[TCRF] Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga Demo Indepth Look - Stardust Fields to Hoohoo Village

[@Skawo]

List of the _really_ notable things: 00:30 Titlescreen 00:44 Different Toad sprites 03:35 Different Mario dance sprite 04:08 Toad Avalanche 05:24 Super Mushrooms = Bean Mushrooms? 09:31 Menu 10:11 The photograph sequence 12:50 Different Airship area 16:20 Border Jump area graphics 18:29 Border Jump Level 3 pattern difference 20:35 Battle Differences Vol 1 21:08 Bowser is broke 25:35 Bros. Cookie 27:46 Battle Differences Vol 2 28:55 Battle Differences Vol 3

[@tibby4503]

cool.

[@perryorbit5304]

epic.

[@the_bookworm8281]

Another thing I noticed that I do not see in the comment section mention yet: the cutscene that plays where the Border Bro gives you the Beanbean Map didn't play in the demo.

[@Skawo]

Oh, dang, completely forgot about that.

[@meta1429]

2 decades of this game's time and a demo consisting of SuperStar Saga's early build found in the archives? Man I feel old just remembering this game when I first got it back in 2003, which was coincidentally my first Mario game.

[@DrAraxxor]

Wow this really puts into perspective on how much a few months of dev time can change things. The latest stable build was at E3 while the final releases were in November.

[@budd8852]

I can only imagine how much crunch they were put under to make the game happen in such a short amount of time.

[@Julian-mc3tc]

​@@budd8852 From the few game projects I did at school, I can tell you that : 1- When the game engine is finished, you can make a *LOT* of improvement and small updates really quickly 2- They were crunched to death lmao

[@DrAraxxor]

@@budd8852 I definitely don't want to imagine what getting all this out in that timespan in such a workplace was like.

[@DarkAura19]

To be fair, I think the likely case of all the unused assets here is them reverting back to whatever their most stable build was so they could make sure the demo performed as well as it could. It's likely some of this had already changed to what we know by that time.

[@LasagaMan]

@@budd8852 This was in the GBA/6th gen era, the devs of that era were able to do quite a lot once they had an (oftentimes self developed) engine established, they could do a while lot for development and use the game they just made as a base for the next.

[@DannyJS1]

Okay, that death and revive animation is actually really cool. I wonder if the original Starbeans cameo characters are still left in?

[@Skawo]

We'll see~!

[@teaoftraffic]

@@Skawoit’ll either be the first time we’ll see them in action in over 20 years or they’ve been scrubbed away before this demo was created

[@poudink5791]

@@teaoftraffic Neither, it turns out.

[@reydiantskyes8294]

Funny thing about the Toad designs is that they flow MUCH smoother into their shocked animation which largely seemed unchanged

[@asra-5180]

They look like they melted lol

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

The demo version of Mario and Luigi's death animation is a nice callback to their NES/arcade days (Super Mario Bros. for the fallen death sequence and the _Mario Bros._ for the revival sequence). Also, the early Toad sprites look adorable.

[@pashanurmuhammaddjaprie4299]

I think that fallen death sequence was actually originated from Mario Bros.

[@RetroT-Bones]

@@pashanurmuhammaddjaprie4299 It makes sense, since there is bonus mini-game: Mario Bros. Classic bundled inside the game of Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga.

[@CambriaBold]

As much as the final behaviour for the bros falling in battle and having to carry each other when dodging attacks adds an extra wrinkle to the battle system, I'm kinda bummed the beta defeat behaviour didn't get used anywhere. It's cute.

[@Pitrek1113]

At least the SMB1 death was kept in the sidescrolling section. But would be cool if they didn't remove mario bros. respawn instead of teleporting back in these sections.

[@dasirrlicht5415]

Given the theme of the game and the way the old toad sprite looks, I think its absolutely acceptable to call em Bean-Head Toads.

[@السراقالمجهول]

yeah the game had inspirations from jack and the bean stalk after all

[@masterofDisGuy]

As much as the death and revive animations are pretty cool, I loved the final release. Giving more personality and dynamic between the two bros.

