Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Sunshine
Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: GameCube Released in JP: July 19, 2002 Released in US: August 26, 2002 Released in EU: October 4, 2002 Released in KR: December 14, 2002 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a notes page This game has a prototype article This game has a bugs page This game has a prerelease article

Super Mario Sunshine is an open-ended platformer, very similar to Super Mario 64, except on a tropical island and with a talking water pump. This game also marks the first appearance of Bowser's extremely annoying son, Bowser Jr.

The Test Map

Super Mario Sunshine contains a test level, named test11, which can be accessed with the Action Replay code JKGN-DDJZ-D58XJ FYUM-N4P3-QJUPC. The textures it uses are the same as the test room from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It contains various objects and terrain, including the unused soccer objects and the Hinokuri enemy. The files also contain an early sky model, though it is not used in the scene.

• Test room
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Removed Test Maps

According to stageArc.bin, there were a grand total of 20 test maps in the game, divided into two categories. Scale Maps were named scale0 through scale9, and Test Maps were named test11 through test19. Of them, only test11 remains, though not in the Japanese version. It was added back in later by the localization team, as evidenced by the copies of every piece of translated dialogue in the game present in the files.

Unused Sky

This early sky model is found within the files for the test level, though it is not actually used by it. This sky can actually be seen in the earliest screenshots of the game.

Unused Audio Stream

This audio stream within the Super Mario Sunshine ISO is never loaded by the game at any point. While the theme itself is used within a demo-play video after the title screen as well as various other promotional videos for the game, this much more pure version, lacking any sound effects, remains unused. The list of audio files refers to it as MSD_STR_SPACEWORLD, indicating that this is likely where the stream was intended to be used.

Noki Bay Yoshi Drums

The music for Noki Bay has a drum track for when riding on Yoshi, even though Yoshi appears nowhere in this stage.

Unused Sound Effect

This voice clip of Mario saying "Ciao!" is included in the sound bank for the beginning sequence when the game is turned on, w1stLoad_0. It is never used, nor is a copy of it present with the rest of the Mario voice clips.

Unused Objects

Soccer Ball and Goal

GOOOOOOOAL!

The Goal.

Mario gets to kick around a soccer ball in the test level. It seems that as a test for the rolling fruit, Nintendo used a soccer ball. A cardboard box fashioned into a soccer goal is also present.

The Freaky Enemy Hinokuri

There is an enemy in the test level called Hinokuri ("fire chestnut" in Japanese) that spawns, walks into a pit, then walks through a wall and disappears. You can kill it, and it drops a coin. This is the same enemy that was shown stomping around in early Super Mario Sunshine footage but that was a second version of it. One of the models in the game and its accompanying animations imply that some versions would have worn a large skull helmet, which could split in half. Due to a strange property of the model, it does not display correctly both in-game and in model viewers.

Hinokuri spawns two types of common enemies, the chestnut-like Strollin' Stu and the blobby Gooble, from a cone-like nozzle on its back end. One of these two enemies is spawned before the creature walks away. Goobles are spawned via a striped egg, while Strollin' Stus simply appear. With the the help of the Action Replay this video shows the full model and how he is suppost to work and this video shows being hurt and transformed into an egg (the animations are too old, but seems to work in the game, but not currectly)

To do: I have access to the animations but bmdview2 won't let me view them for some reason. Upload them as soon as the issue is resolved.

• Sunshine H Eye.png

  The "Eye."

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  The spawned egg that unleashes a Gooble.

• Sunshine H Walk.png

  A walking Hinokuri.

• Hinokuro2SMS.png

  The full body of Hinokuri. Due to its age, it doesn't display properly.

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  Hinokuri in the Spaceworld 2001 trailer.

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  Hinokuri's scary helmet.

Kug

A paper-thin living drawing of a Goomba found in the files for Pinna Park. It has only one texture, so all of its animations are achieved through the movement of the model. It was used as a test character, as indicated by the actor list. In fact, it has three entries in the list, which refer to it as "typical enemy", "test enemy", and Goomba. As it turns out, there is one present in the level, as demonstrated by this video. It can be found in Episode 8 floating around under the floor, beneath the spinning clam ride. It is just under half the height of Mario, and shocks him when jumped on. Due to its location, it is difficult to interact with.

To do: Get a better video of this guy, as the current one is...less than stellar.

Egg Generator

I do not like them, Sam I am.

