Long Mario is long: early Super Mario 3D Land concepts that didn't make it

Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida opened his GDC talk with some concepts that didn't make it into the final game. They were ... wacky. The ideas included a "Huge Mario," who is so huge that you can only see the bottom half of his body on the screen, and a long Mario: "He has long arms and long legs, sort of scary," Hayashi said, in English. "I'd like to give this idea to Luigi's Mansion 2 team."

Hayashida also showed simple animated drawings of a "Pro Skater Mario" riding a Koopa shell on a half pipe, and a cockroach that would appear on the top screen, forcing you to quickly shut the 3DS to crush it. And finally, "You can change Peach's face ... to your girlfriend's face!"

He then asked what we expected to see in a 2012 Mario game, showing some of these concepts again. "If you are here today, please don't write 'the new Mario game will be pro skater Mario with cockroaches!'" Hayashida quickly interjected. "We might get in trouble."