Wise composed in 1991 (3 years prior to Donkey Kong Country).

In this post, the Pirates! theme plays for the first 31 seconds, followed by the beginning of Gangplank Galleon.

Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: Nikos8BitStereo

In the beginning of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, a scripted battle against Bowser takes place. Bowser has so few HP and Mario has enough and takes so little damage that even if he misses all dodges and does not perform any Action Commands, Bowser still loses before Mario can die.

However, modifying the game to reduce Mario’s HP before the battle starts reveals that the game simply does not expect Mario to lose and as such has absolutely no plan on what to do if he does. Should Mario run out of HP, he will simply fall to the ground, but the battle will not end. Instead, Bowser will simply stand around forever (with Luigi watching the scene) until the game is reset.

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

Officially licensed 2001 “Who’s That Character? It’s Boo” Mario Party 2 collectible card from Japan. This card provides the highest known quality of that game’s official Boo art currently known.

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

Unused starry world map found in development files of Super Mario World. Curiously, this world map features absolutely no levels (looking more like a level background), and was likely only used as a placeholder, though it is unusually artistic for something designed for that purpose.

The stars create the same slightly tilted mushroom outline that was used for the earliest iteration of the game’s world map, seen in some pre-release screenshots.

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