This paper-thin drawing of an egg is referred to as a "Yoshi Egg Generator" by the object list. There are two models for it, gene_egg_model1 being the green one, and bad_gene_egg_model1 is the purple one. They both use the same animation, gene_egg_appear1, which is shown above. The directory for it, egggen, was found in the files for Episode 5 of Pianta Village.

Early Stu Generator

Included in with the Stu generator drawing is an early version of the pile-of-goop generator. It consists of five nearly-flat rings using this texture. It was likely included by accident due to the name similarity. None of its proper animations are included, and the final version's animations aren't compatible with it due to using a different number of joints.

Unused Object Features

Hidden Piantissimo Face

Il Piantissimo's hidden face.

In the game, Il Piantissimo never removes his mask. Needless to say, he does have a face, which can be seen when you remove his mask via hacking or other methods. Piantissimo's face seems to resemble Running Man's face from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but with darker skin.

(Source: Mario Wiki)

Eely-Mouth's Belly

The giant eel boss in Noki City has his esophagus and stomach modeled with a significant amount of polygons. Even though one of its attacks involves swallowing Mario, the camera never follows him inside, so the insides are never seen.

Stu Generator Animations

The drawing that spawns Strollin' Stus was originally going to be alive and animated to some degree. It has five texture animations, which make use of alternate textures. The first image is the texture that is used, for reference. The second is used for when the generator is being hurt. The third is for after the generator has taken damage, thus entering an angry state. The last image is for when the generator dies. In the final game, the drawing simply disappears when it is sprayed.

Bloopad's Land Legs

The spongey squid-like enemy Bloopad only appears in Ricco Harbor, floating in the water. However, it has animations that correspond to hopping around on land, as well as being stomped. In fact, they are considered run1, while jumping out of water is run2. As they never appear on land and cannot be pushed around, this animation is never used. Furthermore, Bloopad's files are included in with the scene for the King Boo boss battle room, but the enemy itself is never spawned. This would have been the one location to witness it on land.

Another thing to note is that Bloopad is also included in the files for the Coin Fish episode of Noki City. This would require yet another behavior for Bloopad; one that doesn't constantly jump around and inflate when sprayed.

Removed Cloud Layer

In the common sky model, there is a large disc stretching across the entire sky, which is completely invisible in-game. This pre-release screenshot reveals that it is in fact once used for a light cloud layer. The UV map for the disc is still intact, as is the texture for it. As a bonus, the screenshot also shows the unused goop texture in use.

Hidden Level Features

The Hidden Book

There is a hidden book that can never be retrieved in the Red Coins in a Bottle episode of Noki Bay. This appears to be a leftover from an earlier version, in which the objective in that area was to recover the book, instead of collecting the red coins. The models are actually parts of the level geometry and not separate objects.

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  The models in question.

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  Outside the hidden door.

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  Using F.L.U.D.D. to clip through for a better look.

(Source: TI2ophy)

File Select Pier

In the scene used for the File Select menu, there is a pier hidden just off-screen. Compared to the rest of the scene, it is poorly textured.

Corona Mountain Crater

Despite Corona Mountain being the highest point on the island, most of the level models have the inside of the crater modeled out. It reveals that the crater has a rather interesting structure, which makes sense given the structure of the Corona Mountain level.

Pollution Maps

The game uses bitmaps to keep track of pollution (or goop, if you prefer), with a corresponding model to hold the bitmap. However, many rooms (mostly secret stages) have an unused pollution map, copied from one of the other stages. The rooms use one of three maps, listed below. In addition, the developers left notes and doodles in the bitmaps, which overwrite the texture of the model.

Test Map

This is the pollution map used for the test level. It is one of the most common pollution map duplicates used. It shows a couple of cutesy enemies causing the mess, which bear a resemblance to Hinokuri.

The overwritten texture depicts a much simpler shape of what appears to be Kug.

Early Bianco Hills

The second common pollution map brings us this creepy image.

The texture of the goop itself is just as creepy.

Viewing the model without the texture reveals it is actually from an early design of Bianco Hills. This level layout, the goop texture, and map can all be seen in some early screenshots.

This is the bitmap for the map. It reads "alpha, mostly black" along with the dimensions of the image.

