List of Paper Mario: The Origami King pre-release and unused content
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This is a list of pre-release and unused content for the game Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Concept art
As with the art gallery at the Prisma Museum in Paper Mario: Color Splash, there is an art gallery in the Musée Champignon dedicated to concept art showing various original designs for characters and locations.
The Red Streamer section shows early ideas such as:
Various early designs for Peach's Castle.
An unused nighttime theme for what appears to be a section in Whispering Woods.
A variety of sketches for Magic Circles, including those for the 1,000-Fold Arms and Earth Vellumental.
The museum itself, with a Super Marino of a lighter yellow. The piece in the southeast corner appears to show a Blooper sideways rather than upright. Signs are placed next to the doors, rather than being lights overhead.
A conception of the Battle Lab. The Bossotronic Fighter was red instead of blue, while the floor was a lighter shade of blue.
A very early idea for Picnic Road. Notably, it is inhabited by regular Paper Goombas rather than origami Goombas. Mario is also in his fire form in outside of battle.
Early concepts for Ol' Grandsappy and Sweet Sap Loggins.
Rescue Squad Toad members donning the Picnic Road souvenir shops southeast.
A rockier version of the Earth Vellumental Temple with stalagmites and stalactites.
Different ideas for what Autumn Mountain would look like in the background of Overlook Mountain.
Furniture and take-out boxes from Overlook Tower.
The Blue Streamer section shows early ideas such as:
Whirlpools for Eddy River. A certain, much larger whirlpool features a variety of vibrant colors.
Three different models of the Water Vellumental Shrine, each a different tone.
A model of the storage room in Shogun Studios, with the Goomba Mask away from the shelves.
The Dress-Up Photo Studio. Photos on the wall include Birdo, a blue Toad, two Toads in ninja outfits, a Toad with glasses and another with a mustache, and a Goomba.
Several models of a theoretical Ninja Attraction. Although most of the rooms are similar, the cutout ninjas had a completely different design.
Early designs for the Thwomp seen in the Ninja Attraction.
The Yellow Streamer section shows early ideas such as:
A different stand for the Toad's Automoboots mechanic, set up in Breezy Tunnel.
A completely unused area for what appears to be a training facility occupied by Paper Macho Soldiers.
An early version of the entrance to the Temple of Shrooms, with different-looking Toad statues at the back of the room.
The sarcophagus room in the Temple of Shrooms, showing the faceless Toads were red rather than yellow. A Donkey Kong-esque mural is present on a wall to the right.
Concept designs for the Fire Vellumental statues.
Early photos of Scorching Sandpaper Desert show the desert tower was much closer to the Fire Vellumental Cave.
Captain T. Ode sporting an eyepatch.
The Purple Streamer section shows early ideas such as:
An early draft of the Paper Macho Gooper Blooper battle, depicting Gooper Blooper in his regular form.
Early drafts of the boat Sea Captain Toad owns and the Super Marino.
An early image of ? Island does not have a Sensor Lab door.
One of the areas in Ice Vellumental Mountain featuring a paper Sledge Bro rather than an origami one. The chest off to the side containing a MAX UP Heart appears to be missing.
The Green Streamer section shows early ideas such as:
Raccoon Mario in Shangri-Spa outside of battle.
A completely different setup for one of the springs, as well as Mario in a Frog Suit, which does not even appear in the final game.
Shy Guys Finish Last being hosted by a Snifit.
The shortcut pipe in the Spring of Rainbows being orange rather than green.
The Origami Castle section shows early ideas such as:
Designs for Bowser's airship.
Various designs for the Paper Plane Squadron.
Early ideas for Origami Castle.
There are also various early designs for origami characters.
Bony Beetles, Bob-ombs, Dino Rhinos, Sombrero Guys, Amazing Flyin' Hammer Brothers, and origami Monty Moles
Concepts for the Paper Macho Chain Chomp.
Early designs of the Earth Vellumental.
Early drafts of the Fire Vellumental.
Concepts of the Water Vellumental.
Various ideas for the Ice Vellumental.
Origami forms of Princess Peach.
Early designs of costumes for Mario, Olivia, Koopa Troopas, and Goombas, related to Japanese culture. Costumed Buzzy Beetles, Ninjis, and Spikes are shown, but do not appear in the final game.
Costume designs of Toads, Bob-ombs, Goombas, and Snifits related to Japanese culture.
