Supper Mario Broth: Special Zone, Issue 50 (Patreon)

Welcome, everyone, to the 50th issue of Supper Mario Broth: Special Zone.

Today, I will analyze a fascinating document detailing the early bosses, enemies and basic story structure of Super Mario RPG. 

Into the Weapon Realm

Super Mario RPG was released in 1996 for the SNES, featuring a wide variety of both friendly and enemy characters. The game's story, being the first role-playing game in the Mario franchise, is much more grand and involved than those of the Mario games that came before it, though not as intricate as some that would come after, such as Super Paper Mario. In this game, instead of a simplistic tale of saving Princess Peach from Bowser, Mario's entire world is being threatened by an invasion from another dimension, with the Mushroom Kingdom and surrounding lands being overrun by monsters themed around weapons.

It is not often that designers of Mario games divulge information about the development of those games on social media, however, in the case of Super Mario RPG, exactly that happened: in 2020 and 2021, the game's monster designer and character supervisor, Kazuyuki Kurashima, posted pre-release materials relating to the game's design process on his personal Twitter account. 

Super Mario RPG is a game for which a large amount of pre-release material exists; in addition to early screenshots that show completely different area design, there are lengthy pre-release video presentations and several articles in magazines that contain a variety of imagery not seen in the finished game. I intend to cover all of this content on this Patreon, but it is entirely outside the scope of a single article, and I plan to split the analyses up into more manageable segments. In today's article, I will look mainly at a scan of a page posted by Kurashima in March of 2021, which contains a wealth of information despite being only a single image: 

Fortunately, a version translated into English was made available by tcrf.net user FrenchOrange: 

After consulting some Japanese speakers, I am reasonably confident that the translated version should be accurate, so I will use it for the purposes of discussion for the rest of this article.

Firstly and most importantly, the chart reveals that there was at some point during the design process - the chart is dated 1995, thus being anywhere from 3 months to over a year before the game's release (though likely the latter, since it is very improbable for the game to be changed this much this close to release) - an extreme amount of interconnection and hierarchy between the game's villains that is simply absent from the finished version. As anyone who has played Super Mario RPG will remember, the hierarchy in the finished game can be summarized as "some of the chapter bosses report to Smithy", with no trace left of the intricate relationships being seen in the chart.

I will go through the entirety of the chart, adding comparison images between the sketches and the finished game's designs and commentary about how the relationships in the chart compare to the game and what the chart implies about the early version of the game's story.

The chart is divided into two segments separated with a wavy line, the upper part reading "Weapon Realm" and the lower reading "Mario's World". There is an explanatory notice on the left below the line, saying that the characters in Mario's world are "already existing characters gone crazy". This suggests a completely different story concept, whereby only the highest-tier bosses would have actually been incursors from another dimension, and the rest of the enemies would have been characters already inhabiting Mario's world, being influenced by the invaders somehow - unfortunately, the chart does not elaborate exactly how outside of a single example of hypnosis, leaving us to only able to speculate. Compare this to the finished game, where the invader bosses have no meaningful interaction with the non-invader bosses, and the non-invader bosses do not attack Mario due to any sort of corrupting influence, but for either absolutely no reason that is ever elaborated, or for reasons unrelated to the invasion (like Punchinello wanting to be famous).

Let us start with Smithy, the final boss, who appears completely different from his finished game's design here:

Top left: final boss from chart, top right: Smithy's design from the finished game, bottom left: Fautso miniboss design from finished game, bottom right: Exor design from finished game

Apparently, the original design for Smithy used a completely different concept. The word "majin" is used to refer to powerful wielders of dark magic, such as demons or evil genies. It is unclear why a genie with no weapon theme would be in charge of a weapon-themed invading force, which is likely why the design was changed for the finished game to the bearded robot weaponsmith. Behind the genie is a sword, which is clearly intended to be Exor from the finished game, but it lacks the face that Exor would eventually gain - it is possible that at this stage, Exor was not intended to even be a character, instead simply being the means by which the invading force arrives in Mario's world. The genie design was repurposed for Fautso, a minor miniboss that cannot be fought on his own, but is rather summoned by a special move from a Box Boy, one of the game's several "mimic" type enemies that impersonate Treasure Chests. It is ironic how the design for what was once the final boss was demoted to a miniboss so inconsequential that most players would not have encountered it.

