Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Yoshi's Island is the in-name-only sequel (or is it a prequel?) to Super Mario World. This time, Yoshi is the star of the show, Mario is an annoying baby, and the development team was evidently into some very heavy drugs. Nevertheless, it's an excellent game, but is surprisingly difficult.

Salvo the Slime's Castle
Two Super FX rotating platforms and a transparent tile (highlighted in tan) can be found 1 screen above the USED rotating platforms.

The Cave of the Mystery Maze
As one of the rare cases of old level design remnants in the game, a secret entrance arrow sprite can be found in the cave room, directly below the hidden cloud with the door. Seeing as how there are no switches in the room, it is never activated. If it were, it would lead to the same bonus room.

Additionally, some extra sprites can be found in the level's third area, the one-screen transition room before the stone block area. This is room BD. An unusual combination of two falling wall activation sprites, two Grinders, and a watermelon float out 2-3 screens to the right of the room.

Lakitu's Wall
In the car room of level 2-7, a helicopter bubble can be found lodged in the ceiling above the first part of the room. Now, it is possible to reach its location, but this part of the room is cut off the top, and as such would never be seen anyway.

Welcome to Monkey World
In the second room of 3-1, several sprites can be found under the ground and in an empty screen. These include Grinders, a Piranha Plant, and a Watermelon, which is placed next to one of the Grinders. Note that the Grinders carrying Watermelons in the final game are separate sprites, so this placement is unusual.

Prince Froggy's Fort
The hidden room in 3-4 has evidence of an earlier design with a different exit. Special tiles (shown in purple) prevent the camera from scrolling up into the top left portion of the room, with an exit-to-the-side sprite hovering a little above the ground. As the corresponding exit for it is gone, the warp will only lead to the default location.

GO! GO! MARIO!!
A lone bouncing Green Koopa Paratroopa sits in the middle of the ground in the first room of 4-1, at coordinates (7C,7C).

Marching Milde's Fort
Originally, the hub room 3-4 and all four branches were located in the same room, 55. At some point, the righthand side branches were relocated to a new room, AA. However, a few sprites were overlooked during the duplication and cleanup process. As such, a Snifit and two Bullet Bill blasters can be found in room 55, and a Lava Bubble and bucket can be found in room AA, all floating out in the middle of nowhere. Interestingly, the bucket copy indicates it was once three blocks to the right from its final position.

Hookbill the Koopa's Castle
In the first room, there is a section where two Koopas fall from holes in the ceiling. However, the level data shows that there was originally a third Koopa. For whatever reason, the third hole in the ceiling was removed, but the Koopa was left stranded.

Also in the first room, at the breakable block in the floor, there is a wall ledge placed just below it. However, because it is not placed on top of a wall, it doesn't show up. Below is an image of where the wall is located (the purple icon), as well as an image showing how the ledge would appear if there was a wall behind it. The reason this section was changed at all is that the breakable block is made of tiles and would leave a hole in the wall when destroyed

Another unusual sprite placement can be found in the room just before the boss battle room, 59, at coordinates 47, 44. This copy of the boss door seems to indicate that the room was originally taller.

In the boss room itself, there is an unused exit near the start of the room. This is highly irregular, as Yoshi is never supposed to leave boss rooms after entering them. Not only that, but the only door in the room (which is blocked) is placed outside of the exit area. If the exit were to be somehow used, it would take the player to the first room of the level, just inside the floor. (Indicated here with a green square.)

The Impossible? Maze
There are 4 sprites placed far out of the level, three in one room and one in the other. As with Marching Milde's Fort, these sprites are merely neglected copies from when both sections of the level were located in the same room.

The level actually has two goals, with the second one located past the first one and off the ground, at the far end of the room. Since the first goal sprite prevents the camera from scrolling past it, the player never sees it. If the player were to somehow reach the second goal, it would appear inside the wall near the ceiling.

Sluggy The Unshaven's Fort


In the section with the Platform Ghost, where the 1-Up Wing Cloud is, there are actually two arrows pointing up at the cracked block. However, the second arrow is placed so low that most of it is cut off by the screen, leaving only a couple of black pixels on a black background. A trained eye can notice them when the Platform Ghost passes behind it.

Shifting Platforms Ahead
A tiny flower out of place can be found high above the jagged line guide section, at coordinates 6A,08. Because no terrain is present in this section of the level, the camera won't pan to it. It seems to be too far out of reach for an egg to hit it.

Also, some hidden coins and sparrows can be found near the clouds with the baron-von-zeppelins. Because of their position, the poor little birds plummet to their doom the moment they spawn. They can be seen for a few moments if Yoshi recklessly leaps off of the cloud. And, while not entirely unused, there is a well-hidden set of coins above the red platform guide in that same area. They can only be seen if Yoshi looks up and jumps off the platform in mid-flight. It is possible to collect them with a well-aimed egg, but doing so is suicidal.

