Unused Miscellaneous Models

This is a sub-page of Super Mario Galaxy/Unused Models.

These models within Mario Galaxy can be for a multitude of things, some we do know and others we kinda don't.

Models#

ArrowSignBoard#

A lower poly version of the used ArrowBoard model. It has a darker tinted texture, and the tip of the arrow is pushed further forward compared to the used model. It never appears when hacked into the game. Interestingly, its filename survives in the texture used by the ArrowBoard model.

BillBoarder#

A character made entirely of flat textures that always face the screen, which are commonly referred to as "billboards". He has a whopping 50 actions, ranging from running, jumping, various types of punching, and wall climbing. He can even punch while wall climbing! There are two closely related models, BillBird and BillDog. You can guess what they are.

BillBird#

A bird made entirely of flat textures that always face the screen, which are commonly referred to as "billboards". It has seven animations, all of which are for flying, gliding, attacking, idling, and walking. It is related to BillBoarder and BillDog.

BillDog#

A dog made entirely of flat textures that always face the screen, which are commonly referred to as "billboards". It has five animations for attacking, jumping, landing after a jump, running, and idling. It is related to BillBoarder and BillBird.

ChargeSpot#

left|thumb|150px A panel featuring a unique lightning bolt symbol not used anywhere in the final game. It has one material animation, where the red sections of the inner spiral spin rapidly. The name of the texture within the spiral section is called Narutometer2, reused from and likely relating it to NarutoSwitch.

CrystalCageStick#

A sharp and strangely shaped crystal cage with golden flecks of dust inside. It's unclear whether or not it would have housed an item, as it fails to appear when hacked into the game.

ChupaChups2#

left|thumb|150px A duplicate of the pompom flowers found in Honeyhive Galaxy and Gold Leaf Galaxy exists under the name ChupaChups2. Judging by the name of the model (and subsequently, its texture, named Candy), this unused plant and its used counterparts may have been inspired by Chupa Chups, a brand of lollipop.

ChupaChups4#

left|thumb|150px An unused bush. Its name suggests it may have some relation to ChupaChups2. It has no animations, and the texture associated with the model is named CutTree, possibly reused from the unused CutTree model. Although CutTree and ChupaChups4 use textures of the same name, the texture associated with ChupaChups4 is recolored to be darker and greener.

CutKinoko#

left|thumb|150px A mushroom as tall as a tree with a cut plane halfway up the stalk. Presumably, this is where it would be sliced.

CutRadish#

left|thumb|150px A large smiling superveggie. It has a cut plane just below the green part. Its long shape suggests a daikon radish specifically.

CutStinger#

left|thumb|150px An unfriendly plant that can be cut just above the base.

CutTree#

left|thumb|150px A thin tree that can be cut at about the same height as the mushroom.

RustleBush#

A simple bush. It has animations for being shook, and gently swaying in the wind.

DevilTail#

The model itself looks like an exact copy of PoleTop and PoleBottom, except this one comes with a texture for something that is definitely not a pole.

ElementBlock#

A set of blocks, likely used for testing. Each of them share three animations; one for appearing (with a bouncy landing), one for waiting (which jitters in place, likely glitched or unfinished), and a material animation for a scrolling glow across the yellow sections. The aforementioned material animation, although found in the archives for all the models, only works on ElementBlock because it's set to animate the ElementBlock1Mat material, which isn't present on the rest of the set.

FlagSaveSwitch#

left|thumb|150px A red button similar to the P Switch. It was possibly used as a checkpoint, similar to the flags in SMG2. It resembles the Wing Cap Switch that appears in Super Mario 64.

Foo#

A single baby blue Star Bit. It has one incomplete animation for spinning, and comes in a shade of blue not seen in-game.

GroundStar#

A duplicate of the Grand Star, with unique mats and no animations.

FooFighterAura#

left|thumb|150px A flat effect model. It is unknown whether or not this was meant to be tied to the Red Star or some other character, if it even belongs to the game at all. It has one animation for pulsating while glowing.

FooStar#

left|thumb|150px A pair of pointy hollow stars that float a little less than 2m apart. The Red Star that grants Mario the Flying power-up is named PowerUpFoo, and the two models use the same exact textures. When compared to the Mario model, they float just outside of Mario's outstretched arms. It is possible these were intended to be part of the Flying power instead of simply giving Mario glowing hands.

GenieHand#

left|thumb|150px|A hand of unknown origin A strange hand model with no animations or other files.

