Small Mario Findings

Officially licensed 1993 Toad plush keychain from Japan.

In Paper Mario: The Origami King, one of the jokes that can be optionally encountered in the brief visit to Peach's Castle late in the game is attempting to open the door on the right side of the foyer, which is locked. Bowser will then suggest there is nothing on the other side to begin with.

While this is true in the sense that there is no actual way to open the door and it does not lead to a room, looking behind the door reveals there is actually a space there that is identical to the spaces used for loading zones behind other openable doors in the game, so the door could in fact accommodate being opened and taking Mario to another room. It stands to reason that the space behind the door would not be modeled at all if it was not intended to be opened at any point, as is overwhelmingly the case with unopenable doors in 3D video games.

This suggests that the door was possibly intended to lead somewhere during development and the room was removed, and Bowser's comment is not merely making fun of unopenable doors in video games but also is inside joke for the developers. It should however be noted that it is possible that the space was simply copied over from the other side of the room when it was modeled (since the layout is symmetrical), though the room is not actually exactly symmetrical making this slightly less likely.

Source: noclip.website

Promotional shirt from the Tour de Fun, an event held in Chicago by Nintendo of America in 1990.

Source: 5starvintage

Super Mario Run contains, among other unused graphics, two "dummy" graphics in its files that are absurdly low-resolution images of a Bowser statue and the Acorn Plains background, rendering them nearly unrecognizable.

Source: DogToon64

Extremely rare officially licensed 1987 Golf: Japan Course (Japan-exclusive Famicom Disk System golf game) handkerchief from Japan.

Source: nadeshico.Japan

Original illustration from the El Mundo de Nintendo newsletter, a precursor to the Mexican edition of the Club Nintendo magazine, featuring Mario alongside other NES game characters.

Source: SuperGamer18

Comparison between the model for the cage containing the entrance to Big Boo's Haunt between Super Mario 64 (left side) and Super Mario 64 DS (right side).

In both cases, the two buildings inside the cage are actually modeled, which is extremely difficult to see in the games (particularly for the shed), but the way in which they are modeled differs between the versions. The Super Mario 64 version has less details but more authentic textures, while the Super Mario 64 DS version adds windows to the mansion but makes the buildings look much more primitive.

Source: MrGameAndSketch, Peardian

Officially licensed 1998 Yoshi's Story T-shirt.

Source: rky.vtg

Chuck Quizmo from Paper Mario is a worm, as confirmed by his original Japanese name ハテナ虫 (Question Worm, using a general word that means "bug" but also includes worms). This may be immediately apparent to some players, while his cartoonish design and striped color scheme may suggest he is simply an unidentified fantasy creature to others.

To underscore his worm nature, an easily overlooked detail is that the three animated symbols that appear out of his hat (the question mark, correct and incorrect symbols) appear to be worm-themed, being pink, shiny and wriggling.

The final boss battle against Bowser in Super Mario Sunshine has notoriously bad collision on the crumbling platform parts that begin to fall down when Mario performs a Ground Pound on the markings around the arena, causing many players to fall through the cracks between the parts as they attempt to get back to the main platform.

However, on particularly unfortunate occasions, the collision can cause Mario to die immediately upon performing the Ground Pound, as seen in the footage. The cracks always form in the same locations; if Mario happens to be precisely aligned with one of them, he will fall through the microscopic seam without the player having any chance to do anything about it.

Source: DrSiXfInGeRs

Officially licensed 1986 Super Mario Bros. scratch-off game featuring original illustrations, from Japan.

Source: j-vintage-toys

Print ad announcing the launch of Nintendo products in Brazil via official distributor Playtronic, featuring Mario with a Brazilian flag.

Source: bro3256

The first design of the official Mario page for Nintendo of America (at mario.nintendo.com) when it launched in 2004.

Source: Nelsonic

Officially licensed 2026 set of Luma plush bag tags for the Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Source: blacktangent

In Super Mario World, defeating a Galoomba (left) (known as Goombas at the time of the game's release) or a Koopa Troopa (right) with Cape Mario's diving attack will display a small unintended graphic that is very easy to miss due to how small it is.

These graphics are actually the game attempting to display a dedicated "squished Galoomba" or "squished Koopa Troopa" sprite, which existed at one point during development but were later overwritten by other, unrelated graphics that happen to be small enough to be easily overlooked.

The bottom image shows the sprites as they once existed, recovered from development files.

Officially licensed 1999 Mario Golf keychain of Bowser, from Japan.

Source: hideyuki_0102

Early concept art for the Luncheon Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey, seen in the Art of Super Mario Odyssey book. Note the design of the buildings to resemble cabinets and other furniture that would be seen in a kitchen; this concept was not used in the finished game where the architecture of the kingdom is simply in a Roman temple style instead.