This is a sub-page of Prerelease:EarthBound.

This page is loooong...
Consider grouping related content into additional subpages to ease readability.

To do:

Explain the differences between more sprites, overworld and battle.
Add more information about developer notes.
There is a third version of the Spinning Robo's battle sprite that is included in the enemy canvas size sections of the Secrets of MOTHER 2 book. Will include a restoration.
Document the many scrapped gameplay mechanics and plot details that were featured in the exhibit (e.g., fifth town "Fiverent", outer space exploration), preferably in a subpage.
There are some overworld sprites that haven't been restored yet. The Lost Underworld party member sprites (ghosts), and a couple NPCs that are in the final game.
The information about the Dept. Store Spook might be inaccurate. There are dev notes and even leftover enemy data that suggests the Dept. Store Spook was originally an Insane Cultist.

In August 2024, Shigesato Itoi organized a special exhibit titled Secrets of MOTHER 2 at Shibuya PARCO’s Hobonichi store. The exhibit explored various aspects of EarthBound’s development, including developer notes and a significant amount of cut content, in celebration of the game’s 30th anniversary. Shortly after the exhibit closed, a livestream was held on the official Hobonichi YouTube channel, showcasing previously unseen material from throughout EarthBound’s development. It was also later confirmed an artbook would be released that contained most (but not all) content that was shown at the exhibit.

Maps

Watch on YouTubeMany changes have been made to the maps during EarthBound's development. The way the Earthbound map works is that every area is part of a larger map that consists of every location in the game. The entire map is almost completely filled with very little space to add to, so the developers literally had to to cut corners by removing sections of existing maps to make room. This video layers the early maps over the final versions for better comparison.

Onett#

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

There used to be a pathway between the trees beside the two wide buildings near the Traveling Entertainer's Shack, but it was later blocked off by connecting the two tree patches together.
The pathway to Giant Step is different.
The pathway to the meteorite was trimmed off.
Pokey's house has a different design.
The street at the top left of the roads is extended, going behind a pair of buildings.
The house below the extended street was wider and had a different design.
The area the meteorite lands had more craters.
The pathway to Twoson and the sign were adjusted.
The small sign at the lower right was moved one metatile to the left.
Certain tiles in the ocean area were moved around.
Many trees added, removed, or moved some place else.

Twoson#

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The entire lower half of the town was completely removed. This was done to make room for the Cave of the Past area since it's where part of beta Twoson was.
Various buildings relocated.
Hint man had a house at the bottom right.
The brick wall at the top and the fence at the bottom of Burglin park had an entrance/exit.
Everdred's house was further back left behind the park.
Many trees added, removed, or moved some place else.
Many enemies in Twoson can often spawn out of bounds, and this was because the developers forgot to remove the spawn plates for them when sections of beta Twoson were removed.

Threed#

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The fence behind the hospital was given an opening to walk through.
Mainly a few relocated trees and a sign near the area you arrive in.
The upper-left graveyard had two openings to walk through at the very edges.

Fourside#

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

No sign of Magnet Hill which suggests it was meant to be collected in a different area.
Certain buildings were removed.
Many trees added, removed, or moved some place else.
The Monotoli building didn't have a helipad. This could suggest the whole sequence with the helicopter and getting to Summers played out differently, and the unused event of kicking the party out of the building if they still have Paula could have been related.

Grapefruit Falls#

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The out of bounds area above the water fall was removed.
Most of the left side of the map and the bridges allowing access were removed to make space for Ness's dream sequence cutscene when entering Magicant.
The cave entrance to Saturn Valley is missing? There is a bridge at the bottom left that gets cut off, and judging by other maps like Onett and Twoson that aren't featured in their entirety, it's likely there is a little more area to the left getting cut off that would lead to Saturn Valley's cave entrance. This would mean the player would have traveled more between Grapefruit Falls; kind of like Peaceful Rest Valley, which both maps share the same tileset with. However, in the Secrets of Mother 2 book, it makes no mention of this and just points to where the Saturn Valley entrance currently is.

Saturn Valley#

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The tree stump used to be above the pond instead of the hot spring.
Different cave entrances.
The Hot Spring used a blue subpalette like the pond instead of a pink one.
The tall ladder a Mr. Saturn is on was moved to the left.
The area the tree stump would be added to was extended out to the right.
Many trees added, removed, or moved some place else.

