Proto:Hotel Mario

This page details one or more prototype versions of Hotel Mario.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: A lot more. The gameplay differences from Game Pak Rat's videos are a good place to start - alternate cloud graphics, Toad's physical appearance, the Warp Pipe in Morton's hotel not working and so on. Graphical differences. Find a way to get access into the rest of the levels in the prototype.

  This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

A prototype of Hotel Mario, labeled v0.09, was found at a Goodwill by Alex of Game Pak Rat on February 7, 2024 and dumped and released by Redump.org member bikerspade on March 10 (just in time for Mario Day). It can be downloaded from archive.org.

The CD label and internal files have a compile date of November 23, 1993, about eight months before the game's release and about two weeks before the listed "FPD" of December 6, 1993 in the final game's "biblio" file.

A level select can be accessed using the CD-i save file below. After placing it in the correct directory, head to the Restore menu and then pick either "AAA" or "B_ " to access the menu.

Download Hotel Mario Level Select save File: Hotel Mario V0.09 level select.zip (4 KB) (info)

General Differences

Gameplay

• There is a tutorial accessible from the title screen, narrated by an unknown and unenthusiastic voice actor. The prototype's intro cutscene even makes a reference to the tutorial. It was cut from the final game, with its information being relegated to the instruction manual, although it's still left in the final version, just unused.
• The game can't be completed, as it unceremoniously boots back to the CD-i menu after clearing 6-8. While this could be intentional, it's also possible it's an unintentional crash caused by something in 6-9.
  • That said, the final hotel is present in the files, though it remains to be seen how complete it is, as the methods that have been tried to access it so far have some glitches.
• The title cards have a different design. They are also only partially finished; around halfway through the game, all title cards use the same placeholder design that either say HOTEL MARIO "Mario" or HOTEL MARIO "Luigi", depending on who is playing.
• The Koopa-specific messages that play before starting a Hotel (for example, "MORTON AND HIS NUTTY GROUP ARE PREPARING FOR YOUR ARRIVAL." at the start of the game) do not exist in the prototype.

Technical

• The disc title is "930610", a date different than the one associated with both the disc and its files. Whether this date refers to June 10 or October 6, 1993 is unclear, though it's more likely the latter. The final game changes the disc title to "Hotel Mario".

Proto	Final
Goldberg,Lohff,Hunt ... Fantasy Factory	Goldberg,Lohff,Martin,Hunt ... Fantasy Factory

• The disc's author information at 0x94D6 was changed to include a fourth programmer, Stephen Martin.
• There are four unused Roy cutscene audio files (three of which are copies), rather than only having one that's stored for the last level as seen unused in the final.
• The following disc files are not present in the prototype:
  • abstract, biblio, and copyright
  • The Philips Interactive Media bumper files
  • Every file ending in the .map extension
  • exit.rtf (the ending cutscene and credits)

Graphical Differences

Title Screen

Proto	Final

• The Hotel Mario logo itself uses a temporary design in Lithos font, and is slightly higher up than in the final game.
• The final game's menu was moved down to accommodate the new logo.
• The Mushroom Kingdom background image was replaced with a higher-quality version.
• The DEMO option was moved out of the 1 PLAYER/2 PLAYER menus.

Title Cards

All of the prototype's "complete" title cards have different Mario/Luigi text than their final equivalents. They're not in all-uppercase, use Helvetica instead of the final's Tekton, and lack the "Press Button One To Begin!" text.

Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria Hotel

Proto	Final

The prototype title card for Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria Hotel has (presumably) the hotel's sign on top of tree leaves. The final game replaces it with custom text over a tree trunk.

v0.09	Final

The prototype title card for Morton's boss stage simply refers to it as "Stage 10". The final game gives it the more imaginative title of "Morton's Tree House o' Pain".

Roy's HardBrick Hotel

v0.09	Final

The prototype title card for Roy's HardBrick Hotel has a similar layout to Morton's, though the general aesthetic (yellow text spray-painted on a brick wall) was kept to the final card.

v0.09	Final

The same "unique boss stage name" change that happened to Morton's hotel also happened to Roy's.

All Other Hotels

• Hotels 3-7 all use this basic placeholder title card.

Level Select

v0.09	Final

The prototype level select screen is very simple compared to the final version, having some purple blocks on a white background with game stage numbers, going up to number 8, implying the existence of Iggy's hotel, but when choosing the World 6 you are directed to World 5.

Sprites

Super Mushroom

v0.09	Final

In the prototype, the Super Mushroom (and by extension the 1-Up Mushroom, since they share the same sprite) is a Toad. Interestingly, the manual for the final game still calls the 1-Up Mushrooms "Toads", implying the change to the mushroom was a late one, or they simply forgot to update the manual. Either way, that's one mystery solved.

Cloud

v0.09	Final

In the prototype, the cloud enemy sprite is very different. It features a more crazed expression with having a WAY longer smile, bigger eyes, and different shading.

Pat the Bat

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

In the prototype, Pat the Bat is somewhat different. This is mostly down to the change in colors, though there are also some slight variations in expression and wing shape.

Mecha Koopa

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

In the prototype, Mecha Koopa looks much more like its original design in Super Mario World, having his mouth open, his hair yellow and his shell green.

Penny

v0.09	Final

In the prototype Penny is orange, this was changed in the final version probably to look more like the coins.

v0.09	Final

The Penny walking sprite is completely different.

v0.09	Final

The Penny turning sprite has a very different frame, facing the front of the screen rather than the side.

v0.09	Final

The Penny death sprites are the same as the final version, but orange.

