Forest of Illusion have found a rare piece of Nintendo history in the form of a prototype build of the localized version of Super Mario World. The prototype has a date of October 25, 1990, nearly a year before the game launched in North America.
As this is a prototype made for localization, there are a number of debugging features that were included to make localization easier for developers. Some of these include Mario being able to acce access any point of the map without completing the previous stage, not dying when the timer hits zero, being able to instantly complete a level, toggle between different coloured Yoshis, cycling through power-ups inside a stage, and moving Mario anywhere on the screen.
Some of the differences include
- The sign at Yoshi’s House has different shading and lettering.
- Text box font is much slimmer than the retail version.
- Numerous script differences.
- Donut Plains 2, Donut Secret House, and “Funky” match the Japanese version.
- Star Road stages lead to the various test stages.
- Various debugging features are enabled.
- In the staff roll, Boo Buddies and Big Boo are referred to as Boo Diddly and Boo Jackson.
- Font graphics from an early version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past can be found.
You can see more in the video below