CONCEPT ART
Background
Welcome to the concept art page! Any art found here was created during "Super Mario RPG's" original development period of early '94 to early '96, unless stated otherwise. All of these
designs were created for the final game, though there might be some pieces here that are from the original proposals. Since their original creators haven't confirmed when they are from, I am keeping
them here unless stated otherwise.
EARLY GENO DESIGNS
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Of course, with Geno being one of the stars of the game & eventually being one of the most popular Mario spin-off characters, a lot of concept art would eventually be shared. All of
these pieces were originally drawn by Kazuyuki Kurashima, though he would not be the one to draw the final design for Geno. Note that all of these concepts feature Geno wielding some sort of blade,
which was originally his intended weapon, before being replace by arm cannons & blasters.
This is a very early Geno drawn by yukasaba, I personally can't tell if this was made before or after the previous Kurashima, which might imply that Kurashima mdae the near-final Geno
based on Yuka's work.
I'd also like to apologize, this image was tweeted for a very limited time, and I was extremely busy when it was released. When i went to go get it, I only had MQ back-up of it
from me & my buddy Retro's DMs. If anyone has a better version, PLEASE let me know.
yukasaba's Comment
Kurashima-san picked up the rough ideas I had drawn, refined them, and made it into a character!"
 
The last of these early Genos would actually end up being animated by Kurashima, with both an idle and a pleased animation.
SUPER MARIO RPG MEMO
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The "Super Mario RPG Memo" booklet (スーパーマリオRPG メモ) is a book featuring various ideas & sketches by Background Map Designer yukasaba. Photos of this book were shared by Jiro
Mifune on Twitter, upon discovering that Yuka was also on Twitter. In total, three pages were shared featuring various weapon and/or item concepts, such as multiple types of spray cans, an item that
captures the mold of an enemy/a Spiny, and what appears to be concept art for the "Yoshi's Cookie" item.
FINALIZED GENO & MALLOW REFERENCES
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Character sheets showcasing the finalized designs for both Geno & Mallow. While Mallow's original concept was concieved by Jiro Mifune (though as a baby frog instead of a cloud) &
Geno was originally concieved & designed by Kazuyuki Kurashima, neither one of them actually designed their respective creator. Instead, Graphic Coordinator Hideo Minaba, known for his work on the
"Final Fantasy" series, helped create their finalized designs using feedback & ideas from the development team. Important to note is that Geno still wields a blade as his primary weapon, and Mallow
transforms his body in order to attack.
This artwork is sourced from "Ars Minaba - The Origins Of Hideo Minaba" & was scanned by VGDensetsu in April 2023.
1995 VILLIAN RELATIONSHIP CHART (Revised)
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An incredible chart from 1995 showcasing all of the game's major & minor antagonists, alongside the relationships between each other, drawn by Kazuyuki Kurashima. Included in this
piece of concept art are many early versions of characters, alongside completely unused characters! This can be broken down into two halves, the people of the Weapon Realm, and the people of Mario's
World, which can be broken down even more. While this page is absolutely massive & a bit low quality, the fine folks at "The Cutting Room Floor", specifically user FrenchOrange translated this entire page,
which I will be using as reference.[1]
- At the very core of the Weapon's Realm lies its ruler, Majin (魔神), who serves the Final Boss role, alongside what appears to be an early version of Exor. He would be replaced by Smithy in the
final game.
- To the right of Majin is "Count Down", seen here in the shape of a Mobius Strip. His Japanese name, "Moebius" (メビウス) is a remnant of that.
- To the left of Majin is a character known as the Hypnotizing Priest, with (Cane)/(Staff) written next to him. He goes completely unused in the final game, and would've been the explanation
as to why Bowser's minions would be attacking the characters throughout the game.
- Cloaker & Domino were originally designed as the Hypnotizing Priest's bodyguards, and are completely missing their Middle Eastern influences. Mad Adder is still present.
