On July 25th, 2020, a leak of an iQue CVS repository was put up onto 4chan. It brought to light a ton of unused and beta content from the Nintendo 64 era, including a portion of Super Mario 64's source code. While there is not enough content to assemble a beta ROM of Super Mario 64, it brought a large amount of unseen assets into the limelight[1].
Contents[]
Luigi[]
A fan assembly of the found model of Luigi.
After many years of speculation and absence, content retaining to Mario's brother Luigi have finally been found within Super Mario 64. Within the folder where assets regarding the player can be found is a colour palette, model and three textures for Luigi. The three textures are the emblem on Luigi's cap, his side burns and his moustache which all are different from Mario's as they are depicted in official artwork.
Luigi's model was found in parts and had to be assembled by the users. The model is very similar to Mario's, though his proportioning is alot slimmer and taller, most noticeable in the torso and head.
Level Files[]
The level binary files found in the iQue leak.
The iQue leaks came with beta versions of the 38 levels slated to appear in Super Mario 64, and that includes files relating to the seven unused levels that went empty in the retail release. Some of these unused levels appear to be test maps, while others appear to be unfinished level ideas. The names of these files also hint at them belonging to future level ideas too.
Notably, Wet-Dry World goes under the filename "11ZLDCITY.bin" which confirms the commonly believed theory that Wet-Dry World was built off the beta Zelda 64 towns seen in pre-release screenshots for the game. This presumption hails from the level's shared or similar textures, and just overall similar geometry.
Motos[]
Motos, as seen in game.
- Main article: Motos
Found within the iQue leak was an entirely scrapped enemy. Referred to as "Motos" in the files, this robot-like enemy is a bizarre combination of a Chuck-ya, Bully, and the Big Bob-omb boss. It would chase the player and grab them, running forward and hurling them away. The player can run behind the Motos and pick them up, and throw them just like Big Bob-omb. However, they're only defeated by falling into lava.[2]
Despite seeming to be fully functioning, this enemy goes scrapped in the final game with no files associated with it. The reason why is unknown, but it could be because of a lack of suitable levels for them to appear in, only being defeated by lava which appears in not many courses. Alternatively, they could've been scrapped in favour for other enemies like the Chuckya or Bully. Considering their weakness to lava, they appear to have been replaced with the Bully as the main enemy in Lethal Lava Land.
Early Models[]
The model of Yoshi that goes unused.
Being an earlier version of the game, many early versions of the model could be found within the iQue leak whether it be minor alterations or entirely different models.
- An early model of Yoshi could be found[3], much different from the model that was used in the final game. It has smaller eyes and arms, and taller legs.
- An early model of Peach could also be found[4] with less pronounced differences. The most major is the addition of legs in Peach's model, which were likely removed as they would've been seen through Peach's dress when she's displayed a transparent in the game's intro and ending. There are also more subtle differences such as in the hair, crown and earrings.
- The early model for the Scuttlebug seen in pre-release screenshots and footage was found[5].
Early Animations[]
There are a few animations from this leak that aren't seen in the final game, they are all tied to Mario. They can be found in this Twitter thread by Marionova64.
- windemoAold, which has Mario perform a small dance before transitioning into the star dance animation. Likely an early version of the star get animation that could've been cut short for being too long.
- pulling, which has Mario pulling. This could mean that Mario was able to pull objects alongside pushing them.
- punching, likely an early punching animation that was scrapped as it looked less powerful and more akin to a slap.
- chasejog, a bizarre animation that has Mario running while looking down with his arms forward. It also is accompanied by two other animations, chasewalk and swimchase. It's unknown what purpose these could've solved, but it could've been related to Mario chasing something such as a Bob-omb or MIPS.
References[]
- ↑ https://tcrf.net/Development:Super_Mario_64_(Nintendo_64)
- ↑ https://twitter.com/arthurtilly413/status/1287827047595663360?s=19
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Marionova64/status/1287882473624367104?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Marionova64/status/1287514160876617736
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Marionova64/status/1287898518515068928