Mario has been central to a whole variety of games spanning multiple different and unique genres. From saving princesses to taking part in the Olympics, he is a man for all seasons. At one point, he was even going to be an engine sculptor.

Talking at Reboot Develop 2018, SimTower creator, Yoot Saito talked a bit about a canned Nintendo DS game he briefly worked on named Mario Motors.

Starting with the idea of sculpting and milling metals, the idea transformed into one where players will get to learn and create car engines.

The concept eventually morphed into Mario Motors, “a game where you created engines.”

Saito summed it up as “shaving and sculpting out of a chunk of metal to make a cylinder [which then] decides the ability of your engines.” For part of the game he wanted to teach players how acceleration works in an interesting way and thought about having them blow into the DS microphone. “I scrapped this idea because this would cause children to get out of breath,” he explained.

The idea never went on to become a full game, but it is fun to think about the possibilities of bringing the science of mechanical engineering to children in the form of a fun game, much akin to what Nintendo Labo is trying to do with cardboard.