Super Mario All-Stars/Unused Graphics
This is a sub-page of Super Mario All-Stars.
Contents
General
Content not specific to any particular game.
Unused Nintendo Logo
This alternate version of the Nintendo logo can be found among the sprite graphics for Super Mario Bros. Unlike the final version, the racetrack surrounding the text is less round, and the logo isn't paired with a giant Mario coin.
Placeholder Text
Some image banks in the ROM have placeholder text that marks where graphics will be loaded in-game.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The black text box is プレイヤー, translated as "Player", marking where the Player graphics are stored in VRAM. The three orange tiles are パワ床 (POW Block), スイショウ (Crystal), and フラスコ (Flask).
| Before | After |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Taken from the Battle Mode tile bank. Again, the black box is プレイヤー (Player), marking where Mario and Luigi's graphics are stored.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
 |
 |
From the Super Mario Bros. 3 tileset, this text translates as "Mario, Luigi" and denotes the location of the player graphics.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
 |
 |
This text block appears in both Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2. ＢＧカキカエ エリア translates as "BG Transfer Area", and is used to indicate the location of animated background tiles in VRAM.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Hopefully this doesn't need translating. "PLAYER" marks the slot for player graphics in the Super Mario Bros. and Lost Levels ending sequence.
Unused Pause Screen Option
Found in all versions of All-Stars, this text is located with the rest of the pause menu graphics. またもうやめ translates as "Take a Break". What this would actually do is unknown, though this may be similar to how later Nintendo games (Wii era onwards, plus the game where the idea originated - EarthBound) would occasionally suggest you take a break.
Super Mario Bros.
Yes, even this port has unused graphics.
Ending text graphics which appear after the Princess Toadstool sprites. This is supposed to be for...well, The End. Given the different sizes, it was probably supposed to be animated.
This is what it would look like.
A "PAUSE" graphic which might have been used before the save menu was implemented.
This page appears to have been used as a "scratch pad" for testing multiple variations of some common Mario poses. None of these graphics are used by the game itself. The red and blue sections of the palette are swapped compared to the final version. These graphics were used in Nintendo Power video previews and can be seen in screenshots on the back of the North American box.
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
An early Mushroom Retainer, found in the main enemy graphics bank. This was likely used before the unique "castle clear" cutscenes were implemented. Only the top half of the second frame was cleaned up and reused in the final game.
An early Princess Toadstool. She's quite short here, much like her original Super Mario Bros. counterpart.
16-bit renditions of the original 8-bit Super Mario Bros. tiles, and a unique ground tile not found in the original game.
This unique brick block appears multiple times in the graphics bank, but it's not clear what they were made for.
Corner tiles for the castle bricks. Intended for optimization.
A copy of the end-of-level castle that is only loaded in underground areas. Of course, the end of the underground levels is always set in the overworld, so the game never uses these.
Sea coral in front of brown rocks. The palette that is used by the normal coral blocks also hold duplicates of the colors from the background rocks, logically intended for this sprite. The only place where it would make sense to be used is in the "level preview screen" for water levels.
An alternate sea coral. What makes it more interesting is that it's animated, unlike the coral block used in the final!
This star shows up among the tiles for both the Mario and Luigi bonus room backgrounds.
An unused piece for the underground background. It's a little pipe sticking out from the rocks.
This ground tile was meant to go on the very bottom of the underground background, at the same height as the level's foreground solid floor. It even appears in pre-release images!
This graphic appears among the tiles for the rocks/mountains background as seen in levels like World 2-1 in Super Mario Bros.. It also appears in between the tiles for World 8-3's background. It can be assumed that this graphic was used to lay a flat ground on the very bottom of the screen, and in fact, this can be seen in a pre-release image.
Curious to note is that the red palette used by the background trees in levels like World 4-1 from Super Mario Bros. is replaced by a brown palette in snow levels (see the "unused palettes" section below). Using the pre-release image linked above as basis, it can be theorized that the background trees shared their palette with this unused graphic, which would have a brown coloring in the snow variant of the rocks/mountains background.
The tiles highlighted here are never seen in any underwater level.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
The Super Mario Bros. graphic set contains tiles for an early Super Mario Bros. 2 logo that is much closer to the original FDS style than the final All-Stars one: the letters are taller, the "FOR SUPER PLAYERS" subtitle is missing, and the star (indicating how many times you've beaten World 8-4) is present.
A mockup of what the logo would look like with the above tiles.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Full sprite sheets for the four playable characters in an earlier state exist in the game. The greatest difference in them is that they retain the original design when they're in the "small" state, with the big head from the NES Super Mario Bros. 2, alongside featuring a 2-frame walk cycle as opposed to a 3-frame one, again, just like the NES version.
