Super Mario 64 is one of the most celebrated Nintendo games of all time and one of the most recognized titles from the Mario franchise. Recently there was a ton of exciting information that was uncovered about the game, and gaming historians have started to document all the cut content from the game.
While there are no cut stages, the content that has been found is nothing short of interesting for fans of the game, from never used enemies to Luigi, there are a lot of changes that happened by the end of the title's development process. Below are some of the most interesting pieces of content that got cut from the final release.
10 Luigi
Luigi is Mario's brother and the official mascot for player two in the gaming world. During development, the thought of adding in Luigi, as well as a multiplayer mode was on developers' minds. For obvious reasons, though, multiplayer wouldn't have worked very well with the design of the game and was cut.
In the Nintendo DS version of the game, Luigi was added back in as a playable character, much to the delight of fans.
9 Blargg
Blargg was one of two enemies that have been found in the game's data files and would have made Lethal Lava Land much more interesting. Originally Blargg was going to roam around in the lava of the level, making it even more dangerous for Mario to navigate in, especially if you tried to use the green shell to quickly surf through the level.
Blargg was most likely cut due to the fact that the level was already particularly hard since the bully enemies were already trying to throw Mario into the lava every chance that they got.
8 Moto
Moto was another enemy that could have appeared in Lethal Lava Land in the place of the big Bully. The Moto enemies have never been used in any game in the series and would have been incredibly annoying to deal with for players. Unlike the Bully enemy that simply pushed Mario, the Moto was far more aggressive.
Moto would run towards Mario, pick him up, and then proceed to carry him towards the lava where he would toss him in. The Bully are far more passive enemies that are easier to handle for many young players.
7 Trampoline
One of the stranger items found in the game was a trampoline. While data miners don't know exactly what it would have looked like, they are able to restore it in the game and make it work. The trampoline can bounce Mario up to higher places, which could have been useful in areas like Big Boo's Haunt, where players had to wall jump to the top level.
The trampoline was likely taken out in favor of giving Mario a more fluid move set and the ability to make his way up to high areas using wall jumps.
6 Level Effects
Some effects got removed from the game before launch, like a blizzard that would have made the ice worlds seem a little harsher. These level effects seemed to have no impact on the overall gameplay of the game and were just purely aesthetic. Another level effect that was cut was a smiling flower that bobbed back and forth.
While the flowers are a bit more of a mystery, fans can guess that they would have likely appeared around the castle or in levels with greenery like Whomp's Fortress.
5 Level Select
Level select was actually present in an early demo of the game and in the source code. The level select seemed to have been ditched after the demo was made and was never fully implemented in the game. This would have allowed players to easily move between the different worlds without worrying about having to run all over the castle to try for new stars.
This would have been a great quality of life addition to the game, but the developers decided not to go with it in the end.
4 Level Access
Another interesting cut from the final game was the way you access levels. Early codes showed that, like with Wet-Dry World, the level would change depending on where Mario entered the painting. From what data miners can access, this would have started Mario off in different spots in the level, allowing you to alter your starting point depending on where the star was placed.
While this wasn't as useful as a feature as level select, it wouldn't have been a fun tool for speedrunners.
3 Cut Animations
During development, it's natural to see animations cut altogether if they didn't fit in with the final game or altered. Some of the most interesting cut animations reveal the fact that Mario could once throw the golden bunny Mips and that the bully enemies had a slightly different animation when knocking Mario around Lethal Lava Land.
In addition, Piranha plants once had teeth showing while they slapped, and the monkey had a tackling animation that would have driven players crazy.
2 Keys
Interestingly enough, there was supposed to be a key that Big Boo carried around inside of him in Big Boo's Haunt. This was likely to unlock rooms, most likely one leading to a star in the mansion. Data miners have also found that there are different colors of keys that could have been used in the game in place of the cage that allows Mario to enter the level.
The key portion of the level was probably removed to help streamline the game. The textures for this can still be found in Japanese versions of the game, but not in North American versions.
1 Mini Maps
At one point in development, mini-maps were being designed for the levels. While they aren't implemented in the final version of the game, they can be seen in the beta version of the game in worlds like Cool Cool Mountain. The levels in the game are generally easy to minimize as none of them are incredibly expansive and the stars aren't exactly well hidden in most cases.
The mini maps would have been a nice addition for younger players, but the game gets along fine without them.