Hello Kitty Island Adventure marks the first official appearance of Big Challenges, a Sanrio character who was created in 1978, but was never used in any merchandise, and had gained internet meme status thanks to his mysterious origins. Island Adventure plays into the cult nature of the character, referring to him as enigmatic and stating he was frozen in ice for many years.
In Garfield's alternate costume texture, there is a portion devoted to Garfello, Garfield's Ninja Turtle alter ego from the Garfield Meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles short comic published in the 1992 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magazine.
There is an unused model of the Statue of David by Michelangelo in Squidward's prop set. This was likely intended for his air down strong, where he slams down with a block of marble, referencing the SpongeBob episode "Artist Unknown", where SpongeBob makes the same statue by accident. The model has a clam on its groin as censorship, just like in the original episode, but does not have the nose Squidward places on it.
As admitted by Mitsuhiro Takano (the original script writer for Star Fox 64) in an issue of Iwata Asks regarding Star Fox 64 3D, the development team had initially planned on including more aquatic stages based around the Blue Marine in the original game, but these were removed because they felt they dragged down the pace too much. In the Japanese version of the Aquas stage in Star Fox 64, Falco says:
こんな物 後にも先にも１回きりだぜ！(This is like the only time in our life we'll ever use this thing!)
English SF64's equivalent to this is "This thing will never hold together."
Apparently, this was the result of Takano feeling bad about there only being one underwater stage in all of SF64's single-player mode.
Going by files pertaining to Star Fox 64 found within the Nintendo Gigaleak, it seems one of these cut Blue Marine stages was known as カトレア (Katorea), which properly translates into Cattleya. Cattleya is a genus of orchids, which adds more credence that this was planned to be a beautiful water planet. The planet's initials (CL) show up in many other other source files, which gives clue to what it would've been like; for example, fox_edisplay references CL_SHIP0, CL_SHIP1, and fish00, whereas fox_boss.h refers to CL's boss as 鯖/saba, or "mackerel.” fox_jyuza.o meanwhile refers to a "saba snake", which heavily implies that the stage's boss would have been a giant fish creature or an eel of some kind.
On February 9, 2007, nearly a year after the game's release, director and series creator Shigesato Itoi set up an online quiz for fans who had completed the game, testing their knowledge about it. One question asks which Thief Jujitsu technique Wess uses, with the options being:
• "Super Sunset Miracle Chop Again" • "Super Chop Miracle Sunset Again" • "Super Miracle Sunset Chop Again" • "Miracle Chop Super Sunset Again" • "Miracle Chop Super Sunrise Again" • "Miracle Sunset Super Chop Again"
None of this corresponds with anything seen in the final game, and a note attached to the question clarifies that it was based on something that was removed during development, telling fans to ignore it. Because the intended answer was never confirmed by anyone on the Mother 3 development team, it is unknown what the true name of the technique was. Similarly, the question doesn't clarify what the technique would've been used for, though the phrase "Thief Jujitsu" is most similar to the Secret Thief Arts Technique that Wess occasionally uses in battle.
In a 2023 leak of unreleased content from different iOS games, an app titled Angry Birds Island - or alternatively Angry Birds Hatchery - was discovered. The prototype was simply a version of the original Angry Birds with two major differences •A mode called "Hatchery", which shows an overworld map of an island with a row at the bottom of toys and furniture •The first two worlds of the original game, but with an option to select from a set of birds, all of which appear to be hybrids of the regular birds This seemingly implies some kind of pet simulator mode with an egg breeding mechanic, not unlike the Chao Gardens from the Sonic Adventure series. It is unknown if this was planned as an update for Angry Birds or a new spin-off.
According to level designer and artist Alex "Pikomi" Pierschel, since Giana Sisters DS lacks a multiplayer mode, Giana's sister Maria couldn't be playable or even appear in the game, and revealed that Punk Giana took her place.
The first-ever footage of Luigi as a playable character in Super Mario 64 was discovered through an old VHS tape in 2023. The footage was captured by a Japanese broadcaster recording footage of Nintendo's 1995 Space World trade show in Japan for a TV program covering the event. Despite this, the footage of Luigi is not actually the primary focus of the clip and as such can barely be seen at all. The video shows Luigi falling back down after performing a spin-jump in what appears to be a red and white test area.
