New Super Mario Bros.

GameSpot, Game Trailers and IGN have been pilfered. Are you a bad enough dude to find out who did it?

New Super Mario Bros. was first announced in May 2004, named Super Mario Bros. DS, and was accompanied by some very early video footage showing basic gameplay.

Backflipping? Proposterous!	Goombas using mushrooms against you? Bad!	Killing Bowser in a single hit? NO.

It's incredibly early footage, as the graphics are all weirdy, there's no music, the programming is wonky, and the sounds are misplaced, missing and totally unfitting. Mario performs numerous backflips with ease, an ability not in the game; the jumps in general are very odd, sending him higher into the air than usual. Also, all the enemies are 3D models, but most of them are 2D sprites in the final.

And then there's a Goomba growing from a mushroom, which is just plain wrong, although a giant Goomba does appear as a boss. I won't even comment on giant Mario crushing Bowser in a single stomp in the middle of nowhere. None of the areas shown or their graphics appear in the game.

And then there was another video, released in Summer 2005, which was much further along in production, looking much more complete.

Firstly, the HUD was seen, and drastically different from the final. The coins and timer were moved to the top screen, it lacks the World #-# part, has no slots for the star coins, and has three stored items instead of one. The lives counter also uses a different mugshot for the characters, and always seems to be above 70. The distance is also more bland, with a generic flag at the end, a green bar instead of a dotted line, and no indication of the mid level checkpoint. It does, however, tell you the useless fact of what level you're in, like FORTRESS, DESERT, SEA and so on.

[middle image is from the video, left is from a screenshot likely made from a slightly later build. right is from the final]

The Mega Mushrooms are also different. The video shows them with the default colour scheme of red and white, whereas the final makes them a reference to the original Super Mario Bros., making it yellow/orange and red. The stomping gauge doesn't come up when Mario collects it, though.

Speaking of giant Mario, he can punch and kick in the video, two moves he lacks in the final, and for good reason. They don't seem to do a thing except slow him down.

In the parts with giant Mario, there's also a giant Goomba wandering around, but they're not regular enemies.

It's not shown if it serves the same purpose, but this swirly ring which creates eight red coins and a time limit in the final is shown in the video a number of times, except it's blue. It's orange in the game.

Mario reaches the end of a level, pulling down a blank red flag and exposing his hair in celebration. However, there's no fort, and the flag lacks the skull design it has in the final.

The background used for the fortresses is different, and the ? Blocks are yellow, but the yellow brand are only in outdoor levels. Fortress levels have blue blocks.

This area simply isn't in the final.

There are no desert levels with tornados. The tornados are fairly clearer in the final, compared to this dirty-looking one.

And the biggest change of all, is that this video quite clearly shows CO-OPERATIVE MULTI-PLAYER. Well, maybe not co-operative, considering Luigi bounces off Mario's head a number of times, but it's SIMULTANEOUS MULTI-PLAYER none the less. And it looks fully programmed. They interact with each other rightly, and all the right coding seems to be there. Yet, despite all that, and the fact it's the first traditional side scrolling Mario game with simultaneous multi-player, they removed it from the final game. Can you guess what they replaced it with?

A star collecting battle game.

I would rant and ramble and shimmy and shake, but I won't. I do have some words, though:

Next time, Nintendo. NEXT TIME.