Hotel Mario

This page details one or more prototype versions of Hotel Mario.

Graphical DifferencesSuper Mushrooms and 1-Up Mushrooms were literally Toads?

General Differences#

Gameplay#

• There is a tutorial accessible from the title screen, narrated by an unknown and unenthusiastic voice actor. The prototype's intro cutscene even makes a reference to the tutorial. It was cut from the final game, with its information being relegated to the instruction manual, although it's still left in the final version, just unused.
• The game can't be completed, as it unceremoniously boots back to the CD-i menu after clearing 6-8. While this could be intentional, it's also possible it's an unintentional crash caused by something in 6-9.
  • That said, the final hotel is present in the files and can be accessed via a modified save file.
• The title cards have a different design. They are also only partially finished; around halfway through the game, all title cards use the same placeholder design that either say HOTEL MARIO "Mario" or HOTEL MARIO "Luigi", depending on who is playing.
• The Koopa-specific messages that play before starting a Hotel (for example, "MORTON AND HIS NUTTY GROUP ARE PREPARING FOR YOUR ARRIVAL." at the start of the game) do not exist in the prototype.

Technical#

• The disc title is "930610", a date different than the one associated with both the disc and its files. Whether this date refers to June 10 or October 6, 1993 is unclear, though it's more likely the latter. The final game changes the disc title to "Hotel Mario".

Goldberg,Lohff,Hunt ... Fantasy Factory

Goldberg,Lohff,Martin,Hunt ... Fantasy Factory

• The disc's author information at 0x94D6 was changed to include a fourth programmer, Stephen Martin.
• There are four unused Roy cutscene audio files (three of which are copies), rather than only having one that's stored for the last level as seen unused in the final.
• The following disc files are not present in the prototype:
  • abstract, biblio, and copyright
  • The Philips Interactive Media bumper files
  • Every file ending in the .map extension
  • exit.rtf (the ending cutscene and credits)

Startup Differences#

v0.09	Final

As the prototype lacks the files for the Philips Interactive Media startup screen, the only logo shown upon startup is the one for Philips Fantasy Factory. The Fantasy Factory screen itself has a different, darker background than its final counterpart.

Cutscene Differences#

• None of the cutscenes have any background music or sound effects.

• The "bonus" cutscenes that play when you find the secret doors in the levels do not have proper audio, and instead play a stereo channel test throughout their entirety (which, incidentally, is in mono instead of stereo). The audio file itself plays for about 1 minute and 31 seconds.

Intro#

• Bowser's laugh has no echo/reverb, much like how it is in the French version.

• When Mario picks up the letter, he doesn't say, "It's from Bowser!".
• The narration when Mario reads Bowser's letter is different and is voiced by, presumably, Bowser, instead of Mario. It also references eight Koopa Hotels instead of seven.

• Mario's eyes have extra frames of animation after reading the letter which were later cut.
  • His eyelids aren't colored in correctly in the last frame.

• Instead of instructing the player to "check out the enclosed instruction book" if they need instructions on how to get through the hotels, Mario states that "If you need instructions on how to get through the hotels, press Button 1. If you wanna move on to the game, press Button 2". However, both buttons simply bring the player to the title screen.
  • The final game still has a remnant of this early script - Mario's animation and lip-sync remain unaltered, but it gets cut short at the part where he says "wanna move on".
  • As mentioned above, there is a "Help" option in the title screen that features an unfinished voiced tutorial. Mario's line seems to suggest that Button 1 was supposed to bring the player to this tutorial, but this was never finished, and so the developers simply removed it and modified the intro cutscene to not mention it, relying on the physical manual instead.

Hotel 1 Intro (Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria Hotel)#

Almost the same besides no music and sound effects and the voices starting a bit later than the final.

Hotel 2 Intro (Roy's HardBrick Hotel)#

Identical, except for the lack of music and sound effects.

Hotel 3 Intro (Larry's Chillton Hotel)#

• Princess Toadstool is silent.
• Timing is different.
• The reverb on the brothers' voices when they're near the cave is missing, much like the French version.

• The scene in which Mario and Luigi enter the cave is slightly different; the shot is more zoomed out, and Mario is disproportionately drawn to be the same height as Luigi.
• The final frame of animation bounces in the final second of the prototype's cutscene.

Hotel 4 Intro (Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel)#

• Princess Toadstool's cry has no reverb, like the French version.

Hotel 5 Intro (Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel)#

• The pause before "Come on, Luigi!” is shorter.
• Mario uses a vastly different "Hurry!" voice clip, which was eventually reused in the Hurry variants of Hotels 2, 5, and 7 in the final.

• When the door reappears, it doesn't have an animation and just appears out of nowhere. In the final game it's a reverse of the disappearing effect.

Hotel 5 Bonus#

v0.09	Final

• The bottle has a different label, reading "KOOPA'S GHOST REPELLENT: UN-NERVE THE UN-DEAD". This was changed to read "Bowser's Ghost Cologne: Keeps magic spells away!" in the final version.

Hotel 6 Intro (Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel)#

• Part of Luigi's dialogue was trimmed in the final.

• The cutscene that plays when entering Wendy's Hotel is corrupted and graphically glitches up halfway through.

Hotel 6 Bonus#

• The cutscene uses a placeholder audio using different voice actors that seem to be based on the voice actors from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World cartoon. This audio clip is still left in the final version.

Unused Cutscene/Level#

Hotel 7 (Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel)#

While the player can't access this cutscene or level via normal means due to the game effectively ending at 6-8, the cutscene and all the levels of Bowser's Seizures Palace are present. Using a modified save file to enter a completed stage select, you can access Bowser's hotel (listed in this prototype as Hotel 8), It is mostly complete up until stage 10, which has no enemies, and crashes after getting past Stage 15. Using hex editing on the ROM to swap filenames, Hotel 8 can be accessed from the start by swapping it with another hotel, but cutscenes do not work with this method and sometimes crash the game.

• After Princess Toadstool says "Boys!", Mario replies by saying, "Princess!".
• Bowser's laugh isn't present in the prototype cutscene.

Watch on YouTube

Bowser's Seizures Palace, though inaccessible through normal means, can be accessed using the modified save file.

• This world is complete up to stage 9.
• Stages 1-6 feature the Boo Buddy's which are not present in the final game.
• Stage 10 and onwards is unfinished, missing the enemies and also lacking background animation.
• Stage 13 is impossible as upon loading the second floor, you will be met with the "Time Up" text.
• This World is also lacking the shooting fireballs seen in the final game.
• Upon beating stage 15 the game will end up crashing bringing up a "DISC SEEK ERROR" screen, this most likely happens because the file exit.rtf is not present on the disc thus crashing the game.