This character, evidently one of the final boss's top generals, is completely absent from the finished game. The word translated here as "(cane)" can also mean "staff", as in the stick-like weapon, tying him into the weapon theme (however, his nose appears to be pointy, indicating being based on some weapon like a spear instead). The Hypnotizing Priest was planned to have Cloaker and Domino as his personal bodyguards, as well as been the one responsible for hypnotizing Magikoopa, Shy Guy and Shaman enemies. In the finished game:
-Cloaker and Domino work directly for Smithy,
-Magikoopa is in fact hypnotized to work for Smithy, but it is never explained by whom (he merely says he was brainwashed when defeated, and the topic is quickly dropped),
-Shy Guys and Shaman enemies are not implied to be hypnotized.
It is also not clear if the group in the bubble next to the hypnotized enemies, consisting of Booster and Croco, belongs to them, as well - in which case, they are also not said to be hypnotized in the finished game.

Count Down is another high-ranking boss working directly for Smithy, and the only one who does not interact with Mario's world. This was preserved in the finished game, where Count Down is only encountered in the Weapon Realm, and is immediately defeated. In the Japanese version of the chart, he is named "Moebius", which is also his name in the finished Japanese version; this seems to refer to the Mobius strip shape of the ribbon encircling his eyes - a pun lost in the finished version when he was redesigned into a clock. Interestingly, one piece of the original design still remains - the hourglass on the bottom.

The bodyguards of the scrapped Hypnotizing Priest character are still in the game, appearing as a minor boss in the Weapon Realm. Note how while Domino and the snake enemy (which is named Mad Adder if Domino is fought, or Earth Link if Cloaker is fought) look very similar to their finished versions, Cloaker's design was changed drastically. The early design is an intimidating robot with a cape, while the final one is a monster themed after a jar or bottle - a baffling design given how bottles are not usually associated with weapons, and if the design was meant to evoke a bottle of poison, which could technically be called a weapon, this is undermined by the enemy using physical attacks. 

Now, onto the four generals that influence bosses in Mario's world. It is likely that there are four of them due to the number four being associated with death and evil in Japanese, and groups of villains often coming in four to underscore that numerological motif (see also tetraphobia, a fear of the number four common in Japan due to that association). These are fascinating due to presenting connections completely absent in the finished game.

Here, we see Mack being associated with the concept of "terror" and influencing the Clown Bros., who use knives. While in the finished game, Knife Guy still does use knives, making the connection clear in retrospect, Grate Guy does not, instead using a trumpet to attack. Mack does in fact "terrorize" the Mushroom Kingdom even in the finished game, sending his troops of Shysters (Shy Guys that ride on knife-themed pogo sticks) inside the Toads' homes, so part of the original characterization was likely retained. However, in the finished game, there is absolutely no interaction or connection between Mack and the Clown Bros., and the Clown Bros. in fact do not participate in any part of the plot relating to the invasion (they apparently work for Booster and only attack Mario so he does not pursue Booster after he flees with Peach; later, they are NPCs in a casino-themed quest not relevant to the main plot). 

The big unanswered question with them, and all other NPCs that are influenced by the Weapon Realm characters, is how exactly the influence was planned to be enacted. Would the Mario world characters be working consciously for the Weapon Realm characters, or would they be unconsciously manipulated? Would their weapons be provided by the Weapon Realm characters, or independently procured? Unfortunately, there is no answer to this in the chart, and Kurashima did not respond to follow-up inquiries on his Twitter account.

This connection was abandoned even more thoroughly than the previous one. Apparently, Bowyer was intended to manipulate Valentina, using a theme of "betrayal". In the finished game, Bowyer does not have betrayal as a theme - his special ability is causing people to stop moving, and temporarily disabling the player's buttons (which could only very tenuously be described as "betrayal", as in the buttons betraying the player's expectation of working). The one boss who most closely can be said to embody "betrayal" as a theme is Belome, who is able to create  enemy clones of player characters; but Belome is not connected to this theme on the chart. 

In addition, Valentina was planned to use a bow as part of the manipulation. In the finished game, Valentina attacks with a wide variety of magical attacks, but no weapons whatsoever. There is an arrow leading from her to Dodo on  the chart, showing that he was intended to be her underling from the beginning.

Out of all of the connections on this chart, the one between Bowyer and Valentina is the least existent in the finished game. Not only do they not interact, nor does Valentina participate in the invasion-related part of the plot, but Valentina never even appears anywhere near the part of the map where Bowyer is fought, and is in fact fought 4 entire chapters later.

