1001
After dealing the final hit to King Boo in Super Mario Sunshine, he explodes into pink, orange or purple bubbles. The color depends on what fruit was thrown at him for the final hit; it corresponds to the color Yoshi would become when eating that fruit.
1002
A pre-release screenshot of Super Mario Bros. 3 from the Japanese Famimaga magazine shows Morton Koopa Jr. with a color scheme that makes him resemble Bowser. On the right is a recreation of the design using the finished game's Morton sprite and Bowser palette.
1003
Officially licensed 2018 Mario Kart Banana Peel slippers from Japan.
1004
In the Japanese/North American version of Super Mario Bros., Bloopers cannot affect Mario when he is standing on the seafloor. However, the European version modified the code to let them sink 4 pixels lower, so that Mario is no longer safe on the seafloor. Details in image.
1005
Extremely rare 1993 "Cursed King of Pipe Land" plushie from Japan. In the Super Mario All-Stars version of SMB3, the king of Pipe Land is transformed into a Yoshi. As he is only seen for a few seconds, this is one of the most obscure characters receiving official merchandise.
1006
The North American commercial for Yoshi's Island DS contains an original 3D model of Baby Donkey Kong that is visible for less than 2 seconds during one scene. The model is distinct from the model later used in Mario Super Sluggers by having a smaller mouth.
1007
The official Nintendo Power guide for Super Mario 64 contradicts itself between the enemy glossary (top row) and the course guide (bottom row). It is possible the glossary was written for an earlier version of the game where enemies like the Mad Piano could in fact be defeated.
1008
Illustration from an article speculating on potential future Mario games from the Spanish Hobby Consolas magazine, showing a concept of a cooking game called Mario World Pizzeria. The drawing includes a cameo appearance of Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
1009
In Super Mario Sunshine, whenever Mario is in a free fall state for an extended time, the model for his cap begins to undulate, likely to simulate the effect of strong wind. Due to the camera automatically zooming out when Mario is falling, this is very difficult to see in-game.
1010
Promotional photos from the premiere of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie in Buenos Aires, Argentina, featuring a Mario mascot suit unique to that event.
1011
On the My Nintendo website, the user's Mii will be engaged in a random activity on the top of the page. One of them is painting (left); clicking the Mii will reveal one of 8 paintings that appear with varying rarities (right), 5 of which are related to the Mario series.
1012
Some minigames in the Nintendo 64 Mario Party games are programmed to never end in a draw. Instead, they are biased in favor of Player 1; even with identical inputs among the players, the game cheats on the last frame to let Player 1 win. Details in image.
1013
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wario is able to get up after losing all HP in a Stamina Brawl and continue fighting despite his HP display being completely gone under specific circumstances involving his Final Smash. Details in image.
1014
The high-polygon model of the New Donk City taxis in Super Mario Odyssey, which has 5306 triangles, compared to the low-polygon model, which is over 36 times simpler at 144 triangles. The model on the right is used for the flying taxis and the ones driving on distant bridges.
1015
The Bowser and Bowser Jr. snow sculptures found in the background of the "Fliprus Floes" level in New Super Luigi U, extracted from the game's data.
1016
In Super Mario World, the Dino Rhinos do not attack; however, there are unused sprites of them spitting fire in the data (mockup on left). 26 years later, this is referenced in Paper Mario: Color Splash where Dino Rhinos finally are able to perform that attack (right).
1017
1999 Christmas poster from the German Club Nintendo magazine. Note that the Pokémon characters were not part of the original drawing and were quickly pasted in before release due to the unexpected success of the franchise in Germany in the final months of 1999.
1018
The intro to the arcade version of Donkey Kong Jr. features a scene where a second Mario appears. This character is not mentioned in any supplementary material and is missing from all other ports and remakes of the game. Note that the game predates Luigi's existence by a year.
1019
Behind-the-scenes photos from Charles Martinet's first interactive Mario In Real Time performance at the 1993 Summer Consumer Electronics Show. Left: Martinet watches another actor use the motion-capture headgear, middle: Martinet in his headgear, right: the interactive monitor.
1020
Store display for a 1992 Nintendo/Pepsi cross-promotional campaign. This is chronologically the first time Yoshi has been seen wearing reindeer antlers, which has become a recurring theme and most recently appeared as Yoshi's Reindeer outfit in Mario Kart Tour.
1021
The title screen for Super Mario Advance has darkened edges (left). The lit area in the middle is 160x144 pixels, exactly the resolution of the original Game Boy (insert on right). As a Game Boy Advance launch title, this effect was meant to illustrate the increase in resolution.
1022
Mario Party 5, 6 and 7 each contain references to the Paper Mario series, although with each following game, the references become more minor and obscure, with the final one being only a design of part of one character's clothing. Details below.
1023
Set of four rare Christmas-themed plush toys of Mario characters, available exclusively as prizes from claw machines in Japan in the winter of 1993.
1024
Shigeru Miyamoto with his personal collection of Mario memorabilia in 1995. I had previously posted a black-and-white version of this photo in 2018, however, this higher-resolution color version of it has recently surfaced.
1025
While most Mario artwork since 2000 is available in high resolution due to being distributed digitally to journalists, there are exceptions. This Super Mario 64 DS artwork of Wario throwing Luigi is exclusive to a single guide and no high-resolution version of it was ever found.
Additional obscure Mario content for suppermariobroth.com.
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