Prerelease:Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

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Conceptual Artwork

Enemy Concept Art

A handful of conceptual enemy sketches realized by Kazuyuki Kurashima, then monster designer and character supervisor. This sheet includes quite the handful of scrapped enemies, some of which rather odd, with only Belome and Punchinello making the cut.

• Belome. Depicted here with a fiercer appearance, circular patterns instead of spiraling ones, and with four toes instead of three. His body is also hunched over instead of pudgy, and electricity seems to be running through his head horns, suggesting it was once an elemental-driven monster.

• Punchinello. Depicted here with a more ghastly, almost Tim Burton-esque design complete with a long grin full of sharp teeth, a rounder body, a more angular hat, and a pair of angel wings. Other design tweaks include eyelashes, a third leg, an extraneous tail seemingly ending in a mushroom, and a skull necklace, which in the final game became the mask of Thalia, the symbol of comedic theater plays.

• A cut creature with a basket for a head complete with two little dot eyes. Its body is round and dressed in a jacket adorned with a striped bowtie. It also has wings, as well as a candy cane in lieu of legs, or at the very least some sort of striped umbrella handle.

• A cut scarecrow-like creature which actually appears to be a more elaborate version of the previously mentioned basket-headed enemy. It is the only named enemy on this sheet, with it being "Poltergeist". Appears to be inspired by the idea of a ghost possessing various items, as seen by its body being made out of a clothing iron, a rickety broom, a pair of scissors, an electric razor, and an old bell adorned with a light bulb. Interestingly, the final game does feature an attack known as "S'crow Bell", so perhaps this enemy was designed around this attack.

• A tall armored chicken-legged creature seemingly inspired by depictions of Baba Yaga's house, hinting towards a relationship with the unused enemy named Baba Yaga. Its head is covered in a steel Viking helmet, its knees are protected by spiked pads, and it appears to be carrying some sort of mine in its toothy maw.

• A rather puzzling mix between Studio Ghibli's Catbus and a hedgehog, featuring two long gloved arms and a trumpet emerging from the darkness of its gaping maw.

• A chubby ghost riding a ghoulish car who wouldn't look out of place in Wacky Races. Interestingly, a foot is seemingly seen next to one of the wheels, suggesting that perhaps this specter would have lifted his car around instead of actually driving it, à la Flintstones.

• A ghost ship inside which resides a whale with a long tongue. May have later inspired the Ghost Ship, in which King Calamari resides.

• A sadly partially unseen puzzling creature with long chicken legs, and a limbless Koopa biting on God knows what.

(Source: Tweet by Kazuyuki Kurashima)

Enemy Relationship Chart

Dated 1995 is this conceptual chart made by Kurashima. This chart aims at giving a clear look at the relationship between the game's various antagonists, which is formatted as a hierarchy of sorts. Various elements were ultimately changed, repurposed, or scrapped entirely for the final game:

Weapon Realm

The top half of the chart is dedicated to the main bosses that are part of Smithy's gang and originate from the weapon dimension. Almost all of them use placeholder descriptive titles rather than names, meaning that while already conceived, work still had to be done on them. Interestingly, the Clerk, Manager, Director, Gunyolk, and the Factory Chief are missing entirely. This is likely due to the Factory not a thing yet at this point in development, with it perhaps being introduced with Smithy's later design revision making him a blacksmith. Boomer is also missing, suggesting a later inclusion. The characters in this section are as follows:

• Smithy. Is shown as a fat, contempt genie with a swirly mustache, with his accompanying label referring to him as "Final Boss Majin". This term, which is also embroidered on his torso, is a concept used to refer to powerful evil entities, demons, or even genies and djinns. The final game instead opts for a monster based on a blacksmith and a mad king. Exor is also seen beside this early incarnation of Smithy, albeit with it depicted as a mere normal-looking sword. This could suggest that he originally lacked sentience, and was but a tool used as a portal between worlds. This design was later used for Fautso and the scrapped Baba Yaga.

• Count Down. Is shown as a floating creature with disembodied hands, and eyes encased in the rounded edges of a giant ribbon adorned with stars. The final game instead goes for a large tilted clock with a wooden stool. While it would keep the name Moebius in the final Japanese version, this early design is explicitly themed after the Moebius Strip, a surface which, if it were to be walked on, could theoretically have both its side explored without ever crossing an edge. Thus, Count Down's eyes would be able to roll all the way around without any issue.

• Hypnotizing Priest. A completely scrapped character who appears to be a floating, grinning cloaked figure with a spearhead in lieu of a nose. Is listed with "Cane" (or "Staff") beside his name, which is likely what he would have used to hypnotize people. It's unknown if the "question mark" is supposed to be the aforementioned cane, or if it was a separate design element. Not much is known about this character, except that he would have seemingly being in charge of Domino and Cloaker, and that he would have looked over the "Hypnotized Grunts" enemy group detailed further down.