Battle Sprites

Looking at all these sprites, it's clear that optimizing canvas sizes was a key priority during EarthBound's development. If a sprite had more empty space than necessary, its canvas would be reduced, sometimes even compressing the sprite itself to make it fit. Many enemies didn't have shadows, and the ones that did were all changed to use the outline color. The sheets these sprites came from display some interesting information like the date they were last modified, the file names and the formats they used, and even folder structure.

SCREEN    : ooyama1/monster.SCR   ( 4bitmode , 8*8 )
CHARACTER : ooyama1/MON-matome-01.CGX
COLOR     : ooyama1/MONSTER-B.COL   ( 80 - FF )
                                                 1991-02-25 (Mon)  14:28

SCREEN    :    ( 4bitmode , 8*8 )
CHARACTER : ooyama1/MON-matome-04.CGX
COLOR     : ooyama1/MONSTER-C.COL   ( 80 - FF )
                                                 1991-02-25 (Mon)  14:22

SCREEN    : ooyama1/monster.SCR   ( 4bitmode , 8*8 )
CHARACTER : ooyama1/MON-matome-03.CGX
COLOR     : ooyama1/MONSTER-B.COL   ( 80 - FF )
                                                 1991-02-25 (Mon)  14:48

SCREEN    : ooyama1/MON-matome-04.SCR   ( 4bitmode , 8*8 )
CHARACTER : ooyama1/MON-matome-05.CGX
COLOR     : ooyama1/MONSTER-C.COL   ( 80 - FF )
                                                 1991-03-05 (Tue)  12:19

SCREEN    : ooyama1/.SCR   ( 4bitmode , 8*8 )
CHARACTER : ooyama1/UFO-a.CGX
COLOR     : ooyama1/UFO-a.COL   ( 80 - FF )
                                                 1991-03-14 (Thu)  12:14

