Old DiC promotional art shows a very different look for both the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. cartoons

It seems that the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. cartoons from DiC originally had a very different style in mind when first conceived. An old promotional image for DiC's lineup of cartoons at the time shows Link, Mario, and Luigi with some extremely different designs compared to their final versions.

As you can see, Mario and Luigi have a very retro design to them, while Link has a look that's somewhat closer to his in-game/promotional art from the original game. There's no word on why DiC changed their designs for both cartoons, but I'd say the final versions we got are definitely better than these!