T▨here is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the spectrum of gaming is forever in debt to Mario. Since his debut, climbing up scaffolding to rescue Pauline⛎ from an angry Donkey Kong, he’s been providing gamers with endless amounts of entertainment. But it’s when his games made it into our homes when he truly made an impact.

Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System was a revolutionary title that saved the gaming industry from the brink of collapse. Since then, each game he’s appeared in has featured joyous music, pitch-perfect gamepla🧸y, colorful worlds, and h♓umorous characters. And it’s strange to think how different it all could have been.

For every Mari💛o adventure, there exists a multitude of what-if scenarios. What if Nintendo had given us these levels? What if Nintendo had included these power-ups? And what if Nintendo had given ♌Mario a weapon from the very beginning as they intended, basically altering the DNA of a character we now know and love?

Yes, while some of these changes may b𓂃e small, there are others that coulꦏd’ve changed the path that has led Mario to become one of the most well-known video game characters on the planet. And though some of them are small, they still could have altered future titles as they were taken out relatively early in his career.

Essentia♚lly Nintendo’s Mickey Mouse, there is no doubt that Mario’s star power will continue to burn bright for years to come. But here are 25 amazing things deleted from his classic games that could have changed everything.

25 Super Mario Bros.: Sky ♛Segments

There are a few major details that could’ve changed the way we see Mari🦩o had they been implemented in the first game. And one of those details was the inclusion of sky segments.

Since this was the first game, there was no basis to go off of.

Nintendo’s original idea was to divide the ga🙈me between playing on the ground and in the sky. Mario would’ve ridden on either a cloud or a rocket, shooting enemies along the way. But that’s far from the most extreme aspect they could’ve included.

24 🌺 Super Mario Bros. 3: A Top-Down Perspective

Super Mario Bros. 3 became the new gold standard for Mario upon release with exciting new power-ups and better level desig🧸n. Though early on in development, Nintendo had an idea that would’ve made it play entirely different.

The idea was to have the game be played from a top-down perspective, similar to The Legend of Zelda.

It’s totally fine for𓆏 the non-jumping Link. But Nintendo wisely realized that giving the game this feature would have made jumping and platforming needlessly difficult and thus scrapped the idea.

23 🌌 Super Mario World: A Different World Map

You can learn a lot about what a game could’ve been by looking at old pre-release footage and screenshots. For Super Mario World, the first Mario🅷 adventure for t𒁃he SNES, the original layout for Dinosaur Land was much different than what we got.

But the most interesting change wasn’t the layout.

The game was originally going to include Toad Houses and Castles similar to those in Super Mario Bros. 3. But Nintendo must have wanted to differentiate this game from the previous series. Also, the full title of the Japanese release is Super Mario Bros. 4: Super Mario World.

22 Super Mario 64: More Levels 🍷

As the first 3D Mario title, Super Mario 64 was bigger than any other adventure that had come before it. And Nintendo seemingly and naturally wanted to make it as big andꦍ perfect as they could. While there are 15 worlds that can be explored in th🐼e final version, the development team had worked on a whopping 32.

Due to space limitations on the cartridges, however, Nintendo decided to instead feature far fewer worlds, but make them bigger and enhance the sense of exploration. This resulted in the series of sandboxes we now know make up Super Mario 64.

21 Mario Kart 64: The🤪 Feather 🐈

The feather was a handy little item seen in the original Super Mario Kart for SNES that let players jump over obstacles. While not as exciting as a red shell, it was a way to help you play more strategically. And according to early screenshots, the item was meant to make a return in Mario Kart 64.

It’s unclear why the item was removed from the final version, but it would’ve made the game a bit easier and perhaps saved a couple of friendships. The item actually wouldn’t be seen again until Mario Kart 8 in that game’s battle mode.

20 Mario Party: Scrapped Miniga🌄mes

A game that was arguably responsible for more ruined friendships than Mario Kart 64 was Mario Party. It🍸 combined the competitiveness of board g𝓀ames with Mario, a blend that is still going strong today.

The first game in the series featured 50 unique minigames, but there were five more that were scrapped. The names, which are included in the game’s code, are All or Noth♍ing, Tour de Mario, Bungee Jump, SameGame, and Yoshi’s Tongue Meet. There was also a random play mode planned, where you could pl🤡ay random minigames without going through a board.

19 Super Ma✤rio World 2: Yoshi's Island: A Compl🐼etely Different Style

After Yoshi blew up in popularity thanks to Super Mario World, Nintendo decided to give h🐼im a starring role in the game’s prequel. But they also wanted the game to look much different than what wౠas seen in the final version.

Nintendo almost forced Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario’s creator, to include pre-rendered 3D sprites similar to Donkey Kong Country.

Luckily, this didn’t happen. The hand drawn/storybook art style in Yoshi’s Island built the foundation♍ for future installments, evolving into worlds made of wool and crafts. This may not have happened had Nintendo gotten their way.

18 Super Mario RPG: So Many Unused𓃲 Enemies

Super Mario RPG was a completely different type of Mario gꦯame when it was released in 1996 for the SNES. Developed by the wonderful RPG-crafting team at Square, it 𝓀blended the bright and colorful world of Mario with the strategic gameplay of RPGs.

With this game came a slew of fun and interesting enemies that were brand new to the Mario series. But there are many others that were left out of the final game.🎐 Most were just different colors for existing enemies but there were 🦋a few others, like Drill Bit, that Mario never got to fight.

17 Super Mario Bro🧜s.:ꦏ Checkpoints

The original Super Mario Bros. is one of the harder games in the series as it doesn’t offer the player any way to save their prog🐼ress. It also doesn’t offer the player checkpoints throughout levels. At least, not any ones we can see.

Seeing that little flag in levels for later Mario titles would strive players to push onward. In the original, there are invisible c💃heckpoints. If you make it far enough, then lose a life, Mario starts back at a certain section. It’s a small feature that Nintendo opted to delete from the first game, but an important one.

16 Super Mario🧜 Bros. 3: Centaur Power-up

Before Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey eliminated the need for power-ups, they were one of the most exciting things about playing a new Mario game. And one of the most iconic and popular is the feather from Super Mario Bros. 3 that gave our hero raccoon features and the a♌bility to fly.

But this was not the first power-up idea Nintendo had.

They originally planned to🌳 give Mario a centaur power-up, but this was scrapped before it was put into the game. They thought that giving Mario the power of flight would be more interesting.🐻 Good call.