With the release of a brand new entry in the series just over the horizon, some interesting trivia about Super Mario Strikers for the Gamecube has surfaced online.

This discovery was shared by dataminer Dogon McBanana, who was poking around in the game’s files when they came across some unused models for the game, which includes several characters that never made it into the final cut.

The most interesting of these are a set of original “Mario style” humans which McBanana believes to have been initially planned to serve as the supporting team members for the main Mario cast, before being swapped out for the more familiar enemies.

https://twitter.com/Dogon_McBanana/status/1497029961261015042

There are also 3D models for some unused characters from other games in the Mario series, including the Dull Bones from Paper Mario as a medic, as well as the Pinatas from Super Mario Sunshine.

https://twitter.com/Dogon_McBanana/status/1497029968705974272

For the full rundown on what was uncovered in the search, you can check out the full thread here.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.