- Underneath Majin are all of the weapon-related bosses, none of them featuring their final names. Mack, design wise, appears closer to Tatanga from "Super Mario Land". He features (Terror)
next to his name
- Bowyer is also present, with the tag (Betrayal). He is missing his hair & ball joints.
- Yardovich is also present, with the tag (Hatred). He's basically identical to his final design, only have small differences in head & body shape.
- Balde is also present, with the tag (Destruction). While his overall shape is the same, the extra detailing of the eye & the back platform is missing. The Axem Rangers can be seen on his back,
though with only 4 present.
- Each major Weapon Boss in the game actually has a mirror in Mario's World. For Mack, his mirror are the Clown Bros., who are stated to be from Mario's World. Knife Guy used to be a sword-swallower,
meanwhile Grate Guy used to be a Juggler, and wasn't riding around on a ball.
- For Bowyer, his mirror is Valentina, who originally used a Bow & Arrow for her attacks. She's the head leader of all Flying enemies (of which only Birdie was used), and still had a connection
to Dodo. However, Dodo also had a connection with another character, what appears to be two baby birds known as Noisy Bandam.
- For Yardovich, his mirror is Jonathan Jones, which is actually still somewhat seen in the final game, with Jonathan Jones useing a trident (a type of spear) and having an interaction with Yardovich
in Seaside Town.
- For Blade, his mirror is Bowser, who is seen wielding an Axe. In the context of the series, Bowser using an Axe makes total sense seeing how one is present at the end of every castle in the
original game, but he is never seen with one in the final game.
- Megasmilax seems to have had originally no connection with Valentina, instead being the leader of all Plant-related enemies.
- The Czar Dragon is not present, and instead Zombone is listed as the leader of all Undead enemies, such as Boos & the like.
- Jinx, a somewhat minor character in the final game, seems to have had a slightly bigger role at some point, being the leader of what is known as "Puzzling Grunts", which appears to be more toy-based
enemies (which fits with Jinx's small, toy-like stature. An unused enemy can be seen, resembling someone inside of a cannon.
- A completely unused Boss character, known as Dark Actor, was to be the leader of all shadow-related enemies. This seems to have been rejected later on.
- Booster & Croco are seen on the side in their own small little bubble, with the tags (Idiot) & (Thief) respectively.
- A section for "Guardian Deities" is present. King Calamari is the Guardian of the Ocean, as seen in the final game.
- A completely unused boss known as Sahon, Guardian of the Desert, is present. He resembles a large round cactus with a face. Another enemy named "Hoten" is also present, possibly his minions.
- Another completely unused boss, Hydra, Guardian of the Desert, is also present. He resembles a sandworm. Both Sahon & Hydra seem to imply that the Desert seen in "Land's End" was originally
a much bigger area with multiple bosses.
- Another completely unused boss simply known as Gas Boss, which seems to be a thing inflated to look like a cloud. In the document, it's placed inbetween the desert & the dungeon Guardians, which
matches up with the optional boss Mokura, who appears in the "Land's End" desert & "Belome's Temple". Because of this, this is likely an early version of Mokura.
- Speaking of Belome, he's also spotted here as the Guardian of the Dungeon. Alongside him is Punchinello, and its stated here that they are (Close Friends), which might hint that the two had a different
role, likely relying on each other. In the final game, they have not a single interaction.
- The final unused boss here, Sol, the Guardian of the Volcano. He resembles a more demented version of the Angry Sun from "Super Mario Bros. 3", and has a Pyrospheres as its henchman. Interesting,
the Pyrospheres has the tag (Captive) next to it, implying that they might've been captured. This boss was rejected, and for the final game, the Czar Dragon was created & merged with Zombone.