The connection between Yaridovich and Jonathan "Johnny" Jones is present in the game by having both of them be fought for the same reason: to have Mario obtain the blue Star Piece in Chapter 5 (quick note: I use numbered chapters to refer to segments of the game despite the game not actually calling them "chapters" or numbering them; please understand that I do this merely due to this being the most convenient way to refer to parts of the plot, and due to other Mario RPG games using this structure. I define a chapter to end at the collection of its associated Star Piece.) The player is led to believe that the chapter will end upon defeating Jonathan Jones as he is shown to have the Star Piece, but it is then stolen by Yaridovich, who is fought as the chapter's actual final boss.

However, the finished game does not portray Jonathan Jones to be a subordinate, or being influenced by, Yaridovich - instead, Yaridovich is shown to be unable to retrieve the Star Piece from Jonathan Jones himself and tricks Mario into doing it by impersonating the Seaside Town elder. Interestingly, even in this chart, the two are not even using the same weapon, unless Kurashima defines a trident as being a type of spear - however, even in this case, the other bosses that are being influenced use what seems to be miniature versions of the Weapon Realm characters as weapons, instead of merely weapons of the same type.

Here, the theme of Yaridovich is "Hatred", which also does not really correspond to his actions in-game, which would be best characterized as "deception". 

This is another very odd connection. Bowser is not fought as a boss except at the very beginning of the game, since he joins the party in Chapter 3; while this chart appears to depict him as a late-game boss (assuming the Axem Rangers were planned to be the Chapter 6 boss, and if the influenced characters were planned to be fought in the same chapter as the corresponding influencers, which is logical to assume). This raises the question of whether Bowser was even intended to join the party at all at this point during development - and if he was, it is possible he was supposed to join it very late in the game (like Luigi joining Mario's party 3/4ths of the way through the game in Super Paper Mario later). 

The boss here is shown mostly as Blade, with the Axem Rangers being indistict figures that are only three in number, less than the final game's five. In the final game, Blade itself is not fought directly, as it only serves as a battlefield for the Axem Ranger battle. Near the end of the battle, its main cannon is used to fire the Breaker Beam, but the cannon's in-battle name is "Axem Rangers", making it unclear if it is actually part of Blade or an installation on top of it that is separate from Blade. On the chart, its theme is "destruction", which it is never seen actually engaging in during the finished game.

Of course, it goes without saying that Bowser never actually uses an axe in-game - although if he did, it would have been an excellent throwback to his first appearance in Super Mario Bros., where Mario used the axe at the end of Bowser's bridge to cut the rope and sent him falling into the lava. Having Bowser use an axe against Mario would have been a clever ironic twist on their first battle.

This concludes the four generals. The other groups on the chart are even more mysterious as it is not entirely made clear which of Smithy's troops are manipulating them - and if not, how exactly they "went crazy" as stated by the chart. 

Booster and Croco appear in their own bubble, also being titled "Idiot" and "Thief",  which are characterizations that remained intact in the finished game, as well. They look very similar to their finished versions, as well, with the main difference being that Booster does not use a mace, instead only attacking with his fists and by riding a small train. It is unknown what the implications of them sharing the bubble are, and whether this means that they were intended to be connected, or even part of a villainous duo. In the finished game, they do not interact.

The already previously mentioned "Hypnotized Grunts" were intended to be hypnotized by the Hypnotizing Priest. In the finished game, Kamek (named "Magikoopa") is a boss, who is hypnotized, but it is never explained by whom. The other enemies are not hypnotized. The only times they appear together is when they are summoned by Magikoopa in one of the challenges in Bowser's Keep, but they also appear organically by themselves in various locations in the game. Shaman enemies also have three unused palette swaps in the game's files (yellow, pink and purple), suggesting they might have at some point been more important.

The large "Guardian Deities" bubble appears to show bosses that are only part of Mario's world and have not been directly influenced by the Weapon Realm characters (though still possibly being part of the description stating they have "gone crazy", perhaps due to the far-reaching effects of the invasion itself disturbing the balance of the world, rather than individual influence by any of the antagonists). It is unclear if the label "Guardian Deities" is supposed to be taken literally, as in, these creatures being actual divine embodiments, or if it only refers to their gameplay function as bosses of a specific environment.

