Proto:Super Mario 3D Land/Level Differences

This is a sub-page of Proto:Super Mario 3D Land.

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Lots of changes in terms of levels can be seen in this demo.

Level 2-1

• Level time is 300 seconds as opposed to 500 in the final.
• The flagpole cannot be seen from the starting point.
• The sand texture is darker.
• The flowers on the top of the bush around the starting area are a darker shade of red.
• Binoculars are not implemented.
• Fuzzy dandelions are not implemented.
• The castle pillar at the very beginning of the level behind the starting point is white in this demo, while it is gold in the final.
• There are no birds that fly away as Mario runs past.

• There are no Goombas on the steps leading down into the level in the demo.

• In the demo, there is a round patch of sand that has a Goomba on it. In the final, the Goomba is removed and three ? blocks appear above that sand patch. As well, the lake beside that patch of sand, as well as the floating block with coins in it were also removed.

• Beside the Fire Piranha Plant, there are no double-stacked Goombas in the demo. Additionally, the grass around him is a single color in the final, while there is a dark ring around it in the demo.
  • As well, two platforms and a 100-second timer increase behind this Piranha Plant were removed.

• After the three fake and one real Goomba, the music note blocks in the demo turned into dotted bouncy blocks in the final. As well, the fence just below the Piranha Plant here has three pegs in the demo, but two in the final. To the right of this Piranha Plant, a wooden peg was turned into a fake green pipe.
  • Up on the top where the note blocks take you is the first Star Coin of the level, as well as green bushes. In the final game, there are six coins here, as well as blue and yellow flowers.
    • While up here, looking at the side of the castle that the latter half of the level is situated on shows a slightly unfinished design.
    • From here, in the demo one can see a 100-second timer increase as well as another note block. In the final game, that all turned into a blue P-Switch.

• Above the fake pipe, there is a stack of five Goombas in the final. It's limited to one in the demo. As well, there was a powerup block and a brick block there in the demo, all of which were removed in the final.
• The layout to the room for getting the demo version's second coin star is completely different from the final game. As well, there is no tile for being able to change the view of the room, it's done automatically when you get to a certain point in the demo. The way the camera moves is different too. In the final, it goes from an isometric perspective to a view from the right-hand side of the room, while the camera moves up to the top of the room in the demo.
  • Additionally, the 3D sign on the bottom-right hand side of the screen to indicate whether 3D is on or off is nonexistent in the demo.
• In the final, there are three fake 1-Up Mushrooms. In the demo it is a brick block.
• The area where this brick block is and how it leads up to the steps to get to the area under the lifts is also differently laid out in the demo. On these steps is a coin in the demo, but a Goomba in the final game.
• Where the first crouch hole is in the demo has a bunch of brick blocks to attempt to hide the crouch hole. In the final game, it's left in plain sight.
  • The yellow outlining on the opposite side of this hole after the hidden 1-Up is not in the demo. As well, the half-way flag is just after this point in the demo.
• At the first set of lifts after the halfway point in the demo, there is a small cove in the wall on the way up the steps. This is not present in the final.
• After the first set of lifts, the golden brick pillar has a different texture between the two versions. On the left side of the pillar in the demo, a ? and brick block are also there, while not in the final.
• After these blocks are regular lifts in the demo. In the final, they are dotted bouncy blocks.
• In the final game, at the top of these bouncy blocks is a warp block to bring you to a small platform with a green platform. This is optional to do in the demo. When hitting the green ! pad, there are no extra sound effects to show the appearing coins as well.
  • The safe panels' design is the same between the two games. However, the unsafe panel's facial expressions change. In the demo, they have an o= design, but in the final have more of a D= design.
  • There is also no tick-tock sound to represent that you're being timed. As well, there is no sound effect or applause for collecting all the coins that appeared.
• The water at the end of the level is brown in the demo, but blue in the final (And for good reason).
  • There is a dark green edging around the water in the demo, but was ultimately removed later on.
  • Tanooki Mario's tail doesn't interact with water. In the final game, the Tail Wag move creates eight distinct water pellets that all individually ripple when they hit the water. The sound effect of Mario running through shallow water is reminiscent to the same sound from Mario 64 but with a different pitch.
• There is a brick staircase leading to the flagpole in the demo. This was changed to green face panels and a dotted bouncy pad. There are also three Piranha Plants near the flagpole in the final game to gain the player additional coins that are missing in the demo.

Level 1-2

• The demo has 300 seconds of time as opposed to 500 in the final.
• Similar to 2-1, the brick pattern is different.
• Camera angle at the start is different. Demo is more at a 45-degree angle, while the final game views the area almost directly on the side.
• All guardrails barring the player from going in certain directions are blue in the demo, but purple in the final.
• There is no arrow to denote which way to go in the demo.
• The demo has a different land formation than the final. The demo has some ridges and coins on them, but the final game has flat land as to allow for a Ball 'N Chain.
  • As well, two aesthetically-placed pipes were removed in the final game.
• Torches are fairly unpolished at this stage. The texture is flat and the faces are simple.

Proto	Final

• Where the first three ? blocks are in the demo only has one Goomba in the demo as opposed to two.
• To the side of these crates is a gap in the demo. It's been filled up in the final game.
• In the demo, the first Star Coin is in an alcove behind the rotating platform. It was moved to a position just behind and to the right of the Inky Piranha Plant in the final game, removing the need for the alcove.
• The rotating platform also has a different design in the demo being sky blue and uses some of the ground textures in the level and lacks the white outlines along with lacking 4 bolts on each corner compared to the final.
• The demo has only one long ? block as opposed to two in the final. There is also a green shell here in the demo that was removed.
• Where the small alcove is that has the L-shaped set of brick blocks, the demo has a limited head space for Mario here of just two blocks. The final game removed that to allow Mario to Ground Pound here. The 3 coins above were also removed in the final.
• The halfway flag is farther to the right in the demo than in the final.
• After the halfway flag, there is a P-Switch in the demo that reveals a 3x3x3 array of coins. In the final, this P-Switch was replaced with a single coin that activates a coin trail.