• Cloaker and Domino. Cloaker is shown with a radically different, more intimidating design, with it featuring a cape, a sharp v-shaped torso, and large shoulder pads with eerie eyes on them. The final game instead opts for a goofy bottle-shaped mustached monster wielding a scimitar and shield. Domino, meanwhile, is essentially the same, albeit lacking the "hookah tip" ponytail. The duo is labeled as "Bodyguards", as well as "Choice Boss", a possible reference to the mechanic behind their boss fight in the final game. They very likely already had a connection with Mad Adder/Earthlink, beside which they stand here, though it's unclear if that's what they were the bodyguards of, or if they protected the Priest much like how Boomer guards Exor in the final game.

• Mack. Only referred to here as "Sword Boss (Terror)", with the latter aspect perhaps a reference to how Mack terrorizes the Mushroom Kingdom with his army. Design-wise, the eyes on the pogo-sword are lower, the spring is missing, and Mack's face is completely different, lacking the jack o' lantern smile and triangular eyes, having ears instead of eyes, and wearing a little crown.

• Bowyer. Only referred to here as "Bow Boss (Betrayal)", with the latter aspect being quite unclear as to what it could refer to, perhaps being a reference to a scrapped story bit. Design-wise, Bowyer lacks his hair, shoulder and hip pads, his gloves, eyebrows, and lips.

• Yaridovich. Only referred to here as "Spear Boss (Hatred)", with the latter aspect being quite unclear as to what it could refer to, perhaps being a reference to an earlier characterization. In comparison, Yaridovich is more arrogant than hateful in the final game. Design-wise, his head is shaped differently, and so is his torso.

• Blade, seen carrying the Axem Rangers. Only referred to here as "Axe Boss (Destruction), with the latter aspect perhaps a reference to its mighty destructive Breaker Beam attack. Design-wise, the main body is much more simplistic, lacking the mouth and much of the detailing.

Mario's World

The bosses and enemies encountered in the Mushroom Kingdom, this section taking up much of the chart. First and foremost, worth noting is the relation between the four bosses listed here and the four members of Smithy's gang. This relation was likely just a question of worldly parallels, as in the final game aside from Yaridovich and Jonathan Jones no pairs ever interact with one another (and even then these two are rivals). Moreover, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for Bowser and Blade to be linked for example. The characters in this section are as follows:

• The Clown Bros. Similar, though with Knife Guy being shown as a sword-swallower, while Grate Guy is seen as a dagger juggler. In the final game, Knife Guy became the juggler, whereas Grate Guy became a more standard clown with a spring-loaded body and riding a circus ball.

• Valentina. Has quite a different design, with her having a smaller frame, a layered dress, and being seen wielding a bow. The final game ditched the bow, and went with a more statuesque, femme-fatale Valentina. Unsurprisingly, she was linked with Dodo from her very creation.

• Jonathan Jones. Identical to finals aside from an extraneous scar on his right eye.

• Bowser. Identical to final, aside from him wielding an axe. In the final game, his weapon of choice is the ball and chain.

Booster and Croco are also listed on the side in an unnamed section which was likely intended for minor antagonists. Booster is shown as wielding a mace, whereas he lacks any sort of weapon in the final game. When it comes to design, Booster has more exaggerated horns on his helmet, while Croco has a smaller hat and a scarf. Both characters are appropriately listed as "Idiot" and "Thief".

Guardian Deities

Interestingly, there exists a section which lists "Guardian Deities", or quite literally bosses which would reside in a given place, and were not associated with Smithy's Gang. The characters in this section are as follows:

• King Calamari. Identical to final. Appropriately said to reside in the Ocean, more specifically the Sunken Ship in the game.

• Punchinello and Belome. Identical to final. Said to reside in a Dungeon, though only Belome resides in one in the final game, with it being either Kero Sewers or Belome Temple. Punchinello, meanwhile, was instead moved to Moleville's mountain mine. These two are interestingly listed as being close friends, something never explored in the final game, but is seen by the two being depicted side by side in another piece of Kurashima concept art.

• Gas Boss. A scrapped boss which appears to be some sort of hat-wearing cloud-like creature connected to an air pump, with its belly-button shown as an outie to evoke the idea of it being inflated. It lacks any location label, and it's unknown if it lacked any or if it was another Dungeon boss. Likely recycled into Mokura.

• Sahon. A scrapped cactus boss which still partially exists in the final game. Is described here as living in the Desert, though it appears to have later been moved to the mountainside of Land's End, before ultimately being cut (though this area does actually feature a desert). It is seemingly able to summon miniature copies of itself, which here are referred to as "Hoten".

