Air Gallet (ARC)
Dan the man (who could quite possibly
kick your can) enlightened me with this little titbit. This is part of the
game's intro, and appears this way in every regional version. However, with some
background viewing magic...
UH OH SPAGHETTI-OS
Sprites were used to cover up the kanji and the soft drink promotion. Apparently
the only regional change in the game is the announcer, with a different
pronunciation of the title in Japanese.
Bat Boy (PC)
Azaros has animations marked "_placeholder" for idle, walking, jumping, throwing, and taunting, that are just recolours of Bat Boy.
(I'm also certain either Azaros or Bat Boy used sprites of Mega Man edited to look like Samus as placeholders, but I can't seem to find them -- were they removed in an update?)
Brute Force (arcade)
The game's service mode is accessed by holding 1P Start and pressing Service (F2 in Mame).
Holding Service and pressing 1P Start will automatically complete the current stage.
Pressing Service, then 1P Start will award 3 extra lives.
Pressing Service, then 1P Punch will refill your health.
The "u65" file contains some unused text: lyrics for the attract mode song at address C9A1:
YO! LELAND RAPS
JOIN me FRIENDS, we be watchin' the TUBE
When CINDY calls the SHOTS we make our MOVE
We're the FORCE in the PARK or UNDERGROUND
DON'T stop KICKIN' till the KING goes DOWN!
And at address C547, extended captions for Cindy's voiced objectives:
TV HEADLINE NEWS, I'M CINDY SUMMERS. OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: SKINHEADS RIOT AT CAT THEATER...
OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: SKINHEADS STAMPED OUT! IN OTHER NEWS: CHUCO GANGS CLASH AT CITY PARK...
OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: CHUCOS STAMPED OUT! IN OTHER NEWS: SUBWAY VANDALISM RAGES OUT OF CONTROL...
OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: VANDALS STAMPED OUT! IN OTHER NEWS: TERRORISTS WAGE WAR FROM ROOFTOP STRONGHOLD...
OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: TERRORISTS STAMPED OUT! IN OTHER NEWS: COLUMBIAN ROCKHOUSE THREATENS NEIGHBORHOOD...
OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: ROCKHOUSE STAMPED OUT! IN OTHER NEWS: HOODLUMS COMMANDEER SUBWAY TRAIN...
OUR TOP STORY OF THE HOUR: HOODLUMS STAMPED OUT! IN OTHER NEWS: CITY SEWER TARGET OF NINJA SABOTAGE...
...LTV NEWSFLASH! CINDY SUMMERS HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED!...
The service mode's "VIEW BACKGROUND SCREENS" (found under Diagnostics) cycles through all the stages and attract mode gubbins, but the first one is totally unseen in-game! The text above and unused background tiles for her mouth (located at 7110 in the MAME tile viewer) suggest these were meant to be interstitials between stages...
... and these large mugshots located immediately after (at 7390) were either part of that newscast, or on a dedicated line-up screen. At 7830 (after the smaller mugshots seen in-game) is a wanted poster for the drug lord, presumably for a final stage?
At 7E20 (one of the last things among the background tiles) is an alternate heading for the Most Wanted screen: Select Crime!
Background 0C (located between the "Da Moves" and "Most Wanted" screens, see
notes) shows unseen art of the three characters, and at the top a glimpse of a man at a gun rack, presumably the interior of Mad Abdul's Surplus seen near your starting position. This isn't an error and is meant to be part of this tilemap, it seems; there's no more tiles relating to this background in the graphic data.
Background 0E is a 2-player variant of the "Da Moves" screen, omitting Krush from the line-up. Tiles found at 6840 also show a HUD with only Buzz and Snake. Although the service mode has a toggle for player configuration, you cannot change it from 3-player as far as I'm aware.
At 1200 are variant tiles for the window of Mom & Pop's Adult Books breaking, with a whip on the side of the bookcase. It's halfway visible for one frame in-game behind broken glass, but it spawns as a sprite instead.
At 2C5E is an animation for the hideout on top of the CAT Theater being destroyed. Not only can you not access that rooftop, but you don't even see that hideout while it's standing; by the time you travel to the north-west, it's already been razed.
BS Kaizou Tyoujin Shubibinman Zero (SNES)
These two mugshots are unused, hence their default YY-chr palette. The left one
looks almost like Doraemon, while the other looks like something from
Ufouria.
Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage (SNES)
If RAM address "000412" is set to a value between 0 and 9, it will start you on that stage... but the game freezes before gameplay can begin. There's clearly some remnant of a level select in there, but I'm missing something that would make it work...!
