New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii brings classic elements back to Mario games, like 2D side scrolling and the Koopalings. Additionally, up to four people can play simultaneously, resulting in endless jumping on one another's head.

Japanese text


Sometimes, there's stuff drawn or written on the alpha channel in the tileset files. These scribbles indicate what kind of tile it is, and could have been used in Nintendo's level editor.

Palms
Desert tileset (Pa1_sabaku.arc) has a simple collision-less palm object that goes unused in the game. It's replaced by 3D sprite palms, which you can stand on.

Upside sand
Pa1_sabaku.arc's image has upside down slopes, but none of the tiles are even assigned to an object in the tileset.

Pink block


Pa1_toride.arc's first tile is a pink block. It's assigned to a lot of objects, but none of them are used. The block itself bears a resemblance to ones that appeared in E3 2009 screenshots, but most likely was 'dummied out' by the ways of recoloring.

Gray blocks


As seen in the prerelease screenshots, snow levels were meant to use a gray variation of the basic block tileset. They went unused in the final game, however, but the file is still present in the game (Pa0_jyotyu_setsugen).

Almost identical
There exists a Pa0_jyotyu_StaffRoll tileset. It's loaded by the game on the credits sequence, but the only tile that is different (although glitched up) from standard Pa0_jyotyu goes unused (The only tiles used in the credits sequence are invisible solid blocks, and those exist in every standard block tileset).

Larry Boss Icon


The file that contains textures for the stage icons in the Coin Battle and Free-for-all Multiplayer modes, has an icon of Larry being battled by Mario, named im_W1_toride_00.tpl. It's never displayed by the game, as it uses im_W1_toride.tpl for the W1 tower icon. What's more interesting, is that it shows how the early Larry boss platform looked, and what makes it even more unique, is that it has Mario on it, which doesn't happen on any other Coin Battle icon.

Green Coins
The coin object file (obj_coin.arc) contains a model and texture for a green coin, but it never shows up in-game. It was originally going to be used as the "collect 8" object in the Enemy Courses, but it was later replaced by Toad Balloons. The Toad Balloon object is still named EN_GREENCOIN by the game.

Early Block Roulette


obj_block.arc contains an early design for the block roulette, similar to the one in New Super Mario Bros. DS. It also includes early icons for the powerups. Note the change of Mini Mushroom to a 1UP in the final, and lack of Ice Flower in the early design.

Early Winged Block


obj_block.arc also contains a placeholder winged block, which uses the block texture from New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. The final game uses block_pata.arc.

Placeholder Coins


There's an early coin file (coin.arc), which contains a flat model and texture for the coin from New Super Mario Bros. for DS.

Unused Background - Clouds


Seen in E3 2009 footage, this cheapy static 2D background was replaced by better looking ones.

Airship Boss Room


Called boss_hikousen_bg (boss_airship_background). Doesn't look anything like an airship though.

Green Train


There are two files for a normal, non-icy block train; block_snake.arc and snake_block.arc. They both contain a texture similar to the one used in New Super Mario Bros. DS; for some reason, snake_block.arc 's texture is higher res.

Duplicate Thwomp
For some reason, dossun.arc, which is the file containing Thwomp models, has duplicate Giant Thwomps. They are named: big_dossun and dossun_big, and are identical.

Duplicate Hammer Gimmick
The sledge hammer (lift_zen_hammer.mdl0) that appears in World 8-6 has a duplicate inside the Tower Boss Door archive (obj_door_torideboss.arc).

Broken Pipes


obj_dokan.arc contains broken pipe models that would be used by the unused Mega-Mario flying pipe actors. As you can see, they're a bit lacking in texture, though.

Note


A note, which appeared in the pre-release screenshots, is still present in the game files (note.arc).

Spring Block


The checkered spring block file (block_jump.arc) still contains the old texture shown in the E3 2009 screenshots.

Cube


A black unused cube is found in BGM_Anim_Dummy.arc in the Object folder. This model is used to implement the coins and question/brick blocks in some levels (particularly in World 7) which hop back and forth in time with the music. The hopping/dancing movement is an animation on the model, and the in-game object changes position along with the cube. The cube itself is normally invisible, but it can be made visible by setting a specific global variable to a non-zero value. (In the European/PAL version, set the byte at RAM address 0x80935D80 to anything but 0 to show it.)

Grid
In cobGrid.arc found in the WorldMap folder, is a simple grid, most likely used by the mappers to create World Maps.