[@Nintendotron64]

Some things worth commenting on: -Seems like tutorials were still REALLY rough; to the point they weren't confident in showing them all. -"Bound Bros" is probably just a translation error they scrambled to fix -Same probably also goes for "Bean Mushrooms" -It's really fascinating how different dying is! Not only did the animations change, but it's mechanically different too! Makes you wonder why they changed it when the demo version seemed to work as intended. -The jump and hammer blocks should've been kept. They look a lot nicer as opposed to just selecting from a menu.

[@skunthundler]

Idk about bound bros being an error, a lot of Japanese stuff uses bound instead of bounce. It was probably just an early, rough translation.

[@irregulargamer1352]

Understand that this is also meant to be a demo. so it's mainly to show people and have people get a taste of a game. so of course you are going to have stuff like abilities and items early while also skipping tutorials.

[@MrGojira95]

That beta music is contagious, and now lives rent free in my head forever.

[@slimyslimer2642]

Is it me or Bowser looks CHONKIER in this version?

[@Dakress23]

Yeah. His legs look pretty thick in the demo.

[@thesupervideogamenerdmore3171]

As if he wasn't chonky enough.

[@jsphn2008]

And also his final sprite during battle is larger than the one in the tutorial fight. Not to mention he also looks like plastic.

[@specssmish]

Interesting, because it looks like Dream Team used a more elaborate version of this beta battle transition with the bros. icons!

[@paulgilbert5278]

I was thinking the same thing

[@horpuscorpus8299]

Bro, why did they take out the toad avalanche? That was so funny

[@jimmer4039]

i like how 90% of the demo only has one unused song playing it reminds me of that one pirated version of sonic adventure dx

[@Shantae1188]

That Peach design during the Fawful inhaling animation looked like she had blue eyes instead of black

[@crashybandicoot0136]

It's actually like that throughout the demo

[@thesupervideogamenerdmore3171]

Maybe they considered giving everyone eye colors, but the GBA's resolution made it look weird, like SMRPG, so they made it black.

[@KiyloNendroid]

While i understand why the icons in boarder jump were changed, to stay in style of the character sprites, i seriously love how they look here

[@jimboslim]

Bowser's overworld sprite is quite different. He now has massive thighs instead of massive arms! I feel like the Bros. Block jumps higher when struck, possibly leading to a loss in coinage. 29:03 Pretty sure the Mario 1 death jingle is used in the final game when you die in a platforming section as mini Mario

[@Keitoded]

Bowser's sprites are a bit different in the knee area. When's he sideways, they're rather prominent, and they stick out more when he's forward.

[@ChickenMcKicken]

he looks chunky af lmao

[@Laenthor]

Few differences you missed: Peach has blue eyes with different shades and pupils instead of fully flat brown. When using their bros jump moves, in the finale the bros don't say "yah" and "yippee".

[@matthewgaming2408]

I thought she looked different in this demo.

[@Persun_McPersonson]

I so wish the original M&L kept the original title text with the bean vine and silhouettes, instead of the Paper Mario-esque one they went with in the English version.

[@splatana6660]

Shame about the loss of the death animation and those extra in-battle blocks, they looked nice

[@PixelShiftss]

15:47 I was so relieved the overworld song changed I was losing my mind listening to that other song oml

[@gameo7]

it's super interesting to see how much the game changed, and how the demo was found just recently too!

[@dasirrlicht5415]

I did not even know there was a demo. Let's-a-go!

[@ztarburst]

I played this yesterday really interesting find. Also sad we'll probably never get a new Mario & Luigi game.

[@alphastrike3363]

Well… GUESS WHAT

[@dymaz_azure]

GUESS WHAT

[@MusicIsMyLife-qm4rf]

Rip alpha dream Thanks for giving us this fun game and much more of course

[@osc-omb47896]

This music is going to make me go insane

[@BananaFaceDude56]

I noticed that the regular attack command block is called 'attack' in this version instead of 'solo' as it is in the final. Upon closer inspection, it says 'Attack' up until you unlock Bros. attacks, whereas in the final game it always says solo even from the start.