GreenCaterpillarBigHill#

An exact duplicate of WormEatenHill, the semi-transparent chewed-up apple bits that appear around the body of the caterpillar as it burrows through the large apple planets in Gusty Garden Galaxy.

GridPlane#

A set of four tiny checkered planes placed at the corners of a 100m² workspace. Each square is 0.1m².

HiddenBlock#

A single block with a large letter "D" mapped to the top. Strangely, one corner of the block has a flat plane traveling down its side from top to bottom. Super Mario Galaxy has no "hidden blocks" and, as such, this goes unused.

InkBall#

left|thumb|150px A blob of ink. The closest thing to an enemy shooting ink in the game is Octoguy's inky black rocks. Bloopers produce ink when bumped into.

ItemBlock#

left|thumb|150px This early version of the iconic item block uses textures instead of polygons for its features, and a different font for the question mark. It also has a texture animation for turning brown after use. The model is named ItemBlock, while the final block used in the game is CoinBlock. Blocks in the final game only contain coins or star bits and disappear after use.

Kinoko#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Model is still present in SM3DAS. Check if it's loaded/referenced in the code. Aurum remembers a pre-release screen that shows this model in-use.

left|thumb|150px A Super Mushroom, very much like the other Mushrooms in the game. Despite being never used, it still managed to make its way into SMG2's files as well. According to one of the Iwata Asks interviews, a Mushroom was "playable" instead of Mario in one of the first prototypes to test the movement of the player. The other Mushroom models were most likely based on this one. This file is loaded on boot. If the file isn't present, the game crashes. The case is the same for the version of the file in the sequel.

KoopaBall#

left|thumb|150px An earlier version of the rolling ball used in Rolling Green Galaxy and other levels. It is for the most part the same, but has 500 less polygons altogether and no ring. The ring normally remains parallel to the horizon and tilts with the player's control. The axis center for the model is also located at the bottom of the ball, whereas it is located in the center of the ball in the final model, named tamokoro. The flakes inside the ball are mostly the same, with a few pieces repositioned. According to its entry in the object table, it was meant for a Bowser battle, which explains the name. This is unusual, as Bowser Battles always have Grand Stars instead of regular Power Stars.

KouraA#

left|thumb|150px

An early version of the Koopa Shell. There are small holes in the model where the rim meets the green on the long ends. It only has one wiggling animation.

LavaSwitch#

left|thumb|150px A poundable switch bearing the old ground pound symbol. It has one animation for being pounded down. The model appears similar to the rock switch model present across many rocky platform models in Melty Molten Galaxy.

MagicalWand#

left|thumb|150px A primitive and low poly magic wand. It's likely to be a precursor to the StarWand.

MoveVector#

left|thumb|150px Some kind of cursor or indicator. It uses the same texture as other early models.

NormalBlock#

A simple block model with a complex texture and an object-space normal map to go with it. Each side of the block is unique, so it might have been used for testing normal map baking.

NormalMapBoard#

A billboarder model of a cloud colored like a normal map, likely used to test billboarding and normal maps.

NormalMapFloor#

Found in the archive at ObjectData/NormalMapFloor.arc. Its in-game size is relatively large, and it may have been used for testing normal maps. On its two largest faces it has a generic checkerboard texture similar to other test objects from the game, but around the edges there is a green grass-like texture, which may indicate that the planet was intended to be fleshed out more rather than be merely a test object.

NormalMapObject#

A lumpy planet with a unique texture. It was probably used to test normal maps.

Mirror#

A reflective sheet for a sizeable body of water. The texture for the model reads "mirror" in Japanese. It's unknown where this would have been used.

MirrorReflectionPeachCastle#

A standalone model for the reflective water present in the lake around Peach's Castle. It is covered in the Japanese character for "mirror" (鏡).

MirrorModelPeachCastle#

A low poly model of Peach's Castle, meant to be used as the reflection of the castle in the water. The castle reflection model used in the prologue level is baked into the model for the entire level, meaning this standalone model goes unused. It is also worth noting that this model has a few differences from the used reflection model - those being visible windows, doors, torches, and a glowing star atop the front.

SpinMagic#

A green sphere of magic. It bears vague resemblance to a force field of sorts, somewhat like the force field that appears around Rosalina when she is jumped on or struck with a Star Bit. Strangely, it cannot be found anywhere in the game's DOL.

Note8#

An early music note model with jiggy wiggling action. It has animations for success and failure, as well as files for various colors. This was replaced with the final note model before the E3 reveal.