Unused graphics
Before entering Peach's Castle for the first time, the player was originally going to have a 360-degree view of the castle as well as some models of Princess Peach, which appear unused in the game's files with different hair and jewels on her crown.[1]
Leftovers from Paper Mario: Color Splash in the game's graphic include Mario swinging his hammer (which is 2D rather than 3D), the host of Snifit or Whiffit (P_MUCL.Default.bntx.zst, although with incomplete graphics), red paper Koopa Troopas, red, blue, yellow, and green Whistle Snifits (although the red one only appears in an ending screenshot), Princess Peach with her parasol (which is only seen in title screen screenshots), blue, green, yellow, and pink Shy Guys (although the green one only appears in an ending screenshot), Toads with silverware (which are only seen in an ending screenshot), a Spiny Egg, and Bowser's shell.
The accessory-selling Monty Mole has walking animations, as seen in P_CRP_Shop.Default.bntx.zst.
The Big Thwomp has back graphics, seen in P_DSN.Default.bntx.zst
Captain T. Ode (P_KNPC.Default.bntx.zst) has many unused sprites, all of them showing his eyes open, paired with different poses.
Some graphics depict Bowser and Bowser Jr. in the Koopa Clown Car (P_KPA_Crown.Default.bntx.zst).
Bowser Jr. has a glitched back sprite that depicts his leg mislayered and placed far above his body. It exists as Pera_Albedo.0066_Back in P_KPAJ.Default.bntx.zst.
The Rescue Squad captains (palettes of P_KNPRL.bfres.zst and P_KNPRL_E.bfres.zst) have unused graphics including them blowing a whistle, pulling an object, and carrying an object. These are leftovers from Paper Mario: Color Splash.
Multiple characters, including the Toad and Snifit Accessory Shop owners (palettes of P_KNP_Shop.bfres.zst and P_MUC_Shop.bfres.zst), the Toad Researchers (palettes of P_KNPASS.bfres.zst), the ninja Toad (palettes of P_KNPNIN.bfres.zst), the inked Toad at the Princess Peach (palettes of P_KNP_Sumi.bfres.zst), and the faceless Toads (P_KNP_HoleBundle.bfres.zst), have unused color swaps.
Love Toad has back sprites in P_KNP_Unique.Red.bntx.zst. In-game, he remains in one place after being rescued, and does not turn around.
The P_KNP_L.Default.bntx.zst file contains graphics for lime-capped Toads with neon blue vests. This Toad is not used in the game. P_KNP_LL.Default.bntx.zst contains Toads of the same coloring, except in a group of three and sometimes placed at different heights.
In the Snifit's graphics, sprite 66 is a purple crosshair. Sprite 67 is a slightly wider version of the crosshair. This is present for all colors except red (P_MUC.Default.bntx.zst and P_MUC.Red.bntx.zst), which have the sprites removed.
Graphics for the Black Shy Guy can be found in P_HEI.Black.bntx.zst, despite the character not appearing in this game. While some of the graphics are recycled from Paper Mario: Color Splash, there are some new sprites added.
Some Toads, such as Professor Toad (P_KNPP.Default.bntx.zst) and the Origami Craftsman (P_KNPOLI.Default.bntx.zst), have unused relaxing poses.
On Overlook Tower, Mario can look into a telescope to see a Toad's face covering the viewpoint. A full, unobscured graphic shows that this Toad is depicted with a very large head; it exists in red, blue, green, yellow, and purple, with screaming animations. It is found in P_KNP_Telescope.bntx.zst and its palette swaps.
Buzzy Beetles (P_MET.Default.bntx.zst), Goombas (P_KUR.Default.bntx.zst), Hammer Bros (P_BRSH.Default.bntx.zst), and Shy Guys (palettes of P_HEI.bfres.zst) all have unused graphics of them as Shangri-Spa cleaners.
Bob-omb has ghost versions of nearly all of his sprites, located in P_BOMG.Default.bntx.zst.
Palettes of P_KNP_Town.bfres.zst contain sprites of Toads found in Port Prisma in Paper Mario: Color Splash, including the Guide Toad, Rescue Squad Chief, and Card Connoisseur Toad. These graphics have been redrawn slightly, and include brand new back sprites. The Toadmaster General appears in P_KNP_E.Yellow.bntx.zst, as back sprite 231.
Every character has a "Kusya" file that is displayed when Mario hits them with his hammer. Some of these characters have Kusya graphics even though Mario cannot hit them, such as Emcee Shy Guy (P_HEIL_Kusya.Default.bntx.zst). If modded into regularly accessible areas, this crumpling functionality works as intended.
