Twitter user Dogon McBanana decided to go rootling about in the files of Nintendo’s GameCube title. What they found was a host of unused, slightly unnerving (see the T-posing, scarecrow like horror below), character models. “It seems like at some point each captain was going to have their own unique team of sidekicks,” wrote McBanana. “DK has a team of other Kong-like characters, for example. Luigi also has a dupe of himself for his sidekick, likely placeholder. They all have textures, but they’re in a weird format.” There were also homages to the Paper Mario series found within Mario Strikers’ files. Presenting, Dull Bones the ‘medic’. Finally, a Goomba model was unearthed, and it appears to be wielding a sceptre and a love heart. I don’t know about you, but I immediately pictured the aggressive playing cards from Alice in Wonderland when I first saw this chap. According to Dogon McBanana, this Goomba guard “gives a small window into the theming of the cut peach_palace stage”. The newest entry in the Mario Strikers series - Mario Strikers: Battle League Football - will release on 10th June. As with its GamesCube predecessor, this game is being developed by Next Level Games. I wonder if any of these previously scrapped ideas have pathed the way for something new this June.
