This is a sub-page of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

Mario and Luigi

Overworld#

E3 Jellyfish Sisters Cutscene#

   
Animations for Mario and Luigi leftover from the jellyfish sisters cutscene in the E3 Demo.

Mario Floating?#

   
Mario riding/floating on something, looking sad. Unknown purpose. Present, and still unused, in the E3 Demo. Equivalents for Luigi do not exist.

Panicked Mini Mario#

   
Mini Mario panicking about something. Resembles the sprite used when he "dies" in a 2D section.

Even more panicked sprites for Mini Mario.

Mario Pushing#

Mario pushing something diagonally. This is the only direction this animation exists in. Unknown purpose. Seems like a modified version of unused 'tickling' sprites for Mario that could be found in the E3 Demo.

Pump Mario#

An animation for Mario filling up with water while facing the screen. There are no water sources in the game that allow Mario to fill up from this angle, so this animation goes unused.

Old Hand Power Animation#

The animations for the cutscene for obtaining the Hand Powers in the E3 demo are still leftover in the final game. However, even in the demo, it only used the last two frames:

Luigi also has a non-lit version of this animation. Mario does use his equivalent of this sprite after saving Lady Lima in the sewers, but Luigi never uses his anywhere.

Unused Mario Firebrand Burn#

An unused animation of Mario seemingly burning himself while getting the Firebrand, but with very different movement from the one that's actually used in said context. He doesn't wave his hands up and down, and he has his head rotated to face the screen more. No animation data in the sprite bank uses these frames, so the animation speed is guessed. It's also unknown if there were originally more frames of the animation that were overwritten/deleted. An equivalent for Luigi does not exist.

Mario Relaxation Room Glance#

A sprite of Mario relaxing in the Jellyfish Sisters Relaxation Room, with his eyes barely open and glancing to his right. Might've been intended to be used when his Firebrand power triggers as he's getting a massage. No animation data in the sprite bank uses this frame. An equivalent for Luigi does not exist.

Mario Surfing Transition#

A sprite of Mario intended to be used for a smoother transition between his paddling animation and surfing animation, but for some reason is skipped over.

Mario Surfing Balancing#

Unused balancing animations for Mario while he's surfing. Note that the first frame of the east-facing variant is used for a split-second just before Surfboard Luigi kicks into full speed after leaving land. All of the other directions for the equivalent of this sprite aren't used because surfing always begins facing east. Further, only the east-facing variant of this animation has been optimized; Mario's head is separated from his body in the sprite data, removing duplicate graphics of his head to save space. All of these animations also exist in the E3 Demo, but the east-facing variant had not yet undergone this optimization.

Front-Facing Mario Pumping#

There are no areas in the game where Surfboard Luigi can dock onto land from the north. Thus, these animations go unused.

Mario Ramming Into A Wall#

Equivalent sprites for Mario when running into a wall with the Fire Tickle move. Although Luigi has reactions to this, Mario does not, leaving these sprites unused.

Luigi Ramming Into A Wall Diagonally#

A Fire Tickle cannot ram into a wall diagonally, so these sprites of Luigi's reaction to the ramming are never seen. These exist in the E3 Demo, and can actually be seen in that build due to collision differences/coding changes in the Fire Tickle; the Bros. almost always stop when touching a wall while moving diagonally during the move, but not in the demo.

E3 Mario Crabbie Grass Revival#

 
The associated sprites for Mario eating and becoming healthy again after eating the crabbie grass in the E3 Demo are leftover in the final game.

Mario Crying#

A crying animation for Mario, possibly meant to be used in the cutscene after he revives with crabbie grass. Also present and still unused in the E3 Demo.

Mario Squash and Stretch#

Unused animations of Mario stretching and squishing in all directions. Unknown purpose. Of note, a single frame of the SE-facing variant has a blue eye visible, making it a very old leftover from a build prior to the E3 Demo and the only known sprite for the Bros. in the final that still has them with colored eyes. These same animations could also be found in said demo, still unused.

Luigi Flustered#

Flustered animations for Luigi in four directions. Luigi does use the north-facing one when he's grabbed by the crane in the Koopa Cruiser at the start of the game and during the tutorial Bowser fight, but the other variants go unused. Mario uses all of his variants when he gets swarmed just before the boss fight with Hermie III.

