User:Nelsonic/Box of Sand/Archive 02
List of proposed media
Nintendo has rejected various pitched pieces of media revolving around the Super Mario franchise. These pitches range from fully-developed demos to simply being shown as concept art, though the project being pitched was usually cancelled very early in development, and usually never underwent any official development at all. Additionally, Nintendo themselves occasionally scrapped various Super Mario games seemingly before development began.
The following is a list of media proposed either to or by Nintendo that was cancelled very early in development.
Games
3DS version of Virtual Boy Wario Land
On December 15, 2013, independent developer Jools Watsham of Renegade Kid posted a mockup of a colorized version of Virtual Boy Wario Land for the Nintendo 3DS.[1] In a 2016 episode of IGN's NYC podcast, Watsham revealed that he had made a formal pitch to Nintendo to make colorized versions of Virtual Boy Wario Land and Nintendo's other Virtual Boy games for the 3DS, but the pitch was rejected for unknown reasons.[2] He speculated this was because Nintendo did not want to remind people of the Virtual Boy, although Nintendo has referenced the Virtual Boy numerous times in newer games over the years.
Donkey Kong Arcade1UP products
In 2018, a picture from the factory that produces Arcade1UP machines was leaked. This picture showed many previously unannounced models, one of which was Donkey Kong. This was likely a mock-up machine pitched to Nintendo, which ended up being rejected.[3]
At CES 2020, Arcade1UP demonstrated a miniature ColecoVision console, featuring a small "television set" as its screen. The console showed Donkey Kong running on its screen; oddly, it appeared to be playing the Famicom/NES version rather than the real ColecoVision port.[4] The console was never released, and is unclear if the product was ever officially approved; as many products at the booth were labeled as "pending licensor approval".
Donkey Kong for TRS-80
In 1982, a port of Donkey Kong for the TRS-80 line of microcomputers was being developed by game designers Wayne Westmoreland and Terry Gilman. The port was eventually finished, but never received an official release as the duo could not get permission from Nintendo.
Later, in 1995, Westmoreland released all of their TRS-80 titles to the public domain, including the unreleased port of Donkey Kong.[5]
Super Mario Bros. Firebird pitch
In mid-1987, Firebird developers Gary Liddon and Gary Penn developed a recreation of World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. in the Commodore 64. The demo received interest from Colin Fuidge, who pitched it to Nintendo. However, Nintendo responded by sending legal threads, causing the pitch's cancelation. The pitch was later reworked by John Knox and Paul Docherty into an original game titled Crucial Brothers, which was eventually canceled as well.[6][7]
Super Mario Bros. Orpheus Software pitch
In 1986, small subsidiary developer Orpheus Software planned a short, one-level demo of Super Mario Bros. for the Commodore 64 and attempted to pitch it to Nintendo for an official release, with Nintendo later rejecting the project[8]. A Lemon64 thread from 2005 claims that user NYCeguy24 may have owned a copy, but this is likely speculation.[9]
Boss Game Studios' Super Mario game pitch
Sometime during the late '90s, Boss Game Studios pitched a Super Mario game to Nintendo of America. The only known proof of its existence is a storyboard, drawn by Patrick Michael Clark, bought in an online auction showing Mario stepping on a wooden plank, following by the wooden plank sprouting legs and walking in Mario's direction. According to a Boss Game Studios employee, "The Mario thing I think was for a proposal. I’m not sure if we were trying to get the license from Nintendo to produce a Mario game, or if they approached us to do one. Either way, I think it died on the vine after they saw the concept art"[10]
DDR MARIO 2
According to a leaked internal Nintendo spreadsheet, a game labeled as DDR MARIO 2 - presumably an abbreviation for Dance Dance Revolution Mario 2 - was planned to be released on the Wii. The game was to be developed by Konami. However, the document mentions that development had not started yet; it may have never gotten past the concept stages.[11][better source needed]
Retro Studios' Boo pitch
