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Super Mario 64 Beta Archive was a YouTube channel that claims to be an archival of unseen beta footage relating to Super Mario 64. The channel features footage of the game in development, as well as unused music tracks and other content relating to Super Mario 64's development. As of recently, the Super Mario 64 Beta Archive has become dormant due to controversy.
Content[]
The anti-piracy screen as seen in the Anti-Piracy Screen.
Videos on the Beta Archive channel usually show off beta or unusual discoveries relating to Super Mario 64. None of these discoveries depict the anomalies many channels usually focus on, and instead hone in on original content. For instance, one of these videos shows off an anti-piracy screen for the game. The video calls this screen "rare" as it doesn't seem to exist in the circulated release, although others have stumbled across it[1].
Music[]
| Video | Title | Changes |
|---|---|---|
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Scrapped Starman Theme | A rendition of the starman theme first introduced in Super Mario Bros., only to be reused for the tracks Powerful Mario and Metallic Mario in Super Mario 64. This rendition takes instruments from both of these tracks, most notably the first few notes are taken from Metallic Mario.
The video hypothesises that this track was intended for the cap power-up that would come from the Yellow Switch Blocks. |
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Early Underground Theme | A rearranged version of Hazy Maze Cave incorporating more elements of the Super Mario Bros. Underground theme with its own additions and changes. This rendition is akin to that of the version that appears in New Super Mario Bros. or Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. |
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Early Castle Theme | A rearranged version of Inside the Castle Walls, where the latter half is completely different. It resembles the version of the song heard in Wrinkly Kong's Cave in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! |
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Music Tape 1 | In this tape, there's three tracks instead of one. "Early Slider Theme" is a rendition of the Slider Theme, which according to the description was made based off the sheet music made by Koji Kondo, "Early Boo House" is a rendition of the Boo House theme from Super Mario World, according to the description it was a very early test of a Boo House song, dated very early in development, way before Spaceworld '95. The last theme, "Early Bowser Theme", is a rendition of the Castle theme of Super Mario Bros., it's from the same time period as the previous track. |
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Music Tape 2 | Like Music Tape 1, this tape has many themes, but this time, it's five tracks instead of three. "Early Main Theme" is an earlier version of the overworld theme from Shoshinkai '95, "Early Wing Cap Theme" is an earlier version of Powerful Mario, made by Koji Kondo sometime in 1994, according to the description it was an early attempt at arranging the Yoshi's Island starman theme, the third one, "Early Metal Cap Theme", is an early version of Metallic Mario, made a few weeks before Shoshinkai '95, made after the Starman theme (which is the Scrapped Starman Theme, which the creator assumed was associated to the Yellow Switch Blocks) was scrapped, the fourth one, "Early Boss Theme", is a rearrangement of the boss theme when fighting Bowser. The final one, "Early Star Appear Theme", is an early version of the jingle when a star appears. |
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Music Showcase 3 | Similarly to the previous two videos, there's multiple tracks in this video, this time there's 10 track. The first three come from a CD, "Early Title Theme" is an early version of the title theme, composed early on, "Early Snow Mountain" is an early version of Cool, Cool Mountain (or Snow Slider as it was called at that time) and "Early Water Theme" is an early version of the Dire, Dire Docks theme (according to the description, it was made to test some composition work for the track). The other 7 tracks come from various cassette tapes, "Sound Programming Test" is an arrangement of Fantaisie-Impromptu by Chopin, made before Super Mario 64 was in active development, "Scrapped Clock Theme", a remixed version of the overworld theme, was an early track for Tick Tock Clock before it was taken out for memory reasons, "Boo Go Round" is an early theme for the Merry-Go-Round theme, which is the same track used in the final version but with different instrumentation, "Early Koopa Race" was an early version of the track when racing Koopa the Quick, due to memory issues, it got replaced with the Slider theme, "Key Get" is an early version of the jingle that plays when collecting a key, "Final Bowser" is a demo track that would've played in the Bowser fight in Bowser in the Sky which used a guitar and a sequencer and the last one "Credits" is a arrangement of the credits theme from Super Mario Bros. 3. |
Render Showcase[]
Render Showcase
The video Render Showcase is about showing off old and unseen renders relating to Super Mario 64. These renders were presumably intended to be used in promotional material. The renders seen are as follows:
- A poster which features Mario, striking the same pose as Sonic the Hedgehog in promotional artwork for Sonic Adventure. The bottom half of the poster reads "Yeah, we've got it too." while boasting about the Nintendo 64's library of games, accompanied with screenshots of Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mario Kart 64.
- A render of Mario's head on a blue and white gradient background. Judging by its low quality and nature, it appears to be a test render, or a render intended for a Mario icon.
- Another test render, this time of Metal Mario. This render was likely to test Metal Mario's reflective texturing, as he's put into an environment with a bright blue sky and brownish yellow floor.
- The render of Mario and the unused enemy Motos, which was used in the channel's banner before it got changed. This render went unused because Motos was scrapped from Super Mario 64.
- A render of Mario walking from a white and blue checkered floor to what appears to be a red carpet. The background is blurry and appears painted, likely just being a backdrop. What this render is intended to represent is unknown.
- A render of Mario on the tip of a tree. These trees bare resemblence to the beta trees found within the July 25th 2020 leak.
- A render of Mario on a flying carpet, likely to represent Rainbow Ride. Interestingly, this render was reused on an image[2] circulated on some Discord servers hailing from a presumably lost event where six Mario statues could be found around America.
- The next render stops the background music and fades in from the darkness. What this render depicts is unknown, but many have related it to Bowser; more specifically, this render looks similar to Baby Bowser in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It is official that the video corrupted itself partway through so this may have been the result of it.
- A render of Mario on what appears to be the bridge into the castle.
- A render of Mario sitting atop the Nintendo 64 logo while looking at a cartridge. This render is used in the rare anti-piracy screen.
- What appears to be an early version of Super Mario 64's box art. Here, Mario is flying atop a basic sky and doesn't have the Wing Cap.
- A render of Mario in front of a background reading "SUPER MARIO ULTRA 64" for multiple lines. This render was used in the channel's profile picture before it got changed.
- A render of Mario on a dark blue background pulling a peace sign.
- A test render of Mario in a binding pose.
Early Castle Grounds[]
Removed Video[]
1995-07-29 Build Rejected Commercial (Reupload)
1995-07-29 Build Title Screen Theme (FULL) - Super Mario 64 Fan Soundtrack
The video 1995/07/29 Build Rejected Commercial was taken down off the Super Mario 64 Beta Archive channel, but can still be viewed with reuploads. The video features gameplay of an earlier build of the game featuring the music that Planet Bobstar ripped from the 1995/07/29 build of the game. When Mario looks up at the castle, the footage corrupts and turns greyscale as the music stutters, before cutting out and ending there.
As disclosed on the community tab, the video was taken down due to the footage supposedly being altered before being sent to the owner of the account. In what way it was altered is still unknown, but this video should be regarded as false.
Controversy[]
On January 12th 2021, many creators who worked on Super Mario 64 Beta Archive in secret came out of the woodwork to voice their distaste for the leader of the project, as well as leaking internal files that was not supposed to be shown to the public. With this, it's unlikely that Super Mario 64 Beta Archive will continue to produce content.