The "big" Mario sprites are nearly identical to what is seen in-game, albeit somewhat incomplete; While some have a blue outline in a few spots, one of them has Mario's shoes in one shade of red, revealing that the new sprites were painted over the NES originals. The darkest shade of blue also matches with the NES sprite.
Like Mario, Luigi looks very similar to his final design.
Princess Toadstool suffered the most changes from the bunch. Here she looks much closer to how she did in the original game, and curiously her "small" sprite also looks similar to the unused Princess sprite from Super Mario Bros. (see above).
Toad had some little changes here and there. His sprite for the "player select" screen has his pants colored red and his shoes blue for some reason.
These slot graphics are based on the NES version, but the 7 is brandnew! These were discarded for the larger slot icons.
A tomato that should've appeared in Wart's boss chamber, as it does in the NES version. Instead, it's replaced by the cabbage-looking thing from World 2.
An unused fire sprite very similar to the original NES version. The final game has an animated spinning fireball instead.
Graphics ported directly from the NES version, unmodified.
The mountain/cavern tiles from the NES version, revamped for All-Stars, but left unused in favor of new and better terrain design.
This was the block that composed the icy terrain in ice levels in the NES version. It suffered the same treatment as the cavern tiles above.
The dark lines in this tile match the wood tiles from the "inside tree" sections of World 5 in the original game, which means this could be a revamp of said tiles, though it doesn't look anything like wood.
A somewhat crudely-drawn block.
This could be an early version of the brick pattern seen in tower sections, based more closely on the original design from the NES version.
A static whale tail.
The green rocks from regular overworld levels, but with no plantlife on top.
The bug with 8-frames-long animations from the original the NES version still plagues the Albatoss in All-Stars, leaving his last frame unseen.
An alternate design of the shell, looking very close to the original sprite from the NES version.
Via the Debug Mode, it's possible to see a wall of otherwise-unused colored bricks placed to the right of Wart's chamber. These are styled after the bricks used in the NES version, and were replaced with a completely different design in the remake...though evidently not completely replaced.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Most of these are leftovers or updated versions of unused graphics from the original NES version.
Mario & Luigi
The unused animations of Mario walking left/right and up on the map were unused in the NES version, but were updated for All-Stars. Again, the first frame from each is used during the game over sequence, but the final frames aren't.
Updated Luigi versions of the unused map sprites. Curiously, while Luigi does have the same game over sequence as Mario, his unique sprites are not used for some reason, instead using recolored Mario sprites like the NES version.
The unused alternate version of the small Mario sprite used for the mini-game intros was curiously updated here.
Just as in the original game, this graphic of Hammer Mario sliding can only be seen in one place: the bonus room of World 6-10. If you're sliding while grabbing the Hammer Suit power-up, you'll continue sliding as Hammer Mario.
Enemies
This Super Mario World-styled Koopa Troopa appears after the 2-player mini-game graphics, but it isn't a straight port! The shading is more detailed in this sprite compared to the World version, and the arms have been redrawn.
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | Super Mario All-Stars |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The original Spiny Cheep-Cheep graphics are still in the ROM. It was later changed to a blue color and then redrawn in All-Stars.
A second frame for the Fire Snake's tail. While the equivalent frame was used in the NES original, All-Stars only uses the first frame, horizontally flipping it to "animate" it.
| Unused | Used |
|---|---|
 |
 |
An unused alternate head graphic for the Fire Snake, found alongside the graphics for the Fire Chomp and Parabeetle. Compared to the used graphic, the unused one is more faithful to the original NES sprite.
Misc.
The chest you get after beating the Hammer Bros., but it's differently shaded than the one used in-game.
A very simple and flat version of the spade card icon in the world map.
Four of the six end-of-level outlines still exist in All-Stars, they're just unused. Unfortunately, the Plains and Clouds outlines have been overwritten with other graphics.
The other unused map graphics from the NES version have been removed. The map tileset was definitely cleaned up the most.
The Princess Toadstool image from the letters you get after beating each world, ported from the NES version and left unused in favor of a revamped, colored new graphic.
Graphics for Princess Toadstool that are slightly different to the ones used in-game: the shape of her arms, torso, and hair; the color of her crown being pure white; and the walking animation which has her hair swaying and her arms moving.
A more square donut block. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 would later utilize these in some World-e levels.
Despite its appearance, this block is not the same as the blue blocks used in the 2-player battle minigames. This graphic uses only one shade for the light blue outline, whereas the used block has two shades, making it look less flat. Curiously, this block is found among the graphics for the Toad Houses, and it looks a lot like the walls and floor in the same areas in the NES version.
Water and waterfall tiles directly based off of those from the NES version. The water tide can still be seen in one place: Unused Level 8.
Most of the graphics from the cut bonus games are still in the ROM, unchanged, though the Koopa Troopa and Hammer Bro hosts are not present.
These graphics were unused in the NES version and still remain in the All-Stars ROM, unchanged and unused as well.