Battle#

Squatting#

 
Mario and Luigi squatting and sweating. Possibly meant to be used when under the effects of a red pepper item.

Floating#

 
Unused animations of the bros. floating in battle. Possibly meant to be used when under the effects of a green pepper item.

'Delighted' Poses#

 
Mario and Luigi making funny delighted poses. These were found after their animation for consuming a HP/BP-restoring item in battle, so it's possible they were meant to make this pose when done eating.

NPCs

Starshade Bros.#

Both General Starshade (red) and Sergeant Starshade (green) have unused walking animations for walking away from the screen. General Starshade does, however, face this direction in-game during the Bros. Attack tutorial.

Two extra frames for Sergeant Starshade's sideways walking animation. He does walk this direction in-game, but not long enough for these last two frames to appear. Thus, they go unused.

A bowing/nodding animation for Sergeant Starshade. General Starshade uses his equivalent when first meeting the Mario Bros.

A spinning animation for Sergeant Starshade. Only General Starshade uses his spinning animation.

A High Jump pose for General Starshade. Even during the Bros. Move demonstration, when he and Sergeant perform the High Jump, he doesn't actually...use this frame.

General Starshade with his arms up for a High Jump. He does use the front-facing frame in-game, but the others go unused.

Lady Lima#

An early version of Lady Lima, who looks noticeably taller and younger than her final counterpart. Interestingly enough this early design bears some resemblance to Cackletta's disguise in the game's introduction.

Queen Bean#

This animation is used during the castle garden scene that reveals the real Princess Peach to the bros. after she lands in the Beanbean Kingdom, but is halfway offscreen, so the upper half of the animation is not normally seen.

Beanbean Attendant#

A laughing animation for the tiny residents of Beanbean Castle.

Beanbean Resident#

A sprite of a resident of the castle town looking down. Other NPCs in the game use similar sprites, but this one never uses his. Used in the E3 Demo.

Professor E. Gadd#

Professor E. Gadd only appears in the Starbeans Cafe as his normal self, without an invention, a couple times. Thus, there isn't a lot of time for his sprites to be used. Regardless, all of his walking sprites are used except for the screen-facing ones. He does indeed face the screen when leaving after his first drink, but he doesn't actually...animate while he's leaving; he just slides out. As a result, only the first frame of this animation is used.

Again, E. Gadd doesn't walk around much while wearing his ghost sheet. His sideways and screen-facing walking sprites go completely unused.

Airport Stewardess#

An animation for the stewardesses at Beanbean Airport to face towards the screen. The only ones in game face away from the screen and sideways, and you cannot talk to one from the south, so this animation goes unseen.

Cloaked NPC#

 
An unused, cloaked mysterious-looking Beanish character. Only idle animations for this character exist. They gave a sidequest in Beanbean Castle Town in the E3 demo.

Bubbles#

Bubbles has an unused animation for walking to the left/right. While he does face sideways in the final, he never walks in those directions.

Boddle's Assistant#

Boddle's assistant has an alternate palette with red hair and a purple jacket instead of blonde hair and a blue jacket. Strangely enough, this palette ended up being used in the game's remake.

Oho Jee#

   
Shocked animations for the green Oho Jee responsible for the surfing minigame from Oho Ocean. Turns out a version of these sprites with a purple palette is used with the purple Oho Jee when you do a time of under 38 seconds, and while the green Oho Jee is the owner of the minigame, it's the purple one who takes care of the rewards.

Toad#

 
Two animations of Toad laughing. Unknown purpose.

Toadsworth#

 
Angry animations for Toadsworth. Only his sideways variant of this is used in-game.

A panicking animation for him with him facing away from the screen. Again, only the sideways variant is used in-game. Possibly meant for the cutscene at the start of the game with the Koopa Cruiser taking off.

Firebrand And Thunderhand#

 
The hand gods appearing angry with one arm raised. Unknown purpose.

Merri#

An odd floating animation that only Merri has; Gigi does not have an equivalent. Unknown purpose.

Birdo#

An unused north-walking frame for Birdo. She does walk in this direction for a split second in the Castle Gardens, but she moves too fast for this last frame of the walking animation to actually appear.

