A mockup of the Island section of Idyllic Islands. Note how similar the island placements are to Lethal Lava Land's layout.
Idyllic Islands is supposedly an unused level found in earlier versions of Super Mario 64, most commonly found in personalized copies of the game. It is commonly described as a beach-like area, with multiple islands on top and an aquatic section below. The layout and overall structure is said to be similar to that of Lethal Lava Land, that, combined with multiple assets found in LLL being found in this level, implies that Idyllic Islands may be an earlier version of Lethal Lava Land with the completely opposite theme.
Geography[]
The player spawns in the lower left island, with the camera pointing to the bridge in front of them. Overall, the top portion of the level is mostly just tons of islands and wooden bridges, some connected to islands and others drifting above the water. Many islands also have palm trees on them, with two of them, being on the center island up top center island, being ingrained into the level itself instead of objects like most other trees. This means that they cannot be climbed up by normal means, and must to scaled via triple jumps or other forms of vertical height. Interestingly, the dancing flower objects found in the files for Lethal Lava Land in the final game can be found on the many islands here, giving even more proof that this is an early version of Lethal Lava Land.
A mockup of the underwater section of Idyllic Islands. Note how one of the rock formations in the center is similar to that of the Volcano sub area in Lethal Lava Land.
In the water below, however, is where the level gets much more different. It resembles that of Jolly Roger Bay in a way, with multiple sunken structures and rock formations below. Notably, there are multiple sinkholes in the water, which can suck Mario in and instantly make him lose a life if he is sucked in.
Enemies[]
In most people's reports of the level, Mr. I's have been said to be found in the level, who also happen to be found in Lethal Lava Land as well, as well as Goombas, who aren't in the final version of the stage. The unused enemy, Motos, is also said to be found here, throwing the player into water. It can also be picked up by the player as well, and is instantly defeated when thrown into the water. Underwater, the only enemy that is confirmed to be found are Bubs, who swim in a set track and are fairly easy to defeat.
Interestingly, however, a Big Motos can be found in the Top and Top Left islands, the Top one only appearing after defeating 3 Motos on the island, similar to the Bully the Bullies star in Lethal Lava Land. The Big Motos is said to throw Mario much further than regular Motos, and cannot be carried by Mario. Instead, Mario must either punch or jump at the Big Motos from behind in order to push him into the water, in which a star would be created once defeated.
Stars[]
Commonly, reports mention two of the stars revolving around defeating the two Big Motos found at the top of the level, with another being rolling a log to a walled-off island containing a star, similar to the 'Red-Hot Log Rolling' star found in Lethal Lava Land. A completely new star found in Idyllic Islands is about finding a way to get to the top of the palm tree at the center island, which contains a Star on top of it. The methods of reaching it vary, but the most common way reporters said they have reached it is by getting one of the Motos, most commonly one of the Big Motos, to throw them to the top of the palm tree. Whether or not this was the intended method of reaching it is unknown.
Underwater, one of the stars is said to be close to one of the pits with the vortexes, and can only be reached by getting a Metal Cap found on one of the islands, and making a dangerous jump towards the star. One wrong move is said to make Mario fall into the vortex and lose a life. Due to the course having over 100 coins, there are more than enough coins to get the 100 coin star. Aside from that, no other stars have been found in Idyllic Islands.
Theorizing[]
As one may guess based on the similarities, it is commonly theorized that Idyllic Islands was once an early version of Lethal Lava Land that was changed to a lava theme instead of an aquatic theme. Because of similar level layouts, enemies, and sometimes downright identical stars, with even more support with the unused dancing flower objects being found in the final version of Lethal Lava Land, it is commonly agreed upon that this is a aquatic LLL. Giving even more credibility to this is the fact that, according to some sources, the Volcano Blocks found in the final version of the Lethal Lava Volcano can be found around the underwater area.
Why this area was changed into the lava themed area we know today is unknown, although a common reasoning is that, if one were to count Wet-Dry World, there were too many water levels found in Super Mario 64, and in order to tone it down, Idyllic Islands was changed to the more unique Lethal Lava Land, similar to that of a common theory of why Drip Drip Cave was cut from the game.