Cactus

Unused cactus texture.

An unused cactus can be found within the game files of Super Mario 64, loaded in memory with Shifting Sand Land. It was likely intended to be used in the outside area of Shifting Sand Land as a decorative or hazardous object, but ultimately went unused. It is commonly assumed that this is because the developers decided the inclusion of cacti would undermine the Egyptian theme of the course, as cacti do not grow in deserts of that variety.

Phenomena

Cognitive Irrational Fear

Despite many players not having any fear of cacti or other sharp objects, the cactus' existence creates a level of unease and fear in these players. These very same players insist that this cactus appeared when they played Super Mario 64 and lunged at the player. Then they would report to have nightmares about touching cacti.

Anomalous Appearances

Many report the cactus to have appeared in Super Mario 64 whether in Shifting Sand Land or in other stages that appear within personalized copies of Super Mario 64. This is likely due to the behavior of the AI being frequently described as passive.

Anomalies
Power-ups	Cape Feather ⭑ Fire Flower ⭑ Frog Cap ⭑ Gold Mario ⭑ Hammer ⭑ Lightning Switch ⭑ Mini Mushroom ⭑ Ninja Mario ⭑ Phantasm Cap ⭑ Purple ! Box ⭑ P-Wing Cap ⭑ Rainbow Cap Switch ⭑ Safety Cap ⭑ Tanooki Cap ⭑ Umbrella ⭑ Yellow Cap Switch
Objects	Big Bully's Key ⭑ Cactus ⭑ Coin Discoloring ⭑ Crown ⭑ Dancing Flowers ⭑ Eternal Star ⭑ Ghoul Medal ⭑ Medals ⭑ Night Light ⭑ Poison Mushroom ⭑ Power Moons ⭑ Present Boxes ⭑ Star Discoloring ⭑ The Book On Bad ⭑ The 121st Star ⭑ Trampoline
Glitches	Astral Projection Glitch ⭑ Backwards Long Jump ⭑ Bugged Fire Texture ⭑ Cloning ⭑ Impossible Coin ⭑ Mystery Goomba ⭑ Parallel Universes ⭑ Toad's Tool 64 Star
Entities	Abominations ⭑ Ally with Info ⭑ Big Boo's Creeps ⭑ Birdo ⭑ Birthday Toad ⭑ Blargg ⭑ Blooper ⭑ Companions ⭑ Dry Bones ⭑ Enemy Toads ⭑ Eerie (Grand Eerie) ⭑ Hopper ⭑ Luigi ⭑ Memario ⭑ Mimics ⭑ Mipsy ⭑ Mother Dorrie ⭑ Motos ⭑ Namazu ⭑ The Cap'n ⭑ The Castle Keeper ⭑ The Mario Silhouette ⭑ The Prisoner ⭑ Quin ⭑ Shadowy Figures ⭑ Siren of Hazy Maze Cave ⭑ Unintended Playable Characters ⭑ Prince Bob-omb ⭑ Wario Apparition ⭑ Wet-Dry World Girl ⭑ White-eyed Chomp ⭑ The Whomp's Fortress Creature ⭑ Youkiki
Other	Active Geometric Aberration ⭑ AI Degradation ⭑ AI Misapplication ⭑ Achievements Anomaly ⭑ Alternate Campaigns ⭑ Alternate Endings ⭑ Alternate Peach Letter Anomaly ⭑ Anomalous Mario Manifestations ⭑ Anti-Piracy Screen ⭑ Coincidental Character Creation ⭑ Complete Data Wipe ⭑ Costume Closet ⭑ Developer Dialogue ⭑ Dynamic Level Arrangement ⭑ Dynamic Level Rearrangement ⭑ Discolored Enemies ⭑ Enemy Environment Reactions ⭑ Kill Code ⭑ Kore o subete no torakku ni tsuika.sm64 ⭑ Internal Clock ⭑ Internal Weather System ⭑ Level Locked Screen ⭑ Linked Worlds Phenomenon ⭑ Major Level Expansion ⭑ Mario-Bowser Fusion ⭑ Mario Clones ⭑ Mario Clone Event ⭑ Mario Decal ⭑ Mass Game Retheming ⭑ Multiplayer Mode ⭑ Notable Star Relocation ⭑ Options ⭑ Painting Creator ⭑ Peach's Bestiary ⭑ Personalisation A.I. ⭑ Personification of the A.I. ⭑ PLEASE INSERT CARD ⭑ Possessed Mario ⭑ Pre-Gameplay Changes ⭑ Qrty-unk.png ⭑ Score ⭑ Shared Nightmares ⭑ SM64 Stop N' Swop ⭑ Silicon Graphics' Curse ⭑ Sudden Restructuring ⭑ Super Mario 64 Toy Codes ⭑ Textureless Mario Anomaly ⭑ Timer ⭑ The Self-Patching Anomaly ⭑ The Shop ⭑ The "Super Mario Movie" Phenomenon ⭑ Ultra Mode ⭑ WDW Brain Diagram ⭑ Whomp's Fortress 1-Up ⭑ 7/29/1995 Build