Unused "PAUSE" text that was likely used before the save menu was implemented. While the P and U are used for the "TIME UP" message, the A, S, and duplicate E are not used anywhere.
Earlier versions of the "TIME UP" and "PAUSE" messages, which appear to be simply reshaded from the NES version. The palette used in the final doesn't appear to fit these older graphics too well.
Backgrounds
This is found among the tiles for the underwater background. Looks like sand, could've been used on the bottommost part of the background, like some other unused background parts.
These 8×8 tiles are supposed to go on the bottom part of the Fortress background, but the pillars reach down to the lowest part of the screen, leaving no room for it to be seen in-game. It can be seen in promotional footage, though.
These appear right after the graphics for the dark mountains background used for the tank/battleship levels in World 8. It's hard to make out what the tiles on the left are meant for; there's a round shape and some rock or wood texture, but they don't really fit anywhere. The tiles on the right are for a gradient, possibly the sky.
Plains
This starts a trend that shows up in the other tilesets: the removal of foreground scenery. The big clouds seen in the NES version have been totally removed from the Plains levels, but they've been updated with new shading!
Bizarrely, the double-layered bushes, unused in the NES version, were updated for All-Stars! Whoever was in charge of redrawing the graphics must have thought these tiles were used in-game.
The original big bush design from the NES version, revamped for All-Stars! This rip has the smaller bushes' murky green colors, and they were likely intended to use the same palette.
Grasslands
The small and large clouds still appear in the tileset, updated but unused.
The corner pieces that weren't used in the NES version are still in the tileset. They haven't been updated at all, and still use a 4-color palette!
Higher Plains
The neat spiral clouds of the NES version were updated for All-Stars, along with the unused cloud platforms. The original hills were changed to a different design, but the original tiles were updated and are still in the tileset.
Slopes on water surface.
Small versions of the platforms found in athletic levels.
Two frames for an animated cloud platform. The first frame is identical to the other regular static cloud platforms.
These tiles are stored along with two bush designs in the game. The bottom one, however, doesn't transition well to the shading in its corresponding bush type. Compare below how the bushes would look like if these were used:
| Used | Unused |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Caves
No more small clouds for the cave levels.
Some unused slope tiles. One is a slope for the upper part of cave levels, such as the outside area in World 1-5. The other four tiles are underwater slope tiles. Only steep slopes are found underwater. Along with the underwater cave tiles, there are some slopes made for the water surface tiles. Steep slopes on water surface are used, but for some reason two extra steep slope tiles exist and remain unused.
Desert
The foreground pyramid has been redrawn. Doesn't mean it's used, but there it is.
The multitude of unused desert tiles in the NES version still linger, unchanged in the tileset.
Ice
A big cloud. Think it appears in the SNES version? Please check previous sections for answer.
Sky
The cloud corner tiles of Unused Level 15 remain in the tileset, and remain used in the All-Stars version of the level, although they're glitchy because they still have a 4-color palette.
Castle
This mysterious unused border/frame was never deleted when the tileset was ported over. Odd.
Airship
8×8 tiles for the crossbeams in airship levels. Just like the original game, a few of these are not actually seen in an airship level.
World 5
The tower map icon for World 5. How is it different than what you see in-game, you ask? This unused graphic has the grass texture around it and is probably what you were meant to see, whereas the used tower graphic has those spaces completely blank. And this oversight was carried over to Super Mario Advance 4 as well!
| Used | Unused |
|---|---|
 |
|
World 8
The "air force" on the map should have fire coming out of its back for one frame.
The skulls that decorate the World 8 map, directly based on the NES version.
Bowser's Castle in the world map, but this one is differently shaded in some parts than the one that appears in-game and it's missing the terrain texture on the blank areas. This one also uses different colors for the tower roofs, making them look miscolored when the castle's palette is applied. It looks fine in some other palettes, though.
More unused graphics for the World 8 map! These are the walls and towers that surround Bowser's Castle, except they are more closely based on how they looked in the NES version. In the final game, the big towers were redesigned to look more simple and the rest of the graphics got minor touch-ups. None of the existing palettes seem to match these unused tiles well.
The unused wheel, spikes, and propeller were updated as well.
This particular ? Block was originally used in World 8 of the NES version for the tank/battleship levels. Due to the restructuring of graphics in VRAM, it goes unused in All-Stars. Note the kinder, gentler look the updated block received.
An early version of the foreground water used in the battleship level in World 8, directly based off the NES version.
Title Screen
A spiral cloud, found in the graphics for the title screen. It's different from the used cloud graphic in that this one has outlines and no shadow behind.
Tiles for shadows cast by the decorational bushes, like in the NES version. Below is a mockup of how it would look in-game:
| Unused | Used |
|---|---|
 |
 |
They were used at one point in development, as seen in a magazine picture.
