Map Graphics and Objects

This is a sub-page of Proto:Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga/Early Sprites.

Map Graphics#

Hoohoo Mountain#

This glyph, which appears to depict a sarcophogus, was removed from the final game and its graphics were replaced with those of the common sign. It can still be found in the Hoohoo Mountain battle background in the final (and this build), but it is off-screen, meaning it's still unused anyway.

Beanbean Outskirts#

Proto	Final

The flowers around the land were redesigned at some point, going from a single bulb to three.

Proto	Final

The beans sunken in the ground became flat blue flowers and the weed that marks bean digging spots.

These older decorations still exist in the final, albeit unused and with the first two flowers no longer being animated.

The four statues that face towards Beanbean Castle have much harsher shading and less detail in the prototype.

Beanbean Castle Town#

Proto	Final

The logo for Starbeans Cafe was changed from a smiling cup to Professor E. Gadd's face, likely due to him taking ownership of the cafe after all the original cameos planned to appear here were scrapped.

The tiny version of the logo was also completely removed from the final, and its graphics were replaced by the common sign's.

Woohoo Hooniversity#

Instead of the barrel area, there is a room full of tall egg-shaped robots that come in two colors. They don't seem to be functional, and there are strange button-looking tiles placed around the room, which can still be found leftover in the final, unused. The robots actually still exist in the final, but some of the graphics for these robots were overwritten and they're no longer animated.

Proto	Final

In the machinery room, there exists an arrow on the floor to point the player to where they need to go. In the final, this was changed to a metal sign and was moved up onto a wall.

Teehee Valley#

Many small details were changed in Teehee Valley's tileset. The most noticeable ones will be listed here.

Proto	Final

The fish skeletons originally poked a bit more out of the sand.

Proto	Final

The shading under the starfish in the proto made it look like it was hanging above the sand. This was corrected in the final.

Proto	Final

A little bit of shading was redone and the colors were brightened up.

Proto	Final

The lower shading was eased up a fair bit.

Proto	Final

The shading was cleaned up tremendously. However, some tips of the spikes were made colored, for some reason.

Proto	Final

The shading was basically redone.

Teehee Valley in the prototype features some sand dunes in some areas, which was scrapped in the final game and replaced with the circular patterns that often house beans.

Little Fungitown#

Only the interiors of Little Fungitown had any significant tileset changes.

Proto	Final

The beanbag was given a different palette alongside being redrawn.

Guffawha Ruins#

Proto	Final

The entrance to the ruins got a design overhaul for the final, and the keyhole was dropped. Despite this, the original design still exists in the final.

Proto	Final

The giant face doors that open to allow passage through were originally giant slabs with an unknown ghost depicted on it that would slide to the side.

Bowser's Castle#

Despite Bowser's Castle being in such an early state and using a good amount of placeholder tiles in its maps, many decorations that would go on to be used in the final do exist in the tileset, but aren't used anywhere.

The chains that support the outside segments seen after the final boss, the common spikeball decoration, and a spikey horizontal pole. The only differences seem to be the palette.

The breakable wall tiles, which are a completely different color and break in a different pattern compared to the final's. Note that the sprite graphics for the walls are not present, only the map tiles are.

The floor traps that barricade you from proceeding until you defeat that area's Koopaling. All seem to be identical to the final.

Some extra semi-placeholder tiles that aren't used in the maps. They are organized by type and palette. The tiles using different palettes are separate graphics in the tileset; they aren't simply palette swaps.

The pistons that emerge from lava. Their tops don't have a spike yet, and there's a very bizarre alternate top to them that doesn't exist in the final. It's not completely clear what the graphic is meant to show.

Misc.#

File Select#

New File#

Along with the File Select graphics, a yellow icon for a New File was found, which is not used in the demo for obvious reasons.

However, it still works! It can be seen in the game if you change the values 0x5BC750 from 4D to 00, though when starting the new file the game will freeze on a black screen.

New Game#

Large white text reading "NEW GAME" is also found in the File Select graphics, but it is not known exactly where it would be used.