Early Ricco Harbor

There are several interesting things to note about these pollution maps, which can be found in Episode 3's files. Not only are there two pollution maps, but they use two different early versions of the level. The earlier version lacks a fountain, has different buildings, and has a rounded ledge with no wooden platform. The second version is much like the final version, but with a smaller ledge on the right side. There is also a tiny square platform in both, which moves around between versions before being removed altogether. The bitmap used for the goop is rather simple, and even seems to have a portion of the map that wouldn't fit on the mesh. Furthermore, the goop texture used by it is the same one seen in the early Bianco Hills, but with an additional specular (or bump?) map accompanying it.

Early Version 1	Early Version 2	Final Version

Bianco Hills

These maps are used as the placeholder maps for five pollution maps used in Bianco Hills. The first one is reused by the last one.

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Noki City

"Stupid"... HEY!

The pollution map for the entirely underwater portion of Noki Bay. Appropriately, it reads "stupid".

Sirena Beach

This is the texture used for Sirena Beach's pollution map. Look familiar? That's right, it's Kug! The actual maps used in the levels are in the shape of a manta and a Boo, respectively.

Delfino Casino

The pollution map found with the Casino is actually for an early version of some level. It's unclear which level it is meant to be, but the central structure resembles the platform that Hotel Delfino is on in Sirena Beach. The relatively empty map and off-center position of the geometry indicates that the goop only covered a small portion of the level.

Corona Mountain Boss

No goop appears in the Bowser battle arena, so these maps go unused. The model for the goop area is actually a large square, and the mask is very primitive compared to the rest, meaning this is likely a copy from one of the test maps. Strangely, the goop texture that comes with it has "holes" in the alpha channel.

Unused & Early Graphics

Corona Mountain Banner

Since Corona Mountain doesn't have an Episode select screen, this banner for it goes unused.

Unused Menu Text

A label reading "Dolpic", the Japanese name of Isle Delfino. Given that the entire game takes place on Isle Delfino, it wouldn't make much sense to give the label to any one location, so it wasn't even translated.

A label for the menu choice "cancel". It was not translated either.

Menu Sunglasses

These various graphics of sunglasses are grouped in with the other Options menu graphics. The first two, monte_sunglass_flame and monte_sunglass_glass, are meant to belong to a Pianta, while the third image is clearly meant to belong to the options menu, being named option_sunglass. None of the code for the options menu references them, and the sunglasses graphics are different from the textures used for the in-game sunglasses found on various Piantas.

Early Graphics

There are blue doors in the Plaza and the Harbor but none of them have this kind of shading.

Another blue door, but this time with goop painted across it.

Early label graphic for the HUD. The final game uses "water" instead, even in the E3 2002 trailer.

Probably from an early start up screen.

Hidden Screenshots

A few screenshots are hidden within the game, used as textures for various models. They are from various stages in development and are likely used as placeholder for shader effects.

This image is one of the textures for Eely-Mouth's eyes. While the HUD isn't shown, the skinny FLUDD design reveals that this was taken very early in development. This screenshot also shows what would be the earliest known designs of Ricco Harbor and Blooper. The sky in the background is the same as the early sky found in the test map.

This screenshot was used as a texture for the water in Bowser's bath tub. The HUD is in its final design stage, but Noki City has much bluer lighting and no fog effects. It is likely this screenshot was chosen for the sake of humor.

Early Title Screen Graphics

These files are all found in title.szs, which seems to be dedicated to an early title screen. The final game's title screen is contained in option.szs.

pushstart.bti & j_pushstart.bti - Most likely used before the the start up screen was finalized. There are two versions of it, with j_pushstart.bti being 75% the size of the other.

j_face.bti - A badly cropped Mario silhouette.

j_titlebl.bti - A partially messed up shadow of a title screen.

Unused Text

Unused Episode Names

In the file that contains all of the Episode names, common/2d/scenarioname, numerous instances of "Red Coin Riddle" or "Red Coin Riddle 1/2" can be found. These most likely belong to the various timed Red Coin challenges in Secret platforming stages. Despite never being used, the titles were properly translated. There are also a few instances of "???".

Placeholder Text

Some of the files in game_6.szs/scrn contain what seems to be placeholder text for testing purposes. message_board_1.blo contains a snippet of lyrics from 1928 song I Wanna Be Loved By You.