EARLY VALENTINA & JONATHAN JONES DESIGN
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The original concept art for Valentina & Jonathan Jones, both designed by Jiro Mifune. Valentina was originally much more realistically proportioned, with a not as wide head, instead
having big ears, alongside a smaller bust size, a more realistic bird on her head, and a more detailed dress on. Jonathan Jones here is also a living shark instead of being someone inside a shark,
alongside missing his amulet & seemingly having fur/hair near the top of his head. His name here is also different, being "Jonathan Jaws" instead of "Jonathan Jones", more information about Jonathan
Jones name can be found on the secrets page!
Both characters were then later redesigned by Kurashima, both to simplify their design & to fit them into the game's artstyle. Such can be seen with Kurashima's version of Jonathan
Jones.
CULEX CONCEPT ART
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Concept Art for Culex, the game's super boss, drawn by Kurashima! At this point, the crystals were all originally part of his body, instead of being seperate.
SMITHY CONCEPT ART
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Concept art for the big bad, Smithy, also drawn by Kurashima! This seems to be after they established that he should be related to the weapon theme, and not just some demon genie.
While his beard had already been established, he's completely missing his crown, still has completle arms unlike the chain-link arms they decided later on, and is seen constantly holding tongs. To
the right of him, another early Bowyer can be spotted, likely with no arms whatsoever.
UNUSED MAJOR CHARACTER ARTWORK
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Two completely unused characters, designed by Jiro Mifune! While Valentina & Jonathan Jones ended up being the only two characters he created that made it to the final game, he clearly
had a lot of ideas! Alongside these two pieces are also notes he made, detailing the specifics of both characters! I should note that both of these characters seem to be from Mifune's "Musketeers"
pitch, but as I have no way to confirm this, I will keep them here for the time being.
JAKSON JOKER
Mifune's Comment
Clowns of the Trump Kingdom. One day, armed with powerful magical powers, he became a magician, dragging the Kingdom of Trump into a dimensional labyrinth and becoming the ruler. The "playing card
symbol" that appears when the characters in the original version of #SuperMarioRPG use "techniques" or "magic" is a remnant of the scenario with which these characters are associated.
GREED GUILDFORD
Mifune's Comment
He was also called the Wind God and led a group of thieves called 'Wings of the Wind'. He was imprisoned as a substitute for his twin younger brother, but escaped from prison after learning the
truth. His younger brother is Griffith, also known as the God of Thunder. He and Jonathan Jones are friends who recognize each other. He is a former gatekeeper of the Mushroom Kingdom and is
acquainted with Princess Peach. He wears sunglasses to suppress his "petrifying eyes" ability.
SUPER MARIO RPG (Switch) GUIDEBOOK ART
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Square Enix's Guidebook for the "Super Mario RPG" remake features brand new renders & concept art for the original game! While I own the guidebook myself, these scans were provided by Marisa
(MsDBZbabe on Twitter). For the guidebook, I'll be going through each page scan & noting all the important details.
Note: Marisa's scans were originally MASSIVE & PNGs. For the sake of the site, they're displayed as much smaller JPGs, but you can access the full-resolution image by clicking on them.
This page is the first page discussing development information about the original game, and the only page to feature looks at some of the models for the pre-rendered graphics.
- Early models for mutliple different enemies, such as Birdo, the Czar Dragon, & Dry Bones.
- Most importantly, the finalized Mario model used in the final game! Most sources feature earlier, much pudgier versions of the models, but this is the one they used in the game!
- Hideo Minaba's Mallow & Geno concept art returns! However, this comes with a new Mallow drawing & shaded version of one of Geno's concept art.
- Concept art for Croco! This seems to be for a design closer to his final design & not the one seen in early footage. You can also see a lot of nice detail in this, such as the coin pattern on his
scarf.
- Beautiful pieces for Bowser & Peach. They both seem to be for the cutscene where they're launched out of Bowser's Castle. In fact, the second one is in the same pose as a promotional render.
- Full-body concept art of Booster! I actualyl found out with this piece that his hat looks like a train, which makes sense!
Various concept art for enemies found throughout the world. While most of these are used, some of these are unused!