NarutoSwitch#

A switch with a similar design to the ChargeSpot. It has two material animations; one called screw in which the red part of the inner spiral pattern spins rapidly, and another called finish where the spiral goes black. It's possible this switch would have been activated via spinning. A taller version exists under the name RocketNarutoSwitch.

OceanRotateStep#

A solid white hexagonal platform, very similar to the floats eventually used in Buoy Base Galaxy. Looking at the model's wireframe reveals triangles on each face, pointing around the object to signify its intended rotation direction.

OniTsuTsu#

A wooden Tox Box. The corner with the Japanese character for oni (鬼) is unused on the model. It doesn't quite have the same name as the Tox Box, which is Onimasu(kun/don).

PenguinGoodsHair#

A hair + eyebrows model meant for use with the Penguin NPCs. From the color, it's likely it would have been used by the Penguin Racer Coach early on.

PenguinGoodsHat#

left|thumb|150px A hat meant to be worn by penguins. The model lacks proper backfaces, so it won't display properly without disabling culling.

PoisonPlant#

left|thumb|150px A strange ball, 3m in diameter, bearing a similarity to the hollow bouncy ball planet in Ghostly Galaxy. It has one animation, in which it rotates endlessly in various directions.

PowerUpLife#

A 3D Model of the Life Meter, which uses a 2D graphic in the final game. Also exists in SMG2.

RollingBoxA#

The precursor to Tox Box, with a yellow square indicating the safe zone. The GroupInfo file for it refers to it as NormalAnaBokoGoroIwa02, which in Japanese is an abbreviation for...shockingly... "normal rolling stone with a hole 02".

RVCon#

left|thumb|150px A very primitive-looking Wiimote model. It is possible that RV stands for "Revolution", the codename for the Wii. The shape and button placement is different from the final design, with an extra button placed next to what would become the Power button.

SampleMapPartsObject#

A 2m cube. What else is there to say?

SpiderItemShell#

left|thumb|150px|You sure this isn't a fossilized Arachnorb? A strange ball that opens like a party ball, reminiscent of Beady Long Legs.

StarWand#

A simple model of a wand containing a star within its crystal ball. It only has one texture, that being the reflective envmap used for the crystal ball. It's worth noting that a seemingly related file exists at StarWandCursor, which only contains two textures.

StringSpiderArmor#

A shell of armor, perfectly fit to the back of a Sprangler. Its single texture colors it a plain grey.

SuperSupinDriver#

A very early version of the Launch Star with a unique stained-glass texture and a misspelled name. The final name for the Launch Star is SuperSpinDriver.

SurfBoard#

left|thumb|150px A very basic surfboard.

SweetDecorateePartsOrange#

A small typo left this model in the game. It is one letter away from the model for the orange slice platform used in Toy Time Galaxy. Notice the kanji 仮, which means "Temporary".

TakoBarrelB#

A slightly smaller and more stout version of the barrel used by Roctos. It has an entry in the ObjNameTable under タルタコの樽B (Barrel Octopus Barrel B).

TrampolineSquare#

left|thumb|150px|boing! A trampoline with a high-res wood texture on the frame. It has four animations; bound (a slight bounce, as though jumped on), boundhipdrop (a more aggressive bounce, for being ground pounded on), trampolinesquare (makes the fabric spasm up and down, likely glitched) and wait (same as trampolinesquare).

SpringWaterTurtle#

A prototype version of the robotic turtle found in Dreadnought Galaxy. The name, SpringWaterTurtle, corresponds to the name of the planet, while the final model's name is OceanSmallTurtle.

TwoLegWalker#

left|thumb|150px A textureless, animationless walker small enough for Mario to ride on it. It seems to be directly related to the TwoWheelTank, suggesting that it, too, was meant to be used as a vehicle but scrapped before even reaching the texturing phase.

TwoWheelTank#

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Embed the patent

left|thumb|150px|A Tiny Two-Wheeler Tin A small vehicle bearing the emblem on Mario's hat. It is just about the right size to ride on. Mario can be seen riding it in some early patent screenshots.

UFOKinokoLow#

A supposed LOD model of the Starshroom. It is identical to the used Starshroom model, but missing the mass majority of its files save for the material animation file responsible for changing its color.

WindmillFlier#

An early design of the wind vane for the windmill tower in Honeyhive Galaxy's "Trouble on the Tower" mission. This design features white sails on the front, different from the wooden frames decorating the stocks in the final model.

WindmillLift#

An almost exact duplicate of the lifts used on the windmill tower in Honeyhive Galaxy's "Trouble on the Tower" mission. The only difference between it and the final model is this one has a differently mapped texture.