Clockwise from the top, we have:
-King Calamari, who appears nearly identical to the finished game. He is supposed to be the guardian deity of the ocean. The ocean is never directly explored in-game, so he appears inside the Sunken Ship instead.
-The guadian deity of the desert - an environment that is very small in-game and makes up only a few screens of the larger Land's End location - was supposed to be a scrapped enemy named "Sahon + Hoten". I have provided a pre-release screenshot that shows it, suggesting that it was cut much later than the other scrapped enemies on the chart. In the finished game, its movement data is actually still present, but its actual graphical files are not. Unfortunately, its attack data was deleted as well, leaving us unable to tell what its attacks would have been like.
-Another desert deity was "Hydra", which appears to have been completely scrapped. It seems to resemble a sandworm in the illustration.
-There were three guardian deities for the "Dungeon" environment. The "Gas Boss" is also absent from the finished game, though the rare Mokura enemy that can be encountered in Belome Temple seems to be that design being repurposed.
-Belome and Punchinello are stated to be "close friends". Unfortunately, they do not appear together in the finished game and their friendship is such not explored. Belome does appear in a dungeon environment - Belome Temple - but Punchinello only appears in Moleville Mines. Interestingly, Punchinello is the only one from this list to have been promoted to a chapter boss, and the only chapter boss (i.e. character who awards a Star Piece when fought) who is not connected to the invasion plot whatsoever - the other chapter bosses being Smithy and his four main generals as seen on the chart (and Chapter 4 awarding a Star Piece without fighting a boss). This makes Punchinello the odd one out - together with the chart, we can assume he was never intended to be a chapter boss and was moved to that position later in development. I have also added another piece of concept art for the two in the bottom right corner, also shared by Kurashima on his Twitter account, showing them in more detail. In this artwork, they also are depicted close together, meaning that they were still intended to be friends.
-Finally, there is a boss called Sol, marked as "scrapped" for the Volcano environment. I have put the Czar Dragon as the closest candidate for what that boss eventually became due to it being connected to Pyrospheres, and the Czar Dragon's limbs being made out of Pyrospheres (called "Sun Children" on the chart). This would suggest that the design was originally not connected to Zombone, but a later redesign made it more dragon-like (referencing Blargg from Super Mario World) to connect it with its Zombone form, Zombone itself being already on the chart.

Now, for the groups of bosses ruling over grunt groups on the bottom of the chart.

Megasmilax is shown to be the boss of a "plant grunts" group consisting of Piranha Plant, Snapdragon and Amanita. These have been more or less perfectly preserved in the finished game, except without Megasmilax's connection to anything except Piranha Plants. In-game, Megasmilax is grown in front of the player's eyes by a Shy Away enemy and is in no position to be commanding any sort of grunt groups.

The "flying grunts" group was almost entirely scrapped. Even at the creation of the chart, the planned "Noisy Bandam" two-headed bird boss was already scrapped, with Dodo taking its place. From the grunts, only the Birdy enemies remain in the finished game, with the peacock enemy and the pterodactyl being absent. 

Interestingly, Dodo is the enemy on this chart that most closely resembles his finished version, down to the markings on his feathers.

The "undead grunts" group was also very well preserved, again minus the connection between the boss, Zombone, and any of the grunts. Looking at the designs in isolation, it becomes clear that they were intended to be related, but in-game, they appear in a variety of unconnected environments. In fact, the only grunts from that group that appear in the same location as Zombone are Vomers, a type of Dry Bones. As I mentioned before, it is likely that Zombone and Czar Dragon started out as two completely unconnected bosses, which were then merged into one boss.

The "puzzling grunts" group is in fact very puzzling, given how in the finished game, Jinx is not even an antagonist, but a completely optional boss that only challenges Mario as part of martial arts training. The enemies (Remo Con, Jester and Octolot) do not have much in common, although it should be noted that two of them appear together in Booster Tower, suggesting that Booster Tower was at some point a place where Jinx could have been possibly fought as a boss. A design marked as "rejected" is a vaguely Mechakoopa-shaped creature. An actual Mechakoopa does appear in the game as part of Bowser's "Bowser Crush" attack.

Finally, there is an extremely mysterious boss that was already rejected by the time the chart was made, appearing as an indistinct shadow and called the "Dark Actor". It would have commanded the "shadow grunts", which did survive until the finished game, being the Shadow enemy found in Kero Sewers, and the Orb User found in Booster Tower. Since the designs for the grunts do not even appear together, it is likely that whatever area or environment the Dark Actor was supposed to appear in was also scrapped, and the enemy designs scattered around areas that were roughly fitting.

In all, I believe this chart is enormously fascinating due to the insight it provides into the development of the game's story. Who knows how the game would have played out with the planned plot of having the inhabitants of Mario's world be corrupted or influenced by the Weapon Realm? We can only imagine. If you have any theories or thoughts you would like to share on how the information in the chart can be interpreted, please let me know in the comments on this article!

Thank you very much for reading.