Proto:Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga/Early Sprites/NPCs

This is a sub-page of Proto:Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga/Early Sprites.

Oh dear, I do believe I have the vapors. This page contains content that is not safe for work or other locations with the potential for personal embarrassment. Such as: An animation of Queen Bean squishing her breasts.

Princess Peach

Proto	Final

Peach has blue eyes, her hair is a little lighter, and her chest jewel is dark green instead of light green.

Proto	Final

Peach's eyebrows were cut from the final version.

Proto	Final

Blue eyes again, and her chest jewel is darker.

Proto	Final

Her palette now looks like the final version, but still has blue eyes.

Proto	Final

All of her walking animations were changed, which originally involved her lifting her dress.

Proto	Final

Her talking animation used when discussing heading to Little Fungitown. These sprites aren't normally visible in this build due to broken story events. Aside from the blue eyes, there was originally a bit more movement with her hair.

Proto	Final

Blue eyes.

Proto	Final

Blue eyes again.

Proto	Final

While this animation is front and center in the prototype for her abduction in Little Fungitown, it's only used in the final when Luigi gets taken away at Joke's End. All of the unique animations for Peach in the final version of the Fungitown kidnapping scene do not exist in this build. Again, the difference is the eyes.

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

Peach's sprites in the Clown Car. Can you guess the difference?

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

Difference has to do with her eyes. Shocker, right? The erroneous transparent pixel in her earring in the final frame was not fixed in the final.

Toad

Toad Guard

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

The Toad Guards have a bigger head and a different icon on their costume, which appears to more resemble a more realistic mushroom rather than the Super Mushroom. This icon is also drawn on their back sprite, which was removed in the final game. Their costume was also slightly re-shaded. Some of these sprites could be seen in a few prerelease screenshots.

Toad Normal

Proto
Final

Just like the Toad Guards, Toad's head is different, being much larger than his final version. Interestingly enough, the shape of his head is very similar to his fainted sprite.

Proto
Final

The panicked Toad sprite on the right and left side have its mouth open the entire time, as do its sprites looking down. Some of these sprites, too, can be seen in a few prerelease screenshots.

Proto	Final

Toad's unused laughing sprites in the final game are also present here, with the design for Toad seen in this build, and also still unused.

Toad NPC

The NPC Toads in the game actually have different sprites than the playable one at the very start of the game. This Toad is depicted smiling, while the playable one has a neutral expression. In the final, the graphic bank and animations for this alternate set of Toad sprites still exists, but the graphics for both types of Toads are the same.

Bowser

Most of Bowser's animations were heavily adjusted for the final game (and were then adjusted further for the Japanese release). Compared to the final, Bowser's arms and hands were redrawn in his south and sideways walking animations, and his legs were made less chunky in all of them. Bowser's bracelets also have grey spikes instead of white ones (although some in the final still have the grey spikes). The unused sad animation is present, but is identical to the final.

Proto	Final

Added fingers, grey spikes, his arms were animated differently, his face was redrawn a bit, and leg adjustments.

Proto	Final

The only differences are the leg adjustments and grey spikes.

Proto	Final

His shell was made a bit larger, his posture changed slightly, and leg adjustment.

Proto	Final

Grey spikes again.

Proto	Final

Grey spikes, once more.

Proto	Final

Grey spikes, and Bowser's face and hair were redrawn.

Proto
Final

Same as previous, several little details were adjusted and the moving animation is smoother.

Proto	Final

Grey spikes, his horns were bigger, and the spikes in his shell changed a bit.

Rookie

Proto
Final

Rookie's screen-facing walk cycle was given white spikes, while his east-facing one was cleaned up immensely. His cheering animation lost a lot of extra shading in the final, his hands were redrawn, and his teeth were also adjusted.

Mustached Beanish

Animation ID: 3089, Palette ID: 3025

A scrapped Beanish design featuring a completely unique mustache design compared to the mustaches Beanishes sport in the final game.

Sprites of the mustached Beanish calm/blushing. Oddly, only the screen-facing variant has an animation.

Animations that appear to be the Beanish panicking. Note the bizarre hair change.

Purple-Shirted Beanish

Animation ID: 3088, Palette ID: 3024

A scrapped Beanish design with a unique face and attire.

Sprites of the Beanish calm/blushing. Again, only the screen-facing version is animated.

Animations that appear to be the Beanish panicking. Note the bizarre hair change that is shared with the other scrapped Beanish.

Queen Bean

Proto	Final

The animation Queen Bean uses when first receiving Bowletta's transmission and when under siege from Bowser's Castle looks...different in this build, to say the least. Unsurprisingly, the animation was completely changed in the final to something much more appropriate.

Beanbean Castle Assistant

Animation ID: 309D, Palette ID: 302F

An unused animation of the Beanish blushing and running. Possibly intended for Birdo's appearance at the castle.

An unused sprite of the Beanish falling backwards? Has an animation that makes him shrink and eventually turn into the little sparkle below:

Woohoo Hooniversity Students

Proto	Final

The students at the Hooniversity originally had blue caps and gowns on. This was changed to something a little more reasonable in the final: a lab coat. The first and last frames of the tripping animation have very different poses.

Oho Oasis Islanders

Proto	Final

Originally, Oho Oasis was not home to the Oho Jees, but rather unique Beanish people with special, comfy clothing. The narrative surrounding Oho Oasis seems to have been that it was a spiritual island where they worshiped the Firebrand and Thunderhand, and even freely allowed people who journeyed to the island to gain hand powers. In the final, all of this was thrown out, the islanders replaced by Oho Jees, and the narrative became that it was a lost island with no civilization in sight.