Castlevania Bloodlines (GEN)
The water magician in stage 2 has a wider range of animation that isn't seen outside of the graphics data; only the two sprites on the left and the frame of him keeled-over are used in-game.
Comix Zone (GEN)
Sprite ID 3600 (see
notes) is a green question mark. Not used, I'm pretty sure?
Curse of the Crescent Isle (PC)
An extra set of player sprites are included for the princess, who is otherwise only seen in the opening and ending cutscenes.
Exvania (ARC)
An early title that was used for the game at the 30th AM Show, according to the
November 1992 issue of MICOM Basic.
As far as I'm aware, this enemy does not show up in any of the stages.
An animation found in all the player characters' sprites is of an alternate death animation, seemingly from an earlier graphical style.
Fast Food Rampage (IOS/PC)
The game's
first trailer depicts victims with a clean-shaven face and different hairstyle alongside the usual bearded type. The released game only features palette swaps of the beardy boys; there's no leftovers in the data to my knowledge.
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
I'll be blunt. I swear I saw a magazine scan on the internet of an early menu
screen from Final Fantasy VII, showing full-body sprites of Cloud, Aeris
and the like. I can't find it anym ore, but I swear it existed. So I hoped to
still find them inside the data!
This was all I got. Some Japanese text bundled with where all the menu mugshots are.
These are not the graphics I was looking for.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
Queen Bean's walking sideways animation is used exactly once in the entire game! After Birdo's disguise is revealed, Queen Bean walks in from behind a hedge -- the sprite is almost entirely off-screen, and only two of its three frames are played before she changes direction. Put
that on your trivia sheets, buster.
Mario & Yoshi (NES & GB)
Apparently a Bullet Bill was going to be
one of the enemies the Yoshi egg could gobble down in the Game Boy version, but
that's all there is - the four enemies you do see all have a spare graphic
presumably used for score tallying or something, but there's none for this guy.
It doesn't show up anywhere in the NES version, though.
Mario Party Advance (GBA)
Pretty much everything here is different; the map, the HUD, the graphics,
everything. Plus, I honestly can't remember if you can get any higher than 10
spaces to move in the game.
I like how the mushrooms were once dice. Makes sense, considered they shatter
every time you hit them.
I don't recall ever seeing this area in the game. It's a terribly bland looking
place, but what's interesting is that not only is Bowser's sprite different, but
there are two Mini Bowsers! The only times you see more than one are during
mini-games. Also, the text box and Bowser's mugshot are different.
The bank itself is essentially the same, other than a few minor details changed:
The peeling poster is lacking the shading, the bank once had windows, the
knocked over plants are different, and most importantly, outside the light is
pitch black, instead of merely dim.
Plus, Koopa's sprite is different (and looks better, in my opinion. the game
looks like he's doing a jig instead of panicking), and so is his mugshot.
The prerelease lacks walls, Mario has a different sprite and fan, and the score
sun thing has a bold outline in the prerelease, along with bolder colours. Note
how the prerelease has a blue marker, and it says "+10" instead of "x10", which
is more correct, considering your score is never multiplied by it, but the
number shown is awarded for popping balloons.
The background is coloured and styled differently: The prerelease has very
top-heavy stars, that are all facing up or down, with straight lines. The final
has more even stars, with some stars tilted. The ground was original black and
white, but is now purple and white.
The original stand for the shells was a platform, but in the final, it's a giant
shell.
The pipes were originally curved, but are now straight. Doesn't look like they
changed colour either.
And finally, not only are the shells' sprites different, but they lack colour;
although they may simply have had a high score, where they only change colour
after you get higher than said score. And Mario always looks at the screen,
instead of daring the shell to a match of fisticuffs.
Note my shitty high score. =(
Mario's sprite looks mildly different, but I can't really tell. There doesn't
appear to be a path, what with the water being a single colour; and you have to
rescue 15 monkeys (all in the same red rubber ring) in the prerelease, but only 10
(in different coloured rings) in the final. The monkey gauge
is also squared, but more oval in the prerelease, and there doesn't appear to be
a timer.
The ground was once dirt instead of bricks, the audience stand walls were more
gritty and dark, but are smoothened in the final. The duelling swords is missing
on the flags in the prerelease, and are also different on the wall. There's only
four Hammer Bros. in the audience, but lots more in the final, with different
sprites; and finally, and most importantly, there were once platforms, which
would've added an interesting twist to tactics! And last but most obviously, the
life bars were moved apart and to the top.
The wall in the background is different,
with altered bricks, moss, and holes. The stairs are quite different, as the
final's stairs are small blocks, but the prerelease's ones are larger, and
crumble instead of falling and shattering. And, as usual, the sprites may or may
not be different, the quality isn't high enough for me to tell.
Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA)
Sprites can be swapped with memory editing (see
notes), and there's stuff I
assume is unused, but I've yet to put much time into the game. Gonna hazard a guess the
Golden Sun leftovers and the prerendered versions of sprites that have pixel art clean-ups are unused, surely.
Do your own research!
New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
New Super Mario Bros. was first announced in May 2004, named
Super Mario Bros. DS, and was accompanied by some
very early video footage showing basic gameplay.
It's incredibly early footage, as the graphics are all weirdy, there's no music, the programming is wonky, and the sounds are misplaced, missing and totally unfitting. Mario performs numerous backflips with ease, an ability not in the game; the jumps in general are very odd, sending him higher into the air than usual. Also, all the enemies are 3D models, but most of them are 2D sprites in the final.
And then there's a Goomba growing from a mushroom, which is just plain wrong, although a giant Goomba does appear as a boss. I won't even comment on giant Mario crushing Bowser in a single stomp in the middle of nowhere. None of the areas shown or their graphics appear in the game.
And then there was another
video, released in Summer 2005, which was much further along in production, looking much more complete.
Firstly, the HUD was seen, and drastically different from the final. The coins and timer were moved to the top screen, it lacks the World #-# part, has no slots for the star coins, and has three stored items instead of one. The lives counter also uses a different mugshot for the characters, and always seems to be above 70. The distance is also more bland, with a generic flag at the end, a green bar instead of a dotted line, and no indication of the mid level checkpoint. It does, however, tell you the useless fact of what level you're in, like
FORTRESS,
DESERT,
SEA and so on.
[middle image is from the video, left is from a screenshot likely made from a slightly later build. right is from the final]
The Mega Mushrooms are also different. The video shows them with the default colour scheme of red and white, whereas the final makes them a reference to the original
Super Mario Bros., making it yellow/orange and red. The stomping gauge doesn't come up when Mario collects it, though.
Speaking of giant Mario, he can punch and kick in the video, two moves he lacks in the final, and for good reason. They don't seem to do a thing except slow him down.
In the parts with giant Mario, there's also a giant Goomba wandering around, but they're not regular enemies.
It's not shown if it serves the same purpose, but this swirly ring which creates eight red coins and a time limit in the final is shown in the video a number of times, except it's blue. It's orange in the game.
Mario reaches the end of a level, pulling down a blank red flag and exposing his hair in celebration. However, there's no fort, and the flag lacks the skull design it has in the final.
The background used for the fortresses is different, and the ? Blocks are yellow, but the yellow brand are only in outdoor levels. Fortress levels have blue blocks.
This area simply isn't in the final.
There are no desert levels with tornados. The tornados are fairly clearer in the final,
compared to this dirty-looking one.
And the biggest change of all, is that this video quite clearly shows
CO-OPERATIVE MULTI-PLAYER. Well, maybe not co-operative, considering Luigi
bounces off Mario's head a number of times, but it's SIMULTANEOUS MULTI-PLAYER
none the less. And it looks fully programmed. They interact with each other
rightly, and all the right coding seems to be there. Yet, despite all that, and
the fact it's the first traditional side scrolling
Mario game with
simultaneous multi-player, they removed it from the final game. Can you guess
what they replaced it with?
A star collecting battle game.
I would rant and ramble and shimmy and shake, but I won't. I do have some words,
though:
Next time, Nintendo.
NEXT TIME.
Pigout (ARC)
File "03-29000-01.u3" is notably smaller than the rest, and the only graphical data it contains is remnants of a rotating baja buggy, looking unlike anything else in the game. It doesn't look like it belongs to Leland's racers
Super Off Road or
Indy Heat...?
Pipi & Bibi's (ARC)
The player characters and common enemies feature running animations, even though only the short bald baddies play it (after being zapped); those ones feature an alternate two-frame animation. The short punks have only one frame left of a similar animation.
The players' running animations have a green glow, which also applies to these frames of seemingly crashing into a wall.
There are alternate graphics of a ball on a spring that seem to line up with the players' gun.
Most characters feature alternate idle sprites, typically with some change to their outline, shadow, or the size of their feet; used ones are on top, unused ones below. The swimmer is notable for having two completely different designs!
These sprites appear to be totally unused as far as I'm aware.
The casino man has an animation of him melting, for some reason.
The dog has an alternate set of flying sprites with smaller feet, as well as unseen animations for walking and hitting the ground. It falls off-screen when hit no matter what.
There's also a completely unseen enemy, looking like an alternate design for the propeller dog...? It's found at the end of the sprite graphics bank.