A crying/talking while crying animation for Birdo after Popple insults her after the battle with them. The first frame of this animation is used in said cutscene, however.

Popple#

Popple jumping while facing towards the screen. Possibly meant for the cutscene that introduces Rookie.

Bowser#

A crying animation for Bowser. Unknown where it was meant to be used.

Fawful#

While Fawful does indeed utter many chortles throughout the game, he never does it with his mouth open like this from this angle.

An early, very green version of Fawful laying on the ground after getting attacked by Prince Peasley in Woohoo Hooniversity. A slightly earlier version of this animation could be found in the E3 Demo, and is actually used in that build in the aforementioned cutscene.

Unused walking sprites for Fawful in his stage attire. While he does walk around after his final boss fight, he never walks south, and he actually moves too fast for the other north-facing sprite to be seen.

Cackletta#

Cackletta never walks south in the final, but she does face this direction. Thus, only the first frame of this animation is used.

A north-facing panicking animation intended for when the Beanstar enrages in Woohoo Hooniversity. There's actually a perfect opportunity to use this in the cutscene, but instead, she just faces away from the screen in her neutral idle pose.

Bowletta#

 
Two unused walking animations for Bowletta; she never walks or talks while facing these directions in the final. The first frame of the screen-facing one is used as an idle, however.

Lemmy#

Lemmy has an unused idle frame with his hair slightly different. It was most likely intended to be used to make his hair blow around a little bit:

All other Koopalings have at least one animation that moves whatever is on top of their head, but Lemmy is the only one who remains static in the final game.

Larry#

An unused animation of Larry's tennis racket disintegrating from getting hit by the fireball in the little game before his boss fight. In the final, his racket just...vanishes.

Used	Unused

After he loses his racket, Larry dons a face of panic, however, there exists an alternate panic sprite that's slightly different than the used one. They might've been meant to be animated, like so:

Harhall#

Harhall has an unused animation of being pleased while facing forward. Normally, he only looks this way while facing right.

Jojora#

Jojora has an unused animation depicting her neutral, but without her friend or her wand.

Enemies

Goomba#

The Goomba enemy has a couple unused animations for seemingly jumping. The single attack they use does not involve jumping whatsoever.

Wiggler#

Early	Final

Early overworld sprites for the Wiggler boss from Chucklehuck Woods. This sprite is really primitive shading wise, moreover this happy expression doesn't exist in the final game, only the angry and sad ones.

"Don Fly"#

Leftover overworld sprites from the E3 Demo for the scrapped "Don Fly" enemy. It had a placeholder battle graphic in the prototype as well, but was deleted before the final game.

Bill Blaster#

Unused sprites for a taller Bill Blaster with the classic skull icon. Alongside these are sprites for a golden Bullet Bill, which is known as a "Bombshell Bill" and appears in a few Paper Mario games.

Blooper#

The Blooper enemy has some interesting unused sprites for the overworld that depict it hiding behind clouds of ink.

Hammer Bro.#

The unused Bean-ified version of the Hammer Bro. that was unused in the E3 Demo is still leftover in the final game, albeit without its palette present. As such, it's presented here with the normal Hammer Bro.'s palette.

The Hammer Bro. enemy has a full walking animation present. They do take a step back when throwing a hammer, but they never move from their spot in battle.

Fawful#

Fawful's battle near the start of the game has him ramming you after taking out his headgear, however, it's more of a rolling somersault attack than a ram. An unused animation exists in his graphics bank, however, for an attack that is definitely much more like a ram.

Beanie#

Much like the Goomba enemy, Beanie also has unused animations for a jump during battle. Again, none of the attacks they use involve jumping.

Laser Snifit#

At the very end of the graphics bank for the Laser Snifit's battle sprites are some curious graphics that appear to be leftover from an earlier design of the enemy. Manually overlaying the graphics over the final sprites results in the following:

The design has completely different, bug-like eyes, similar to its design in the E3 Demo.

Spiky Snifit#

 
Animations of the enemy winking, which was used as part of its attack pattern in the E3 Demo.