From 2006 to 2007, Retro Studios developed a game for the Nintendo DS tentatively named The Blob Game, in which the player controlled a blob that had to be flung using the touch screen. A pitch for the game featuring Boos was created, which included artwork that was later posted online by former Retro Studios artist Sammy Hall.[12] The Boo art includes sketches titled “possession powers” depicting a capture-like gameplay mechanic and new witch creatures called “Broomies”, alongside a potential world map. One sketch titled “Deep in debt at Haunt University” seems to depict a storyline involving a professor version of King Boo. The post containing the Boo pitch artwork, along with Sammy Hall's posts for a “cancelled Zelda project” starring Sheik, was taken down from ArtStation on May 7, 2020.[13] Nintendo rejected the pitch, as they wanted to have Retro Studios spend developing time on other projects.[12]
Super Mario/Sonic crossover action game
Years before the Mario & Sonic series began its life on the Wii and Nintendo DS, there was a plan for an action game crossover between the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog series that was proposed by former Sonic series director Yuji Naka, which was presented to higher-ups like Shigeru Miyamoto and then-president Satoru Iwata, but Nintendo turned down the idea.[14]
Tesla Mario Kart game
According to Elon Musk, a Mario Kart game that would be played on Tesla vehicles was proposed to Nintendo. Nintendo did not give them a license.[15]
Wario Pool
Wario Pool is a canceled rework of the 2001 Game Boy Color billiards game 3D Pocket Pool. Developer Nick Pelling wanted to rework the game into a Wario game during development after it was not receiving any attention despite his efforts, so he decided to reach out to Nintendo to rework the game with Wario as the main character. The pitch was ultimately rejected, so 3D Pocket Pool released as originally planned.[16] Pelling later posted the mock-up introduction to the game on his website.[17]
The introduction begins with Wario sitting in his castle watching sports news. Suddenly, he receives a phone call asking him whether he will compete in the big pool competition the next day. Wario responds by saying that he would not, as he does not need any more worthless victories. He then looks at the television and sees sharks that have swum into his town and become competitors in the tournament, who then brag about how they will win and taunt Wario. Wario becomes mad and tells the man on the phone he does actually need one more trophy for his collection before preparing to "shoot some pool."
Yoshi Racing
Yoshi Racing, or Yoshi Racers,[18] was a rejected pitch for a 3D game in the Yoshi franchise. The game was revealed in an article by Eurogamer detailing Argonaut Games' involvement in the development of Star Fox[19] where the game was described as a 3D platformer and left unnamed, while a message board post by an Argonaut employee named the game "Yoshi Racing" and described it as a character racing game.[20]
According to Argonaut Games employee Nic Cusworth in an interview from the book The Minds Behind Adventure Games, during the end of Creature Shock's development in 1994, an animator created two test animations on PC featuring colored Yoshis racing in an obstacle course.[18] Following this, Argonaut's Jez San went to Nintendo to pitch the idea,[18] but they did not follow on the offer, with San speculating this was because the company did not want to let third-parties use its characters.[21] After this setback, Argonaut decided to retool the pitch into an original IP, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.
Jez San believes that the refusal to pick up the Yoshi pitch was the final blow to Nintendo and Argonaut's relationship, which was previously damaged by the cancelation of the nearly completed Star Fox 2.[21][22] San further claims that the prototype influenced Super Mario 64, stating that "Miyamoto-san went on to make Mario 64, which had the look and feel of our Yoshi game - but with the Mario character, of course". Jez San also recalls an occurrence where Shigeru Miyamoto came to him and apologized for not picking up the Yoshi game.[22]
Print and film
Film adaptation of Super Paper Mario
Director Seth Gordon planned to release a film adaptation of Super Paper Mario, but has not had the opportunity to talk to Nintendo about it.[23]
Animated Super Mario project pitch
On May 9, 2019, visual development artist Ryan Lang posted on his Instagram account artwork for a rejected pitch of an animated Super Mario project.[24] The artwork depicts Mario captured by a Piranha Plant with an eyepatch on a kart, who are being pursued by Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi on a kart resembling the Standard SG.
Archie Comics Super Mario comic pitch
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- Main article: Super Mario (comic)
Comic book publisher Archie Comics (which has published other comics based on famous video game properties including Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man) pitched a Super Mario comic book series to Nintendo, but it was rejected, as confirmed by writer Ian Flynn.[25] The concept art for the pitch was drawn by Archie artists Tracy Yardley and Ben Bates.
