New Super Mario Bros./Unused Levels


 * Many of the objects featured in these unused levels are not used (or working) in the final Mario vs. Luigi levels.


 * Levels 2-5 all have multiple "number 0" sprites in the top-left corner of the map that crash the game when the level loads, as they try to load the player actor: Level 2 contains four of them, Level 3 contains 9, Level 4 contains 11, and Level 5 contains 8. It is unknown why they are here.

Unused Level 1


The level doesn't have sprite sets configured properly for any of the sprites (with the exception of Goombas and Koopas, since those are always loaded), which suggests that the sprite sets were rearranged during development.

The big moving mushrooms were anchored to their THINGS differently in early versions of the game, which explains why they are misplaced.

The level was designed for use with an early version of the grassland tileset - before the mushroom tiles were deleted.

Unused Level 2


Includes a really wide variety of objects (even the unused pillars, a Giant Springboard and lava tiles). No sprite set combination exists that allows all the sprites to show at once.

Unused Level 3


This level uses an unused "multiple backgrounds and tilesets per area" mode, which either do not work in the final game or are not set up correctly in this level.

The stage is a grassland area split into three views. Players were supposed to use doors as a way of getting the stars before their opponents.

The second view, a bonus room with many coins, was probably meant to use the underground tileset. The third view uses climbable vines as a way of crossing a chasm.

Just like Unused Level 1, the level was designed for use with an early version of the grassland tileset. The Chain Chomp is a variation that causes the game to freeze (and corrupt the background even more) when Mario/Luigi gets near it.

Unused Level 4


This level appeared in a show demo at E3. The second entrance would be for Luigi in the demo's multiplayer.

Almost every block in the level contains a power-up. Again the sprite sets are wrongly configured.

Located at the end is an old style staircase and flagpole. The flag is above the view and even if you move it down, the flag does not fit onto the unused pole correctly. Also, for some reason, the pipe cannons are no longer there. It could have been scrapped because of its length and the multiplayer-oriented level design. You can see the unused level in action here.

Unused Level 5


A really long sand level also seen at E3. Just like Unused Level 4, it has the wrong sprite sets. The prototype midpoint ring and pipe cannons have been removed since the demo. Otherwise, the level is basically intact from its showing at E3. It was probbably scrapped for the same reasons as Unused Level 4. The flagpole uses also the same style as Unused Level 4.

Unused Cannon


This cannon is different to the other cannons in the game: The background, instead of a world-themed foreground and destination-themed background like the other cannons, it just uses two mountain backgrounds. The cannon leads to World 8. It would have been used in World 6, judging by the tileset, background and filename (F12_1.bin and F12_1_bgdat.bin).

The music is set to 00 (Mario vs. Luigi), which isn't played in any of the used single-player levels. The reason for this is that is probably the default value for the music in Nintendo's level editor.

The player starts off by coming out of a pipe next to a wood-block wall. This suggests that it was part of another level, entered from another level via an unused feature or the area overflow glitch. Or entered from a pipe on the world map. You can see a video of the level in action here.