While the majority of international NES cartridges were the same plain grey color (with some notable exceptions such as the gold The Legend of Zelda cartridge), Japanese Famicom versions of the cartridges were available in all possible colors.

Above are all the Mario-related games released for the Famicom in cartridge form (so excluding e.g. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which was only available on a disk), to showcase the different colors used even within a single series. Please note that for some of the games, two versions of the label existed (a “plain” one with a pulse design and one with actual artwork), though the color of the actual case was not changed between the two. In these cases, the artwork label version is provided.

1st row: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Mario Bros.
2nd row: Donkey Kong Jr.+Donkey Kong Jr. Math, standalone Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Pinball
3rd row: Golf, Donkey Kong 3, Family BASIC
4th row: Wrecking Crew, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Super Mario USA in Japan)
5th row: Super Mario Bros. 3, Dr. Mario, NES Open Tournament Golf
6th row: Yoshi, Yoshi’s Cookie, Wario’s Woods

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Bowser’s Mother is a character that appears exclusively in the CD-ROM version of Mario’s Time Machine, known as “Mario’s Time Machine Deluxe”. In contrast to Bowser, she is a kindly librarian who will help Mario procure historical information.

In 2020, I have made a post claiming to include all the lines spoken by Bowser’s Mother; however, it was discovered to be incomplete. Here is the actual full collection of her lines, extracted from the game’s files.

Source: LuigiBlood

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Officially licensed 2026 Bowser Jr. neck fan available at Super Nintendo World in Japan. Bizarrely, despite being based on the Jr. Clown Car, which features a propeller and would as such be logical to assume to produce the wind in a fan, the air actually comes out of the vents on the top of the device.

The intended use is to wear the strap around the neck and let the air cool the user’s head from below.

Source: blacktangent

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Top: Clawgrip is a crab boss in Super Mario Bros. 2, whose name is obviously based on the fact that he has two large claws, which he uses to grip and throw rocks at the player.

Middle: however, in the game’s credits, his name is misspelled as “Clawglip”. Given the fact that some other names are either misspelled or wrongly assigned as well, this would not by itself be notable…

Bottom: …except for the fact that in the 1993 official Japanese guide for Super Mario All-Stars, his name is misspelled yet again, but as “Crawgrip”. It is unknown if this is simply a typographical error or a reinterpretation of “craw” to be referring to “crawfish”, which are also crustaceans and have similarly large claws.

As such, Clawgrip has been referred to as Clawglip and Crawgrip. Unfortunately, no “Crawglip” misspelling is known, which would have completed the list of all possible L/R permutations in the name.

Source: Super Mario Collection (Shogakukan), 1993, ISBN 4-09-102444-0

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Top: Blockhoppers are rare enemies in New Super Mario Bros., being encountered only in one level, World 2-5, where they pretend to be regular Question Blocks before revealing themselves. They have never appeared in any other game since.

Middle and bottom: it turns out that a Blockhopper was intended to appear in Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, though whether it would have been as an enemy or NPC is unclear. Here are the surviving sprites and animations for it, extracted from the game’s files.

Source: BasileousProductions, VolseniMack

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Quake/Yoshi’s Story crossover reader-submitted artwork published in a 1998 issue of the British Nintendo Official Magazine. The very close releases of Quake for the Nintendo 64 (NA: March 24, 1998, EU: May 24, 1998) and Yoshi’s Story (NA: March 9, 1998, EU: May 10, 1998) led to most publications both in the US and Europe covering both games in a single issue.

This drew attention to the contrast between the two games and resulting in such crossover artwork both from the magazines themselves (as seen in this earlier post) and from readers.

Source: NOM (UK), Issue 70, 1998

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Top: in Super Mario Sunshine, the pool underneath the pirate ship attraction in Pinna Park is normally slightly reflective. Faint reflections of the pirate ships and the surrounding area can be seen, distorted by the rippling of the water surface.

Middle: however, during the boss battle against Mecha-Bowser, the surface of the pool seems highly reflective instead. No water rippling can be distinguished, and the reflection is as vibrant as the pirate ships themselves. In addition, not everything is being reflected; only the ships and the Ferris wheel. This is very difficult to notice during regular gameplay due to the quick movement and constant angle changes of the rollercoaster.

Bottom: modifying the game to explore the boss version of the area without being confined to the rollercoaster reveals that the water looks so reflective because it has been replaced with a literal mirror. The mirror is a hard surface Mario can walk on, and seems to be the same type of object as the mirrors in Gelato Beach.

Source: TheJeffreyLand

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In Luigi’s Mansion 3, Gooigi’s sentience differs between playing in 1-player and 2-player modes, which actually affects some of the game’s cutscenes.

In 1-player mode, Gooigi is merely a vessel for Luigi’s spirit, so he is inactive unless the player decides to control him. Doing that will cause Luigi to slump over and transfer his agency to Gooigi, who will spring to life. Transferring back will cause Gooigi to slump over and Luigi to become active again.

In 2-player mode, Gooigi always has agency due to always receiving input from the second player. However, this is not merely a gameplay consideration; cutscenes are changed due to this as well.

Top: in 1-player mode, after getting the Floor 2 button, which can only be done as Gooigi, Luigi’s consciousness needs to be transferred back to him in order for him to celebrate the achievement. Note Gooigi being inactive during this.

Bottom: in 2-player mode, both Gooigi and Luigi are active during the cutscene, causing Gooigi to celebrate alongside Luigi, which startles him as he evidently did not expect Gooigi to mimic him in that manner.

Source: stephenjplant

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Officially licensed “fully covered with Mario power-up forms” hoodie from Japan (please zoom in to view details).

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According to a 2010 interview with Yoko Tanaka, character designer for Mario Kart Wii, the completion of the game’s development was very emotional. She recalls the team applauding, feeling like she could cry, and then seeing a fellow programmer actually crying. Then, the team lifted the crying programmer in the air.

Source: B_squo

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