Super Mario 64/July 29th 1995 build

The July 29th, 1995 build of Super Mario 64, also known as the 1995/07/29 build, is an anomalous and mysterious build. It dates back to before the Ultra 64 (the initial name for the Nintendo 64) was patented, making it perhaps the oldest piece of Nintendo 64 history.

Because of the sensitive nature of the build's contents, research on the 1995/07/29 build of Super Mario 64 is highly discouraged. It is on the infamous iceberg discussing Super Mario 64's anomalies.

Speculation
It is possible that the 1995/07/29 build wasn't even related to Mario or created by Nintendo. Instead, it was created by an unknown Japanese organization that produced the technology responsible for Super Mario 64's ability to personalize itself to its player's likeness. This build would then be sold to Nintendo and reworked into Super Mario 64.

This build allegedly has an intense texture bug, which causes the textures to change colors rapidly and induce seizures within playtesters. It's rumored these playtesters would experience horrific and nightmarish hallucinations, which seem to be the origins of some of Super Mario 64's most horrific anomalies.

Reports

 * Everything in this section should be taken with a grain of salt. These are all unverified claims.

Developer Anecdote
An anonymous user wrote of their experience talking to a foreign friend from Japan back in 1995. Their friend used to work at Nintendo, and he remarks of his time working there and working on the very first build of Super Mario 64.

The former programmer and his team were handed the prototype after Nintendo bought it from another Japanese company. The team was tasked with cleaning up the prototype for the Ultra 64. The programmer explains how this build bore no resemblance to the happy-go-lucky Mario franchise, and instead was a rather desolate build. He doesn't recall the appearance of the player character, but refers to them as looking instead "simplistic, like a low-poly ordinary man."

He goes onto discuss the castle itself. Unlike the retail release, the castle was made into one full map meaning that all the castle was smaller to fit into the exterior of the castle. Remnants of this are seen within the demos of the game seen within game shows, where the rooms with paintings are a lot smaller than they are in the release of the game.

The programmer goes into great detail in the basement. The basement was a lot darker in this build and had rather advanced fog for Nintendo 64 standards. According to the programmer, the basement acted as a testing ground for an experimental artificial intelligence that would track the player's "cognitive desires" and subvert them. With this, the basement would usually span endlessly like a labyrinth. One playtester, whom the team neglected to check on before leaving the office for the night, was still playing the game in a delirious and crazed state. He was taken to the hospital shortly after being found, and later playtesters were urged not to enter the basement.

When asked about the upper floors, the programmer said that there wasn't much interesting up there; it was a boring and thin spiral staircase that led up to what seems to be a bedroom. He was surprised to hear about a supposed fourth floor and says that "considering Nintendo made the castle bigger with the use of sub-areas, it wouldn't be surprising that they would try to add yet another floor."

Uncle Anecdote
A throwaway account by the name of 1995SMB2276 commented on this page explaining how their uncle used to work at Nintendo, and was around in Japan at the time of the 1995 build's playtesting phase. His first post reads as follows:


 * "Back in 1995 my uncle was an intern at Nintendo and was often tasked with odd jobs that varied from errand running, transcribing, organizing, etc. I heard about the 1995/07/29 build and related phenomena (the Wario apparition, the Bowser room, and so on) a week ago and decided to ask what he knew about it; given that he was living in Japan at the time and doing work at Nintendo, I figured it was worth a try.


 * As it turns out, he was tasked with recording playability, functionality, bugs, etc. found in playtesting. He’s said he’s willing to share the info, and will attempt to translate it back to English (but may have trouble as he’s been out of practice for 17~ years and was never very fluent to begin with), as long as I keep all of his and the playtesters personal info/identifiers secure; it’s a risky move but he’s as interested in piecing the mystery together as I am. Unfortunately, he doesn’t own any other kind of documentation and never knew anything about the company the game belonged to prior so nothing else can be contributed. Given that this was an unpaid overseas internship at an insanely small branch which was closed soon after the matter, it’s unlikely this can get him into much trouble if we’re careful about it.


 * I’ll either reply to myself or make a new comment here when I can provide everything. I’ll be on the same account (throwaway for this topic so I can maintain anonymity + proof that I’m the same person when I give updates)."

After his first post, he would upload four images: the first was a screenshot of an email between him and his uncle, and the other three are the scans that came with that email.

Loose Disturbances
Loose Disturbances are short code disturbance bursts in the 1995 build, that alter the video signal, hex pallet colours, and even the layout of music tracks, potentially creating some unsettling environments if interacted with. The most prominent spots discovered so far are listed below, along with the explanation of how this was discovered.

On April 7th 2003, someone was supposedly in the possession of an 1995/07/29 Ultra Mario 64 Copy. It is not confirmed it was definitely a 1995/07/29 copy, but it definitely was developed around 1995, and somehow circles around to the player in 2003. It is rumoured that there are some spots in the game where the code will be severely disturbed, and possibly altered. It could be a compiler issue, as they did not compile this build until late 1996, included in PAL releases. there are multiple screenshots of these supposed occurrences, which have been shown to cause visual corruption or distortion on the VHS recordings. this is not known why, but it could by trying to record something in the game, and it is struggling with the task. Below are three screenshots relevant to the mysterious "Loose Disturbances".1.) Bowser's Steps

One of the earliest disturbances in the recording is located on Bowser's Steps. The contrast in colour seems to drop drastically, and the game's audio is greatly distorted, giving off a very unsettling and uneasy atmosphere surrounding the stairs. The game begins to slightly corrupt itself in desperation shown in the tape, moving the player's position away from the area. But this may be a compiling error or an memory overflow, presumably caused or affecting the Rogue AI. Not much is shown about this section, because the VHS' recording signal is abruptly cut off for around a minute, preventing any more knowledge on the whereabouts of what is on the other side of that door. Some believe Wario's Apparition is on the other side, but this is not proven true, and is theorized bowser's level is on the other side.

2.) Jumping in the hall

This second screenshot is presumably located under the stairs leading to "Bowser's stairs". The quality of the tape at this section is greatly reduced, and judging from the black lines at the top of the screenshot, it is possible that the game is messing with the video signal, and possible has changed the tv's Hz rate, which is not easily configured. The hallway appears to be much shorter than other copies, which could link towards the Personalizing AI, generating new experiences on each copy. However, the interesting thing is, in the recording leading outside to the courtyard, it is considered a level, but the game's corruption really shows, disrupting the video's signal and audio, and reducing all colours from the display, however, this is yet again unfounded. it also appears that the time on the VHS overlay appears to be frozen. this could be an issue with the VCR itself, or it could be the game interfering with this somehow.

3.) Sacred MassacreThis final screenshot is the most mysterious and unusual. Mario appears to be swimming underwater, but the whereabouts of his location is unknown, and is not visible anywhere on the screenshot. when inspecting the tape this screenshot was taken from, it appears to cut out at a painting, and cut back in with Mario falling down into black murky waters, it appears he swims into an opening, and the TV's static interferes greatly in visibility, and cuts off, resuming back to an error screen, translating to "Sacred Massacre". The relevance of the phrase is not apparent when linked to the footage, and a this point still remains a mystery. it is also apparent that sharp beeping tones can be heard when Mario swims into the opening, reminiscent of an EAS Warning Broadcast, although this is largely speculation, as it is similar to the September 1993 broadcast in Kansas USA, while under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.