Chroma Tundra

Chroma Tundra is an unused stage that can manifest in certain copies of Super Mario 64 and is usually found on the Fourth Floor. It is infamous for its precise platforming and violent blizzard, which obstructs the player's view and pushes them around, which complicates traversal of the level. Chroma Tundra was most likely cut because of its appearance on the Fourth Floor, its sheer, unfair difficulty and its surprisingly dark parts that hint at an earlier version of the game's story.

Overview
Chroma Tundra itself can be described as a frozen, extremely dangerous and difficult to traverse wasteland that is full of freezing lakes connected by rivers that pervade the level like veins, creating currents that slowly drive small ice caps on their surfaces towards the next lake. If the player comes in contact with the water, they will take damage and bounce off it's surface, supporting the assumption that the water in this level is a reskin of lava, similar to the freezing water found in Snowman's Land. The ice in this level has a unique texture, that some people described as more similar to chrome then to ice.

Reports suggest that the course has no borders and seemingly goes on forever, likely due to Procedural Generation. However, the terrain outside of the area the player spawns in and where all later described landmarks are located, is presumably just a random assortment of ice platforms and freezing lakes.

Landmarks
The landmarks that were reported on within the intended area include an igloo village inhabited by apparently appropriate winter clothing wearing Toads, and a place known as the Blizzard-Lands, that resembles a supposedly climbable mountain range where the blizzard is much stronger than usual. The starting area is an island in a small freezing lake, which requires taking ice damage to escape. However, by using the later unlocked Ice Cap, the player can escape the island without taking damage.

The Frozen Citadel
"The Frozen Citadel" refers to a large, grey and cuboid structure, presumably owned by Bowser, located in one of the freezing lakes. To ascend the citadel, the player has to cross an array of several large, floating stone platforms forming a stairway of sorts. On top, the player first has to defeat the enemies located there, subsequently opening up a large trap door leading into the citadel. After jumping into it, the player will drop into a pool of water, with skeeters roaming on it's surface. The player reportedly has two paths to choose from at this point, either they follow the tunnel that leads to the boss fight against Prince Frostbite, or they dive down and encounter a passage to a staircase leading up to an area which resembles a prison.

Details on the prison area vary from report to report, however most players agree that it has several floors that are connected by staircases. The floors themselves all consist of a large hallway with small rooms resembling prison cells, that are cut off from the hallways by metal bars. Cells are located on both sides of the hallway, with the staircases located at both ends. Most cells are filled with Toads that can't be interacted with, however there are empty ones that show signs of jailbreak. All floors look identical with the exception of the highest one, which contains the Ice Cap switch at the end of it's hallway. Behind the Cap Switch, a hole in the wall leads to the beginning of the citadel, letting the player drop in the pool of water again and therefore making the path to the boss fight against Prince Frostbite much shorter.

Ice Cap
Chroma Tundra is set in a tundra with many freezing lakes that burn the player like lava, making usage of the anomalous Ice Cap the only reliable way to get through certain parts of the level. The Ice Cap allows the player to throw ice crystals that freeze enemies and small parts of water and, more importantly for this level, grants the player immunity to ice damage. When the player comes in contact with the freezing water, they won't take damage anymore but still bounce off the water's surface. This appears to be the cap equivalent of the Ice Flower, the counterpart of the anomalous Fire Flower power-up.

Missions
''This level appears to be one of the most finished unused levels reported in Super Mario 64, as no other full course has a mission list this consistent, down to the names. However, one should still take this list with a grain of salt.''
 * 1) 8 RED COINS HIDDEN IN THE BLIZZARD
 * 2) TUSSLE WITH PRINCE FROSTBITE
 * 3) BELLE IN THE BLIZZARD LANDS
 * 4) ASCEND BOWSER'S FROZEN CITADEL
 * 5) CAPSIZED!
 * 6) KOOPA THE QUICK IN THE UNBEARABLE BLIZZARD
 * 7) 100 COIN STAR

8 Red Coins Hidden in the Blizzard
After getting away from the starting island, the player will come across a larger freezing lake. There will be some very thin, moving ice platforms they need to traverse to get to the other side. It won't take too long to get across, but it will be difficult because of the blizzard pushing the player around. At the other side is the igloo village, where the player can interact with the Toads living there. They mention how things were better before Bowser trapped them in Chroma Tundra. Also frequently mentioned is the Blizzard-Lands, which they will give directions to and mention that red coins can be found there. It is recommended to unlock the Ice Cap before attempting to complete this mission, as reports suggest that the unusually strong blizzard there makes it nearly impossible to survive in the Blizzard-Lands without it.