Enemy	Early	Final	Differences
Thunder and Storm			Blowing wind and electricity particles at the top were removed.
Abstract Art			One portion of the Abstract Art's frame was noticeably lighter in color compared to the rest, being white instead of light gray.
Armored Frog			The Armored Frog was significantly taller.
Bad Buffalo			The Bad Buffalo was first planned to be a Rhino, then a Hippo.
Cranky Lady			The Cranky Lady originally had a wider body frame and wore brighter clothing.
Mighty Bear			Only very subtle adjustments were made to the bear, primarily refining the claws and adding a shadow.
Belch			Belch was designed with Slimy Little Piles attached to his body, but this detail was ultimately removed, possibly because it came across too unpleasant or grotesque.
Slimy Little Pile			Many variants of the Slimy Little Pile.
Cave Boy			Originally, the Cave Boy was Big Foot, an enemy originally from EarthBound Beginnings, but was later redesigned with a more caveman-like appearance, showing they evolved.
Black Antoid			There are subtle differences with the Black Antoid, primarily in the shading.
Captain Strong			Captain Strong underwent a few refinements, including subtle touch-ups to his design and a reduction to a smaller canvas size for better optimization.
Care Free Bomb			The Care Free Bomb underwent subtle adjustments, including changes in shading and giving the limbs on its right side an end, instead of them being connected to the main body.
Conducting Spirit			There were subtle changes made to the Conducting Spirit, so minor that they're barely noticeable.
Crazed Sign			While the Crazed Sign itself remained unchanged, its shadow was altered.
Dali's Clock			To save space, Dali's Clock was compressed horizontally by 1 pixel to fit within a 32×64 frame. This adjustment resulted in the top pointer's hand being cut off and left a missing outline at the bottom of the clock's melting feature.
Dept. Store Spook			Although it's unconfirmed what this enemy actually is, the sprite's palette in the final game seems inconsistent, and the enemy is named "Spook" rather than "Mook". This could suggest that the sprite was intended for this enemy.
Desert Wolf			The Desert Wolf was originally a leopard. It was called "ておいのヒョウ" which translates to Wounded Leopard.
Foppy			The Foppy's design was quite different, featuring a large cyclops eye instead of the two pixel eyes. They were also a lot bigger. Additionally, there is a second expression for them, possibly an unused variation, or an earlier version of the Fobbies.
New Age Retro Hippie			The New Age Retro Hippie was initially planned for a complete redesign from EarthBound Beginnings, but this idea was later reverted. The initial design may have been reused for the Shattered Man, down to the similar pose.
Kiss of Death			Minor adjustments were made to part of the lips on the Kiss of Death.
Mad Duck			Mad Duck was much larger in size.
Mad Taxi			Mad Taxi underwent a few small touch-ups, and there were even plans for a returning variant of the Mad Car from EarthBound Beginnings, though this was ultimately not included.
Mobile Sprout			The shadow of the Mobile Sprout was adjusted.
Mook			The palette for this Mook sprite remains in the game's data and is reused for other enemies. Similar to Dali's Clock, the sprite was compressed to fit into a smaller canvas size.
Enraged Fire Plug			The Enraged Fire Plug was taller.
Mr. Molecule			Mr. Molecule was much larger in size.
No Good Fly			No Good Fly had its shadow adjusted.
Psychic Psycho			Psychic Psycho was taller.
Ranboob			The Ranboob appears to have been an enemy planned early in EarthBound's development, with concept art showing a 3-headed variant.
Robo Pump			The Robo Pump had a few small differences in its design.
Skelpion			The Skelpion had a different design, appearing much larger and more intimidating. It also might have had spikes on its back instead of a tail, but this was reverted.
Smilin' Sam			Smilin' Sam later received refined details on his hands and hair.
Smilin' Sphere			Smilin' Sphere originally lacked a shadow and was slightly larger in size.
Spinning Robo			Spinning Robo underwent several design changes throughout development. It was originally a lot smaller and lighter in color.
Starman			Shadow? Added.
Starman Deluxe			Similar story to the Starman.
Starman Junior			Starman Junior was initially intended to resemble his appearance in EarthBound Beginnings, being smaller in size. This also explains the red dot in the Starman overworld sprite.
Thunder Mite			Thunder Mite was much larger and lighting bolts would be coming out of its eyes. This was later reused for the Electro Swoosh.
Trick or Trick Kid
Urban Zombie
Wooly Shambler			Originally missing a shadow.
Zombie Dog
Zombie Possessor
Electro Swoosh			Electro Swoosh was much larger in size.
Everdred			Everdred was completely redone from scratch, with his mustache originally being a full on beard. His older sprite resembles his overworld sprite much more closely.
Hot Cup of Coffee			The lighting for the Hot Cup of Coffee was adjusted, and the sprite was edited to show coffee emerging from the cup. This earlier sprite has been seen before in screenshots from the Weekly Famitsu (April '94)
Heavily Armed Pokey			Heavily Armed Pokey had a completely different machine before his infamous spider mech, originally being completely spherical and having spikes protruding out. Him suddenly appearing and floating down before the battle begins to make a lot more sense. Pokey himself was left unchanged.

Overworld Sprites

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Empty versions of the red sports car.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The overworld sprites used by the Gigantic Ant and a few other enemies was gray instead of yellow.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The Smilin' Sphere's overworld sprite was chrome and didn't have a mouth

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Venus's mother had a longer, less poofy dress, and her half-lidded eyes lacked the eyeshadow.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The junked robot sprites are much rougher, and possibly reflect an earlier design.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

An overworld sprite for the Big Pile of Puke enemy in Deep Darkness existed, but was never used. Instead the enemy uses Master Belch's.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Diamondized party members were originally turned into literal giant diamonds instead of just having their bodies crystalized.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Was used as a particle effect for Pokey knocking on the door, and then for the traffic light when attempting to cross the road before getting removed entirely. The lines were changed from black to white and made a little less even.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The water droplets lost their outlines.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Some minor touch-ups to this puff of smoke.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The Tendas had a much more eerie appearance, almost resembling "living shadows" with no visible features except their glowing eyes. They were redesigned into the short, green, gummi-looking fellas we all know and love for the final game. The regular tribesmen carry spears in the early sprites that they lost for the final game, while the elder gained some directional sprites. (Still rocking the mustache, though.) The early sheet also lacks the special sprite of the strong Tenda moving the rock.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

This little bird is much larger in the early sprites, which appear to have been based on the canaries from Canary Village in EarthBound Beginnings.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The friendly moles were given little hard hats in the final game.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

As mentioned earlier with the battle sprites, the Bad Buffalo replaced the Hippo.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The mynah bird shrunk, but it also gained a longer tail and a perch. You win some, you lose some.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

This friendly Magicant resident originally had a completely different, redder, spottier design with a long, beak-like white nose. Look at him prance!