I wanna be loved by
you. Just you nobody
else  but you.
I wanna be kissed
by you alone.
I couldn't aspire

The files pause_1.blo and scenario_demo_1.blo use lyrics from Ben E. King's 1961 single Stand by Me.

pause_1.blo:

Stand by me

scenario_demo_1.blo:

When the night has come

The file standard_1.blo contains an interesting snippet of text that may or may not be lyrics.

Good morning
Hello !
Good morning
Hello !
Good morning
Hello !

(Source: Peardian)

Undefined Message Error

Man, what do you WANT me to say?

It seems that Sunshine has an error handler built in for undefined message pointers.

Missing Stage Select Menu

To do: research further In action(?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q30Jd9pdQ04

The archive title.szs appears to be dedicated to a debug version of the title screen, with a placeholder logo and message files that call up lists of level names. Currently, the code to actually make use of these files has not been found.

Stage Select List

The file mariosun_stage.bmg contains a list of the levels in the game, plus a few more. It is a message file, which means it would be used in a text box of some sort. The level names were translated for the NA version of the game, indicating that it was probably used by the localization team as well. Special maps are listed in bold.

• Delfino AirStrip
• Delfino Plaza
• Bianco Hills
• Ricco Harbor
• Gelato Beach
• Pinna Park
• Sirena Beach
• Pianta Village
• Noki Bay
• Corona Mountain
• Scale Map
• Test Map 1

Extended List of Names

The file title.blo brings up a list of unlocalized level names that seem to belong to some kind of level select menu. It is a graphics script file, meaning it only draws graphics to the screen. The locations in bold were cut from the final game, which suggests this list is from earlier in production.

• Airport (Delfino Airstrip)
• Dolpic Town (Delfino Plaza)
• Ricco harbor
• Bianco hills
• Mamma beach (Gelato Beach)
• Sirena beach
• Hotel delfino
• Pina parco (Pinna Park)
• Hotel Lacrima (translates to "tear")
• Mare village (Noki Bay)
• Monte village (Pianta Village)
• Erto rock (translates to "steep" or "elevate")
• Warship island
• Fire shrine
• ex map ("ex" is typically used to denote the Secret platforming stages)
• Corona mountain
• Scale map (The... map screen?)
• Test map
• Test map 2

(Source: Peardian)

Mystery of the Delfino Express

The Japanese version of the game contains an extra ARC that was removed from later releases, named message.szs. Its only contents are two message files, named station.bmg and system.bmg. One contains a list of stations and harbors for the levels, while the other contains dialogue for buying tickets and getting them stamped. As a number of the locations listed are landlocked, it must be concluded that these files belong to a scrapped train system for the island. Given the locations listed, this would have been the primary means of accessing levels in the game. Strangely, Pinna Park is among the listed locations, as are several other presumably island locations. This implies that either there was a bridge to Pinna Park, the train is a subway, or that Pinna Park was not always on the tail island.

station.bmg

The actual list is in Japanese, so the translated names are listed below. Notice that this list is very similar to the list of levels given in the unused title screen menu, except that Lighthouse Island is new. In the final game, the only lighthouse on the island is in Delfino Plaza.

• Dolphic Town Station
• Rico Harbor Station
• Bianco Hills Entrance
• Mamma Beach Station
• Sirena Beach Station
• In front of Hotel Delfino
• Pinna Parco Station
• In front of Hotel Lacrima
• Mare Village Harbor
• Monte Village Station
• Erto Rock Station
• Battleship Island (TEMPORARY) Harbor
• In front of Flame Temple (TEMPORARY)
• Lighthouse Island (TEMPORARY) Harbor
• Corona Mountain Entrance

system.bmg

These snippets belong to what would be dialogue trees.

Japanese	Translation
ご乗車　いたしま～すか？ はい いいえ	Will you be riding with us today? Yes No
乗車券を　拝見いたしま～す！	Please let me see your ticket!
まで シュッパ～ツ進行！！	Now departing for [...]!!
～！
～！
またのご利用お待ちしておりま～す。	See you next time!
ただいま にて 行きスタンプ絶賛発売中で～す！！	Right now, highly acclaimed travel stamps to [...] are on sale!!
ただ今　当駅にて 行きスタンプ 発売中で～す！	Right now, highly acclaimed travel stamps to this station are on sale!
行きスタンプ ご購入され～ますか？ はい いいえ	Will you be purchasing a travel stamp? Yes No
ご利用　ありがとうご～ざいます！	Thank you for travelling with us!
行き	Bound for [...]
にて販売中で～す！	[...] bound for [...] on sale now!
価格は ソルコインで～す！	The price comes to [...] Sol Coins!
やめる	Cancel
やめる	Cancel