Fleetway Super Mario comic pitch
In the mid-90's,[26] Nintendo, seeing the success of Fleetway Publications's Sonic The Comic, approached the company with an offer to make a similar title based on Nintendo characters. To this end, artist Richard Elson and writer Nigel Kitching produced a mock-up, featuring a cover and a short story showing Mario and Luigi arriving in the Mushroom Kingdom, fighting Koopalings and Boos, coming to face with a monstrous Donkey Kong Jr., and finally escaping in a Warp Pipe. Nintendo ultimately passed over the idea after taking multiple years to make a decision[26]
Reflecting on the comic, an unnamed source explained that Nintendo was a more "regulated" and "hands-on" company than Sega and that having to wait for approval for a regular publication such as a comic would have been a "nightmare."[26]
Kinoppe spin-off manga
In the author notes of his self-published doujin book Kinoppe-Chan Forever vol 2, the author of Comic BonBon's Super Mario manga, Kazuki Motoyama, states that a former editor had pitched him a spin-off manga starring the manga's mascot character Kinoppe. These plans were halted when Nintendo unexpectedly pulled ComicBonBon's Super Mario manga license in 1997.
References
- ^ JoolsWatsham (December 15, 2013). Curious to see how colored Wario Land Vitual Boy looks in 3D on your 3DS? Me too.... X (English). Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ IGN (April 02, 2016). Mutant Mudds' Developer Made a Wario Demo - NVC (10:39). YouTube (English). Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ Picture showing the Donkey Kong machine (5th from the right)
- ^ Retro Ralph (January 7, 2020). Arcade1up CES 2020 Booth Tour (23:16). YouTube (English). Retrieved June 13, 2022.
- ^ http://www.trs-80.org/donkey-kong/
- ^ fgasking (July 3, 2016). Super Mario Bros. Games That Weren't 64. Retrieved September 14, 2024. (Archived April 21, 2024, 04:55:35 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
- ^ 4 Failed Super Mario Game Pitches Throughout History - Feat. SpooferJahk. YouTube. Archived December 26, 2018, 04:21:55 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
- ^ Super Mario Bros (C64) - 1986 Orpheus. GTW64 (English). Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ January 26, 2005. Super Mario Brothers C64 version (1987 or prior). Lemon64 (English). Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ Nintendo Player. Super Mario Original Presentation Storyboard. Nintendo Player (English). Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ UPDATE: Super Mario 64 and OoT Source Leaked, Massive Nintendo Data Leak...Source Code to Yoshi's Island, A Link to the Past, F-Zero and more. ResetEra. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ a b DidYouKnowGaming (November 4, 2023). 8 Cancelled Nintendo Games from Retro Studios (New Discoveries)]. YouTube. Retrieved November 4, 2032.
- ^ Shinesparkers (May 5, 2020). Concept Artwork surfaces for rumoured Sheik and Boo titles by Retro Studios. Shinesparkers. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
- ^ DidYouKnowGaming? (January 21, 2017). Mario & Sonic - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Remix of WeeklyTubeShow. YouTube. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- ^ Lanier, Liz (November 30, 2018). Elon Musk Claims Nintendo Wouldn’t License ‘Mario Kart’ for Teslas. Variety (English). Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ Nick Pelling. Retro Gamer issue #26. Page 84.
- ^ Wario Pool intro
- ^ a b c DidYouKnowGaming (May 12, 2024). Rumored Mario Games SOLVED. YouTube. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
- ^ McFarren, Damien (June 22, 2014). Born slippy: the making of Star Fox. Eurogamer (English). Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ inpHilltr8r (December 29, 2016). NeoGAF.
- ^ a b "The end came when we pitched to do a 3D platform game, the likes of which had never been done before. We mocked up a prototype using Yoshi. It was essentially the world's first 3D platform game and was obviously a big risk - Nintendo had never let an outside company use their characters before, and weren't about to, either. This is the moment the deal fell apart." – San, Jez.
- ^ a b "Miyamoto-san came up to me at a show afterwards and apologized for not doing the Yoshi game with us and thanked us for the idea to do a 3D platform game. He also said that we would make enough royalties from our existing deal to make up for it. That felt hollow to me, as I'm of the opinion that Nintendo ended our agreement without fully realizing it. They canned Star Fox 2 even though it was finished and used much of our code in Star Fox 64 without paying us a penny." – San, Jez.
- ^ Super Paper Mario: The Movie. Gameworld Network. Retrieved May 27, 2024. (Archived January 26, 2008, 11:49:09 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
- ^ Screenshot of the original post
- ^ rawmeatcowboy (November 2, 2015). Archie pitched Nintendo a Super Mario comic, but it was shot down. Go Nintendo. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ a b c Sonic The Comic Reviews (September 25, 2015). Mario The Comic? The Official Nintendo Comic that nearly came to be. YouTube. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