- Lots of detailed concept art for enemies like Banana Red & K-9, clearly showing early designs.
- Goombas were originally supposed to wear armor, much like the Terrapins in the final game.
- Monty Mole was originally meant for the game, but was cut at some point.
- There was plans for having three enemies based on Final Fantasy classes, the Fighter, Magician, & Thief. In the final game, while the Magician was redesigned into the Shaman (sans cane), the Theif &
Fighter were both cut, with an alternate version of the Theif being kept instead.
- Finalized designs for Punchinello & Belome.
- Radically early & different designs for Smithy can be seen at the bottom. The one on the left is lacking a hammer, maybe suggesting the blacksmith idea hadn't been decided at this point.
What appears to be concept art for an event in Bowser's Castle. Maybe this suggests different paths to reaching Bowser? The bottom two resemble Mario breaking out of a prison with two Terrapins.
Concept art for the fight with Bowser (at least I assume that's Bowser). The plan for setting the arena high above seems to have been decided early on, however it seems to suggest that you
would have to control Mario as you platform up to a higher floor. During the battle, the floor would collapse, leading to the Chandelier encounter, with the encounter ending on ground floor. Interesting to
note is that there seems to be a blade-shaped object behind Bowser in the final sketch, maybe related to the Weapons Tribe?
Concept art for the game's ending & credits, drawn during a finalized period of the game. Most of the page is taken up by art deciding how the Parade would go & how each float would be
designed. These also show off unused characters & enemies, such as Buzzy Beetles holding up Moleville's float. You can also see a float with Geno, which was unused in the final game. Amusingly, there's a
sketch of Luigi asking Mario where he's been, likely a teaser for a potential second game.
This artwork is sourced from "Super Mario RPG Official Guidebook" & was scanned by MsDBZbabe.
MISCELLANEOUS CONCEPT ART
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Some wonderfully detailed & demented concept art of Belome & Punchinello, paired together since they were concieved as best friends originally. While Belome stayed faithful to his
original design (though with some sparkrs between his horns here!), Punchinello is much more round here, along with rocking a pair of wings & three legs!
These two are actually form a much bigger & expansive page featuring more concept art of all completely unused enemies, all drawn by Kurashima! These all seem to be related to enemies
in the "Undead" catagory. This includes a scarecrow-like enemy named Poltergeist, some messed-up hedgehog looking-thing with multipl elegs, an enemy wearing a mask with horns standing on two chicken-legs,
a small n' round flying fella wearing a bucket, a ghost ship, and a ghoul riding around in a car with Piranha Plant headlights. Another creature can be seen slightly, just off the page, but a Koopa
can be seen to the left of it.
Another sheet of enemies by Kurashima, though only one of them is really legible. Some weird sun with a funny fave on top of a car, witha fuse in the back (and someone lighting it!).
Some more Punchinello concept art, this one being closer to the final design, but also not at the same time. Here he's rocking two pairs of eyes, for a total of four, and a giant gaping
mouth (but with normal teeth!). Above it seems to be another early version of Geno, item icons, and a weird creature that is literally all lips.
Two more early Genos, this time completely colored with two potential color palletes. In between them is a HQ render of Aero, Bowyer's minion.
Concept art of Hoppopo and other enemies drawn by Kurashima. There are a handful of other enemies, including a cut-off Blooper at the top of the image.
A beautifully detailed reference of Exor by Kurashima, featuring front & side refs! You can see on the right side that they experimented with Exor using his claws to attack. A nice
close-up of his face is included, alongside concept art for how the battle would look underneath it!
Concept art for the fight between Domino & Mad Adder in the Weapons Realm. Mad Adder is seen with a more normal design, but a sketch with a design closer to its final design can be
seen at the top left. Domino's design now has its Middle-Eastern influences, and the unused Hypnotizing Priest boss can be seen behind them, likely just watching & not an actual enemy.
