Newly-surfaced footage shows unused sprites from Super Mario Bros.

The original Super Mario Bros. game is one of the most important games in the industry. It’s the title that turned Mario into a household name and helped make the series what it is today. Without that game and its characters, who knows where Nintendo would be nowadays!

Super Mario Bros. set the standard for Mario going forward, giving us a grouping of characters that remain a major part of the franchise to this very day. From Goombas to Lakitus, the classic baddies from the NES original are just as crucial as ever to the Mario experience. You no doubt know pretty much every enemy that appears in Super Mario Bros., as they’ve popped up countless times over the decades. That’s why it’s crazy to learn that there were some other enemies planned for the game that never made the final cut.

In a feature from the Yomiuro Telecasting Corporation News Channel, we get a look at some behind-the-scenes footage from Nintendo way back in the day. Believe it or not, this footage shows off the days when Nintendo was cooking up ideas for the original Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. This footage has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that shows off sprite sheets for Super Mario Bros., and it gives us a quick look at enemy designs that were left on the cutting room floor.

The sprite sheets above showcase Piranha Plants, Sidesteppers, what appears to be an early Power-Up flower, and even a slightly modified King Koopa. You can also spot 3 different Mario heights, and a Gleeok from The Legend of Zelda for good measure.

The unused Mario height and the Power-Up flower are of the most interest, as they never made the cut. You have to wonder if these unused sprites paved the way for future ideas in the Mario series. You can definitely see how they may have been implemented in later Mario games, albeit with visual tweaks and modified powers. Makes you wonder just how many unused Mario ideas Nintendo has hiding in their vaults!