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Either the bunnies had no eyes, or they were permanently closed.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The meteorite that crashes into Onett had no cracks, and was a static image lacking the final version's glowing animation.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Ness's lying-down sprites were mostly redrawn. He was made to fold his arms across his chest.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

An earlier and very butchered version of Ness riding his bicycle.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Ness posing for a picture. The early sprite is fairly rough and chubby-looking, and was polished up a bit for the final game. His closed-mouth smile also became an open-mouthed one.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Unused though it may be, the sprite's Lost Underworld equivalent was also touched up to remove the shadow.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Two early drafts of the Abstract Art's overworld sprite, one that only has the moon-headed figure and one that's considerably smaller than the final.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Early drafts of the present sprite with a more defined rim.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The Speak Stone had a far rougher design. That thing barely looks like a rock.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The messenger that interrupts Poo's Mu training was a man.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

There used to be a unique sprite for the broken Sky Runner. The final version uses a vaguer sprite to represent both the Sky Runner and Phase Distorter.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Basically the same changes as the above-mentioned "door knocking" particles.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Starmen were originally going to be bigger in the overworld, but were changed to use Starman Junior's sprites for an unknown reason.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Tessie was flipped horizontally.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The Lost Underworld versions of the Teddy Bear sprites lost their shadows.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Pay phones originally came in their own little booths (with some illegible writing on the awning).

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The Tessie Watchers were originally stereotypical "Dr. Livingstone"-style explorers. They were redesigned into younger men with binoculars.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

This blue-shirted fella cleaned up his hair a little, straightened his posture, and gained a more symmetrical smirk. His nose is also lower on his face in his early side-view sprites.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

Ness's front door originally opened the other way around, which would have obscured Porky/Picky on entrance. The "knocking" sprite isn't implemented on the early sheet.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

The Sanctuary Guardian sprite didn't have sparkles.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Final

This woman's hair was changed from red to blonde, stripes were added to her top, and her mouth was adjusted to be a closed smile.