(Source: Peardian, Translation: AkiraTrooper, divingkataetheweirdo, GlitterBerri)

Obscured Map Text

On the top-left and bottom-right of the in-game map of Isle Delfino is some brief tourism marketing copy, tying in with the idea that Mario received this tourist map upon arrival. While the first section of text is perfectly legible, the second (guide_tx_2.bti) is partially obscured by a simple boat animation. With obscured portions marked in bold, it reads as follows:

Picturesque bays, rolling hills, quaint

villages and more await you... Contact

Delfino Tours to plan your vacation today!

Region Differences

Nintendo logo

Japan	America
Red is apparently outside the visible spectrum of Asians.	Phew, back to normal. We can't be seen wearing the color of Sega in public!

The Nintendo logo is blue in the Japanese version.

Title screen

Japan	US	Europe
	This was before Mario games' logos commented on the players' sexuality.

The Japanese title screen has "Super Mario Sunshine" written in both English and Japanese. The American title screen has a bigger logo than the Japanese or European versions. To accommodate this, the "PRESS START" text was also somewhat awkwardly moved to fit on-screen. The European title screen keeps the title screen layout the same as the Japanese version, but the logo re-positioned the tree to be on the left side rather than on the right.

Options menu

Japan	America

The Japanese version didn't have the ability to turn off the subtitles. This is most likely due to the Japanese version using English voice acting during cutscenes. The layout of the American screen was slightly altered for the extra setting to fit.

Level select

To do: Add pictures for Monte Village (J) -> Pianta Village (U)

Japan	America

Japan	America

They changed these level names for the English-speaking audience. Note that Mare is the name for Noki, and Monte is the name for Pianta. Additionally, stories are called episodes and "My score" was reduced to "Score" in the international releases.

Isle Delfino

To do: Get relevant YouTube videos.

Japan	America
How to seem exotic in Japan: Use English.	How to seem exotic in America: Use Italian.

In the American version, the island is always referred to as "Isle Delfino" while the name is less consistent in the Japanese version.

As can be seen in the above screenshot, the name "Dolphic Island" (a translation of ドルピックとう, the in-game Japanese name) is shown during the intro. The speaker (which uses the same English voice acting) still refers to it as "Isle Delfino", even when "Dolphic Island" is shown in the corner.

On a related note, Hotel Delfino was always named Delfino, even in the Japanese version. A poster inside the hotel that reads "Dolpic" was left unlocalized in the other releases.

The Prosecutor

During the court scene, the judge still says "Isle Delfino" while the prosecutor uses an alternate take where he instead creates a third variant of the island's name: "Delfino Isle". During this take, the prosecutor's voice actor also misreads all instances of "shine" as "shrine", resulting in terms like "Shrine Sprites" and "Shrine Gate".

Mario's Conversation

When starting a new game, the intro cutscene contains Mario and Toadsworth speaking in the background as Peach spots Shadow Mario while they are stranded from the goop. In a bit of self-referential humor, Mario cheerily says "Looks like Mario's gonna have to find a job," to which Toadsworth irritatedly asks "Are you starting a new career?" right before changing the subject and going back to the script about the princess' well-being. This banter is not subtitled, and it was mysteriously removed from International versions in spite of it being in clear English.

An additional line removed from the international version, Mario saying something like "It looks like a giant pool of paint" can be heard earlier in the same cutscene, in the shot right before the Toads' lines.

Jump off of Yoshi

The way Mario jumps off of Yoshi differs between the Japanese and the international versions. In the Japanese version, he jumps off directly above Yoshi and in the international versions, he jumps off rather behind him. This change was most probably done in order to fix a glitch that allows you to clip through ceilings when jumping off of Yoshi. However, this change also introduced the "infinite flutter" glitch that allows you to flutter consecutively by jumping off and using a ground-pound immediately.

Level Preview Video

Japan	America

The video that plays in the graffiti portal to Bianco Hills was re-rendered for the US release, as the original Japanese version shows a very noticeable cut when the video loops. There is still a cut in the position of the windmill and clouds in the NA version, but it is more subtle.

Endings

The Japanese versions of the post-credits endings have the text as part of the video. The text was made into separate graphics for the US release.