You never know what you’re going to find when you crack open a game’s source code.
There’s so much information hidden within a game’s code, and some of it is stuff that was originally developed but later cut from the final product.
We’ve seen things like this pop up for more recent games, like Final Fantasy VII Remake. Hackers were able to uncover Red XIII and Hojo in the source code for the game’s demo before those characters were even officially announced by Square Enix.
They also discovered the existence of PC code, which led many to believe that a PC version of the game was coming in the future.
But older games can still tell us a whole lot through original source code as well.
Such was the case recently with Super Mario 64, a game that was first released on the Nintendo 64 console in June of 1996.
Gamers recently uncovered sections of the source code that would have made Mario’s younger brother Luigi a playable character.
Luigi’s inclusion as a playable character has a rich history in Mario games. He was the second player character in games such as the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 2, Super Mario 3, Super Mario World, and even mobile games like Super Mario Run.
But Super Mario 64 did not let you play as everyone’s favorite underachieving younger brother. Mario was the only playable character in this one player adventure.
But that was apparently not always the case.
At some point during development, it seemed as thought the idea of including a playable Luigi was on the table, but the game’s developers scrapped it somewhere along the way.
Now, not only has this code been found, but it was used to reassemble the character. Of course, it was then posted all over the internet for all to see.
ROM hacks have been adding Luigi in as a replacement for Mario in Super Mario 64 for years, but this marks the first time that fans have been able to use actual source code found in the game to assemble the character.
Super Luigi 64, as it is now being called, was pieced together using Nintendo’s code assets by an artist named Padabana. As of this writing there is no ROM hacked version of the game using this character model specifically, but it’s only a matter of time.
Of course, Luigi was given his own franchise by Nintendo with Luigi’s Mansion. The latest installment, Luigi’s Mansion 3, was released last year on Halloween for the Nintendo Switch.