After the source code for Super Mario 64 seemingly leaked online, fans have discovered Luigi deep in the game’s code.
Nintendo allegedly suffered some form of data breach back in May, revealing beta code and assets for many retro games. Now more data has come to light, seemingly from the alleged leak.
These include Super Mario World [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], Starfox 2 [1, 2, 3], Starfox 64, Pokemon Diamond [1, 2, 3], The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and more [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Highlights include a skinny Yoshi design, a human in Starfox 2, and uncompressed audio of Peppy’s “Do a Barrel Roll!” line from Starfox 64.
UPDATE: Fans have also discovered uncompressed audio of Star Wolf’s line “Can’t let you do that, Star Fox!” It is likely that all of Star Fox 64‘s uncompressed voice lines will be discovered.
One particular highlight includes the source code for Super Mario 64. Aside from uncompressed audio of “So long gay Bowser!” (and seemingly not “So long there Bowser!” or “So long king Bowser!”), it appears that there was a two player mode at one point, and Luigi would have been playable.
Using the code, fans have begun to re-build the model in game [1, 2] (though it should be noted fake edits are passing around). Even alleged sound clips of Luigi’s voice has been found.
There is some irony to this, due to the “L is Real 2401” rumor. This comes from a statue in Peach’s Castle, where the blurred text on a statue’s plaque looked as though it hinted at Luigi being unlockable.
However, it has been known that Luigi and multiplayer was planned to be in Super Mario 64 since 1996. In a developer interview for the game’s official guide (transcribed via Shmuplations) Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed Luigi was intended to be playable in a mini-game, but was removed due to technical issues.
“By the way, what happened to Luigi?”
Miyamoto: “Well… until February, he was in the game. (laughs) Ultimately, due to memory issues, we had to take him out. Then we were going to include him in a Mario Bros. style minigame, but because most users probably only have that one controller when they first buy their N64, for that reason (and others) we decided not to.”
[…]
“—And in this case, that fundamental basis was the model you made with Mario and Luigi running around that room.”
Miyamoto: “Yes, it was being able to move Mario and Luigi around with the 3D control stick, and being able to change the camera view with the press of a button. One of our big development themes was letting the players move Mario around any way they wanted. We wanted to make a game where just moving Mario around was fun.”
[…]
“—People have described Mario 64 as ‘interactive animation’, and I think that term fits perfectly. Mario is truly a joy to control.”
Miyamoto: “That’s why I think it would have been great if we’d been able to make it two-player, with Mario and Luigi. But if we had done it wrong, it would have turned into a fighting game or something (laughs), so we’re leaving that challenge for next time.”
Luigi would later become playable in Super Mario 64 DS, along with Yoshi and Wario. We will keep you informed as we learn more about the alleged leaks.
Image: Twitter