Sidestepper#

An unused damaged sprite for the Sidestepper that appears in the background of the boss fight with Hermie III. This sprite suggests that it was originally planned to be an enemy instead of a background element. A bit more evidence of its planned inclusion as an enemy can be found in the E3 Demo.

Piranha Plant#

Within the Piranha Plant's battle sprites bank is a graphic for a brown egg-shaped projectile, reminiscent of the ones that Polluted Piranhas throw up in Super Mario Sunshine.

Pestnut Color Test#

What seems to be a color test for the Pestnut enemy. Six different colors of it are plastered onto a grassy background from Chucklehuck Woods. Only the top right color of the colors shown ended up being used. Also exists in the E3 Demo.

Items

Coins#

Early	Final

Unused early coin sprites, comprised of a palette for both regular, red, and blue coins, the latter two not even appearing in the final game. They also have animations for blinking as though they are about to disappear, which may indicate that at one point certain coins had to be collected under a certain time limit before they disappeared.

Diploma#

An unused item sprite for a diploma with a green bean-shaped wax stamp. It's unknown what this would have been used for, and where you would have obtained it. However, diplomas are typically handed out at universities, so it may have a connection to Woohoo Hooniversity.

Key#

An unused item sprite for a standard-looking key. Once again, it's unknown what this would have been used for, and where you would have obtained it.

UI

MARIO✩#

Colorful letters spelling out "MARIO✩". No equivalent for Luigi exists.

A series of triangles with colorful polka-dots contained alongside the MARIO✩ sprite. The eighth triangle has transparent dots.

Ability Icons#

Early	Final

Early ability icons, which have smaller back "bubbles" and are overall less detailed than the ones used in the final game, as well as lacking the distinction between Mario and Luigi. Only the "x" shaped icon is used in the final game in places where the Bros. can't use a certain ability, like when attempting to Luigi Dunk on metallic ground.

Badges#

Unused	Used

Turns out the overworld graphic for the very first badge given to you has alternate palettes which highly resemble the ones used by the badges on display in equipment shops, although no green variant exists.

Map Graphics

Castle Town#

Located within the graphics for the non-destroyed version of Beanbean Castle Town are some partial remnants of the E3 Demo's version of the Pipe House's sign. This is exactly how it's laid out in the tileset.

Beanbean Castle#

The door with a face on it in the castle prior to rescuing Queen Bean has graphics for opening. The door is only ever seen as fully closed or open in the final.

Also present is a...rather creepy alternate face for the door.

Loaded in the map graphics for the castle's garden and front entrance is this...menacing decoration. Unfortunately, it seems some tiles for it are missing, as they were overwritten with other graphics. These tiles do not exist in the E3 Demo, but this decoration does.

However! Two map graphic banks over, bank 4C, has a complete version of this decoration. This graphics bank seems to be unused, and contains mostly placeholder tiles. This version of the decoration is actually slightly different to the first one: its outline is green instead of black, and some of the shading and details at its base are different. Using its tiles as a substitute, the first version of the decoration can be restored:

Unused - Loaded	Completely Unused

It's unknown why this decoration wasn't used, or moreover, why it wasn't deleted, as it takes up a decent chunk of the graphics bank.

Chucklehuck Woods#

Floor lights for Mother Chuckola's room. These are also leftover from the E3 Demo. In the final, the room design changed a fair bit, and the lights now hang from lanterns. Regardless, these still appear in the Chuckolator's boss fight.

Woohoo Hooniversity#

The graphics for the lines that originally went across the starry rooms in the Hooniversity in the E3 Demo are still present, but unused. The original palette for the room still exists outside of the unused battle map for it, as well. Most other rooms in the Hooniversity contain the original purple colors for the starry rooms.

The mysterious robots found in the E3 Demo are leftover in the tileset, but aren't animated anymore and some tiles have been overwritten with other graphics.

The button-like object seen in the robot room in the demo is also still present, although only the second version of it appeared in the room.

Wooden beams, which are only loaded at the outside entrance to the Hooniversity. Possibly leftover from an older design of the building. Also present and still unused in the E3 Demo.

