The Super Mario 35th anniversary has celebrated gaming's favorite block-breaking plumber in a big way, with the releases of Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury driving the festivities. These compilations and re-releases have allowed players to revisit the Super Mario series at its very best, with all of the same Goomba-stomping action that the games are known for. The fact that Mario has remained so consistently popular is a testament to how well-crafted the games are, and how selective Nintendo is about what gets published and what doesn't.
In truth, there have been a number of Mario games throughout the character's history that have been left on the cutting room floor. Video game development is a complicated process, even for a juggernaut such as Nintendo, and there have been some ideas that didn't pan out for one reason or another. Considering how successful the character has been over his 35 year long career, it can be strange to think that Mario would fall victim to such shortcomings, but there's some things that even he can't save.
Super Mario's Wacky Worlds
One of the earliest Mario games to get canned, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds was meant to be a sequel to Super Mario World that would release on the Philips CD-I. Unfortunately, the Philips CD-I was not well-received upon release and quickly dipped in popularity and profitability. It didn't help that the games that did come out for the console weren't all that great either, especially the Legend of Zelda CD-I games. This drop in CD-I sales, along with an increase in the development budget, led to the cancellation of Super Mario's Wacky World, and Nintendo hasn't expressed interest in reviving the game ever since.
VB Mario Land
Continuing the trend of doomed Super Mario sequels, VB Mario Land was meant to be a sequel to Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. The game was set to release on the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's first foray into the world of virtual reality all the way back in the mid 90s. Similarly to the Philips CD-I, the Virtual Boy didn't perform as well as Nintendo had hoped, with most gamers thinking it was gimmicky, and others complaining that it caused headaches and nausea.
During production of VB Mario Land, Nintendo scrapped its original idea for the game and instead turned it into Mario Clash, which was meant to harken back to the original Mario Bros. game. This version of the game did eventually release, but due to the poor performance of the Virtual Boy, it is rarely remembered.
Super Mario 64-2
A sequel to the highly popular Super Mario 64 was in the works at some point in the late 90s, but it was unfortunately cancelled for similar reasons to Super Mario's Wacky Worlds. Super Mario 64-2 was being produced for the Nintendo 64DD, which was essentially a disk drive that attached to the bottom of normal N64 consoles. This peripheral was meant to help Nintendo compete with the release of the original PlayStation, but it released far too late and failed to bring in much profit. Because of this failure and Nintendo having no intentions to release Super Mario 64-2 on the standard N64, the game was completely cancelled.
Super Mario Spikers
This Mario sports game was going to combine the action of both volleyball and wrestling, and was set to release on the Nintendo Wii. Given the naming similarities, it's possible that this game could have featured action similar to the fan-favorite soccer game Super Mario Strikers. Unfortunately, for fans looking forward to that unique mix of gameplay, the game was cancelled for containing violence that went against Nintendo's content guidelines. All was not lost for game developer Next Level Games however, as it went on to create the popular Punch-Out!!.
There's no doubting that Mario is one of the most successful properties in gaming, but the character has not been without his missteps. Cancellations are commonplace with Nintendo, and although they can be disheartening, they can also lead to even greater innovation. If there's one thing gamers can count on, it's that Nintendo will continue to innovate with their favorite mustachioed man for many years to come.