[@DanTheLoler_17]

I think it would've been nice to point out that Luigi's high jump voice is pitched higher like in the remake

[@whomdunit2457]

Woah, wait, how long ago was this dumped? I feel like it has to be fairly recent cuz I'm just hearing about this now... this is really cool!

[@Skawo]

Today.

[@Getlucky12]

@@Skawo Wow you work fast then

[@BBWahoo]

​@@Skawo Do you think bowser is a bottom or a top?

[@user-pz45s]

@@BBWahooLOLLL

[@Emerald_Fox]

​@@BBWahoowhy not both?

[@firstlast2602]

thanks skawo for making videos about this demo and even point out some notabke differences here and there, it's nice when prerelease version of known game gets documented this fast and detailed, i really appreciate it!

[@السراقالمجهول]

they really focused on the beans at some point huh? like just look at the logo it shoves vines and beans wherever it can the toads also have bean shaped heads, and the mushrooms are called bean mushrooms if i remember correctly they said that initial concepts for the game were inspired by jack and the beanstalk and it shows in the prototype even more

[@LokiThePug]

I like the sprite princess peach has over the one in the final game, but I guess the eyes conflict with the aesthetic of both Mario and Luigi’s eyes so it had to be changed…

[@MahNamJeff]

that's probably the exact reason considering bowsers sprites were changed in the JP release of this game to make him look on model, but also changing his eyes to the same black as everyone else

[@vexion369]

One thing I noticed is Luigi doesn't have a sad sitting animation at the start of the airship

[@besihodja393]

The death & revive animations were so cool why would Nintendo remove these references?

[@therealgamewizerd]

the demo HUD number font is incredible, I love it

[@pinkheartgamers5007]

I would love for someone to add the Beta death scenes and other small changes to be put in a mod pack. Some of these animations are too good to be under used

[@mambodockrill]

It it was originally known as Mario & Luigi, then Partners In Time must've originally been known as Mario & Luigi 2.

[@curlybrace4984]

Man, I really kind of love that dying in battle difference. That's amazing.

[@EeveeEuphoria]

i was wondering if you'd make a video on this, didn't expect you to be hawking the release this quick!

[@angelusvictor6715]

21:56 Huh. In here, the following message appears: "Explore the Stardust Fields and collect 100 coins! Coins can be obtained via blocks or via battle. To check your held coins, open the menu." Was this message always there? I don't remember.

[@s07195]

Always there.

[@shyguy85]

Weird, I don't remember that either. Seems like something thatd be added for the demo though

[@Blancanon]

Oh wow, this is so cool. One difference not mentioned is the boss defeat animation - it's different from the final game.

[@The_Clanker]

I do hope we can get a leaked beta of Paper Mario Sticker Star so we can see what could have been

[@spongesop8953]

I love how bros moves in the over world are just: “Let’s-a go! Yahhhh! Yahhhh! Okie dokie! Yippee! Let’s-a go! Yahhhh! Yahhhh!” 😂

[@Zultzify]

im sure someone mentioned this already, but マメキノコ　does mean bean mushroom, but its also the name of the mini mushrooms in japanese. this wouldve been their first use afaik as it was NSMB that they were used in an official capacity. neat!

[@Spikey-Valentine]

The music in this demo was making my head hurt

[@metalmario1231]

Ok but the dying thing is cool as fudge...nowhere near as memeable as watching your brother die and continuing to dance right next to him but still cool

[@save_zawarudo]

peach sprite is also more detailed in this demo but i like the final product more tbh

[@cryodual]

Oh my gosh! Skawo technically in a way sort of kind of maybe slightly does a *PIRACY?!* Shameful! (I say as I hold 200 pirated games behind me.)

[@dasirrlicht5415]

Nono, their uncle works at nintendo and sound then the genuine demo cartridge.