The Very Loooooong Cave


In the beginning section of the last room of the level, there is a closed door that the player exits from when coming from the alternate path. However, there is a screen exit that leads back to the alternate path's door, meaning it was not always closed. Backtracking would have allowed the player bypass the auto-scroll in the alternate path room, indicating that this change was made to fix a developer oversight, or that the alternate path was not always auto-scrolling.

KEEP MOVING!!!!


At the top of the dark bonus room in 6-7, there is a hidden line of coins above the wall. While this isn't actually unused, it is incredibly obscure and never hinted at. Because the exit warp blocks the right side of the path, the only way to reach them is to transport a Little Mouser from below to the ledge you started on and bounce off of it while it is hopping.

Castles - Masterpiece Set


In the very first room of level Extra 6, near the start of the level, is a hidden platform ledge. Like with 4-8, it doesn't appear because there is no wall behind it. The placement of this two-block-wide ledge suggests that the room underwent a significant change in layout.

Room Placeholders
A few rooms in the game, such as the third section of 2-1, have empty parts of the room marked off with camera-control objects. These are likely areas they intended to use for additional level sections but were not used. The special camera control objects are a way to let the camera know it is a valid room without placing any terrain.

Unused Sprites
Unseen enemies and enemy behaviors.

Red Bullet Bill and Cannon


This red Bullet Bill cannon is completely functional but left unused in the game. The Bullet Bill follows Yoshi, slowing down until coming to a stop and popping. While the Bill moves, it opens and closes its mouth. This enemy was used in the GBA port, in the Secret Level for World 6. The launcher is sprite object 078 and the red Bill itself is sprite object 07C.

Bubble Flower
An unused variation of the Egg Plant exists that spits bubbles at a regular interval. It is sprite object 0F1.

Cactus Jack


The Cactus Jack enemy has an unused behavior. When placed at an odd X coordinate, three of them will fall down and form a stack. As long as one Cactus Jack is left, more will come down.

Double Swap Platform


A complex object, made of a rotation block and two spiked rotating platforms. Hitting the block in the center causes both platforms to rotate around the center 180 degrees, pausing halfway. The object makes a slamming noise every time the platforms stop moving. While the platforms are in the process of moving, the block in the center is shown red and upside-down, and cannot be hit again. Unlike the regular Rotation Block sprite, the one in the center does not budge when hit. It is Sprite 162.

Boo Blah with Piro Dangle


Sprite 0E3, which comes directly after the Boo Blah sprite, spawns a Boo Blah holding a Piro Dangle in its hands (or on top of its head when moving). Other than the Piro Dangle being attached to the Boo Blah, they both have their usual behaviors and animations. These two enemies only appear together in one sprite set, 17, which is only ever used in the Baby Mario Star room of 2-5, which has no enemies.

Unused Area
This is what appears to be an early castle room. It uses the default level music and the castle background, not animated. This room was probably used as the ongoing testing room, and the developers added or took away warps and objects as needed. The room contains a variety of objects, including Piranha Plants, a yellow Mufti Guy, a Potted Spiked Fun Guy, a Flamer Guy, two crates, two Egg Flowers, and the balloon pump from 4-7. There are several pipes, none of which have defined exits, and one door that leads to the proper entrance in Baby Bowser's room (Room DD).

Unused Transformations
Three transformations were fully drawn and animated, but never used in the game. They would have been rather interesting, but were cut for unknown reasons.

Mushroom


It's a hoppy jumpy Mushroom.

The mushroom actually has some partial coding, and you can transform into the mushroom using the PAR code. However, you're stuck in mid-air and cannot move until you transform back.

Plane


A simple plane. This may have been made obsolete by the helicopter transformation.

Tree


A walking tree. That's pretty much it.

Lost Mini-Battle Content
Three bonus games were removed before release. Use the following PAR code to access them:

Lost Game 1


Bonus Game ID: 

A generic Mini-Battle room. The game has a timer and scores, like the coin collecting game, though there aren't any gaps in the walls.

Lost Game 2


Bonus Game ID: 

A unique Mini-Battle room design with some otherwise unused graphics! There's a 99 second timer and a Bandit score of 4.

There are broken tiles for both the missile generators and houses. It's likely that the houses would have to be destroyed to win the game. The palette here is just a guess.

The missile graphics are only present in the Japanese version of the game.

Lost Game 3


Bonus Game ID: 

What seems to be a racing mini-battle. A mini-map can be seen at the top of the screen.

Other
The following graphics are only found in the Japanese version. They were removed from every other version.

This should be used when the Bandit loses the balloon mini-battle, but his expression never changes.

A sprite of Baby Mario sitting with an odd palette. It has a completely different design from the rest of Baby Mario's sprites.

A small Shy Guy and some kind of sphere. While the Shy-Guy graphics look nearly identical to the ones used by Woozy Guy, there are actually some slight differences. In the standing pose, there is an extra black pixel on the mask. The biggest difference, however, is the addition of orange highlights on the head and arms.

These appear to be pieces of a wooden cart, which may have been intended to appear in the third lost bonus game, given the presence of rails on the ground.

