Super Mario Bros. Movie concept art shows Daisy, Birdo, Toadsworth

Production artwork for the Super Mario Bros. Movie shows a number Mushroom Kingdom characters who didn't make it into the final film - including Princess Daisy, Toadette, Eurogamer favourite Birdo, and the loyal Toadsworth.

The artwork, created by freelance veteran Jed Diffenderfer, was recently spotted after being uploaded to his website (thanks, Nintendo Life).

Diffenderfer states he worked as a story artist on the Super Mario Bros. Movie project from 2018 to 2020 - so it's likely that some of the artwork he created dates from early on in the project, before certain narrative choices were made.

The artwork shows a scene where a baby version of Bowser is spurned by Princess Peach and Daisy at their high school prom - presumably this would have been some kind of flashback sequence to explain why the Koopa king remains so infatuated.

Daisy pops up again in another piece of artwork showing an enormous battle between Mushroom Kingdom allies and Bowser's forces. Look closely and you can see Toadette and Toadsworth in the crowd, squaring off against Birdo and a range of other minions that didn't make it to the big screen.

Other pieces of artwork show more familiar elements, including the Mario brothers' plumbing van and a kidnapped King Penguin that are far closer to final film.

The Mario Bros. Movie ultimately kept the film's cast to a slim selection of Mushroom Kingdom favourites, with only a couple of cameos from side-characters.

Diffenderfer has also spent years working full-time at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, where he contributed to Big Hero 6 and Wreck-It Ralph, among other projects.

Perhaps we'll see some of these characters finally pop up in the next Super Mario Bros. Movie, set to arrive in cinemas in 2026? We've already donned our plumber's thinking cap and overalls to speculate where the Super Mario Bros. series might go next.