Items#

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

The mushroom item changed design slightly, as did its mini menu icon.

Proto Battle	Proto Item

The mushroom sprite that appears in battle when a Bro. uses one is also different, perhaps even earlier than the other sprite for it in this build.

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

Syrup was originally a completely different food: a Bros. Cookie! The two shared the same functionality, though: restoring BP.

The two unique graphics for using it in battle, showing it breaking apart.

A teeny tiny coin, and a graphic for it disappearing. Neither exists in the final. Unknown purpose. Animation ID: 6000, Palette ID: 6000

Poison Mushroom#

Proto	Final

Poison Mushrooms were originally their iconic purple color before being changed to green and red.

Beanstar Pieces#

Proto	Final

The pieces of the Beanstar in the prototype all originally looked the same: a miniature version of the full Beanstar. The final makes each piece look unique.

Woohoo Hooniversity Fan#

Proto	Final

The fans used in the first electric mouse room (the flaming statue room in the prototype) are of completely different designs. The demo's was positioned above the flaming statue, and flashed red and blue when spinning. The final's is larger and embeded in the wall instead.

Mouse#

The robotic mice that you electrocute in a couple puzzles in the Hooniversity were originally living ones. This was, unsurprisingly, changed for the final as electrocuting living creatures is a bit too brutal for a Mario game.

Boo Statue#

Proto	Final

The Boo statues that can be moved with the Thunder Tickle were originally graves. A sideways variant also exists in the data for the demo, unused, which doesn't exist in the final at all.

Design Bob-ombs#

The Design Bob-ombs at Harhall's Studio were changed up in the final to make his Splart game more intuitive. There were originally only three bombs, and each shared a color and a pattern. In the final, the colors and patterns were split into their own bombs. The early bombs lack sprites for pausing when the player spits water at them, as that mechanic didn't exist in this build.

The polka dots on the blue bomb were smaller and more numerous, and the stripes on the yellow bomb originally went horizontal instead of vertical.

Donut Block#

Proto	Final

The donut blocks seen in Guffawha Ruins were originally just plain donut blocks before they got covered with symbols to fit in better with the theme of the area. They were also extended a bit.

Save Block and Save Album#

Proto	Final

Although saving is not available in the demo for obvious reasons, a single Save Block exists in the Repaired Koopa Cruiser, although it's not functional. The design is radically different from the final, which went for an album instead of a block. Save Blocks wouldn't appear in the series until Bowser's Inside Story.

Suitcase#

The suitcase in the File Select and in-game menu is a modern-looking silver case. The final game's suitcase is brown with visible latches and two darker brown stripes.

Suitcase Menu#

Proto	Final

A bean was added to the icon to inform the player where their beans are kept.

Proto	Final

The icon was originally just a badge, as clothing items didn't exist yet.

Three suitcase menu options also exist that don't appear in the final: a Game & Watch (see its own section below), what appears to be a save or map option, and an Options...option. If the middle one is indeed a save option, it's likely that the player was intended to be able to save anywhere at any time instead of only at certain save points. This is supported by the lack of Save Albums throughout this build (aside from a nonfunctional Save Block on the Repaired Koopa Cruiser, as noted above).

Proto	Final

The stat icons that would be displayed on the Stats page in this build differ from the final's a bit. The HP and BP icons are slightly larger and have white outlines around them, the Speed icon's curve angle is different, the Attack icon is larger with longer spikes, the Defense icon is completely different, and the Stache stat only differs in minor color for its outline.

Proto	Final

In both this build and the final, some icons used on the Level Up screen differ from even the icons used in the suitcase menus, and in this case, also differ between builds. The font for the text is also completely different.

HP and BP still have the white outlines and are slightly larger, Attack is larger with the longer spikes, Defense is another completely different icon, Speed's icon is much taller, and Stache hasn't been translated yet (although this name was kept for the Japanese version).

In the final, each field ability you get is represented by a fancy, high-quality pixel art in the suitcase. In this build, these simple icons are present instead.