Young Elvis/Bellhop Goomba

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final

In the prototype, Bellhop Goomba's sprites are totally different from the final version! Having blue shoes, big hair and a different head, and according to the game files is a Young Elvis. The concept of an Elvis-themed Goomba is still used in the final game in the form of Rhinestone Goombas, who have an entirely different design.

(Source: ogarvey)

Z Koopa

v0.09	Final

In the prototype, the Z Koopas' sprites are the same as the Flying Koopas from Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel.

Startup Differences

v0.09	Final

As the prototype lacks the files for the Philips Interactive Media startup screen, the only logo shown upon startup is the one for Philips Fantasy Factory. The Fantasy Factory screen itself has a different, darker background than its final counterpart.

Cutscene Differences

• None of the cutscenes have any background music or sound effects.

• The "bonus" cutscenes that play when you find the secret doors in the levels do not have proper audio, and instead play a stereo channel test throughout their entirety (which, incidentally, is in mono instead of stereo). The audio file itself plays for about 1 minute and 31 seconds.

Intro

v0.09	Final

• Bowser's laugh has no echo/reverb, much like how it is in the French version.

v0.09	Final

• When Mario picks up the letter, he doesn't say, "It's from Bowser!".
• The narration when Mario reads Bowser's letter is different and is voiced by, presumably, Bowser, instead of Mario. It also references eight Koopa Hotels instead of seven.

v0.09	Final

v0.09	Final
Dear pesky plumbers! The Koopalings and I have taken over the Mushroom Kingdom and turned it into our OWN Club Koopa Resort! The princess is now our PERMANENT guest at one of the 8 Koopa Hotels! (laugh)	Dear pesky plumbers! The Koopalings and I have taken over the Mushroom Kingdom! The princess is now a permanent guest at one of my 7 Koopa Hotels! I dare you to find her if you can!

• Mario's eyes have extra frames of animation after reading the letter which were later cut.
  • His eyelids aren't colored in correctly in the last frame.

v0.09	Final

• Instead of instructing the player to "check out the enclosed instruction book" if they need instructions on how to get through the hotels, Mario states that "If you need instructions on how to get through the hotels, press Button 1. If you wanna move on to the game, press Button 2". However, both buttons simply bring the player to the title screen.
  • The final game still has a remnant of this early script - Mario's animation and lip-sync remain unaltered, but it gets cut short at the part where he says "wanna move on".
  • As mentioned above, there is a "Help" option in the title screen that features an unfinished voiced tutorial. Mario's line seems to suggest that Button 1 was supposed to bring the player to this tutorial, but this was never finished, and so the developers simply removed it and modified the intro cutscene to not mention it, relying on the physical manual instead.

Hotel 1 Intro (Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria Hotel)

v0.09	Final

Almost the same besides no music and sound effects and the voices starting a bit later than the final.

Hotel 2 Intro (Roy's HardBrick Hotel)

v0.09	Final

Identical, except for the lack of music and sound effects.

Hotel 3 Intro (Larry's Chillton Hotel)

v0.09	Final

• Princess Toadstool is silent.
• Timing is different.
• The reverb on the brothers' voices when they're near the cave is missing, much like the French version.

v0.09	Final

• The scene in which Mario and Luigi enter the cave is slightly different; the shot is more zoomed out, and Mario is disproportionately drawn to be the same height as Luigi.
• The final frame of animation bounces in the final second of the prototype's cutscene.

Hotel 4 Intro (Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel)

v0.09	Final

• Princess Toadstool's cry has no reverb, like the French version.

v0.09	Final

Hotel 5 Intro (Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel)

v0.09	Final

• The pause before "Come on, Luigi!” is shorter.
• Mario uses a vastly different "Hurry!" voice clip, which was eventually reused in the Hurry variants of Hotels 2, 5, and 7 in the final.

v0.09	Final

• When the door reappears, it doesn't have an animation and just appears out of nowhere. In the final game it's a reverse of the disappearing effect.

Hotel 5 Bonus

v0.09	Final

• The bottle has a different label, reading "KOOPA'S GHOST REPELLENT: UN-NERVE THE UN-DEAD". This was changed to read "Bowser's Ghost Cologne: Keeps magic spells away!" in the final version.

Hotel 6 Intro (Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel)

v0.09	Final

• Part of Luigi's dialogue was trimmed in the final.

v0.09	Final
Look, she's heading towards Wendy's Hotel!	Look, Wendy's Hotel!

• The cutscene that plays when entering Wendy's Hotel is corrupted and graphically glitches up halfway through.

Unused Cutscene/Level

Hotel 7 (Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel)

While the player can't access this cutscene or level via normal means due to the game effectively ending at 6-8, the cutscene and first two levels of Bowser's Seizures Palace are present. Using a modified save file to enter a completed stage select, you can access Bowser's hotel (listed in this prototype as Hotel 8), but it starts from Stage 14, has no enemies, and crashes after getting past Stage 15. Using hex editing on the ROM to swap filenames, Hotel 8 can be accessed from the start by swapping it with another hotel, but cutscenes do not work with this method and sometimes crash the game.

v0.09	Final

• After Princess Toadstool says "Boys!", Mario replies by saying, "Princess!".
• Bowser's laugh isn't present in the prototype cutscene.

Bowser's Seizures Palace, when accessed using the modified save file, only lets the player play Stage 14 and 15, with no enemies, before crashing and bringing up a "DISC SEEK ERROR" screen, which instructs the player to "CLEAN YOUR DISC THEN RESTART GAME". That may indicate that the hotel is incomplete, but it could be a problem with the method used to access it. Interestingly, this screen appears without the score tally appearing.

In addition, all four music tracks for Bowser's hotel are present on the disc, though the player will only be able to hear the first two.