Ninja Mario

Ninja Mario is a fan-made power-up that was rumored to appear in Super Mario 64, similarly to the Laser Suit in Super Mario World. According to Nintendo Power columnist Dan Owsen, he has received plenty of questions from fans asking him how to unlock "Ninja Mario" in Super Mario 64. After a while, his replies went from "A ninja never reveals his secrets," and "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," to actively flaming anyone who mentioned it.

Appearance in Personalized Copies
Ninja Mario appears in certain personalized copies of Super Mario 64, being the entity tied to the also unused Yellow Cap Switch. According to certain reports Ninja Mario is capable of:


 * Using a katana to attack enemies
 * Jumping much higher than normal Mario
 * Throw long-range shurikens

The way to unlock him is currently unknown, but reports range from getting behind the mirror and jumping into one of the paintings, leaving the game on for over 24 hours, linking the game to a Nintendo 64DD and then starting up the game or performing a SM64 Stop N' Swop trick.

It is possible that the reason why Owsen started flaming anyone who mentioned Ninja Mario is because he was one of the people to have contributed to the creation of Mario 64 in some way, and simply wants to forget that game's existence. It is even possible he was one of the beta testers of the July 29th 1995 build of Super Mario 64.