Super Mario 4

The title screen

    Super Mario 4. A fine one indeed, shamefully put to rest by the rise of technology superior to the Famicom and NES. A true martyr at the hands of time's burning wrath. This game is what Super Mario World finds its roots in, though that is a fact known by few. After the success of Super Mario Bros. 3, Nintendo needed to do something more large, more ambitious with the Super Mario Brothers series; the prototypical Super Mario 4 is the product of this need. And the ambition shows. It features a world map, not dissimilar to the one in Super Mario World, and all of the levels are laid out similarly. There are various broken elements to the then-visually-advanced world map, though, such as the fact that you can actually skip across many worlds and levels in it. The ability to do this was a bit random and inexplicable; certain areas would block you off, while others could totally be passed with ease. In the world map, there were various things that seemed to be anomalies that in truth lead to secret levels. There were also some genuine anomalies, like random parts of land forms just out in the water, looking misplaced and purposeless. It was hard to distinguish what was truly a secret and what was simply an error in mapping (or a glitch.)

The Mini-Mushroom and its effects.

    Something else fascinating was that there were various scrapped power-ups, some farther along in development than others. These were all to be firsts for the series that would appear later, such as an Ice Flower that would cause enemies to stop in their tracks. It had a blue coloration, but didn't change Mario's appearance at all, and it had no "Ice" effects beyond causing enemies to cease their movements. There was also a variant on the standard Mushroom that was orange with red dots, likely meant to be the Mega Mushroom from later installments due to similarities in appearance. This mushroom had no functional purpose, however. The most interesting thing to me, and by far the most functional, was a Mini Mushroom. It had the same shape as the regular Mushroom, colored mainly with blue and dotted by white. It shrinks Mario down, giving him properties similar to those it gives in New Super Mario Bros. His jump is very floaty and high, and he can no longer kill enemies (at all, due to the lack of ground pound.) There aren't any areas made accessible by this power up (to my knowledge) but it's still a nice, fun addition to the game that I wish was kept from the transition of this game to Super Mario World.
   There was one feature in the game that definitely set it apart from previous, and even successive Mario games: The Inverse World. I only caught a few glimpses of this within the game, but, it was definitely to be a cool addition. On occasion, after beating a level, the pad you step on to visit it would become green instead of red. This was the indicator of it becoming an Inverse World level. The difference in the level caused by this is that it is in reverse; certain changes in design are necessary in some levels to make them completable. The coloration of the levels are changed in this state, and certain enemies are omitted or swapped out for others. I should also note that "Inverse World" isn't an official term for what these levels are, or where they exist, but it did appear in some of the design documents I saw for the game (thanks to the gracious overseers of the QA team I was in) along with various other little things of intrigue. When completed, the pad to enter the level becomes the same blue as the sea around the land Mario traverses on the world map.
   In the aforementioned design documents, I saw some interesting things that I believe should be noted. There were several different Goomba designs, mainly different in shape (some were angular and some were more rounded.) Some of the Goombas were particularly large, with sharp teeth smaller than their bottom set of fangs exposed through a dopey-looking open mouth. There was also a rocky Wiggler, keeping the distinct facial features (and flower) but having jagged, rough look. I assume it was meant for the subterranean levels. At some point within the documents, I saw something that I found particularly interesting -- concept art showing a view from behind Mario, going through labyrinthine tunnels looking like castles. It kind of reminded me of the special stages from Sonic 3, except this was (I assume) designed to be on the NES. I'm not sure what this would entail, but I think it could be sort of like a first-person dungeon crawler (because I don't think the NES could render such a thing in real time honestly.) It'd definitely bring a unique gameplay dynamic, although I'm not sure that it would be accepted as an enjoyable element, considering the nature of the rest of the Mario games and their main appeal: platforming.
   It is unfortunate, in my opinion, that many of these things were lost to the inevitability of game development and time. But Super Mario World is an incredible game, a true pinnacle of game design and a staple in gaming history.