Sombrero Guys (P_HEISOM.Default.bntx.zst) retain most of their battle graphics from Paper Mario: Color Splash, which cannot be seen in-game as Mario does not battle them.
Various Toads in sunglasses have graphics, although they do not appear in-game (P_KNPG.bfres.zst, P_KNPG_E.bfres.zst, P_KNPG_Crampled.bfres.zst).
Cheep Cheeps have two unused Kusya graphics. While these exist in the texture file, they are not called by the model's animations. The used ones have the Cheep Cheep tilted upwards rather than downwards.
Sea Captain Toad's Kusya graphics (P_KNPCAP_Kusya.Default.bntx.zst) also contain two sprites of a regular Toad, one front and one back.
There is a single file for a character called "KNPF": P_KNPF_Kusya.bfres.zst. It has no corresponding textures or a non-Kusya file, so there are no graphics remaining.
An item icon called Kicon_X_DLAGONPEARL_BLUE is located within the item preview graphics (\ui\ItemIcon.bntx.zst). It is a blue recolor of the Red Gem. It is also referenced in the item file for the Earth and Water Vellumental room of the Sea Tower (\data\map\W4C3_EarthWater\data_Item.elf.zst), which contains the text Item_DragonPearl_Red and Item_DragonPearl_Blue.
\ui\battle\Accessory.bfres.zst contains a texture named "Accessory_Dmy." It is a placeholder depicting a blue gradient. A rainbow-colored dummy graphic, called "DummyTexture," is present in \ui\menu\SheetStatus.bfres.zst.
Origami Spikes have a 3D model of a spiked roller, similar to the ones they throw in Super Mario 3D World. This does not appear in any of their animations, and they use Spike Balls instead in-game. This was likely done for consistency for Snow Spikes and Stone Spikes, which throw snowballs and spherical rocks. Despite this, both the rollers and spike balls appear in a room in Bowser's Castle.
The Canned Tuna and Opened Can of Tuna, which share the same model, appear as blue in-game. However, the item (\mobj\W2\Mobj_CanA.bfres.zst) contains a green texture swap. This does not exist for the stack of cans that appears on the overworld.
Origami Shy Guys have six color palettes: red, blue, yellow, green, pink, and black. Red and black appear as regular enemies, and Olly disguises himself as a yellow Shy Guy during the prologue. However, the blue, green, and pink variants do not appear at any point in the game.
Sprites of the hammer from Paper Mario: Color Splash
Mario holding his hammer from Paper Mario: Color Splash
Bowser in his Koopa Clown Car
Bowser Jr. in the Koopa Clown Car
A red Koopa Troopa
The full version of the Toad on the telescope
A blue version of the Toad on the telescope
A red version of the Toad on the telescope
A yellow version of the Toad on the telescope
A green version of the Toad on the telescope
A purple version of the Toad on the telescope
One of Bob-omb's unused sprites as a ghost
A Shangri-Spa worker Buzzy Beetle
A Shangri-Spa worker Goomba
A Shangri-Spa worker Hammer Bro
Professor Toad relaxing
The Origami Craftsman relaxing
Love Toad's back sprite
A sprite from P_KNP_L
A sprite from P_KNP_LL
The purple crosshair
Blue recolor of a Toad Accessory Shop owner
Red recolor of a Toad Accessory Shop owner
Green recolor of a Toad Accessory Shop owner
Purple recolor of a Toad Accessory Shop owner
Yellow recolor of a Toad Researcher
Blue recolor of a ninja Toad
Green recolor of a ninja Toad
Purple recolor of a ninja Toad
Yellow recolor of a ninja Toad
The back of a Big Thwomp
Unused normal pose of Captain T. Ode
Back sprite of the Card Connoisseur Toad
Back sprite of the "Deep Cuts" Toad
Back sprite of Guide Toad
Rescue Squad Chief
Back sprite of the Rescue Squad Chief
Back sprite of the Rescue Squad Chief
The walking Monty Mole
A blue Shy Guy
A green Shy Guy
A yellow Shy Guy
A pink Shy Guy
A Shangri-Spa worker Shy Guy
A Sombrero Guy after throwing its sombrero
Sombrero Guy's party icon
Host Snifit
Green recolor of a Snifit Accessory Shop owner
Pink recolor of a Snifit Accessory Shop owner
Blue recolor of a inked Toad
Red recolor of a inked Toad
Red recolor of a inked Toad
Green recolor of an inked Toad
Yellow recolor of an inked Toad
A faceless blue Toad
A faceless green Toad
A faceless red Toad
A faceless purple Toad
A sunglasses-wearing blue Toad
A sunglasses-wearing red Toad
A sunglasses-wearing red Toad
A sunglasses-wearing yellow Toad
An injured Cheep Cheep
An injured Cheep Cheep
A blue Whistle Snifit
A red Whistle Snifit
A yellow Whistle Snifit
A green Whistle Snifit
Bowser Jr.'s broken graphic
Princess Peach with her parasol
A Toad holding silverware
A Toad holding silverware
A Toad holding silverware
A Toad holding silverware
A Toad holding silverware
A Toad holding silverware
Bowser's shell
The unused gem item
A dummy texture
The accessory dummy texture
The spiked roller
- PMTOK green Canned Tuna.png
A green can of tuna
Unused data
Among the partner IDs in the save file, there is data for a Sombrero Guy partner for Mario. This partner does not appear in battle or have any special abilities, but was presumably meant to be the one from the Canned-Food Par-tay Trio whom the player is meant to rescue along with the others.[2]
There is also an EXP variable, which indicated the game had experience points during development.[3] This can be found in save files as battle_win_exP.
