When we think about Nintendo, one of the first franchises that comes to mind is Super Mario, especially for those who have been fans of the company since the beginning. Over the years, there have been many different Super Mario titles that have received critical acclaim from the gaming community. However, there is one that stood out amongst the rest, and that is Super Mario 64, which brought with it a whole new level of enjoyment for gamers.
The game in question is Super Mario 64, which was released on the N64 and was the franchise’s first step into 3-D gaming. Super Mario 64 has been around since 1996, and gamers still love it to this day, especially with its re-release on the Nintendo Switch back in 2020, within the Super Mario 3-D All Stars game collection.
However, thanks to some VHS footage that has been revealed in a YouTube video, there was actually a multiplayer mode that was unfortunately left behind. It also brought with it a fan-favorite character, which ultimately was also left behind in the final cut.
A Missed Opportunity for Super Mario 64 to Have Multiplayer
A video was recently published by Now In Game Channel that shows in-game footage of the popular character Luigi as he performs a spin jump next to Mario. This shows that at some point in the development process, a multiplayer mode was being considered for the game and would allow players to also play as Mario’s brother Luigi.
The video that has been published by Now In Game Channel is a VHS recording of Nintendo’s Japanese Space World show from 1995. This video shows a room where some members of the community were playing an early build of the Super Mario 64 game, before the decision was made to remove Luigi and the multiplayer mode due to memory issues.
The reason that this video shows a multiplayer feature within the Super Mario 64 game back in 1995, is because the development team originally planned for this feature to be a part of the game upon its official release. But sadly, due to circumstances, the development team’s plans had to change.
Since this was an early build of the title, and was taken a long time before the game’s official release, it is understandable that some features were eventually changed. This is because the technology of the time wouldn’t have been able to handle the different features that the development team was pushing for, leading to this decision being made.
Why Was the Multiplayer Feature Eventually Removed, and How Good Would It Have Been?
According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the game’s director, there were originally plans for a multiplayer mode and for characters like Luigi to be playable. However, as the development progressed and eventually came to the final months before release, the tough decision to remove these features had to be made, and the gaming community sadly didn’t see this feature.
This is despite the fact that many different features had already been created for the multiplayer mode, such as a split screen feature that allowed two players to play the game at the same time. The feature would also allow the users to to explore different locations at the same time, but the development team eventually had to downsize this, nearly turning it into a mini-game.
Unfortunately, Miyamoto had to make the decision to remove this mini-game as it was decided that many gamers who would be playing this game would most likely only own one controller, and would be unable to play the mini-game anyway.
Eventually gamers would be able to experience this multiplayer mode, but not on their N64’s, as a remake of the Super Mario 64 game was released on the DS. Alongside this remake, the developers were also able to include the multiplayer mode that gamers had been waiting years for, and there were multiple player characters that they could swap between.
Even though this feature was incredibly fun on the Nintendo DS, it was sadly ignored by many gamers, as there weren’t many who would want to play Super Mario 64 DS with multiple people. However, if this feature were released with the original game, it would have most likely made the game an even bigger hit than it already has been.
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