[@jzb4312]

Another difference in this is that you seemingly either do alot more damage to enemies or that they have less life than they do in the final game as I know some of those in stardust fields do survive more than 1 attack in the final game at the time you first go there.

[@LuigiXHero]

He started at a higher level.

[@toastr1255]

He started at level 7 (probably another demo thing, starting you at a fitting level for wherever it takes place), you can see him level up to 8 in the video

[@bosscrafty]

Something I haven’t seen anyone mention yet: in the minigame music, the instrument that should be a clarinet in the final is just a piano here

[@Chokey_Gaming]

This is beautiful.

[@elighbudziszewski1270]

This video would be 100x better if there was talking instead of text

[@Skawo]

Not with my voice it wouldn't

[@SuperM795]

If you ever consider doing a voiced video of it, I'd like to help you with the voice recordings. I might not have the best microphone or do the best imitations, but I'd love voicing Bowser.

[@BowlOSoup6661]

Gameplay videos with commentary suck honestly. Especially when you're doing it with no cuts and it's supposed to be a tutorial.

[@TheMoney9999]

I hope some of the disabled options etc are able to be hacked out so that we can see more potential differences

[@Green24152]

good lord that title screen "font" looks like it was content aware'd

[@bigmanc3217]

Gotta say I like the battle HP and BP meter more than in the final game

[@waitithoughtihadtousemyrea5976]

The original dying mechanic was very neat to see. I assume the reason the first stage of the border jump was in English was that it was changed for the demo?

[@dannyepix1918]

I love the unused music

[@windchimes8764]

The old toads look very similar to the face styles used in that one Tomato game from the same devs

[@KaiJie-n8q]

It's kind of funny how mario and luigi get into battles and then immediately wins.

[@_.-.]

9:11 In the final game Luigi sits on the ground, sad it got roped into adventure

[@cup_noodls]

I wonder if the Mario Bros style revival was added because it was gonna include Mario Bros Classic

[@Black77901]

Una diferencia que no mencionaste es que el color de ojos de peach es diferente en la demo son azules y en la versión final son negros si no recuerdo mal

[@stephenkillingback2956]

i prefer these beta toad sprites to how toads normally look. they have some actual shape to their face!

[@cannon9009]

Battle hud looked better in the demo, change my mind Also the ability to save in-menu was also way better

[@cannon9009]

In fact, there's a lot of things I'm seeing that are just all-around better than the original. Like, sure, it was a bit cool that you actually had to carry fainted bros. around in fights, but having them fall into the HUD is cool and kinda light-hearted, exactly the fitting kind of tone for the game

[@chaos_crew766]

Oh yeah u forgot to mention that Princess Peach has a completely different sprite at least for her eye colour

[@Keitoded]

The Stardust fields music is very loud, and has slightly different instrumentation I believe.

[@apersoniguess_]

3:36 honestly I prefer the old sprite to the final one

[@KaguyaH]

Hate to be the guy who asks, but what's the source on the remixed Yoshi's Story music you use?

[@Skawo]

It was made for Newer Wii

[@matthewgaming2408]

You didn't mention that the goomba color palettes in this demo are different with them having gray shoes, like in the original Super Mario Bros, instead of brown like in the final.

[@teaoftraffic]

ngl I really like the old battle numbers.

[@teaoftraffic]

27:59 THIS TOO THIS IS MUCH BETTER THAN A SIMPLE MENU (it only makes sense for bros. attacks and items)

[@Jaminsongunner]

Any way to have music that's different from finished version uploaded

[@Goofy_Egg_Mage]

One thing for Bowsers battle is that when Mario hits Bowser it does 10 damage but in the final it’s only 2 damage and when Bowser walks up to you before the battle starts he looks a bit…… fatter for some reason

[@wariocapproductions326]

For the first thing, i believe its because in the demo, Mario is like 5 levels higher

[@Goofy_Egg_Mage]

Oh yeah I forgot to say that aswell MARIO IS LEVEL 7!

[@Goofy_Egg_Mage]

@@wariocapproductions326 wait wouldn’t it be 6? Mario isn’t level 2 when you start the game right?

