Small Mario Findings

In New Super Mario Bros., objects called Obstacle Bubbles appear in two underwater levels: 1-A and 8-3, their functionality being simply to bump Mario away, similarly to the Bumper course parts from the Super Mario Maker games.

Since they are never encountered above water, Mario cannot interact with them using his various jump moves. However, they have an unused functionality whereby if they are Ground Pounded, they will "pop" and give Mario 200 points. Whether this is merely an unintended consequence of how items are programmed and this behavior was inherited from another object without any particular purpose to it, or whether it means that Obstacle Bubbles were considered to appear aboveground at some point in development, is unknown.

In the Donkey Kong arcade, Pauline's lost hat, purse and parasol are found as items that give Mario bonus points. However, despite this, no artwork exists that actually shows Pauline receiving the items back, including wearing the hat.

In Super Mario Odyssey, the items reappear, this time as 3D models. Even though Pauline again never wears her lost hat (having a new red hat as part of her outfit instead), it is now possible to use a model editor to place the hat on her head to at least view an approximation of how she would have looked if she did wear the lost hat.

Source: djfox11

A glitch may occur in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam if Paper Mario is swinging his hammer while Mario obtains an item, whereby Paper Mario's head and hands will be missing entirely during the "item obtained" pop-up.

Source: super_a_a_a

Officially licensed 2024 keychain of the Poltergust 5000 from Luigi's Mansion 2 HD from Japan. The vacuum nozzle contains a light that can be activated via a button on the opposite side of the nozzle (not visible in the photo).

Cover of a 1992 Argentinian VHS release of the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon series, confusingly named "Super Mario Bros. 2" instead. In addition, every instance of Luigi's name on the cover is spelled "Luiggi".

Internally in Super Mario 64, the Fwoosh enemy (the cloud that blows off Mario's hat in Tall, Tall Mountain) and Lakitu's cloud are actually the same object, merely with one parameter changed from true to false.

Setting it to true gives the cloud a face, which also activates its Fwoosh programming and makes it stay in a spot. Setting it to false does not spawn the face, which makes the cloud a decorative object that will snap to the nearest Lakitu object.

This is also the reason why looking at a Lakitu from a distance before approaching him for the first time shows the Lakitu sitting in mid-air without the cloud: the cloud simply hasn't snapped to him yet and will only do so when Mario gets close.

Source: Peardian

Rare officially licensed 2017 Donkey Kong-themed glasses.

Source: rwalkabout6bhc

The code of Paper Mario contains Goombario's sister Goombaria as an unused party member. She will appear correctly on the overworld as seen in the footage, but has no special ability that is activated with C-Down like other partners. Entering a battle with her crashes the game.

Interestingly, after modifying the game to activate her, Mario is locked into having her until the game is reset, as trying to switch from her to any other party member by pressing C-Right will cause the world to unload. Note how in the end of the footage, the player presses C-Right and Mario, Goombaria, and the entire environment disappear, leaving only the skybox.

Source: TailsLaboratory3322

Set of ten officially licensed 2026 Super Mario Galaxy Movie keychains from Japan.

Source: 1468z

Peach panna cotta served at Tower Records restaurants in Japan in 2015 for a Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary collaboration event.

In the credits of Donkey Kong Land 3, a Knocka enemy (Kremling hiding in a barrel) is incorrectly identified as a Krusha enemy (the muscular blue Kremlings from Donkey Kong Country).

This would be rather unremarkable if not for the fact that Krushas do not actually appear in Donkey Kong Land 3, making this not an issue of the enemy names inside the game being mistakenly switched around but of one of the designers seemingly legitimately mixing up the names of two different enemies when making the credits.

Source: donkeykonghistory

Officially licensed 2006 Goomba T-shirt.

Unused parameters in the files of Paper Mario: Sticker Star show that 5-Coins were originally meant to be red before being made the same golden color as all other coin denominations.

Note that in Super Mario 64, the most prominent game where different coin denominations used different colors, red coins were worth 2 coins instead, while blue coins were worth 5.

Source: HunterXuman

In Super Mario Galaxy 2, there is a planetoid in the Supermassive Galaxy that is populated by three Giant Koopas (the only instance of these enemies in the game), which have to be defeated via a Spin Drill to hit them from below.

The internal name for the planetoid is "SmallBigMetboZone", with "Metbo" being the Japanese name for the Goombeetle enemy. This suggests that the planetoid was originally meant to feature Giant Goombeetles instead (which do not exist in the finished game).

This would also explain why a Spin Drill is used; normally Koopa Troopas are vulnerable to jumps while Goombeetles aren't, so it would be more logical to have the enemies also be giant versions of something that would not be defeatable by jumping to make the necessity of the Spin Drill more evident (though of course, obviously the intention of the finished game is that the Giant Koopas are simply too large to be bothered by Mario's jumps).

Top: in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the Boomerang Bros. were given unique designs to match the Beanbean Kingdom location (left) that differentiated them so much from the regular Boomerang Bros. that they were given a new species name in the Nintendo 3DS version: "Beanerang Bros." (right).

Bottom: however, the opposite happened to the Hammer Bros. during development. The earliest design, seen in the prototype version of the game (left), was also made to be Beanbean Kingdom-inspired, but was changed to merely a stylized take on the regular design in the finished game (middle). In the Nintendo 3DS version, this was then completely standardized to an on-model depiction of the regular design (right).

Source: Tailikku

Officially licensed 1996 Mario Kart 64 pullback kart toys from Japan.

Source: blacktangent

Officially licensed 2022 children's Peach-themed gown.

Source: solvethepuzzle