Proto	Final

The coin sprite used for showing how many coins you earned after battle, as well as being used in the suitcase menu in the final game for the total amount of coins in the player's possession. The final version is smaller and has different outline colors.

Action Icons#

Proto	Final

The "Denied" Action Icon sprite looked more like a red "restricted" sign. Most inner button icons also have black outlines in the final, while this one has a gray outline.

Two unused icons intended for surfing were also found that do not exist in the final at all. It's unknown what context they'd be used for while surfing.

Battle HUD#

Proto	Final

The HP/BP HUD element has rounder corners than the final version. Furthermore, there is shading behind the two icons that does not exist in the final.

Defense Icons#

The unique defense HUD when an enemy attacks in battle. It appears on the bottom right instead of on the left behind the bros. Defending with the hammer was done with the L and R buttons in an earlier version; A and B still work fine in this build.

Attack Blocks#

When choosing an attack in this build, there are unique blocks for each type of attack, instead of picking from a suitcase menu.

And when fighting alone, a unique "Attack" block appears in place of the "Solo" that's not in the final game.

Battle Effects#

Many graphics for battle effects were found that don't exist in the final game. All of these graphics are presumed unused.

Animation ID: 201F and Palette ID: 2003

A large heart. Has an animation that makes it grow a bit really fast.

A bunch of smaller battle effects, including smaller versions of the above heart.

A large yellow stylized star. Unknown purpose.

Another teeny tiny coin. Animation speed is assumed.

Animation ID: 2020 and Palette ID: 2004

A stylized cloud effect. Unknown purpose.

Animation ID: 4092 and Palette ID: 4068

A teeny tiny leaf. This is literally the only graphic in its graphics bank. Unknown purpose, but might be an early test/asset of the leaf that appears on Tanoombas, given that it's grouped around enemy graphics and battle effects for them.

Bros. Attacks#

Buttons#

The button graphics that appear when performing Bros. Attacks originally had the letter of the button inside the button itself, resembling how the buttons look on the original GBA console, instead of on top of it. They were also given a lot more animation frames in the final.

Unused Effects#

Unused graphics found among the battle data. It's assumed that they were meant for Bros. Attacks.

Red circle and green diamond effects. Animation ID: 2022 and Palette ID: 2005

A bunch of Ms and Ls. Animation ID: 2023 and Palette ID: 2006

Numbers#

Proto
Final

Proto
Final

The numbers are slightly slanted and much brighter.

Game & Watch#

Item sprite: Animation ID: 313D, Palette ID: 309A
Other graphics: Animation ID: 6001, Palette ID: 6001

Found inside the data of the ROM is an item sprite for a Game & Watch, which is not present in the final game. This item is received for every sidequest you complete in this build. In the final, you receive Golden Mushrooms instead, which are arguably more useful but much less interesting. A leftover string is in the final for obtaining one, but no assets relating to such item existed. As it turns out, a bunch of work was done for the Game&Watch item, which seems to have been intended to allow you to play a game (or a few) straight from the suitcase menu. Many assets relating to this have been found, although whether or not the item has any coding in the build is unknown. None of these graphics are in the final game at all.

Animations for urging the player to press a button.

Animations for instructing the player to press a direction.

Numbers that might have been used in a timer and/or score counter.

Likely would've appeared when opening up a game.

Just "Start" alone. Might have appeared when pressing Start after opening a game.

A bunch of sprites for a humanoid character, possibly the player.

Two arrows.

Unknown, minor sprites for effects.

A graphic for a "shock" effect.

Seems Blablanadon was going to make an appearance.

A Starshade Bro. would've appeared too.

Goombas, as well. It's unknown what the small graphics were meant to be. They could be eyebrows, or sweat, given the Goomba's expressions.

Bowser might have been a boss, or just a background detail. Or a hazard. Who knows, really.

A hammer. Might have been a powerup.

Twin Attack#

Compressed tiles: 85b4384
Compressed palette: 85b5000
Compressed tilemap: 85b5098

Also found in the ROM is a border for a Game & Watch game called Twin Attack. The compressed tiles, tilemap and palette are located next to the the pause menu and file select graphic data.