Removed

Enemy	Secrets of MOTHER 2	Description
Ammonite		An enemy that appears to be an Ammonite which fits the Lost Underworld theme because of all the dinosaurs. Although, in the final game, there's no area you'd go in water to fight it.
Chameleon		A chameleon.
Eve		Eve was planned to return, but it's not known why she would have a battle sprite.
Fire Swoosh		It seems there was an idea for the Swoosh enemies from the previous game to return in a new form via element types, but there only exists fire and electric versions of the Swoosh enemy. It isn't known why the Fire Swoosh got scrapped. It's likely it would have been paired up with the Electro Swoosh, but since Ness is alone, it probably would have made progression too difficult.
Fish Bone		A fish bone.
Flying Man		At some point, there was an idea that you'd fight Flying Man. He was likely cut from having a battle for a similar reason the Fire Swoosh was.
Refrigerator		A refrigerator
Lady Bug		A lady bug.
Magic Antoid(?)		Most likely a Magicant variant of the Black Antoid due to having matching features to one. It's probably based on a pun. (Magic ant - Magicant)
Magic Butterfly		The magic butterfly was planned to be an enemy. It's probably from an idea to bait players into thinking it's a normal magic butterfly only to get a nasty surprise.
Moai		Some variants of Moai heads.
Dr. Distorto(?)		A possible redesign of a returning enemy from EarthBound Beginnings, Dr. Distorto.
Brown Antoid		A cut brown variant of the Black Antoid.
Army Man and Army Dog		An army guy and army dog, likely would have been paired together. The only thing left in the final game that uses a concept like this is the runaway dog and cop pair in Twoson.
Mole-Like Rat		A different mole-like enemy.
Meerkat Stack		A stack of meerkats(?)
Unknown Monster		Unknown
Suit Guy		It seems there would have been another human NPC enemy variant based on the suited man with big eyes. Most likely would have been in Fourside.
Unknown Monster		A plant-like monster.
Unknown Monster		An insect with a jester hat.
Unknown Monster		Whatever this is meant to be.
Unknown Monster		Three men under a sheet with pockets carrying a sack and gun. Most likely a pair of burglars.
Unknown Monster		A corn-like plant enemy that has a resemblance to Mobile Sprout.
Unknown Monster		An antenna TV in a blue suit. Appears to be holding something.
Unknown Monster		A mysterious, shady guy in a very thick coat.
Unknown Monster		A large crustacean looking enemy with a lobster claw and... a gun?
Unknown Monster		Whatever this is meant to be. Holding either a trumpet or a bazooka.
Unknown Monster		A large spiked orb with a cyclops eye. Could be an alive naval mine.
Unknown Monster		Some sort of robotic being in a blue robe.
Unknown Monster		A rodent-like being with a large red nose and in a blue coat.
Unknown Monster		A robot with a bulky body but tiny legs.
Unknown Monster		Another unused robot with a bronze variant. It has been previously seen in some concept art.
Unknown Monster		Unknown Monster
Unknown Monster		An armed robot humanoid.
Unknown Monster		An egg-shaped robot with ball hands.
Unknown Monster		Unknown monster, but most likely represents a pixie.
Unknown Monster		Some sort of Mouse variant.
Ninja		A ninja enemy of some sort. We have also seen a cut overworld sprite for the ninja from concept art and as an actual asset for the game.
Radio Tower		Something that seems to closely resemble a Radio Tower and is the only other enemy that doesn't have a face, like the Hot Cup of Coffee.
Unknown Monster		A scrapped Wooly Shambler variant, where its lower half was made up of 4 limbs and a single eye.
Unknown Starmen		Scrapped Starman variants.
Snowman		The Snowman from the Abstract Art was originally its own enemy at one point. Two different versions of the Snowman's battle sprite exist. The Snowman was later resized to fit into a smaller canvas, but got removed anyway.

Secrets of MOTHER 2	Recreation

The snowman from the Abstract Art enemy was, through most of EarthBound's development, its own enemy. There exists a version of the Abstract Art's overworld sprite that has no snowman in it. The overworld sprite featured in the scan is missing a lot of its features due to the red tint over it (which was applied to almost all other scrapped overworld sprites). Similar to how the Hippo made it late and managed to get an overworld sprite, but was replaced.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

This character's name is "Onigiri", which is a Japanese rice ball dish. His head has a similar shape to one.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Walk speech bubbles. Maybe meant for the traffic intersections?

Secrets of MOTHER 2

A red balloon and a bundle of them.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

A red cross sign. Clearly meant for the hospitals.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Bubble Monkey climbing ladders. There are no ladders anywhere in Jeff's solo section, so these go unused.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

The Photo Man was originally actually supposed to hold out a camera when taking a picture. Unknown why these were unused.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Some sort of pipe.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Two differently sized shadows.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Various UFO designs in size and details, including its beam. One even shows a Starman emerging from the top.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Overworld sprites for the unused shady coat guy.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Overworld sprite for the scrapped robot from earlier.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Overworld sprites for the unused army guy and two different designs of the army dog.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

An early version of the Runaway Dog's overworld sprite.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Overworld sprites for the unused Ninja enemy.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

Paula from behind a cell door window, meant for the log cabin in Peaceful Rest Valley. These are actually the same sprites seen in the Famicon Perfect Video before the cell was redesigned to be much larger.

Secrets of MOTHER 2

A cage door that was likely meant for the interior of the Threed tent's cage.

Scans

128x64, 64x64	32x64, 32x32, 64x32	Character Sheets

PCs and NPCs	NPCs and Objects	Miscellaneous Objects

Enemy Overworld Sprites

This wasn't featured in the Secrets of MOTHER 2 artbook. It was captured at the real life event in Japan.

Title Screens#

Title Screens

It was likely planned at some point for the title screen to change based on how far the player progressed.

Concept Art#

Concept Art