The newly emerged http://discmaster.textfiles.com archive crawler website came bearing gifts. Bsky user rabidrodent unearthed the most lucid captures of the Virtual Boy Mario Adventure project Nintendo dispreferred over the three dee jamborees of Mario Clash.
What is most remarkable is that this cancelled project openly features some traditional Japanese, namely Kyoto cultural elements that could not be found in the remaining mainline Mario game of that era. Notice the 倧 (Daimonji) character atop a mountain, a reference to the Gozan no Okuribi Summer festival fires.
There is also very suggestive use of the Torii gates. Habitually found at the entrance of Shinto shrines, they symbolize the passage from earthly to holy domains. Their functional representation in the game allows the player to move into a third dimension.
Lastly, we have what appears to be an interesting take on traditional Buddha head statues as a timed ascending/descending obstacle, shown here with the shape of Wario's visage and eccentrically jagged moustache.
Coincidentally, traditional Japanese motifs were sporadically featured in Mario games released since, namely in Super Mario RPG (Monstro Town), Super Mario 3D World (Hands-On Hall), and more recently in the Mario Odyssey's reimagining of Bowser's as medieval Japanese castle.
Remarkably, the concept for this game weaved a Zelda-inspired top-down oblique perspective into what was expected to be a Super Mario Land 2 sequel. Notice elegant the design of Mario's sprites despite the fact that a large portion of their visual makeup is rendered in pure black. While the first one is nearly identical to the final sprite featured in Mario Clash, the second was disposed off alongside much of what made this concept so extraordinary.