Fire and Thunder Palaces#

You might be wondering how flowers could be unused inside the elemental palaces. Well, the maps load an otherwise unused map graphics bank, 5D, which contains graphics for a metal fence. This fence is used in the Thunder Palace, but also just so happens to contain the original flowers and bean decorations from the E3 Demo! It seems, as they were updating all the map graphics banks with the new designs for them, this one was missed somehow. The only catch is that only one animation frame is present for the flowers, instead of the expected two. Additionally, the sunken bean decorations are also present in the tileset used for the outside entrance to Woohoo Hooniversity.

Guffawha Ruins#

E3 Demo	Final (Unused)

The unique blue statues that appeared in the ruins in the E3 Demo are actually still in the final game, but the design was updated. They are now grey, and the eyes now appear happy instead of flat. The bottom of the statue, which received a redesign, seems to have a palette problem, and strange graphics appear on top of the statue. It seems that the statue wasn't quite finished after its redesign, and was left in the tileset. The original bottom of the statue is still present in the tileset, and even still uses the same palette:

There exists an unused door opening animation for the entrance to the ruins, using the door's older design from the E3 Demo. The door opens vertically instead of horizontally like it does in the final. It's unknown if this animation also exists in the demo.

S.S. Chuckola#

The Mini Mario entrance to the Captain Room's storage room from the E3 Demo is still present, unused.

Oho Ocean#

The "X" carving that appeared on two rocks in the ocean in the E3 Demo is present in the tileset, but not used anywhere. It's unknown what it was meant to mark, if anything.

Joke's End#

Found within the E3 Demo and final is this sketch of the doorways in the dungeon, with no shading or polished details at all. Only loaded at the entrance, where the Bros. meet Jojora for the first time.

Bowser's Castle#

Two unused spiked piston designs for Bowser's Castle are present in the tileset, albeit missing some tiles. The other half of the first one could be found in the E3 Demo.

Debug Room#

Graphics for very different-looking water than what's seen in the rest of the game are present in the debug room's tileset, but not used in any of the rooms.

Beanbean Airport Landing Cutscene#

In the cutscene showing Princess Peach's plane landing, there are some extra details in the tileset that aren't used in the map for the cutscene. For the sign and building, only the lower half of them can be seen; the tops aren't used. The green egg that sits on each building, however, is completely unused.

Misc.

Green Block#

An unused green version of the standard question mark block, which is yellow. Strangely enough, a red version is used as decoration in the block study rooms of Woohoo Hooniversity, but the green one isn't.

Book#

Unused	Used

An unused sprite for a closed book. Used in the scrapped Yoshi cutscene from the E3 Demo.

Hooniversity Flaming Statue#

The flaming statue used in the generator room of the E3 demo is still in the retail builds.

Crabbie Grass Patch#

A tiny patch of grass intended to be used as the base for where the Crabbie Grass grows. Present and used in the E3 Demo.

Credits Paratroopa#

Found among the graphics for the characters who appear during the credits is a tiny red Paratroopa, who never appears in the credits at all.

Star Stache Smash Minigame#

Two unused borders exist for the minigame that would replace the normally-used piranha plant graphics, but they never appear. They depict a chain chomp, and a goomba.

Mine Cart Minigame#

A flashing animation frame for the gem threshold counter at the end of a level. This is leftover from the E3 Demo, where it was present there and unused as well. The design of the numbers on it also matches with how they appear in that build, meaning it was never updated between that build and the final. Possibly meant to be used if the level was cleared.

A tile with a skull in it, used nowhere in the final game. Unknown if it's used in any of the normally-inaccessible levels in the E3 demo.

Normally, in the cart minigame, the thwomp-like creatures instantly fall down onto the track when they appear on-screen, eyes wide open while doing so. And they never close their eyes afterward, so these graphics of them with their eyes closed go unseen.

Unused graphics for a Cheep-Cheep were found loaded in the minecart minigame's assets. It doesn't appear to show up on any of the levels. Unknown if it was just a background detail or a hazard. Also present in the E3 Demo, still unused.

Chuckola Bounce Minigame#

The arena that the minigame takes place in has extra details at its four corners that can normally only barely be seen. Thus, most of the graphics for the Winkle statues at the corners go unused.

Wrecking Crew?#

Graphics and a tilemap for a Wrecking Crew-like scene exist within the ROM, but a proper method of accessing them has not yet been discovered.