Super Mario 64 Prototypes and Beta Discoveries

The development versions of Super Mario 64 have long been mysterious to many people, as not much is known about the early stages of the game. Well, recently, after doing a lot of research and contacting various people who worked on the game in 1995-1996, we can finally see some of the early stages of the game.

I will not disclose the names of the people who provided these images to me because I don't want other people to bug them asking for more information, and also to respect their privacy in general. This is the most I could get, so please enjoy it.

"This was a very early test, one of the earliest for the game, and it had a Mario model but no animation. There are test objects, such as cubes and pyramids, to test how objects look in-game." (the description of the image given to me by anonymous sender.)

I asked in return "Would you happen to know the date of this build?"

He replied with "Yes, the image has been dated, so I don't know the exact date any longer, but I remember this being from October, or November 1994. At this point, the game had been in development for several months."

This confirms that Super Mario 64 started development sometime in late 1994. At this point in time, the Nintendo 64 was only known under the codename Project Reality, along with the fact of it being a collaboration with Silicon Graphics

"This is the castle level, it's from when the levels began creation.. There was going to be stars in this level but in the beginning it was a test. At this time there was one you could reach with the owl, who came out of the egg."

I responded, asking him if it was the same level from these screenshots. (image below)

He replied with "Yes, same level, but it's a newer version. My version of the image is probably from May 1995, but I know it's not the same because Mario's face and numbers look different." (I believe he means the HUD.)

And now, the insane one...

"This is a two-player test map circa April 1995. This had to be removed early on due to issues such as memory constraints and bugs. We wanted to reuse the Luigi model for a two-player mini-game similar to Mario Bros., but it was cut due to the fact that the Nintendo 64 sold with a single controller."

Oh my god, this is the first ever look at the official Luigi model.. That's insane!

Well to anyone still curious about if Luigi was actually going to appear in Super Mario 64 or not, this is for you. Case closed, I guess! Hey... Where's my $100, IGN?

I asked, "Was the Mario Bros. minigame actually developed, or was it just an idea that never came to fruition?"

"Koji Kondo was making the track. However, it was scrapped before he could finish it. In terms of gameplay, if I remember, there were some tests done with enemies like Goomba and Togezo (Japanese name for Spiny, I believe), but it was removed relatively quickly.."

Unfortunately, I believe this is all that this man has. At least, for now, as he said he would search for more on old hard drives. I'm going to keep searching, and contacting more people who hopefully will be willing to share things.

I will certainly update this page as soon as I find more.

Update 1.27.03

By god, I think I've come across someone with a prototype build. Please stay tuned. This could take a few months.

2001 - 2003. Page created by HatEB64