Small Mario Findings

Extremely rare 1992 promotional pin for a Swiss cross-promotion event between Mario and Lusso Eldorado, a brand of ice cream.

Source: coincollectorscove

Pre-release screenshot from Mario Party 9 showing a minigame that does not exist in the final game, seemingly revolving around two players needing to catch Bowser Jr. in a large 2D room inspired by the bonus rooms from New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

In the finished game, the minigame "Zoom Room" revolves around a similar concept of two players needing to catch Bowser Jr., except taking place in a 3D maze instead of a 2D screen.

Source: RHG1951

Large store display for photo-ops at Nintendo New York for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

Source: VGArtAndTidbits

Officially licensed 1988 Super Mario Bros. 2 T-shirt depicting Mario skateboarding.

Source: daddydaughterresale

In Donkey Kong Country 2, the Lost World level Fiery Furnace contains a bonus room where the Kongs are immediately put inside a Steerable Barrel, which must be taken through a maze of brambles and Zingers to the goal.

Interestingly, it is possible to move the Steerable Barrel slightly off screen and then around the area out of bounds, as seen in the footage. This allows the entirety of the maze to be bypassed without needing to deal with any of the obstacles.

Source: tasvideos

Officially licensed 2026 Super Mario Galaxy Movie pouch from Japan.

Source: 1468z

Highest-quality available screenshot of the poker-playing ghosts from the pre-release version of Luigi's Mansion, originally published in the UK Nintendo Official Magazine in 2000. In the finished game, the ghosts are absent, though a tiny barely visible image of them can be found on one of the machines in the Ghost Portrificationizer room.

Source: Delphinus48

Illustration from an article in a 1993 issue of the Japanese Famitsu magazine, serving as a mock-up of a speculation about the future of video game presentation.

The article posits that if games using photorealistic imagery like Mortal Kombat are popular, but so are games with highly cartoony characters like the Mario series, then surely something combining the two styles into one (with cartoon bodies and live-action heads) would eventually emerge as well.

Source: Famitsu (Japan), Issue 222, 1993

1992 box of Kellogg's Apple Jacks with a Super Mario World cross-promotion event. While the Mario & Yoshi and Koopa Paratroopa illustrations are merely redrawn official art, the artwork of Mario holding six maps of the Forest of Illusion is entirely original.

Source: estatesaleuniverse

In the Poisonous Pipeline level of Donkey Kong Country 3, a bizarre "pseudo Warp Barrel" glitch may occur underneath the Koin enemy near the end of the stage whereby the playable character will act as through entering a barrel and warping to a nearby location, despite no actual barrel being present.

This appears to be tied to the exit barrel from the level's second minigame that leads to this location, but has not been observed to occur with other minigame exits in the game.

Source: DarXmash

Reader-submitted artwork of Peach with peaches, featured in a 2004 issue of the Japanese Nintendo Dream magazine.

Source: Nintendo Dream (Japan), Issue 120, 2004

Officially licensed Super Mario Bros. holographic wristwatch (and its packaging) from Japan.

Source: blacktangent

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, if Wario is knocked off his Wario Bike by an attack on the same exact frame as he would fall of the bike on his own (e.g. due to riding too long), he will drop two bikes at the same time.

The bottom left and bottom right animations show slowed-down versions of the same scenario except that in the bottom left one Wario falls off normally, while in the bottom right one Ganondorf attacks him on the correct frame for the glitch to activate.

Interestingly, both bikes need to be destroyed for Wario to be able to use the Wario Bike move again after this.

Cover of a 1997 issue of the Next Generation magazine, featuring the head of a Mario render (particularly his punching render from Super Mario 64) behind shattered glass.

Source: VGArtAndTidbits

Unlicensed Korean Mario toys, featuring a combination of redrawn artwork originating from various games and Mario cartoon series.

Source: 396kancho

Print ad for officially licensed 1993 Super Mario Bros. cookies.

Source: anguilline, discontinuedfoods

In Paper Mario: The Origami King, Luigi is found in a broken-off piece of Peach's Castle near the beginning of the game (left). Much later, Peach's Castle itself is visited, where the room that contains that broken piece can optionally be entered (right).

Almost all of the details about the piece and the room line up, with small missing pieces being explainable as having been broken off and scattered.

However, one discrepancy is the carpet. The room shows the carpet went clearly all the way to the edge of the broken piece, while the carpet in the broken piece has a gap between its right edge and the edge of the floor. It is unlikely that the carpet was intended to look like it was torn away in the cataclysm (since that would not have created such a clean geometrically aligned cut), and appears to actually be an oversight.

Source: noclip.website