Tussle with Prince Frostbite
This Star takes place in Bowser's Frozen Citadel. After gaining entrance to the citadel and following the tunnel inside of it, as described in the section dedicated to the citadel, there will be a particularly large room with some unlit torches, a few locked doors, and an ice golem. The aforementioned golem will introduce himself as Prince Frostbite and calls himself the guardian of the citadel and threatens to remove any unwelcome guests. However, he gives the player the choice to surrender and follow him into one of the cells or fight. It is unknown what happens if the player chooses the former option. A boss fight against him begins when the text box closes and the player has chosen to fight them. He attacks by running at the player in a straight line and tackling them, causing almost fatal damage on contact. If the player was quick enough to dodge his attack he will continue running into the wall of the arena, causing him to be stunned for a second, before getting up and performing a ground pound thereafter, which sends out a shock wave that stuns the player on contact similarly to the Bowser boss fight in Bowser in the Sky. To damage him, the player has to light the unlit torches in the arena by either ground pounding them or using the Scorched Cap if the player unlocked it already. Prince Frostbite gets smaller every time he runs into a lit torch and if he runs into one three times, he is defeated. Although, some reports claim that Prince Frostbite can also be defeated by punching or ground pounding him while he is stunned, both ways allegedly result in him melting into the ground. Oddly, unlike other bosses, he doesn't say anything before releasing a Star.

Belle in the Blizzard-Lands
When starting the mission, the music will sound more hectic. A text box appears, saying that something has happened in the igloo village. Upon arrival, all of the locals are distressed and tell the player that a little Toad girl, Belle, has gone missing in the Blizzard-Lands. The Toads say her unrivaled optimism gave everyone hope and beg Mario to save her. When arriving at the Blizzard-Lands, the player can find Belle lying on the ground of a small alcove, her model glitching in a manner that makes it look like she is violently shivering while hugging a Power Star. She says she is confident that Mario will use the Star to defeat Bowser and set the Toads free before the text box disappears, whereafter the Power Star dematerializes and Mario's Star count increases by one. Mario silently turns around and looks outside the alcove into the sky instead of doing his peace sign, the camera moving with him. The game then transitions to Princess Peach's Castle as normal. It is worth noting that in all later missions, the Toads in the village can no longer be interacted with.

Ascend Bowser's Frozen Citadel
As the title suggests, collecting this star is achieved by climbing Bowser's Frozen Citadel. After getting inside, the pool of water that the player could previously swim in has become freezing water, which allows them to bounce off it's surface to follow the tunnel and reach an alcove at it's end where a Power Star is located. The Ice Cap isn't available in this mission, resulting in players having to be very careful while attempting to get to the alcove.

Capsized!
This Star begins on top of Bowser's Frozen Citadel with the trap door leading to it's interior curiously being closed again. A text box appears straight away, saying that without the Power of the Star, the citadel will capsize. After the text box disappeared, the building starts sinking and tilting, with the only safe way to escape being to slide down the wall of the citadel. Numerous enemies are unsuccessfully trying to climb up the citadel and the floating stone platforms are slowly falling to the ground while spinning around, which the player has to dodge to avoid being damaged. Once at the bottom, the once floating stone platforms that surrounded the citadel are now drifting in the lake which, considering there wasn't an Ice Cap accessible to the player in this mission, happen to be the only way to the other side of the lake, where a Power Star is located on it's shore. This entire section is notoriously glitchy, likely due to how complex the sequence is.

Koopa the Quick in the Unbearable Blizzard
This mission begins in the igloo village, which seems to have been abandoned now as there are no Toads present in this level at this point. Koopa the Quick can be found in the Blizzard-Lands, where he offers the player to race back to the starting island. This race is known for being significantly harder than the other Koopa the Quick races, partially because Koopa the Quick has gained the ability to jump, and he jumps far. He races across the small platforms with ease and never makes any mistakes. It is advised to use the Ice Cap to have access to some shortcuts, however using the Ice Cap to create new platforms will result in Koopa the Quick accusing the player of cheating and not giving them the star. After the player has successfully beaten Koopa the Quick, a Power Star will appear high above the lake where the citadel once stood. It can only be collected by using a cannon and aiming for it precisely, as not hitting the Star will likely result in falling into freezing water and having to traverse back to the cannon.

