the cutting room floor

Did you know that Super Mario Bros. 3 has a debug mode? Or that Journey to Silius was originally going to be based on the movie The Terminator? Many classic games contain elements, like graphics and levels, that may have been used at one point during development, but were cut from the final release for various reasons. Some games, like Adventures of Lolo 3, have codes or passwords that do exist in the final, but were never revealed to the public, and can only be discovered by searching through the game's program data. This website showcases some of these buried treasures, along with detailed descriptions and (if applicable) theories as to how they may have originally been used.

Featured games are split into three lists. Featured Treasures is a list of some of the best articles we have, with lots of content and great writeups. Exclusive Excavations are some of the more interesting things we were the first to uncover. And finally, Help Wanted contains some games whose hidden features haven't been unlocked yet (it isn't always as simple as changing a pointer or poking RAM). If you can help us figure these out, it would be much appreciated.

Submissions are always welcome! If you find something interesting in a game, and you're certain it wasn't used in the final release, please e-mail us with the information, and you'll get full credit for the discovery.

Featured Treasures Exclusive Excavations Help Wanted
Updates

4/1/17

New website layout revealed

10/25/09

Finally made the wiki

1/11/06

Added StarTropics (1 & 2)

5/27/16

Released a Tetris DS prototype

7/17/15

Released a Monster in My Pocket prototype

12/25/10

Released a Legend of Zelda prototype


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Happy April Fools' Day 2017!