In the prototype version of Yoshi’s Island, the entire concept of Kamek creating the bosses by enlarging regular enemies has not yet been implemented, so the bosses are simply already large creatures to begin with.

This allows the game to do something that was impossible to do in the final version, which is to have the already large forms of the bosses appear before the battle starts. The footage shows the approach to the Naval Piranha boss battle in the prototype, where tendrils emerge from the water and lure Yoshi in before the actual boss appears. While not shown in the footage, the tendrils also hurt Yoshi if he touches them.

While it is unfortunate that this had to be removed as it would no longer fit the concept in the finished game, it was replaced with the equally memorable Easter egg whereby Yoshi can defeat Naval Piranha before Kamek can enlarge it, skipping the entire battle.

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Officially licensed 2026 Mario Kart World Dash Food plush keychain from Japan, depicting a Cheep Cheep taiyaki (a type of fish-shaped cake, usually filled with red bean paste) that can be found in-game in the market at Cheep Cheep Falls.

Of note is the fact that for maximum realism, the plush does not depict a perfectly shaped taiyaki. Instead, it includes bits of extraneous crust around the perimeter of the cake that is a byproduct of the baking process, whereby batter is being poured into a mold (similar to a waffle iron), and some batter may be poured over or ooze out the sides, solidifying into a thin crust.

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The 2014 Japanese official website for Pokémon Art Academy for the Nintendo 3DS featured a gallery of images, one of which was a Pikachu with a Mario-inspired hat and a Piplup with a Luigi-inspired hat.

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Top: in the box art of Super Smash Bros., Mario seems to just be jumping towards Pikachu in an action pose.

Middle: however, zooming in extremely closely on the space between his ear and his right hand (viewer’s left) shows that there is some object behind him.

Bottom: as it turns out, the original version of this artwork that was reconfigured for use in the box art showed that Mario is in fact holding a Star Rod (and attacking Fox instead of Pikachu).

As such, Mario has been holding a Star Rod in the box art all along with only a tiny sliver of it being visible.

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

To promote the release of Super Mario Advance 2 in 2002, Nintendo of America donated $7,500 to PAWS/LA, a non-profit Los Angeles organization providing assistance with pet care to specific groups in need.

While other promotional activities at the time also featured Nintendo making donations, those appear to be related to the game in question, such as a donation of 1000 doors to Habitat for Humanity to promote Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

If any such relation was intended here, the presence of Yoshi during the promotion suggests that the angle Nintendo of America may have been going for was presenting Yoshi as Mario’s pet or equivalent.

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In Super Mario Odyssey, the shopkeepers in the Seaside Kingdom are Bubblainians riding on colorful Dorries. If Mario picks up a small seed, talks to one of them, then immediately throws the seed as soon as the shopkeeper finishes talking and presses A again as the seed hits the shopkeeper’s head, the game will become unplayable.

Everything will freeze except Mario and the shopkeeper (note the frozen Dorrie, frozen water, etc.), and the only action still available to the player is to rotate the camera, as seen in the footage. The game must be restarted to continue playing.

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Officially licensed shy Boo mirror.

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Nintendo appears to have had a completely different attitude towards NES educational title Donkey Kong Jr. Math between Japan and America.

Top: in a 1986 interview, Shigeru Miyamoto claimed that Donkey Kong Jr. Math was a “rip-roaring good time” and “super popular among the staff at Nintendo”, referring to the Nintendo Japan development staff.

Bottom: according to Bruce Lowry, former vice president of sales at Nintendo of America from 1981 to 1986, Donkey Kong Jr. Math was among the worst games the company released.

Please note that while the times and circumstances of the interviews differ, with the first being done closer to release when it was still in Nintendo’s interest to promote the game, while the second interview focuses on the game’s sales and public perception decades after, Donkey Kong Jr. Math is mentioned very rarely to begin with and it is curious how different these statements are from each other.

Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Source: shmuplations, Time Extension, reinodocogumelo

In Mario Kart 7, Wario Shipyard contains a “Banana Bounce Trench” where all bananas thrown into it will bounce for up to a minute before disappearing.

This is due to the invisible floor of the trench being mistakenly designated as a wall in the code, and bananas being coded to bounce off walls. Normally a banana will only bounce off a wall once or twice before landing on the floor, but if the floor itself is defined as a wall, the banana will bounce indefinitely until it despawns.

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Extremely rare officially licensed 1994 Donkey Kong figure.

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