R-Type (ARC)
esreveR tells me that although the second game has five weapon slots and the first only has three, apparently five were coded. Value 00 is blue, 02 is yellow, and then it skips to 06 for red. 04 would've been green but acts/displays as yellow, and 08 would've been grey, but shows up as blue. And then when they programmed them in for the second game, they ditched it for the third one. Oh well.
Super Mario Land 2 (GB)
The title screen of
Super Mario Land 2 is different from the English and Japanese versions, but according to an old Game Boy advertisement that I pinched from the
Super Mario Bros. Info Station, the English one had
another title screen! It's pretty poor looking, in my opinion, what with a sign that has a ton of empty space, and a terribly bland logo. I'm glad they changed it, although the final title seems a bit empty, what with only the signpost and mushrooms there.
The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror (GBC)
RAM address 0804 controls the player's displayed sprite, and can cycle through any graphic in the game.
Leftovers of Tommy Pickles from Software Creations' previous
Rugrats games are interspersed throughout Bart and Homer's sprites, seemingly in animation fields that weren't replaced. Lisa must have been built off of Bart's framework, as his sprites fill in the fields she doesn't use.
Animations of Bart mooning the camera, and also using a camera. The first was almost surely meant as an idle animation, but he instead reuses his slingshot animation.
Homer looking scared, yawning, and shrugging. Possible idle animations; in-game he only scratches his butt.
702 to 924 (between Lisa's sprites and the Homer variants) is an assortment of spaceships, rockets, missiles, and other space-y stuff; see the
sprite sheet (a placeholder palette has been used). It doesn't look like it belongs, and it doesn't look to have come from any of the
Rugrats games either!
Found among the item graphics: a heart, a paperclip (diaper pin?), and a bottle. Palettes are placeholder. Gonna assume these are unused or more leftovers.
Spud! (PC)
"POLAR.BOB" (top) is an unused variant of "C14A.BOB" (bottom) featuring only one polar bear and missing the background.
Tom & Jerry (SNES)
There's unused text in both the prototype and final release of the game that seems more than a little out of place.
IN NOVEMBER OF 1984, SHORTLY BEFORE
GORBACHEV CAME TO POWER, A TYPHOON- CLASS SOVIET SUB SURFACED JUST SOUTH OF THE
GRAND BANKS. IT THEN SANK IN DEEP WATER, APPARENTLY SUFFERING A RADIATION
PROBLEM. UNCONFIRMED REPORTS INDICATED SOME OF THE CREW WERE RESCUED. BUT
ACCORDING TO REPEATED STATEMENTS BY BOTH SOVIET AND AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS,
NOTHING OF WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE... ...EVER HAPPENED.
Tom & Jerry isn't about submerged Soviet submarines!
This is actually text from another game by Hi-Tech Expressions,
The Hunt For Red October, which is actually about submerged Soviet submarines. It's located between the ROM header (which calls the game
Super Tom & Jerry, though the box and title screen lack the prefix) and the credits, which is slightly odd.
Interestingly, it's not even the final text of the game! Here's what it's really like:
On November 12, 1984 approximately four months before Mikhail Gorbachev
took power in the Soviet Union, a Russian TYPHOON class submarine surfaced
briefly in the Atlantic just north of Bermuda. It was subsequently sank in the
deep water after suffering massive radiation leakage. Unconfirmed reports
indicated some of the crew were rescued. According to my repeated statements by
both Soviet and American governments... Nothing of what you are about to see...
EVER HAPPENED.
Beta text of a different game inside another beta that kept the text into the final! Wacky stuff.
And for those who can't read long sentences at a time, it's more or less the same, except the final text makes better use of the English language.
"Sank into deep water." Honestly. It's called the ocean, people, and I don't think it likes being called deep water. Maybe
very deep water, but not without that prefix.
Turok: Escape From Lost Valley (PC)
There's a hearty heaping of work-in-progress textures left in the game data!
Textures "swordguy" and "g3knight2" depict a wee bloke with a horned helmet, a sword, and a shield, and full animations for running, attacking, and rolling. It's likely this was the test model for the engine before it was repurposed for
Turok.
"turok.png", "turokanimations.png", and "turokbow.png" feature a particularly sketchy design for Turok, with animations that were later totally reworked. Its shadow is baked in, and the attack animation is a two-handed tomahawk swing; see below.
Likewise, "turokchargebow", "turokheavyattack", "turokhit", "turokjump", "turokmediumattack", "turokpickuprock", "turokroll", and "turokvinetrap" are all unused variants that add additional shine to Turok's hair, different shading, and add bangles to his sideburns. The finalised in-game version is on the right.