Lost Colors
In prerelease screenshots, we see that the game originally had a Red and a Blue Yoshi. They were changed to Pink and Light Blue in the final version. The filenames for the Yoshi models, though, still follow the old colouring: Y_tex_red.arc, Y_tex_blue.arc.

Wind Effects


The file env_wind contain some cloudy textures similar to those used for the usual cloud/mist effects. These textures, however, have writing all over them. According to the text, the first three are meant for regular stages, while the last three are meant for desert stages. Since the textures are almost entirely white with transparency, the above image shows the files on a black background. The original files can be found below.

The final game only uses one type of wind effect, and its textures are stored as wmy_bgsnow.3 (and 4, 5) inside Env_snow.arc. It's also handled by the same object and most of the same code as used for the falling snowflakes effect.

Unused Search Lights
Found in light_search.arc is light_double and...

light_search. light_single is used.

Question Mark Bubble
Probably would have released items or acted as a switch when popped.

Grey Tower Block
Another variation of the tower block, this time called lift_zen_toride and seen at E3 and PAX 2009.

Midway Flag
They both must be an early version of the model because they do not fit the current bones and look wrong.
 * swing_L
 * swing_R

Unused text
There are a few unused messages left in the game.

test1

First message in the file with obvious purpose.

You can play for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the session will automatically end.

From the E3 2009 demo. It was shown on the title screen.

EVENT VERSION

Same as above.

Thank you for playing! You can continue your adventure in the retail version!

Also from the E3 2009 demo, obviously displayed when the session ended.

Unused Sounds and Music
There exists a single unused track in the game, named cheepfanfare_lr.ry.32

Furthermore, the .brsar file contains the entirety of New Super Mario Bros's main soundfont. Mario, Luigi, Toads, Bowser, Peach's sound effects are from Super Mario Galaxy. The sound Wigglers make when stomped in Super Mario Galaxy re-used here for when the World 5 - Boss Chain Chomp gets angry.

Early Features
The game was originally going to have Mega Mario, but it seems to have been canned very early on - EN_ITEM (the actor which manages the various powerup items) has an empty value which loads a mushroom model from I_big_kinoko.arc, but it crashes the game when used, and it does not have any other code which uses the value. There is no way to enable it without ASM hacking.

The I_big_kinoko.arc file does not exist, and it is not referenced by the game otherwise. Also, as other evidence of Mega Mario having been planned, the "flying pipe" objects were ported over from NSMB DS but are not used in the final game.

Build Date
An empty file exists in the main folder with its filename, shows what revision the copy of the game is.

Developer Text
On the root of 1 Data/files/ is a file called WIIMJ2DNP.str that contains the text:

Extra Revisions
There are several releases of the game. Nintendo helpfully left a few empty files in the root of the disc which specify the compile date/time and the revision number. I still need to grab the info for a few, but here's what I know:
 * Original US: Built on October 3rd, 2009. Revision 37675. Original release (version 1)
 * Original EU: Built on October 3rd, 2009. Revision 37675. Original release (version 1)
 * Original JP: Unknown. Assumed the same as US/EU.
 * V2 US: Built on January 5th, 2010. Revision 37821. Disc is marked as "version 2".
 * V2 EU: Unknown, may be the same as V2 US.
 * V2 JP: Same as V2 EU.
 * Original TW: Built on March 15th, 2010. Revision 38019. Taiwanese version. Unknown disc version.

Revisional Differences
Version 2 slightly updates the code for reading/writing the save file. It also updates the tileset used in World 7-Tower's boss arena so that the blank/empty tiles below the boss platform are solid.

Regional Differences
The Taiwan release includes the fixes from Version 2 (and maybe others) and also extends an object in World 4-1 so that you can't swim below the level terrain and glitch up.

Title Screen
The Japanese version's title screen logo for the most part is unchanged, but has the name spelled out in Japanese under it. In addition, the unregistered trademark symbol was changed into a registered trademark symbol. Also, the Japanese version's title screen says "Press 2 Start" instead of "Press 2 to start".

Text
A slight difference in the text that appears in the Star Toad Houses. The US version seems to be worded a little bit better.

Another small difference. This text appears in Peach's Castle. It's weird Nintendo even bothered to change this.

This message appears in red and green Toad Houses that appear through rescuing a toad. The US version is a bit imprecise, since you still have to play a game to get the gift.

This appears in star Toad Houses that appear when you rescue a Toad. There's no reason to leave the Toad Houses, so the text in the US version is strange.

Appears in green and red Toad Houses. The US version is, again, slightly inaccurate, since there is a chance you won't win anything after going through the door.

Europe is more enthusiastic. This difference appears every time the game is mentioned by its name.