Super Mario RPG: Legend of The Seven Stars has been out since 1998 and players have scoured the game for all its content. But what about the game's beta content? Read on to learn more details about some early and, ultimately, unused ideas.
Early Ideas for Super Mario RPG: Legend of The Seven Stars
Iconic Super Mushroom Was Planned For
Mario's iconic Super Mushroom power-up was supposed to be in Super Mario RPG: Legend of The Seven Stars, but was cut for a whole slew of reasons. The initial problem with its inclusion was due to the console's hardware limitations. Eventually, the developers admitted that the main reason was that "it just looked weird for Mario to be walking around the map in different sizes".
Director Chihiro Fujioka further stated that had the Super Mushroom been implemented, some dungeons and areas would only be accessible to Mario while in his smaller form. This proved to be not very fun and problematic for the final product, so the power-up was ultimately cut.
Early Builds for Super Mario RPG: Legend of The Seven Stars
Original Game
The game's original build featured plenty of differences from its final iteration. A couple of notable ones include the environments of Moleville and Nimbus Castle, both areas that were slightly altered before release. Moleville had more rocks, artichokes, and grass originally, but had its debris lessened for balancing purposes. Similarly, Nimbus Castle had more flora surrounding it and more flower-like towers as opposed to its rounded look on release.
1995 V-Jump Festival
An earlier build of Super Mario RPG was also seen at the 1995 V-Jump Festival, presented for the sole purpose of showing off that game's programming and features. Much of the features accessible to this build were never meant for the game's final version and were simply there as a proof of concept.
This build had three unused levels, beta versions of Moleville, Factory, and Yos'ter Isle, the Super Mushroom power-up, and much of Nimbus Castle's layout.
Nintendo Power
This earlier build of Super Mario RPG was featured in Issue #77 of the Nintendo Power Magazine. Though somewhat similar to the game's final version, a few notable differences are apparent from the screenshots present in the magazine, as pictured above.
These differences include an earlier design for Chancellor, an unused cutscene with Bowser and Mario, a different path to reach Frogfucius' Island, and different enemy placement in Mushroom Way.
Dengeki Super Famicom
Delving deeper into Super Mario RPG's video game magazine appearances, another early build of the game showed up on Dengeki Super Famicom No. 15. The magazine showed a screenshot of an unknown scene featuring Mario, Toad, and the Chancellor, who is seen sporting an earlier version of their usual design. The article also shows the Chancellor's final design off to the side, indicating that the screenshot was taken after the final design had been changed.
VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine
To round off Super Mario RPG's magazine appearances, we have its 1995 appearance on the aptly named video game magazine, VideoGames. Its brief appearance comprised of a few screenshots that don't coincide with the game's final version. Standout differences from the screenshots include differing enemy placements in Booster Tower and another of Luigi's sparse appearances in the game, this time at a banquet in Nimbus Castle.
Unused Enemies and Other Unreleased Content
Unused Enemies in The Game's Coding
Despite already having a massive cast of enemies, Super Mario RPG's code still hides plenty of unused foes that just didn't make the cut for the game's release. These include palette swaps that were deemed unnecessary, incomplete versions of pre-existing enemies, texture placeholders, and even bosses.
Unused Cutscenes and Stages
Apart from enemy sprites, Super Mario RPG also left a lot of cutscenes and backgrounds on the cutting floor. Though mostly comprised of empty backdrops and beta versions of areas currently in the game, a map debug mode was left in the game's code, allowing access to these assets.
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