Super Mario used to pack a beam gun

by Justin McElroy on Oct 25th 2010 4:30PM

OK, so our jealousy of Japan and Europe and their Super Mario Bros. collectors editions has become utterly crushing. N-Styles provides the proverbial camel-back-breaking straw with some original design docs included in the package's history book.

Not only are they so totally gorgeous that we want to lay them out on a bed and go full Indecent Proposal, but Andriasang's translation shows they're full of interesting tidbits like the fact that Mario was originally supposed to have a beam gun.

Boy, fireballs seem pretty tame now that we know how close we got to ... Mario Chief? Master Plumber? ... Sorry, give us a second, we'll come up with something.

Source: N-Styles

Tags: nes, nintendo, retro, shigeru-miyamoto, super-mario-all-stars, super-mario-bros, super-mario-collection-special-pack, wii

Reader Comments (30)

Graph paper? Ooh no.. the Phantasy Star flashbacks.

@Cleric
Well it was a game comprised of lots of "blocks".. why not draw on a sheet that could help you line those up better?

@Cleric

And Phantasy Star II. And Sword of Vermilion. And Wonder Boy III. And...

(I was a big grapher back in the day.)

Theres only so many combinations of the two franchises and I have to say that all of them are a "Super Reach".

@Bumper

You forgot your sunglasses.

@Bumper

Super Reach Around?

@Courtney
YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

@Foetoid

mmmmm super reach around

A beam gun would've just ruin the game's realism of the what the everyday plumber has to go through.

@Nofriendo

Eating shrooms, battling a giant dinosaur, stomping on turtles, it all can really be too much sometimes....

@Nofriendo

and besides, when you can either fart or barf up a fireball - -who needs a freaking beam gun? That's SOOOOOOOO Samus!

No you're playing with power.

@Enosoma

Did you mean,

"Now you're playing with power."

or

"No, you're playing with power."

@A Sandwich

"Am I playing with a low-current electrical device?"

"No, you're playing with power."

@Nofriendo

they stole my w

I think it actually wouldn't be as fun.

Starting to see where the idea for Metroid came from...

I think that would have been pretty badass.

What would have been even more badass is if he had a vuvuzela.

a la Doom mod.

Is this like the last tid bit the public doesn't (didn't) know about jumpman in the early days?

NoA has sooooo dropped the ball on their biggest franchises anniversary.

25 years, and we're seeing stuff on it when? The last few months of the year? I don't even want to talk about the mario pins they are raping the public for.

Mario deserved a better 25th than this. Much better.

@Nook The celebration was much bigger over here in Europe. '25 Years of Mario' was all over the place - on posters, TV, even in magazines. (especially the Official Nintendo Magazine - they dedicated an entire magazine to the event). If I remember, they got the biggest British celebrities to voice their opinions on Mario for the ad. NoE, I salute you.