Five dummy scripts are present in the game's data:
- \script\wld\btl\enemy\btl_enemy_OnMapDummy.bin.zst
- \script\wld\btl\enemy\boss\btl_enemy_boss_Dummy.bin.zst
- \script\wld\fld\map\Fld_DummyScript.bin.zst
- \script\wld\fld\mobj\mobj_dummy.bin.zst
- \script\wld\fld\npc\npc_dummy.bin.zst
\script\wld\btl\player\btl_player_Mario.bin.zst contains a list of Mario's attacks. This includes an entry for an item known as the ElectricHammer, placed between the Ice Hammer and Mushroom. The Electric Hammer has no corresponding text or graphics beyond a particle effect for when it is used in battle.
\data\data_item.elf.zst contains unused sell prices for each item in the game, equal to the buy price divided by 5. Additionally, the Gold Boots have a price of 800 coins and the Gold Hammer has a price of 920 coins, despite these items not being sold in shops.
There is data for the small box that Bob-omb owns as a Useful Item. It has no description. Its icon is defined as Kicon_X_SMALLBOX, although this does not exist in ItemIcon.bntx.zst.
Unused text
The glossary.msbt file contains multiple item names that cannot be seen in-game: 1-Coin, 10-Coin, 100-Coin, 1000-Coin, Healing Heart, Shiny Healing Heart, Flashy Healing Heart, Star, small confetti bag, medium confetti bag, and large confetti bag. Additionally, an item called the Dirty Coin is listed between the Soul Seed and Shriveled Mushroom, suggesting it was another item that has to be thrown into the spring in Whispering Woods. This file contains battle-related text not used in the game: Arrow Panel, Hint Envelope, Treasure Chest, Magic Circle Switch, Magic Circle Panel, Action Panel, ×2 Striking Power, Extra Action Panel, ×1.5 Striking Power, Angry Enemy, and Damaged Weapon. Various characters' names, including Slurp Guy, Bony Beetle, Parabones, Poison Blooper, Dino Rhino, are listed despite not being visible in-game. The text string OVERLOOK is also present among the "other" section of the glossary.
Unused music
There are two music tracks that go completely unreferenced in the data files: BGM_EVT_DJ_A_W5_opus.opus and BGM_EVT_DJ_B_W5_opus.opus. They are soundalikes of "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. The files' naming structure matches the tracks used for the Sudden Death round in Shy Guys Finish Last, with the "A" track being the lyrics and "B" being the instrumental. The "DJ" in the title seems to refer to DJ Toad, who goes by this name in \data\map\W3C4_DiscoHall\data_npc.elf.zst and \script\wld\fld\map\W3C4\W3C4_DiscoHall.bin.zst. This hints that DJ Toad might have had a song sequence with lyrics, which was cut later in development.
 DJ A | File info |
| DJ B | File info |
The track "Paper Macho Soccer" is mistakenly duplicated: the version used in-game is BGM_EVT_Samba_W1G3_opus.opus, while the unused version is BGM_EVT_W1G3_Samba_opus.opus. This is more in-line with the rest of The Origami King's sound files, which have the title first and then the level code. There are no differences between the two versions.