Birdo

Animation ID: 30E5, Palette ID: 3050

Unused graphics of Birdo crying were found that are not present in the final game at all. These were likely intended for the cutscene after the Popple and Birdo battle after Popple blames the loss on her. It seems plausible that instead of knocking Popple away, she would've started crying and ran off.

Little Fungitown Residents

Little Fungitown had less variety in Toad designs originally, but some of the designs looked a bit different from the final: the Toads had little "tips" on the tops of their caps, which were all removed in the final.

Proto	Final

This Toad originally had blue spots, buck teeth, and larger eyes, as well as different attire.

Proto	Final

This Toad's design doesn't fully resemble anything in the final, but there are two larger-sized Toads that it could've been replaced with.

Proto	Final

This Toad's design was split in two in the final. One kept the face, the other kept the smaller size.

Proto	Final

The Toad who works at the arcade also originally had that "tip" on top of his head. Amusingly, and perhaps unintentionally, it originally made the Toad's head resemble the shape of dung.

Jellyfish Sisters

Proto	Final

Gigi and Merri once had dark faces, like they were concealed by the shadow of their own heads. In the final, their faces were colored purple, possibly out of fear of the blackface stereotype. This seems to have been a rather hasty change, as their purple faces in the final have none of the shading that they do in the demo. Interestingly, this design change was reverted for the game's remake, and all Kurako in that version have the dark faces seen in this build.

Only their walking cycles for facing completely away from the screen were untouched, as their faces aren't shown in those sprites.

The jellyfish sisters are found on the beach instead of inside a clinic, and use these seductive poses when first met. The graphics for these animations were deleted before the final game, including the transition animations from it to their normal idle stances below.

The animations for the sisters tickling each other were completely changed in the final to resemble the actual poses that the Bros. use when using the Fire and Thunder Tickles.

Gigi also has a unique animation in this build used when her sister tickles her that was deleted before the final game.

Merri's squish sprite used when backing into her with the Thunder Tickle. This cannot be seen in this build due to their tutorial being broken. Animation ID: 30ED.

Gigi's applauding animations are also already present, too. Her "turning red" animation is also present, although since the Pearl Beans don't exist in the prototype, it's not known what would get this kind of reaction out of her in this build. Animation ID: 30E8.

Yoshi

Yoshi not only had a completely different role at this point in development, but a different look as well. Drawn in a quite different art style from almost anything else in the game, all of Yoshi's sprites were overhauled in the final. Green is also the only color of Yoshi to be found in the prototype, while the final adds several more colors.

Proto	Final

The south-facing walk animation in the prototype for some reason only has two unique frames, instead of the usual three.

Proto	Final

Yoshi originally was found laying on the ground when hungry. In the final, hungry Yoshis breathe heavily, look tired, and have their tongues out a bit.

Proto	Final

Yoshi uses his tongue in the prototype to retrieve a piece of the Beanstar for the Bros., while in the final the Bros. feed the Yoshis Bean Fruit for Neon Eggs. The animation for doing so is completely different and at a different angle.

Proto	Final

The eating animation was made more fluid in the final with additional animation frames.

Proto	Final

The egg was made a bit rounder in the final, and the spots made bigger.

Fawful

Proto	Final (Unused)

When Fawful is knocked down by Prince Peasley in Woohoo Hooniversity, he uses very green-looking sprites in this build that are actually unused in the final game! There were some minor tweaks done to the sprites after this build, too.

Bowletta

Bowletta's original design was very different, with very little resemblance to Cackletta. Here her overworld sprites appear to be directly based off of Bowser's overworld sprites, with an exaggerated bulldog-like face, pink-red eyes with black sclera, flaring nostrils in several animations, and prominent pink gums. The final Bowletta sprites were redrawn to be more distinct from Bowser, with a taller posture and a more Cackletta-like face, removing the nose and eyebrows entirely. Her bracelets were also recolored from black to gray.

Some of her early sprites notably depict her hands as having five fingers, whereas the final sprites depict her with only four fingers, to keep consistent with Bowser's regular appearance.

Proto	Final

Bowletta's chest/belly seems to be more similar to Bowser's, but the flat stomach lines are ribbed out. The final makes her chest bare orange with tan breasts. The lower jaw also curves back differently.

Proto	Final

Bowletta walking down is much simpler and barely opens her mouth compared to the prototype. This animation is unused in both this build and the final game.

Proto	Final

The walking animation for facing away from the screen is present, which is unused in both this build and the final game. The positioning of the middle spike is further up in the final.

Proto	Final

Bowletta walking to the left does not open her mouth at any point in the proto, in addition to having her hands closed and having a different movement in her arms, leaving her left arm visible.

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

The hologram transmission sprites. These are not normally visible in the demo because of broken story events.

Proto	Final

A lot more movement of the head.

Proto	Final

Bowletta's hair has a waving animation that was removed.

Proto	Final

The teeth are much further spread out compared to the proto.

Proto	Final

The movement and the way Bowletta's hands are closed are different from the final version, and for obvious reasons the animation of the eyes is different.

Proto	Final

The teeth are much larger, in addition to the arms moving much faster compared to the final version.

Proto	Final

In addition to the arms being in the same position as in her idle sprite, her mouth shakes differently compared to the final version. The prototype also has lower teeth visible, and her tongue has darker shading.

Proto	Final

The inside of the mouth is a dark yellow instead of black, as with her pointing sprites, in addition to having more red shading in the eyes. The back of her head is visible in the proto, but tucked behind the shell in the final.

Proto	Final

Her tail doesn't seem to be curled, in addition to her hair moving more. Interestingly, the inside of the mouth remained dark yellow in the final sprite, and the pointing arm's bracelet remained black.