Super Mario 64 Disk Version (June 12th 2000)

On June 12th 2000, the final version of Super Mario 64 Disk Version was ultimately cancelled by the higher-ups of Nintendo. The game was an enhanced version of the 1996 classic, slated to release on the Nintendo 64DD as a display of the console's technical capabilities.

This version of the elusive game was never released, but has been stated to be far enough into development for most of the additions to be included. Most information of the game comes from an anonymous developer in 2004 during the build-up to Super Mario 64 DS' release, with screenshots and scans to authenticate their claims. The original posts have been lost to time, meaning that some information has yet to be recovered.

Development
A version of Super Mario 64 running on the Nintendo 64DD had existed since the addon's unveiling in 1995. According to the anonymous developer from 2004, they and a small development team were tasked with updating this version of Super Mario 64 into an enhanced experience to show off the capabilites of the Nintendo 64DD. This happened directly after the release of the Nintendo 64DD in Japan, where the console was already underperforming and Nintendo were worried that the addon would require a game to prove its worth in the west.

Development of this new version of Super Mario 64 was an uphill battle according to the anonymous developer as Nintendo continued to pile more and more demands onto the relatively tiny development team, as well as the struggles of having to translate and decompile Super Mario 64's messy and outdated code. The anonymous developer was a frequent playtester for the game and recalls many of the additions and removals that the game had during development.

However on June 12th 2000, the project was unexpectedly shut down when Nintendo finally decided that the Nintendo 64DD would not be worth bringing internationally, and that Super Mario 64 would not save the console from mediocrity. The anonymous developer remains unaware if any builds of this disk version that they worked on (not the versions made before 2000) still exist today.

Real-Time Clock
Super Mario 64 Disk Version was intended to use the Nintendo 64DD's real-time clock to simulate a day-and-night cycle in-game. The anonymous developer recalled that fifteen unique backgrounds were made in order to achieve this effect, although it was not implemented into every level. Big Boo's Haunt, Hazy Maze Cave, Lethal Lava Land, and Wet-Dry World were all explicitly mentioned to be unaffected by the time of day.

Behaviours of enemies and course-specific events would also change depending on the time of day. For instance, Hoot was originally going to only appear during the night as opposed to having to be woken up. The enemies that would appear in a course would also change depending on the time of day. For example, Dry Bones were originally intended to appear in Shifting Sand Land if it was night.

To use the real-time clock to it's fullest potential, three courses were made to fully utilise the time of day in order to achieve certain power stars. These courses go as follows:
 * Sun Dial Mile, a first floor level that was said to be similar to Bob-omb Battlefield as it was a grassy field area. The focal point of the level is the elaborate sundial placed in the center of the level, which was positioned so that it would point to the mission in regards to the corresponding time of day. The level was split into four sections to reflect the four major times of day: sunrise, morning, afternoon and night.
 * Motor Rotor Factory, a basement course that was said to be set in a factory. According to the developer, shipments would come into the level at certain times of day that would change the arrangement of platforms, and the player could earn these shipments by reading a sign the player is spawned in front of. The course is stated to have rising water levels, ladders as seen in concept artwork, and a robotic, spherical enemy not unlike a Chuck-ya. Judging by it's description, it can be assumed this enemy is the scrapped Motos enemy.
 * Tick Tock Clock, which appears in the original Super Mario 64, was intended to be completely reworked to use the real-time clock. The clock Mario enters to get into the course would be synced up to the real-time clock. Depending on the time of day, the arrangement of platforms in the level would change. At night, the mechanisms of the clock would stop moving in the same way that entering the level at 12 in the original game would cause the course to be still. The level would also get a tint to reflect the time of day.

Internet Connectivity
While never implemented fully, Super Mario 64 Disk Version was going to use the Nintendo 64DD's online service, Randnet. The anonymous developer vividly remembered the rest of the team struggling to think how to actively involve internet connectivity into Super Mario 64 in a reasonably sensible manner, without being too intrusive on the game.

The idea that got the furthest into development was a world ranking system, where players would be able to share their times and coin counts for certain missions. The player was intended to submit and view records by talking to Koopa the Quick, who would appear outside of Princess Peach's Castle after beating him in Bob-omb Battlefield. However this was never implemented into the game, as stated by the anonymous developer.

Since online play was considered too unlikely given Randnet's capabilities, the team opted instead to try and incorporate a ghost trials system into the world ranking system, similar to the Mario Kart series. While the feature did end up working, the team eventually decided that the idea should be scrapped due to how taxing it was on the Nintendo 64 hardware to upload replays between consoles, with one Nintendo 64 overheating beyond repair in one test session.