[quote:f3d8aba984="NightmareRex"]is there anyway to tel if this is a legit beta or just a hack?[/quote:f3d8aba984]
Yes.

While I don't know exactly where this rom originated from, it's clear that it's little more than a hack.

For starters, although the game seems to be built off the original Super Mario Bros., it uses some sprites from the Japanese version of SMB2- most notably the smiling clouds and rocky ground. These sprites are essentially more detailed versions of their SMB1 counterparts--it wouldn't make much sense if they were scrapped during development of the first game, but brought back for the sequel.

The game's music and player physics are identical to that of the retail game. If this were a true prototype, it would have to be very early in development; the levels are totally different. It is highly unlikely that the music and movement code would be finalized long before the levels themselves had been.

The game, as you pointed out, is quite difficult. More than that, it's difficult in ways that the real SMB never was. (SMB2J is a different story, but then it was always intended for players that had mastered the original.) The very first stage requires incredibly careful timing and precise jumps, and it probably only gets harder from there. A design team as good as Nintendo's would never have considered this level of difficulty to be fair. If anything, a real prototype of SMB would probably be even easier, if the recently released Zelda proto is anything to go by.

[quote:f3d8aba984="NightmareRex"]also why dose one block in the title glitch and what about when you die it says "mario" with one of the letters glitched[/quote:f3d8aba984]
[quote:f3d8aba984="NightmareRex"]also "game over is glitced and says "game O#er"

the M in "Mario" as a nick on it too.[/quote:f3d8aba984]
Yes, it's true that real prototypes are pretty glitchy. Of course, as in this case, the presence of glitches does not automatically make a game a legit prototype. Besides, this isn't so much a glitch as it is a few out of place sprites. It's possible that the guy who did this hack messed up while doing some tile editing, but if this was intended to look like a real prototype, it's more likely that it was intentional. Wouldn't be the first time someone's corrupted a rom and tried to pass it off as a prototype.

Being as this rom is included in quite a few torrents, and is described in the description as "Mario Bros (Unknown) &#8211; Beta of never released Mario Game" I'd say the glitched graphics were intentional.

[quote:f3d8aba984="NightmareRex"]although I did get an idea: maby some beta collectors that don't release there roms have backed up there rom on a site like megashare or rapid share and we could retrive them via rapidshare search?[/quote:f3d8aba984]
Not likely. Sites like Rapidshare are public, not intended for private backups. Services like Dropbox would be much better for online backups. Besides, even if a collector did store his private collection on Rapidshare, it would almost certainly be given a fake file name so it would be undetectable.

[quote:f3d8aba984="NightmareRex"]strange when I press start it just starts the game no warp zones.
when I watch the vid it don't go to a black screen.[/quote:f3d8aba984]
hedgehog2489 was referring to the NES Super Mario World available on the site he linked. Speaking of which...

[quote:f3d8aba984="hedgehog2489"]
However could it be a NES prototype?

[...]

In my opinion it's pirate, the score bar change it's color according to the level, looking crappy, but it's still a very well made work. I think you can have fun with it.

It would be nice if drx could say if it's homebrew or proto.[/quote:f3d8aba984]
Yeah, you'd be right thinking it's a pirate original. I can see why some might think it's a legit proto; it's really well done, and it's been said that development on Super Mario World began on the NES. (I doubt this... SMB3 was released in '88, the Super Famicom was released in 1990. As SMW was used as a selling point for the newer console, it was no doubt designed and prototyped on early revisions of the SFC hardware, which would have been in development shortly after the release of SMB3 and the Mega Drive, both in '88.)

Here's the thing, though... this is a complete game, apparently playable from beginning to end. A real prototype of SMW on the NES, if such a thing even exists, would be very, very, incomplete.