Frostburn Peaks is an unused level found in some personalized copies of Super Mario 64. It is usually reported to be located on the Fourth Floor of Princess Peach's Castle, though others report the level to replace Snowman's Land as the 10th course in the game, or Lethal Lava Land as the 7th course. It is described as a mountainous level that combines elements from Snowman's Land, Lethal Lava Land, and Cool, Cool Mountain. The level's theme is described as the main theme remixed with the instruments from Lethal Lava Land.
Description/Geography[]
Frostburn Peaks is described as a mountainous level with multiple elements from the lava and snow-themed stages present in the game. The map starts in an section filled with lava and Blarggs, and the player must ride a Koopa Shell to get to an area without lava. It then leads to a narrow path where the player must hug the wall until the reach the other side. Here, the snow element comes into play, as Mr. Blizzards are found.
Another path takes you up a hill mixed with both fire and ice elements, then you reach a fork in the road, one path taking you to a platform with three small Chill Bullies, defeating these three will spawn a big Chill Bully. The second path takes the player on a path with Blarggs and Mr. Blizzards trying to stop them, until the player eventually reach a platform with a pipe. Going down this fight takes you to a platform covered by ice cold water, here you have a boss fight with Chief Chilly. His fight is reported to be nearly identical to that of his fight in Super Mario 64 DS. with the player having to push Chilly in the water three times, with the platform gradually getting smaller until the player wins.
Missions[]
Frostburn Peaks has six stars and a 100 coins star that can be collected throughout the level. The methods of collecting the stars is consistent, but the reports of collecting the stars give an idea of what they could've been. The most commonly reported stars requires the player to travel up the mountain, encountering elements of both fire and ice levels throughout the game, the red coin star which is found in the lava section of the level, a star requiring the player to find 5 secrets on an ice lake while riding on a koopa shell, and a pipe leading to a boss fight with Chief Chilly, a boss from Super Mario 64 DS. On a side note, reports have said that Chief Chilly's text in the fight is the exact same for the fight against Mario in Mario 64 DS.
Theorizing[]
Many people speculate many reasons why Frostburn Peaks was removed, with one theory suggesting the developers unsatisfied with the level after it failed to mix more elements of fire and ice.
In 2007, Super Mario Galaxy released, and in the fourth area of the game, the Bedroom, a galaxy known as Freezeflame Galaxy can be found, with speculations that the developers took the main idea from Frostburn Peaks. 3 years prior, in 2004, Chief Chilly was introduced as a boss in Super Mario 64 DS, with many believing that the developers used aspects of the unused Frostburn Peaks fight. On a side note, personalized copies with Frostburn Peaks in the game usually has a stage named Pan-Seared Palace in the game as well, usually appearing on the Fourth Floor as well, but in other copies where Frostburn Peaks is either the 7th or 10th course, Pan-Seared Palace is reported to replace either Tiny-Huge Island or Wet-Dry World as either the 13th or 11th stage, respectively. The main reason this is noteworthy is because that level introduced an alternate version of Chief Chilly, his brother Chef Chili. The fight is identical, but Chef Chili must be knocked off the platform 5 times instead of 3, and can burn the player by shooting fireballs at them.