Super Mario Bros. 3/Unused levels

World 7 Hammer Brothers
This should be the World 7 Hammer Brothers stage, but there aren't any Hammer Bros on the map. This room design doesn't appear anywhere else.

Unused level 1
This level looks like an early version of level 5-3. It has the "Kuribo's Shoe", Spinies and connecting pipes. The main differences to the final version are the fact that you start out on the left side of the map (whereas in 5-3 you start out on the right side) and the existence of multiple connecting pipes, as opposed to only one in the final. The entire area also appears kind of bland compared to 5-3.

Unused level 2
This level doesn't really resemble anything in the game. It looks most like 3-9, with the pipes connecting to a water area, though the enemy setup is completely different. However, the ending is particularly strange: You appear out of nowhere, and if you attempt to go into the pipe right in front of you, you'll arrive in a Coin Heaven (also appearing out of nowhere) which leads to a treasure box containing a Jugem's Cloud. To find the real exit, you must fly over the pipe and the blue structure.

Unused level 3
This hilly level with Lakitu and several continuous Starmen is most likely an early version of 7-3. It's interesting how a "Shoe Goomba" is there; the developer team likely wanted the Kuribo's Shoe to appear in other levels beside 5-3, but for some reason, this never happened. Also, the entire area is almost completely devoid of ground enemies, and the pink note box leading to Coin Heaven is extremely difficult (although not entirely impossible) to activate, because it tends to immediately bump you down into the pit if you attempt to hit it.

Unused level 4
This unused level appears to be a more challenging version of 1-5, with the Piranha Plants awaiting you at the foot of all the slopes and most importantly the lack of a Coin Heaven. Also, note how the programmers made a big door by putting two doors side-by-side.

Unused level 5
This level contains many unused Tanooki Suit bonus rooms, presumably as a quick way to test bonus room layouts before putting them in the game. A walk-through-walls Game Genie code such as or  is necessary to exploring all the rooms. While the wall pipes simply return you to the world map, the ground pipes lead to an empty room where you fall to your doom.

Unused level 6
This appears to have been a level that was planned for Iced Land, but completely removed altogether. It features many Cheep-Cheeps and Fire Chomps, and the blocks move up and down. It also showcases a bug in the game - jump on the middle of the moving platform as Super Mario and stand still. When you pass the wooden block, you'll stomp the Cheep-Cheep and the Fire Chomp and then be standing in mid-air.

Interestingly, this is the only unused level for which map screen pointers still exist: on top of the START tile in World 1. Nintendo most likely placed a level tile here during development in order to quickly test out new levels.

Unused level 7
This autoscrolling level with Jelectros immediately reminds one of 7-4... but it uses the ice tileset. It's possible that this level concept was first planned for Iced Land, but then pushed back to Pipe Maze, leaving this stage unused.

Here's some semi-interesting trivia about this stage. First, the powerup right at the beginning is practically impossible to collect, because the screen immediately scrolls down and you pretty much need TAS reflexes to collect the powerup before it disappears. Second, this level uses the unused Gold Cheep-Cheep enemy, although in most cases some or all of them will not appear due to sprite overload.

Unused level 8
This is a vertical level which requires you to swim up all the waterfalls to get to the exit. The level is a bit short, has no enemies at all and no proper exit. It could very well have been part of a larger level.

Unused level 9
This rather bland level features blocks moving up and down and Para-Beetles, including the unused green variant. The Para-Beetles are used in only one level in the final version, so it's possible that the developers wanted to include them in a few more. Obviously, this level is far from finished.

Unused level 10
This level uses the same sprite table as the previous level, which is odd. It was definitely supposed to be some kind of Coin Heaven, but it may or may not have been intended to house enemies.

Unused level 11
This level appears to be an early version of 1-6. The major change is the lack of line following platforms (there are two platforms but they only go back and forth). There are also some more enemies.

Unused level 12
This is yet another version of 1-6, but it's much more incomplete. It doesn't even have a goal, so your only choice to end the level is to fall into the pit. The starting position is also weird, as it's way above the ground.

Unused level 13
This is almost identical to the previous level... almost. The ground has been lowered by one block and you no longer start somewhere in mid-air.

Unused level 14
One odd level. It has no exit, and no enemies at all. It also has weird black stuff at the top of screen, which may have been intended to be a starry background.

Unused level 15
This could be a very early Hammer Brother level. It has a Hammer Brother (who will never show up in-game), stacked cloud platforms (that are never seen outside of this stage) for a Hammer Brother to jump back and forth onto, and it has a control block to end the level when you open the treasure chest. The Bullet Bill cannon present in this level will never fire, either.

Other Unused Areas


This stage exit is located to the right of World 4-5's Tanooki Suit room. It's not used in World 4-5, or anywhere else.