One of the enemies Sabre and Krystal would encounter in Dinosaur Planet were these robotic Scorpion-like automatons, typically found in Krazoa-build strongholds such as the Force Point Temples and Cape Claw. While removed in the final Star Fox Adventures, they could still be found hidden within the E3 2002 kiosk version via hacking.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, like the first game, contains unused calls from the announcer. Interestingly, a good chunk of these voice calls are for characters who could be clones or otherwise have a similar body shape to playable fighters, such as DoodleBob, Dark Danny Phantom, Nermal, Abrasive SpongeBob, Squilliam Fancyson, and La Tigresa. Perhaps most interestingly, Lucy Loud's ghost ancestor, Lucille Loud, is the only The Loud House character with an unused announcer line, despite the show's protagonist Lincoln having been cut from the first NASB and the show being based on a large ensemble cast of sisters. Michelangelo and Leonardo are the only cut veterans from the first game with unused announcer voice clips. None of them are from new shows, with a technical exception in the form of the name "Tak", which most likely refers to the Invader Zim character, as she would fit a clone role being an Irken invader like Zim, but could also potentially be for the titular character from the Tak series, though this is unlikely given that the game series had effectively been abandoned by Nickelodeon following the cancellation of its animated series in 2009.
Strangely, before the unused voice lines were dumped and publically uploaded to the internet, an almost entirely accurate list circulated online with Goku from Dragon Ball listed as an announcer call, likely a meme-based in-joke regardless of if it is real or fake, a name which was not included when the voice calls got datamined proper.
King K. Rool's render pose in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate seems to be lifted from an unused character select screen render for Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
What exists as LightFoot Village in Star Fox Adventures was originally merely a subarea in a greater location known as SwapStone Circle in Dinosaur Planet. This was essentially Krystal's equivalent to Sabre's SwapStone Hollow, acting as a hub for her adventure and thus connecting together her stages such as Cape Claw, BlackWater Canyon, Discovery Falls, Golden Plains and Moon Mountain Pass. It was also where she'd utilize her namesake SwapStone, Rubble, to transport to Warlock Mountain to deposit Krazoa spirits.
In the transition to Star Fox Adventures, when it was decided to scrap Krystal's co-protagonist role, thus leaving Fox as the only playable character outside of the prologue, Krystal's stages were either removed entirely or given to and reworked for Fox. SwapStone Circle as such would be heavily revamped, expunging the SwapStone element and heavily expanding the LightFoot Village mini-area into its own full distinct location. Similarly to Dinosaur Planet, the area would link to Cape Claw. It's worth noting that within the game files, LightFoot Village is internally called "SwapCircle", as ThornTail Hollow is similarly internally called "SwapHol", referencing their original names.
In Dinosaur Planet, Krystal and Kyte were tasked by the LightFoot to lit their ancient beacons that had gone out. Doing this in turn would reward them access to Discovery Falls. This quest would appear in the final Star Fox Adventures, but re-contextualized as the ThornTails in ThornTail Hollow asking for Fox and Tricky for help in reigniting their beacons, and doing so rewards them a key that let them access Moon Mountain Pass, as well as the Volcano Force Point Temple.
What exists as ThornTail Hollow in Star Fox Adventures was originally called SwapStone Hollow in Dinosaur Planet. It more or less functioned the same as it does in SFA, serving as the hub for Sabre's adventure, connecting his stages such as SnowHorn Wastes, Walled City, Diamond Bay, Willow Grove and Dragon Rock. It was where he'd utilize his namesake SwapStone, Rocky, to transport to Warlock Mountain to deposit Krazoa spirits.
ThornTail Hollow retains most of the same layout, but has noticeable differences: the shop that was originally situated underneath the SwapStone (now WarpStone, as the character swapping mechanic was dropped with Krystal's co-protagonist role scrapped) is now its own distinct establishment settled in the middle of the map. The winding series of tunnels right by the Swap/WarpStone has been replaced by the Mother ThornTail egg mini-game. The areas it was originally connected to such as Willow Grove, Walled City, Diamond Bay and Dragon Rock were either entirely removed or split off the mainland Dinosaur Planet in orbit. ThornTail Hollow also now leads into Moon Mountain Pass on the right side of the area, and what originally led to Willow Grove in the bottom left now leads into LightFoot Village.