Unused Messages


This message pops up when a lost mini-battle is accessed. It translates as: "If you can find Bonus Cassettes, you can enjoy Bonus Challenges! You can also gather Coins for the same benefit." This message is definitely from earlier in the game's development.

Four unused message box drawings. The half-melon drawing has been partially erased (or perhaps was never finished), but the others are intact. The latter two drawings' text is part of the image.

The text translates as "Stomp with direction key", and "Throw with Y button".



A unique title card that is only displayed correctly in the Japanese version. There are copies of World 1-1 filling empty level slots, and this title card appears before them. It translates as, appropriately, "Yoshi's Island - Hollow Grasslands". The PAR code will warp you to one of these levels.

Fortress Set


Each of the three castle/fortress tile sets have tiles for variations of the main brick blocks with shadowing along the top, as well as a group of decorative tiles that would have been used to liven up the walls. For the wooden fortress tile set, this decoration is patch of broken wood with gears showing underneath. Due to the way wood is set up, this would have disrupted the normal flow of the wooden planks.



Also in each castle tile set is a smooth arch for the background walls. They are similar to the window tiles, but rather basic and uninteresting. It is possible these were the original look for the windows. They each only use four tiles.

Castle Set 1


For the normal castle set, the decorative tiles show a small circular window amid the bricks. Unlike the ones in the other castle sets, this one only looks right when placed with the normal flow of the bricks. And again, there is a shadowed brick.



Here is an example of what it would look like in action.



Again, the arch is similar to the windows used, but without any roughness or crossbeams.



This is either a pillar with dark shading, or a broken pillar. The tiles for it in the other castle tile sets have been blanked, indicating these tiles were scrapped before the other ones were finished. The normal pillar is shown on the left for comparison.

Castle Set 2


Once again, there is a shadowed brick like in the other castle sets. The decorational tiles for this set show an odd block with a carved face.



While the set has tiles for all of the different angles for wall ledges, only the flat and 45 degree angle are used.



Of the three arches, this one is the most interesting. Besides the unusually bright trim, the wall pattern is actually the one used in the first castle set. It is unknown if this is simply a result from copying the other one, or if it indicates this tile set originally used the same wall pattern.

Stone Bridge


These sideways spikes come from the tile set for the pseudo-3D stone block areas. Other than the blue spike balls, sideways spikes never show up in the game.

Bone Fields


The wasteland areas found in World 6 have unique graphics for the ground pound posts. However, none of these areas have sharpened posts.

Map


A map icon for a third control style! This only shows up in the Japanese version: it's blanked out in all other revisions. The text translates to 'config'.

Unused Animated Palettes


A unused and very odd variant of the crystal animation, which doesn't seem to fit with the cave tileset. Oddly enough, it fits perfectly with the brick castle tileset; perhaps it is just an animation from an early tileset.

Unused Island Sprites
A number of the sprites found with the Mode 7 rotating view of the island are unused and indicate the island was previously more decorated than in the final version.



A sprite of a (rather large) egg. Yoshi's eggs are never seen on the world map, and are certainly never this large.



A strange object that vaguely resembles a cable car. It is possible this is how Yoshi was originally intended to cross the mountain range instead of walking through the air.



A large jungle tree. It bears a resemblance to the removed jungle tree graphics.



A smaller version of the hole-in-the-ground sprite seen in the World 6 map.



A round mushroom, in two sizes. The only kind of mushrooms that are used are tall flat mushrooms, in World 6.



Small tower sprites, meant to represent the fortresses in the game, which don't appear on the island. Their designs are consistent with the depictions in the individual world maps. There are actually four of them, but one is used for the towers that surround World 3's castle. The red fort is for Worlds 2 and 4, the rocky fort is for Worlds 3 and 5, and the capped tower is for World 6. The used tower would have been for World 1.

Early Object Graphics
Some earlier versions of existing object graphics remain in the ROM.

Yoshi
Alternate graphics for Yoshi spitting watermelon seeds. The early version's cheeks are not as puffed up.

Yoshi Car
The final version removes this early sprite's odd eye shading.

Yoshi Train
This earlier version of the tiny Yoshi Train sprite incorrectly colors the train's "nose" green.

Big Boo
The Big Boo's face was redesigned for the final version, though the body was not changed. The palette is also different.

Boo
More early graphics. The Boos mellowed out in the final version, and since they share a palette with Big Boos, their colors changed as well.

Doors
Early graphics of the doors have less space in-between the two halves.

Incoming Chomp
Though a complete version of the Incoming Chomp graphics are in the ROM, the game only uses the left half of the sprite, mirroring it to save space. This unfortunately eliminates the shading of the teeth on the right side, and duplicates the shine at the top of the sprite.

Interestingly, these graphics are used in the GBA port, Super Mario Advance 3.

Snifit
The final design of the Snifit is larger than this graphic. The early design matches the size of the Snifits in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Error Message


If the game detects anything other than a Control Pad plugged into either port, it will display this error message until the offending device is removed. For some reason, it cycles the text through the entire 32,768-color palette by writing an incrementing value to CGRAM every frame.