In Super Mario World, the item reserve box on top of the screen is a light blue color for the vast majority of gameplay. However, during the final boss battle against Bowser, it is actually a darker blue color.

The reason for this is that the item reserve box during the Bowser battle is implemented in a completely different manner from the one during regular gameplay. Normally, the box is part of the HUD background layer (“background” referring here to “not the sprite layer”; it is actually drawn above the sprite layer, making it technically the foreground).

However, the Bowser final boss battle uses Mode 7 to rotate and stretch Bowser. Mode 7 is a very powerful graphical tool of the SNES but only allows a single background layer (which in this case is Bowser and his clown car) to be used. No other graphics can be drawn on the Mode 7 layer since all deformation is applied to the entire layer at once, so that it would all move with Bowser. This means everything else on that screen must actually be a sprite, since no other background elements can be displayed.

This is the reason why most of the HUD is gone, and why the floor is so sparse, as they all must be displayed using sprites and each additional graphic gets the hardware closer to the sprite display limit. As such, the item reserve box is also drawn as a sprite, which have different palettes from the background layers, resulting in the designers not matching the color of the box used during regular gameplay exactly.

Source: Samb

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Top: the Giant Squirrel was a planned flying squirrel boss for Donkey Kong ‘94 that appeared in pre-release screenshots of the game, but was scrapped in favor of focusing the entire game on fighting Donkey Kong (so that the finished game has 29 boss battles, each of them against Donkey Kong).

Bottom: this was used as a plot point in a 1994 Donkey Kong manga, whereby the Giant Squirrel is frustrated with being excluded from the game and attacks Donkey Kong Island with a Kremling army.

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Donkey Kong 64 contains a broad category of glitches called “skew” whereby the playable Kong’s model will be angled unnaturally, as though standing on a nonexistent slope. This results in the Kong’s collision not interacting with parts of the environment, allowing the player to simply walk through certain walls.

A relatively easy method of achieving skew is using a cannon as shown in the footage. If Lanky Kong is hit a rebounding orange at the same time he would have been shot out of the cannon, he will become skewed, with his model being angled more than 90° forward into the ground. This allows him to pass through most walls by jumping backwards through them.

Source: Znernicus

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Original illustration on “console wars” for a 1992 issue of the Chicago Tribune newspaper, featuring Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Zonk from the Zonk side series of games from the Bonk franchise on the TurboGrafx-16.

Source: OriginalVideoGameArt.com

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In Luigi’s Mansion, there is a refrigerator in the Kitchen on the first floor of the mansion. Looking extremely closely at the model for the refrigerator reveals that it does not have unique textures for the hinges of its door.

Instead, the hinges are textured with the same image used for the fridge itself, making the two hinges look like two miniature refrigerators attached to the larger one.

Source: Xandeath75

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In Mario Kart Wii, CPU racers prioritize being mean to the player over actually winning the race. If a CPU player has a Mega Mushroom and the player is a short distance ahead of them, the CPU will do everything possible to be able to squash the player, including driving off the optimal path and even into hazards.

Top: note how Baby Peach drives into a wall trying to catch Mario.

Bottom: note how Baby Peach drives off a bridge into the lava trying to catch Mario.

In addition, the same rules apply when the CPU has a Thunder Cloud item. The CPUs will chase after each other as well, though since all of them normally follow strict pathing this does not result in them driving into hazards in practice.

Source: B_squo

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The internal storyboard for the “Northwest Mansion Mystery” episode of Disney’s Gravity Falls cartoon series was shared on the cartoon’s official page.

It features a mockup title card that is edited from the Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon artwork and logo, with “Luigi’s” being erased from the logo but “Mansion” being kept, and the main character Dipper’s head being drawn over Luigi.

Source: spooky-jumpropes

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An interesting detail in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze that is very easy to miss is the bookending of the game by plane wrecks, so that both the first stage begins with one and the last stage ends with one.

Top: the first stage of the game, Mangrove Cove, starts with Donkey Kong flying in (after being thrown out of Donkey Kong Island) and landing inside a wrecked plane, which he has to punch himself out of.

Bottom: the final level unlocked in the game if going for 100% completion is Crazy Clouds, the final level of the secret world, Secret Seclusion (not to be confused with the final level of the story, which is not the last one to be unlocked). This one is themed around plane wrecks held up magically in the sky, with the ending showing a giant plane wreck off to the right after the level goal.

Source: donkeykonghistory

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Top: Super Mario World includes a number of hidden 1-Up Mushrooms that are obtained by touching four invisible activation spots in the correct order. If you have ever randomly made a 1-Up Mushroom spawn from seemingly thin air during gameplay, this is due to this mechanic. There are 15 of these in the game, with the one shown in the image being in the Valley of Bowser 2 level.

Bottom: due to the way the activation points are arranged here, it is possible to cause the 1-Up Mushroom to spawn inside the wall if collected in the way shown in the footage. Luckily, Mario can still collect it by clipping into the ceiling slightly.

Source: RavenWorks, mariofantsudoi

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In Super Mario Maker 2, the Goomba Mask affects enemies by making them not pay attention to the player, ostensibly by believing that the player character is a Goomba. This makes perfect sense for sentient enemies, but it is humorous how it also affects obstacles that should logically not have the ability to choose their own actions at all.

In the footage, it is demonstrated that Spike Balls coming out of pipes will always roll to the left if the player is wearing a Goomba mask, but will roll towards the player when the mask is not worn. Similar unexpected behavior applies to icicles and other obstacles, suggesting everything in this world is specifically malicious towards the player characters even if it looks like an inanimate object.

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