Reports
''Everything in this section should be taken with a grain of salt. These are unverified claims by anonymous people on the internet.''

Report No. 1
"Funny, I vaguely remember this level from my cousin Sara's Game. I think there was this near-frozen little girl Toad that you had to rescue from a blizzard, making tricky jumps as the wind wooshed wildly around the two of you... Yeah, I remember now, "Belle in the Blizzard-Lands" was the Star's name. I think in the end, she just couldn't go on, so she gave you the Star before it would freeze in her arms.... ...Then she faded away... This screenshot...I think that was from the "Ascend Bowser's Frozen Citadel" star... ...I believe that's where you found the Toad-girl.  Boy, I remember Sara and I cried as the level ended. Mario didn't even do his twirl, he just looked up at the sky as the screen went to white."

"This screenshot is actually from the "capsized!" star, where you also need to climb the citadel because the ground is replaced with freezing water. The ice cap isn't available in the "Ascend Bowser's Frozen Citadel" star. Belle isn't present in this level at this point anymore."

"Oh yeah! Man! That Star was so difficult! That icy water rose so quickly, even the enemies went berserk as they tried scampering up for dear life! But they always got in the way! "

Report No. 2
"I remember one of the Stars very faintly. It was around January of 1998 when this happened, I think. I had got the game for Christmas that previous month. Have you ever wondered why there are only two races with Koopa the Quick? That is because there are actually three. Bob-Omb Battlefield, Tiny Huge Island, and Chroma Tundra. And this third race was REALLY hard. Not only did you need the Ice Cap to even get through the level (and that was already hard enough to get), but you had to find KtQ. I don't remember where he was hiding, but I remember it was hard to find him with the fog. But don't even get me started on the race. Once it starts, you race him back to where you start in the stage. The hard thing is that he jumps every corner he can to save that little extra time. The race overall took around 30 to 35 seconds for him to reach the end. On average, 7 year old me got there in around 45-ish seconds? I never beat it to say the least. The Star I believe was called something like "Koopa the Quick in the Unbearable Blizzard"."

Report No. 3
"I remember an ice golem boss in this course.. I think is was called: Tussle with the Ice Golem. You needed to make these flamers turn on to damage the boss."

Report No. 4
"Oh man, this sub-area. This is where most memories of Chroma Tundra remain for me. Aside from the creepy atmosphere, this section didn't really have anything of note, yet it is still stuck vividly in my head for whatever reason. Lucas said something about an Ice Golem in this area? Yeah, that's right. I don't think he got the details of the fight correct though. When you found him, he would give a short monologue before bouncing off of his throne and starting the fight. You would have to punch him a couple of times before you could do actual damage. Once you break the ice, you would have to jump onto one of the unlit torches in the arena and ground pound it. This would give you a short amount of time to hop off of the torch. Once the Ice Golem jumps on the torch, he would take damage. This repeats two more times before you get the Star. Lucas was pretty close with the Star name, however he got the actual boss's name wrong. The Star is actually called "Tussle with Prince Frostbite"."

Report No. 5
"I've wandered thru this level for hours, double digits I say and lemme tell you sumn real quick, this is not a normal level. walking thru an endless wasteland, the intended content of the level likely miles behind me, and this ear busting noise in my ears, it crushed my soul. i felt strange for days after. if having to punch this fucking ice giant or whatever for what felt like hours wasn't enough, this was it. if trying to hit the star in the sky for hours wasn't enough, this was it. can't tell me nobody got fired for this shit. what the fuck."

Report No. 6
"I remember this level. I don't know how and I don't know why, but I know exactly what this is, I've seen it before, particularly the subarea. I remember the feeling of grieve and intense sadness when I got to the toad jail, they looked sad and hopeless. I don't understand at all how anyone thought this was a level fit for a Mario game."

Report No. 7
"I remember playing this, and I recall feeling like I just lost someone when I was done. Not the best approach to teaching kids about this stuff, Nintendo."