Concept art for how the fight between Cloaker, Domino, & Mad Adder was originally supposed to go. While I haven't translated this, I'll leave bulletpoints on what should be going on.
- Mario would be exomporting the Weapon's Factory.
- Mairo would approach a giant door with a face (maybe it could talk)
- The door would open, revealing two inanimate objects. At that moment, the Hypnotizing Priest would use his magic on the objects
- Upon using his Magic, the Hypnotizing Priest would turn said objects into Cloaker &A Domino, requiring you to defeat at least one.
- Once one of the bosses is defeated, the other one would begin controlling & attacking with Mad Adder.
- When they are defeated, they turn back into their original inanimate object, before breaking into a million pieces.
- Once the final one is defeated, Mad Adder would turn into bone & start to disintigrate. This would cause the Hypnotizing Priest to panic.
 
More miscellaneous concept art by Kurashima, full of unused enemies. On the top is an Armored Soldier Ⅱ (車装兵Ⅱ) & a Saber Tiger (サーべル タイガー), with a second Saber Tiger & a Pheonix
under them. At the very bottom is a hodgepodge of enemies.
Concept art for the Clerk a.k.a. the Managaer a.k.a the Director by Kiroshima.
Concept art for Booster Tower by Kurashima.
Kurashima's Comment
When I was drawing the boss here (30 years ago), I was depressed because my motorized bicycle was stolen.
Bowyer concept art by Kurashima, he's already looking demented, and he has his air! But it seemst this point, his ball joints still aren't present.
Concept art featuring multiple different enemies, all drawn by Kurashima. Blade is seen here with a goofier design, much closer to a battle axe than the flying axe blade seen in the
final game. Right next to him seems to be an earlier version of King Calamari, and underneath them are designs for an unused bat enemy. Underneath this page is a couple other enemies, such as Jester,
an Octolot that is straight-up an Octorock with wings, and a weird six-legged creature.
Concept art for Bundt, the living cake, alongside Chef Torte and his Apprentice by Kurashima. Its seen with less candles here, and you can clearly see the middle layer originally had a pained
expression on it, as if it knew it was a disgrace to all living beings.
A very rought & early design for Chained Kong, drawn by Kurashima. It seems they were originally unsure if they could make a bootleg Donkey Kong, so instead they designed him to be
the exact opposite of Donkey Kong in terms of design. He was also, for a very brief moment, called Chimpan-kun II, before being renamed to "Doskey Yong" (ドソキーユング) immedietly after.
All is good however, as Kurashima would give Chained Kong a design fit to be part of the Kong family. The top of Booster can also be briefly seen here as well.
Oink! Kurashima also made concept art for Enigma! Here he's seen as just a pig head, instead of multiple forming into one. An early Bowyer face can also be seen on the top left. An
unused Slug can also be seen at the bottom.
  
Multiple pieces of art posted by Kurashima. I am not certain that this is concept art, but these seem to be drawn on the same graph paper used by artists at Square, so I assume
that they are.
High Quality renders of Greaper & Frogog, shared by Kurashima. They are extremely high quality, especially compared to what's shared online.
An early render of Punchinello shared by Kurashima. There's a few circles on here since this was passed for feedback, as this render is filled with muultiple errors. His mouth & the
white on him extend for too long, his right eye is misplaced, and there seems to be slight errors on his body & hat.
Incredible photo featuring multiple early enemy renders, posted by Kurashima. While Boo, Dry Bones & Greaper seems to be finalized, the Thwomp seen here is actually using its Mario 3 render, the
Blooper is way more segmented, & both Chow & Stinger is using completely different designs.
A HQ render of "Plane 2" from the world map, created & rendered by yukasaba. Unfortuntely, the original render was pixelated in order to avoid any potential issues.
Digitized sprites of the World Map, done by Menu Programmer Mitsuo Yoshioka.
Yoshioka's Comment
The world map was fancy and fun to work with as a programmer! :D
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