What Super Mario Bros would look like with guns

Looks strange, doesn't it? But the concept was entirely real. Miyamoto wanted Mario to have a jetpack so that he could accelerate while jumping - something he can't do in the actual game. It may be in Japanese and a little hard to make out, but here are the concepts as seen in the art book:

Above: These early diagrams also show that Mario's 'jump' button was originally 'up' on the d-pad. WTF?

The concept also outlined a punch attack and potential rocket riding(!) which all sounds ridiculous when applied to the classic, pure platform action we know and love.But don't forget Mario did get a jetpack of sorts in Super Mario Sunshine, and punched many a Goomba in the facein Super Mario 64. Then there are Metal Mario and the Cosmic Clones, both ideas that were mentioned years before we ever saw them come to fruition.

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Justin was a GamesRadar+ staffer for 10 years but is now a freelance writer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.