There are three texture sets replacing Turok's knife attack animations with a tomahawk, with the heavy attack an overhead chop. They're all part of the "hair shine" era of the sprite, and weren't updated; it's unclear if the tomahawk was the default weapon or intended as a weapon upgrade.
An entirely unused enemy, labelled the Grass Honker! It has animations for standing, running, and lunging, but no hurt or death animations.
Another unused enemy, the Mosasaur! It has animations for attack, taking damage, and "swim" (submerging or rising from the water), but only its front-facing idle sprite is more than a rough sketch. It was likely replaced by the Long Neck Water Honker; it's notably the only enemy given its scientific name instead of a comic-accurate descriptor.
Perhaps less exciting is "spikeplant.png". It's a plant with spikes on it! No animation, but would likely have been a hazard if you stepped on it.
"beara.png" and "bearr.png" are sketchy drafts of the Giant Bear's attacking and running animations, notably featuring a more imposing design than the final's cuddly self, seen right.
Likewise, there's an entire extra set of textures (prefixed "bearturok") for Turok's bear armour that depict a different design, retaining his blue jacket.
"spiderjumpattack.png" is a sketchy draft of the Many Armed Killer's "jump21" sheet.
"bossattack", "bossdeath", "bossjump", "bossroar", "bossrun", "bosstand", and "bossturn" are all work-in-progress versions of the Killer Honker's animations, ranging from sketches to just unshaded.
"moonattack", "moondeath", "moonrun", and "moonturn" are all work-in-progress versions of the Moon Lizards's animations.
"crab.png" is a sketchy crab sheet. Notably features blood on its death sprites; in-game they just get partially submerged into the sand.
"flyinghonker.png" has sketchy drafts of the Flying Honker's animations.
"threehornedbattllecry.png" is a WIP version of the Three Horned Honker's "roar.png".
Work-in-progress cavemen in "caveman.png" and "cavemanbattlemode.png", notably featuring a full 8 directions, instead of just diagonally up or down like the finalised enemies. The latter sheet features particularly rough animations, as well as red-tinted versions of the standing sprites. It's likely these were built off the base used for "turok.png".
"boomerangmen.png", "turtleperson.png" is work-in-progress versions of the throwing and death animations for the Turtle People, ranging from sketches to simply uncoloured.
"liz,manhit.png" [sic], "lizmanattack" and "lizmanrun" are early versions of the Lizard Men's sprites.
"hiddenhit", "hiddenhop" and "hiddenstand" are early version of the Mist Hidden Men's sprites. The finished version has a blue loincloth and doesn't do the googly eyes when hit, sadly.
"palep" and "palepwalk.png" depict early drafts of the Pale People's "stand23", "walk19" and "walkback20" textures, seen right.
"spiderdig.png" is an early rendition of the Spider Men's "digup", seen right.
"snowmenattack.png" is an early rendition of the Snow People's "attack14.png", seen right.
"armormaker.png" is a static sprite depicting an early version of the Armor Maker; the finished version is shown on the right.
Sprites too boring to bother showing include:
"shoot14.png" and "trapped.png" are textures for Andar without his hair shine.
"monkeymendeath", "monkeymenjump", "monkeymenstickattack", and "monkeymenvineattack" are all unshaded versions of the respective Monkey Men textures.
"thornhonkerattack", "thornhonkerhit", and "thornhonkerrun", and "moonturn" are unshaded versions of the Thorn Honker's animations.
Willy Wombat (Saturn)
RAM address 6CD17 relates to the currently selected level on the map screen. Setting its value to 5 will take you to an exchange with otherwise unseen character Canvas, with unheard voiced dialogue. The text itself is lifted from the save screen, and selecting either option freezes the game.
This screen loads a totally different set of dialogue icons for Willy.
Compare and contrast!
Wings of Vi (PC)
The game appears to store scraps in spare animation fields for each object; these range from work-in-progress animations to outright early designs, like Jeh'Oul above. Anyone who's actually played the game is
encouraged to actually tell what's different or unused, because I sure haven't!
Yo Bro (TurboGrafx-16)
The lighter features graphics for being crumpled by attacks, but it doesn't react to damage in any way.
Various enemies have leftovers for unused attacks. The Robots (top) have animations for swinging their hammers while facing up or down (they only ever play that animation facing to the side), and an unused boxing glove attack.
The Mechanoid has a blue ball (left) among its graphics, and the Killer Ants (right) have sprites for puking bile.
The game must have a secret level select, but I don't know how to access it legitimately...! Changing the value at RAM address 1817 to "16" on the options screen will put the cursor in the top-right corner. Pressing Button I and II will increase or decrease the value at RAM address 17BC, which changes what level you start on.
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