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

• In the area after the coin game, there are two blocks that are hidden and are revealed by jumping at the coins in the final game. These are not here in the demo.
• The demo has Paragoombas flying here because of the change of topography, the final game has green Koopa Troopas.
  • The change in topography here makes the infinite 1-Up trick much more difficult to accomplish in the demo because of the chance of error being so high.
• There is an additional set of moving platforms after this area.
• The warp pipe to the left of the Inky Piranha Plant was removed.
  • The moving platforms used in front of the Inky Piranha Plant in the final game use the formation of the additional moving platforms that are in the demo.
• The bonus room has a different layout using the one which can be seen in 1-3 and 5-4 in the final albeit the block that contains a Fire Flower is closer in the demo than in the final and the pipe is standing upwards rather than forwards, along with missing a 100-second clock. The floor uses a checkered box rather than the brick texture thats used for the level in the final.

Proto	Final

• There are four Ball 'N Chains on the last stretch as opposed to three.
• The position of the warp pipe to lead the player out of the underground is different. In the demo, it's in the middle of the last area of the level on a raised portion of ground, whereas the final game removes the colored bar and places a wall there, to which a warp pipe is affixed.
• The area where the goal flag is has a dirt path cut into the grass. However, the demo has a permanently-fixed pipe, whereas the final has a pipe that comes out, then disappears after Mario leaves. The position of this pipe is different as well. The demo has the pipe directly below the flag pole, whereas the final has this pipe below the lifts that lead to the flag pole.
  • Interestingly, the dirt path was never updated to accommodate for this change. The final game has the same dirt path as the demo, so there is a portion of the dirt path that looks like something should be there, but there isn't. However, since the demo has a set of dirt blocks leading to the goal post, the dirt path was extended underneath when the lifts were added (See below).
• The path leading up to the flagpole is different as well. The demo uses dirt blocks with an Inky Piranha Plant, whereas yellow lifts and three coins are used in the final game.
• The warp zone exists in the demo, but consists of 3 green pipes. The Left and Middle pipes connect to each other, the right pipe leads to the flagpole area. In the final game, there is 1 orange pipe which takes you to World 2.
  • It's possible the warp zone was modified for the E3 demo, as having a pipe to World 2 might not make sense for such a demo.

Proto	Final

Level 3-3

• This level was changed to 4-5 in the final version of the game.
• The timer starts at 300 in the demo, but at 400 in the final.
• The level starts off with only one platform compared to the final which has an extra platform which Mario has to jump on to reach the green panel.
• In the area where there is 4 green panels, there is no coin trail instead having all the coins laid out compared to the final.
• The Boomerang Bro near the mystery box and after the second warp box is absent in the demo.
• The floating coins next to the first Star Medal is missing in the demo.
• The flip panels when disappearing have a different design in the demo having a more shocked face than a worried face in the final.
• The minigame room has a very basic red/white design, while the final has a purple/pink design.
• The minigame room has a single ? box with an infinite amount of coins in it, whereas the final has 1 floating coin and a bunch of invisible blocks each containing 1 coin.

Proto	Final

• On the final island before the flagpole area, Star Medal 2 and a 100-second clock can be found to the top right. In the final game, this was changed to five 10-second clocks, and no Star Medal. This also removes a floating coin in the final game.
  • In the final game, Star Medal 2 is located behind a warp box, above a moving platform.

Proto	Final

Level 2-5

• Represented as World 2-Airship in the final game.
• Mario kicks up gravel while running on the wood planks.
• The demo has five burners in the beginning with two being removed in the final.
• The one-way "!" transport boxes to and from the 1st Star Coin only appear once. Long-jumping back to the location will strand Mario. The "!" Box returning Mario to the main platform regenerates in the final game.
• Platform with the first Star Coin does not have a flame obstacle.

• Long "?" box does not exist proceeding the second Star Coin.
• Bullet Bills do not spin in the opposite direction when Mario hits them with his tail in Tanooki form. Instead, they flip vertically and are defeated instantly.
• Regular pair of Bullet Bill launchers precede the pipe to the Boom Boom mid-boss fight. Raccoon Bullet Bill appears in the final game.
• Platform surrounding the Warp Pipe to the Boom Boom boss are slightly different. The platform where the Warp Pipe sits is slightly sloped at the end. The area to the back of the ship doesn't have any railing and the platform leading down to the secret area with the third Star Coin is slightly smaller than it is in the final game.
• Room where mid-boss takes place is slightly different. The room lacks the red outline between the wall and the purple floor that appears in the final game. The center of the room is also mesh where the sky can be seen underneath it. The final game replaces it with brown tile.

Proto	Final

• Camera pans up more when Mario jumps on the pipe leading to the Goal Post.

• Mario enters the area with the Goal Post from the furthest most left part of the area. Camera does not pan up to show the Goal Post.
• Light fixtures without collision data appear before the Goal Post on the exterior of the airship.
• Goal Post design resembles a normal level's and not the larger variant seen in stages with boss fights.
• The music played after touching the goal post is the normal clear music, instead of the music used on boss stages.