Nintendo is certainly busy right now, after a very generous leak with important game data from the Japanese giant for the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. The codes show from a different interface for Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Link other than Zelda: Ocarina of Time and even Luigi inside Super Mario World.
The leak is huge, with game data released and prototypes from others that haven’t seen the light of day, including Super NES and N64 titles. The veracity of the information was confirmed with the help of some developers at the time, such as the case of Dylan Cuthbert who took care of Star Fox 2 when he saw C ++ information for the game.
What leaked?
Some points are interesting, such as the prototype line for Star Fox 2, which shows the faces of the four characters from the previous game and the two additional ones, as well as a bear, a sheep, an ox and even a hippopotamus.
I love all of these cut characters from Star Fox 2’s prototype…. they’re all so good pic.twitter.com/SmyRizPdi6
– morgankitten! (@morkitten) July 25, 2020
Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which was originally developed for the N64DD (an accessory for the N64 that ran cartridges in a format similar to a fat floppy disk), appeared with images of the 3D Link prototype and was made with the Super Nintendo Super FX chip polygons, in addition to of possibly blood on the protagonist’s sword in an unreleased Zelda game for Satellaview – also from SNES.
Dated from July 1994, this is possibly the first, or one of the first 3D model Nintendo ever made of Link, as an experiment on the Super FX chip. (colors were manually added). pic.twitter.com/0tV6DGaUjH
– Starxxon (@vl_tone) July 25, 2020
So here he is. It is now largely assumed that this particular Link sheet comes from a scrapped BS Zelda 2 remake. (for Satellaview) There’s some interesting details here, like the blood or rust on the sword. Fascinating stuff. https://t.co/xPnEiLPI5v pic.twitter.com/FBlvt8TF4A
– Brian (@Protodude) July 25, 2020
Another important leak is the presence of Luigi in Super Mario World, at least of Mario’s brother’s sprites completely ready for use.
People are digging up all sorts of unused art assets from the latest Nintendo leak. Here’s some screenshots of some examples. Bowser from SMW apparently had legs at one time? pic.twitter.com/EZGDjiGAx6
– Gaming Alexandria (@GamingAlexandri) July 24, 2020
This is an actual unused character graphic asset of Luigi giving the player the middle finger that found within the source files for Super Mario World dated 1989. pic.twitter.com/IsnZ3qTEvz
– OKD (@OKeijiDragon) July 24, 2020
In this same game there are sprites of Bowser’s legs inside the ship that appears in the final battle, in addition to Yoshi with a white beard and walking on a crutch, in addition to an animation that may be the answer to the myth that Mario beats the little dinosaur.
GRANDPA YOSHI pic.twitter.com/Ar9SX58NUK
– Kapuccino ᗷᒪᗰ / ACAB (@nb_zeraora) July 24, 2020
The sequence of Super Mario World, what is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, was with a very different interface and even with a few different characters, like a Super Donkey.
A bunch of Nintendo prototypes are apparently currently being compiled from leaked source code right now as of this post
First up there’s this Yoshi’s Island proto with different UI graphics, placeholder music from Mario World, and has a prefix of ‘Super Mario Bros. 5 ‘pic.twitter.com/Qqock5RZaS– Akfamilyhome @ Origami King (@Akfamilyhome) July 24, 2020
Super Mario Kart 64 is also on the list, with the likely start of development with the same characters from the Super Mario Kart from SNES, only on 3D tracks.
Some Mario Kart 64 (Super Mario Kart R) alpha source seems to have surfaced. Very interesting. Guess they started with some SMK source / assets pic.twitter.com/yWLDFECD2k
– Beck Abney (@ abney317) July 25, 2020
But what caught my attention the most was the presence of a folder called “Luigi” within the source code of Super Mario 64. The folder has textures for the character and concludes a gigantic myth from the gaming world: L IS REAL. The sign in the ghost square at the back of Princess Peach’s castle was correct (I believed it!).
L IS REAL I REPEAT L IS REAL HE IS IN THE ORIGINAL SM64 SOURCE CODE pic.twitter.com/TIFFQ26adE
– ecumber (@ ecumber05) July 25, 2020
super luigi 64 in Real pic.twitter.com/2mbm8wlnK3
– axo #BlackLivesMatter (@axoonium) July 26, 2020
With information: Kotaku, Polygon and IGN.