Proto:Super Mario 3D Land

This demo was featured at E3 in 2011. A video has shown up on YouTube on May 27, 2015 with a complete gameplay video of the entire demo. The demo consists of four levels, all of which show different levels of completion. Note: This page will not be posted until a ROM dump is available in at least one place on the internet. Therefore, once a ROM image is available, I'll begin datamining it, and publish this page (But not uploading the ROM itself, I'll leave that to the magic of the internet to do).

To do: Screenshots for everything that isn't just a screencap from the YouTube video. Get demo/final images for all. As well, if a ROM dump becomes available anywhere on the internet, check for early versions of music, levels, and other assets within the ROM data. Mario Wiki also has some documentation on this demo for stuff that is not in this video or what I may have missed. Merge some of this information.

General Differences

• The game itself does not have a proper title screen. Starting it jumps you directly to the level select.

• The unused level select theme from the final game is used in this build:

• As well, the unused Yoshi sound effect can be heard when jumping on note blocks.

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• The game logo used on the level select is not the game's final logo. This would not be revealed for a few more months.
• Sound effects are different. Sounds for the star coins do not change with pitch whenever you get another coin.
• Gold flagpole goals are not yet implemented.
• Orange and purple warp boxes are different. In the demo, the purple boxes warp you around to different parts of the level, while orange boxes take you to minigames. In the final, the colouring was swapped.
  • As well, the minigame room has a very basic red/white design, nowhere near as polished as the final.
  • There is a single ? box in the minigame room that has an infinite amount of coins in it, but no star coin.
• The boss music that's in this demo is actually from Super Mario Galaxy 2.
• Entering pipes uses the R button in the demo, but L in the final.
• The particle effect when the flag hits the top of the flagpole differs between games. The demo has five red stars, while the final game has a halo and sparkles come out from the top of the flagpole.
• When tallying up the remaining time, the Clear Time is not shown.
• Sound effects for when coins are revealed are not present.
• Pause Menu background is a checkerboard design instead of a solid yellow color. As well, this checkerboard pattern is applied translucently on the top screen.
• Fire Flower hold item's image and model are different. The leaves were redesigned to be more rounded.
• The Super Mushroom's hold item image had additional shading added to its front.
• The Game Over screen's "GAME OVER" text is colored like the game logo's text is. As well, it does not show Mario falling and landing on the ground. The background as well is a sandy-looking texture instead of yellow.
• The hold item on the touch screen is higher up on the touchscreen in this demo.
• Powerups do not pop out of the boxes and fall to the ground, they stay on top of the box they came from.
• The "Hurry Up!' version of any level's music starts with only 50 seconds remaining, as opposed to 100:
  • As well, the "Lost a Life" sound has slightly different instrumentation

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 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 a 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 non-existent 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 a 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.
• 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 aesthetic pipes barring the player from going in certain directions are blue instead of purple
• 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.
• Where the first three ? blocks are in the demo only has one Goomba in the demo as opposed to two.
• After destroying the crates, there is nothing that remains of them in the demo. In the final game, there are boards left on the ground.
• 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 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.
• After the halfway flag, there is a P-Switch in the demo that reveals a 3x3x2 array of coins. In the final, this P-Switch was replaced with a single coin that activates a coin trail.
• 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.
• 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.