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According to series director Katsuhiro Harada, he came up with the idea of including a character based off former United States president Donald Trump the same night he won the 2016 presidential election. He asked producer Michael Murray if there were no licensing fees for including characters based off the U.S. president, citing "a lot of buzz" around Trump as a reason for including him.
Both Harada and Murray then briefly discussed the character's fighting style and Rage Arts while in an Uber rental car in San Francisco the night of the election, until they eventually decided to scrap the idea entirely when their Uber driver became upset and started driving at speeds of 200 km/h while calling out "Fuck Donald Trump".
Golden Plains was another of Krystal's stages in Dinosaur Planet that was cut in the transition to Star Fox Adventures. It was an open desert area that Krystal and Kyte would have to trek through in order to reach the Desert Force Point Temple. It would be home to other interests, such as the spell page for the Portal ability required to open the way into the Desert Force Point, another jetbike race, and as well as Krystal's final Krazoa shrine test, the Test of Knowledge.
Golden Plains featured a unique mechanic in that Krystal would take damage by vising this area during the day because of the extreme heat, hence why the SpellStone guardian previously encountered at CloudRunner Fortress (who appears in Star Fox Adventures under the name of "Gradabug") warns her to instead travel at night when the sun is gone.
Golden Plains was removed in the final Star Fox Adventures, but some of its elements would remain: the Desert Force Point Temple was reworked into the Ocean Force Point Temple and would be now accessed through Cape Claw. The Ocean Force Point would even inherent Golden Plain's original background music. The Test of Knowledge would be moved over to the top of the temple in the Walled City and fittingly enough would be Fox's final true Krazoa test, although one more was planned in place of the General Scales "boss fight" in Krazoa Palace.
One of Krystal's many areas from Dinosaur Planet that got scrapped in the transition to Star Fox Adventures was Discovery Falls, which consisted of a massive series of waterfalls and hidden caves. This was the first area that Krystal was meant to visit after rescuing Princess Kyte from the SharpClaw within Cape Claw, and was also home to her first Krazoa shrine test, the Test of Combat. Other notable characters encountered here include a member of the HighTop tribe (a race of sauropods), a friendly SharpClaw that teaches Krystal the Foodbag mechanic, and a mysterious mole creature that Krystal must feed in order to to help her dig additional tunnels within one of the caverns. This mole creature, internally referred to as "DFmole" in the game files, has been affectionately named "Capy" (short for "capybara") by some within the Dinosaur Planet community. This area was also where Krystal would eventually acquire an artifact of the Krazoa that would let her access more areas previously barred off in Cape Claw.
As mentioned before, this area would be scrapped entirely in the final Star Fox Adventures game, but some elements of it would live on elsewhere, namely the Test of Combat (which now exists in Moon Mountain Pass, fittingly as Fox's first test) and its background music, which now plays in Cape Claw, and was also remixed in romantic saxophone form as Krystal's theme.
The character of Penny Crygor was almost completely absent from pre-release material for WarioWare: Get It Together! - with the only instance of her that managed to slip through the cracks being a silhouetted version of her on the title for the Frenemy Frenzy mode - leading some Wario fans to believe she would be absent, much like Dribble & Spitz were in WarioWare: Touched!. When the game released, she would appear in a major role: as a deus-ex machina character in the penultimate level, complete with her own theme song.
In Mario Kart 64's Bowser's Castle, one can see what appears to be a green Thwomp locked up in a jail cell - this Thwomp is not actually green, but simply lit in a way that makes him appear as such.
This Thwomp would inspire urban legends claiming that players could bail him out through varying elaborate tricks, after which he would be playable under the name "Marty" (likely chosen for the ease of editing hoaxed images with the names Mario, Toad, and Yoshi)
When N64 Bowser's Castle returned in Mario Kart Wii, "Marty" would be made the color of the rest of the Thwomps, suggesting that his green complexion was simply an error and not an intentional design choice.
At one point, a sequel to I-Ninja was in development, but was ultimately cancelled (likely due to the liquidation of Argonaut Games). Concept art for the game was released, notably featuring a military theme compared to the original, with both the Ranx and the Kappa Captain getting redesigns, a new enemy called the "Top Droid", and various props and weapons. Additionally, it seems that the sequel would have featured Halo, a character that was supposed to appear in the original game as the Ninja's girlfriend but was ultimately scrapped.