• Hydra. A scrapped boss which appears to be some sort of long serpentine googly-eyed creature with a large beak-like mouth. It is seen as rushing through something, though the lack of any location label makes it unclear as to what it could have been. Its proximity with Sahon could perhaps make it another desert boss, thus making it a sandworm.

• Sol. The last of the scrapped bosses from this group. A scrapped ghastly boss which would have resided in a Volcano, likely Barrel Volcano. Actually appears to be an earlier iteration of Czar Dragon, with its undead appearance ultimately being reworked into Zombone, which is present beside Sol on this sheet. Interestingly, right next to this boss is a Pyrosphere with the name "Sun Child" and the mention that it is captive. This is likely a scrapped story aspect, suggesting that perhaps a group of Pyrospheres were corrupted and turned into Sol. This could be supported by the final game having the Czar Dragon being made out of Pyrospheres.

Boss Groups

The remainder of this chart is comprised of secondary bosses, which are shown as overseeing groups / types of enemies, giving us an interesting look at the game's early design process. Characters like the Hammer Bros, Bundt and Chef Torte, or Birdo being missing is likely due to them only being created due to story rewrites. The characters in this section are as follows:

• The Priest oversees the "Hypnotized Grunts" group, which is composed of Magikoopas, Shy Guys, and Shamans. This group is described as being composed of Mushroom Kingdom denizens which were brainwashed, though in the final game only Kamek ends up explicitly being brainwashed. Shy Guys are instead seemingly depicted as willingly working for Smithy, whereas Shamans are quite literally doing their own thing. Interestingly, the Magikoopa enemy is known as "Kamek" instead of "Kamezard". Interestingly, an entry named カメック (Kamek) still exists in the final game, unseen as it is assigned to the Magikoopa in the game's intro (this entry later being renamed "Merlin" in the localized version). As for the Shaman, it also has an early name, which here is a misspelling of "Magician", with one character missing (the final game instead opts for the word "Spell"). There's also unused pallete data for 4 other colors for the shaman sprite, implying more were intended.

• Dodo is identical to final, and oversees the "Flying Grunts" group. Interestingly, this group was originally associated with a scrapped two-headed bird boss which was named "Noisy Bandam", and was ultimately replaced by Dodo. Of all three enemies listed below, only Birdy would make the final cut, with it being listed beside two cut enemies, which resemble a peacock and some sort of gargoyle respectively.

• Megasmilax is shown with way more heads, more akin to actual real-life carnivorous plant clusters. It oversees the "Plant Grunts" group, which is composed of Piranha Plant, Amanita, and Snapdragon.

• Zombone is identical to final, and oversees the "Undead Grunts" group, which is composed of Dry Bones, Greaper, Hobgoblin, Mastodoom, and the Big Boo.

• Jinx is interestingly shown here as an antagonist it seems, while in the final game he is instead a good guy. He oversees the "Puzzling Grunts" group, which is fittingly comprised of toy-like enemies (aside from Octolot). Present here are Jester, Remo Con, and Octolot, alongside a scrapped enemy which resembles a canon from which emerges a head with a goofy smile full of uneven teeth, complete with swirl eyes and firework rockets in lieu of ears.

• Lastly, there is a scrapped boss known only as "Dark Actor" consisting only of an odd dark silhouette. It's unclear if this was a placeholder or it that was the intended appearance of this creature. Regardless, it oversees the "Shadow Grunts" group, which is only comprised of a much less intimidating Shadow, and an unrefined Orb User.

(Source: Tweet by Kazuyuki Kurashima)

Concept Art

Geno

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A grand total of four primary sketches for Geno. The first design depicts him as a tall knight with wild hair, a face mask, and a star emblem on his belt piece, all the while having him wielding a sword, much like all the other early designs down here. Meanwhile, the final game instead opts for finger guns as his main weapon, and an elbow canon as his alternate one. Geno is also seen here with a wind-up key, something which was later ditched as he was made more akin to a wooden doll, though interestingly his hood does feature a pattern resembling a wind-up key, likely a nod to this early design.

The second design is similar to the first, only with wilder hair, the star emblem being moved to his chest, the wind-up key being removed, the hip piece now featuring a tail, and the sword having a more elaborate design. The third design, meanwhile, is already much more akin to the Geno we all know and love, as while this iteration retains the sword, it already features a cape, droopy hair, and an overall mysterious leg. Also worth noting is the already more artificial-looking body, with feet more akin to mechas. Finally, the fourth design is extremely similar to Geno's final design, only with differently shaped eyes and hair strands, no hood, a face mask, and once again a sword.

(Source: Tweet by Kazuyuki Kurashima)

Prerelease Screenshots

Famimaga '96 No.3

Geno Whirl (Cutter)

The graphics for Geno's Geno Whirl (Geno Cutter in Japan) move bared a blue crescent design instead of the yellow/orange saw shape of the final.