Les jeux Mario annulés ou jamais sortis : que sait-on ?

Cancelled or Never Released Mario Games: What Do We Know?

1412 words | Reading time : 7 minute(s)

ListCancelled gamesNintendo

One Mario crossing the United States, another left behind as a tech demo. This investigation rounds up the Mario projects that never reached store shelves: Super Mario's Wacky Worlds and Mario Takes America on CD-i, a Super Mario RPG 2 on Nintendo 64, Super Mario 128 on GameCube — whose groundwork fed other games — and even Mario Motors on DS.

With hundreds of titles to its name, the Super Mario franchise looks unstoppable. And yet, over the decades, several Mario games have been cancelled, rethought or never released. Whether they were confidential prototypes or projects abandoned at concept stage, these ghost titles stoke fan curiosity and feed the wildest theories about the Nintendo universe. Here is a selection of ghost Mario games… and what we know about them.

Contents

1. Super Mario's Wacky Worlds (Philips CD-i)

Designed in 1993 as a spiritual sequel to Super Mario World on the Philips CD-i, the fruit of a business deal between Nintendo and Philips.

  • Developed by NovaLogic
  • Mario was meant to visit historical settings such as Egypt or Ancient Greece
  • A playable prototype leaked, but the project was dropped quickly

With no direct involvement from Nintendo, and because of the commercial failure of the CD-i, this game became the textbook example of a licence badly handled outside its own ecosystem.

2. Super Mario RPG 2 (Nintendo 64)

A direct sequel to Super Mario RPG (1996), this project was meant to land on Nintendo 64. Nintendo first asked Square (maker of the first game) to develop it, but Square declined, busy with Final Fantasy VII and focused on the PlayStation; development was handed to Intelligent Systems.

The concept was completely reinvented and became Paper Mario (2000), with a brand-new visual style. A successful transformation… but a far cry from the original ambition.

Bowser in paper form, from Paper Mario
Super Mario RPG 2 became Paper Mario: the cancelled project gave birth to another series.

3. Super Mario 128 (GameCube)

Shown at Space World 2000, the demo featured 128 Marios interacting on a circular platform with real-time physics.

  • Inspired Pikmin (group management)
  • Laid the groundwork for the gravity in Super Mario Galaxy

Never completed under that name, but a key project in the R&D work at Nintendo.

4. Mario Takes America (Philips CD-i)

An educational project mixing live-action footage and mini-games in which Mario crossed the United States all the way to Hollywood.

The CD-i's technical limits and the hefty budget of the filmed sequences led to its cancellation. Only a handful of storyboards survive.

5. Mario Motors (Nintendo DS)

Dreamed up by Yoot Saito (creator of Seaman), the game would have let you build engines part by part before putting them to the test in a race.

Shigeru Miyamoto was enthusiastic, but the concept, judged too niche, never left the prototype stage.

6. Super Mario Spikers (Wii)

By Next Level Games (the team behind Mario Strikers): a mix of volleyball and pro wrestling, complete with WWE-style finishing moves.

Nintendo cancelled the project, finding the look too aggressive for Mario's family-friendly image.

7. Donkey Kong Racing (GameCube)

Shown at E3 2001: racing on animal mounts (Rambi, Enguarde) through destructible tropical settings.

The buyout of Rare by Microsoft in 2002 put an end to development. The project was reworked at Rare into Sabreman Stampede (Xbox 360), itself cancelled in the end.

8. Mario Artist: Game Maker (64DD)

An expansion of the Mario Artist software for the 64DD: build your own mini-games with scripts, sounds and visuals.

The failure of the 64DD doomed the project, but it would lay the groundwork for WarioWare DIY and above all for Super Mario Maker.

Why were these projects abandoned?

  • Technical constraints and production costs
  • Partnership troubles (Square, Philips, Rare)
  • A mismatch with the brand image (violence, complexity)
  • Commercial failure of the hardware (CD-i, 64DD)

Nintendo does recycle ideas and mechanics, though: nothing is lost, everything is transformed.

For more rarities and curiosities, see also Hotel Mario, Mario's Time Machine and the games that never left Japan.

Quick recap

Topic Cancelled or never-released Mario games
Publisher Nintendo (partners involved: Philips, Square, Next Level Games)
CD-i examples Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, Mario Takes America
Project that became Paper Mario Super Mario RPG 2 (planned for 64DD, then Nintendo 64)
Project linked to Super Mario Maker Mario Artist: Game Maker (64DD)
Influential demo Super Mario 128 (Space World 2000)
Reasons for abandonment Technical constraints, partnerships, brand image, hardware failures

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Check out our Mario toys in the shop.

FAQ

  • What became of the Super Mario RPG 2 project?
    Originally planned as a sequel to Super Mario RPG, it was developed by Intelligent Systems. Following contractual complications with Square (which held the Super Mario RPG name), the project was renamed (Mario Story in Japan) and became Paper Mario, released in 2000 in Japan and in 2001 in the rest of the world.
  • What was Super Mario 128?
    A tech demo shown at Space World 2000 (GameCube) featuring up to 128 Marios moving on a tiltable circular platform, to showcase the physics engine. Never turned into a game under that name, it fed into Pikmin and into techniques picked up later in Super Mario Galaxy.
  • Why were the Mario games on the Philips CD-i cancelled?
    Super Mario's Wacky Worlds and Mario Takes America suffered from the commercial failure of the CD-i and from Nintendo's limited direct involvement; on top of that, Mario Takes America (Cigam studio) had its funding cut by Philips for lack of progress deemed sufficient.
  • Why was Super Mario Spikers abandoned?
    Developed by Next Level Games for the Wii, this blend of volleyball and pro wrestling was turned down by Nintendo, which found its wrestling moves too violent and too aggressive for Mario's family-friendly image.
  • Which cancelled project is linked to Super Mario Maker?
    Mario Artist: Game Maker, a planned component of the Mario Artist suite on the 64DD, would have let players create their own games. The failure of the 64DD doomed the project; the idea of a game-creation tool would resurface later in WarioWare and Super Mario Maker.

Conclusion

These cancelled games are a reminder that an icon like Mario follows a road paved with experiments, prototypes and strategic decisions. Some prototypes will never see the light of day, but the ideas they planted keep blooming in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Beyond the consoles

Films, series, music, theme parks and records: our guide follows Mario everywhere he has stepped outside the games.

🎬 Mario in film and culture →
↑ Back to top
Back to blog