Star Wars: Monopoly contains a set of two unused lyric music videos, which are both in-jokes welcoming new employees to Artech Studios.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure marks the first official appearance of Big Challenges, a Sanrio character who was created in 1978, but was never used in any merchandise, and had gained internet meme status thanks to his mysterious origins. Island Adventure plays into the cult nature of the character, referring to him as enigmatic and stating he was frozen in ice for many years.
In Garfield's alternate costume texture, there is a portion devoted to Garfello, Garfield's Ninja Turtle alter ego from the Garfield Meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles short comic published in the 1992 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magazine.
There is an unused model of the Statue of David by Michelangelo in Squidward's prop set. This was likely intended for his air down strong, where he slams down with a block of marble, referencing the SpongeBob episode "Artist Unknown", where SpongeBob makes the same statue by accident. The model has a clam on its groin as censorship, just like in the original episode, but does not have the nose Squidward places on it.
As admitted by Mitsuhiro Takano (the original script writer for Star Fox 64) in an issue of Iwata Asks regarding Star Fox 64 3D, the development team had initially planned on including more aquatic stages based around the Blue Marine in the original game, but these were removed because they felt they dragged down the pace too much. In the Japanese version of the Aquas stage in Star Fox 64, Falco says:
On February 9, 2007, nearly a year after the game's release, director and series creator Shigesato Itoi set up an online quiz for fans who had completed the game, testing their knowledge about it. One question asks which Thief Jujitsu technique Wess uses, with the options being:
In a 2023 leak of unreleased content from different iOS games, an app titled Angry Birds Island - or alternatively Angry Birds Hatchery - was discovered. The prototype was simply a version of the original Angry Birds with two major differences
One of the enemies Sabre and Krystal would encounter in Dinosaur Planet were these robotic Scorpion-like automatons, typically found in Krazoa-build strongholds such as the Force Point Temples and Cape Claw. While removed in the final Star Fox Adventures, they could still be found hidden within the E3 2002 kiosk version via hacking.
King K. Rool's render pose in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate seems to be lifted from an unused character select screen render for Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
What exists as LightFoot Village in Star Fox Adventures was originally merely a subarea in a greater location known as SwapStone Circle in Dinosaur Planet. This was essentially Krystal's equivalent to Sabre's SwapStone Hollow, acting as a hub for her adventure and thus connecting together her stages such as Cape Claw, BlackWater Canyon, Discovery Falls, Golden Plains and Moon Mountain Pass. It was also where she'd utilize her namesake SwapStone, Rubble, to transport to Warlock Mountain to deposit Krazoa spirits.
What exists as ThornTail Hollow in Star Fox Adventures was originally called SwapStone Hollow in Dinosaur Planet. It more or less functioned the same as it does in SFA, serving as the hub for Sabre's adventure, connecting his stages such as SnowHorn Wastes, Walled City, Diamond Bay, Willow Grove and Dragon Rock. It was where he'd utilize his namesake SwapStone, Rocky, to transport to Warlock Mountain to deposit Krazoa spirits.
Golden Plains was another of Krystal's stages in Dinosaur Planet that was cut in the transition to Star Fox Adventures. It was an open desert area that Krystal and Kyte would have to trek through in order to reach the Desert Force Point Temple. It would be home to other interests, such as the spell page for the Portal ability required to open the way into the Desert Force Point, another jetbike race, and as well as Krystal's final Krazoa shrine test, the Test of Knowledge. 
One of Krystal's many areas from Dinosaur Planet that got scrapped in the transition to Star Fox Adventures was Discovery Falls, which consisted of a massive series of waterfalls and hidden caves. This was the first area that Krystal was meant to visit after rescuing Princess Kyte from the SharpClaw within Cape Claw, and was also home to her first Krazoa shrine test, the Test of Combat. Other notable characters encountered here include a member of the HighTop tribe (a race of sauropods), a friendly SharpClaw that teaches Krystal the Foodbag mechanic, and a mysterious mole creature that Krystal must feed in order to to help her dig additional tunnels within one of the caverns. This mole creature, internally referred to as "DFmole" in the game files, has been affectionately named "Capy" (short for "capybara") by some within the Dinosaur Planet community. This area was also where Krystal would eventually acquire an artifact of the Krazoa that would let her access more areas previously barred off in Cape Claw.
In Mario Kart 64's Bowser's Castle, one can see what appears to be a green Thwomp locked up in a jail cell - this Thwomp is not actually green, but simply lit in a way that makes him appear as such.