[@wariocapproductions326]

@HalloweenKirb no he's at level 1 when you start

[@Goofy_Egg_Mage]

Yh so how is he 5 lvl higher? Don’t you mean 6 levels higher?

[@glitchy6449]

There's actually an unesed hooded beanish character in the game files, I wonder if you'll run into him

[@Skawo]

Well, funny you mention that.

[@Keitoded]

Also the hit effects from jumps and from bros attacks are different.

[@mymax1629]

9:06 I never noticed before that it shows mario and luigi on deck with bowser (even though they're in the mouth at the moment), I wonder if that's in the full game or just in this demo version

[@Skawo]

That is in the full game.

[@evanseifert8858]

If the mushroom coin to beanbean coin exchange rate were 1:infinity then how could you ever end up with just ten?

[@JoeDan54]

NO WAY!!!! I WANNA PLAY THIS SO BAD LOL Just in time for the game's 20 year anniversary next month!!!

[@shyguy85]

Can someone upload the ost for this? Also whoah that death animation is SO MUCH COOLER!

[@mallio9020]

why is the music happy all of the time?

[@misk-ivus2990]

Bowser is chonky in this version XD

[@gustavoalejandromorletavil426]

You should REALLY play Tomato Adventure. I believe in the early stages of SS development, both games were quite similar...

[@Tawit2546]

Mario & Luigi's KO'd animation has been different?

[@NukeOTron]

I remember years ago seeing a screenshot of this game (which might be fake) with an image of Yoshi talking to to the guys, saying "Touch Fuzzy... get dizzy." or something to that effect. Is that anywhere in this build?

[@asra-5180]

It'd be in Japanese if it is. Looks like the translation only did the stuff shown in E3.

[@ConcernedGD]

The music used to be way worse, damn

[@havocadvent2]

YES SKAWO YEEES

[@ExGanonMain]

How did you get your hands on this?

[@jefferyandbob3137]

Bowser doesnt have hands wtf

[@Biggiegardneryoutube]

Can you give me the download link for my gba emulator

[@notsodogninja35]

Huh. Where did the public get to see this version of the game, if at all?

[@shyguy85]

I think it was at E3 but not sure. The logo used on that video is the same as the one here

[@DylanDude]

This is the E3 2003 build.

[@samuelmooregaming]

I just played through the prototype through the file one beginning one and when i got to the part where you have to go towards chuckehuck woods and the npcs that you show the brooch to were not there

[@Skawo]

Yep. I had to work around it.

[@samuelmooregaming]

How did you work around it

[@fawfulthegreat64]

How did you get past the Queen Bean fight, for me it was just a glitchy tutorial Bowser fight and then a black screen softlock

[@samuelmooregaming]

@@fawfulthegreat64 I used Myboy gba emulator on my phone and got no black screen softlock after the tutorial bowser fight when I got to queen bean The queen bean fight went to the tutorial bowser because the queen bean fight wasn't implemented yet

[@SleekGoose]

I can’t believe you stole from e3 all those years ago ! Glad the cops didn’t catch you

[@badcatalex]

Man that beta song is annoying lmao, thank god its a placeholder... but still.

[@TheRogueMaverick]

Is it just me or is the normal battle theme a bit different from the final?

[@Skawo]

It is.

[@TheRogueMaverick]

@@Skawo - I thought so! I could tell there was a difference when I tried it myself yesterday morning. Not a big difference on the surface, but most certainly there!

[@السراقالمجهول]

where did they found this demo?

[@BigRed3000]

How was this found? Someone just bought it on ebay or something?

[@wariocapproductions326]

As far as I'm aware the user who dumped it aquired it and another prototype in a lot from a former Alphadream employee

[@nootmastew]

Does a Hand Block exist?

[@Skawo]

Yes.

[@lucaswiese6]

playlist pls?

[@Skawo]

There is one: kzbin.info/aero/PLNt9bYwiVIA_wal5ygLkrz5gKTQkWJ9ug

[@lucaswiese6]

@Skawo ah thanks very much