Super Donkey was a platformer that was in development for the SNES from 1991 to 1992, parts of which would be used as the basis for Yoshi’s Island. The game was never publicly revealed by Nintendo; its very existence is only known due to internal development data surfacing in 2020.
The main character in Super Donkey’s playable builds, found in Nintendo’s internal archives, is a pilot character who resembles either the main character from the 1981 Sky Skipper arcade, or Stanley the Bugman from the 1983 Donkey Kong 3 arcade, drawn in a Rayman-like “floating limbs” style. Most available material for Super Donkey features variations on this character. However, the development files also include graphics for the main character being Mario himself, suggesting the developers have considered (however briefly) to turn the game into a Mario game.
This compilation shows all available versions of the main character's graphics. Note that these run the gamut from the original pilot, to the pilot with Mario's mustache, to Mario with the pilot's clothes, to just Mario. Note also the unique armor worn by the character in the bottom left.
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