The SNES version is missing the Industrial Area stage and the Rolento boss fight, as well as the two-player cooperative mode, rendering the game as single player only.
Among the files included in the Gigaleak, a massive 2020 content leak of internal data from Nintendo, are assets associated with Super Mario 64 depicting a fully-coded enemy named Motos, which is absent from the final game. The enemy is programed to chase Mario, pick him up, and throw him similarly to Big Bob-omb and Chuckya. Like those characters, Motos can be picked up and thrown, but unlike them, it can only be defeated by being thrown into lava, similarly to the Bully and Big Bully. This weakness implies that Motos was originally intended to appear as an enemy in Lethal Lava Land and Bowser in the Fire Sea, which is corroborated by the fact that various other assets associated with the levels feature "motos" in their filenames.
Further analysis of the source code indicates that Motos were intended to be connected to Bullies, which are labeled "Otos" in the source code and use sound effects that are also associated with Motos. Additionally, the code contains a filename for an "icemotos" miniboss in Snowman's Land, and the "Bully the Bullies" star in Lethal Lava Land is internally named "bigmotos," implying that at least two variants of Motos were conceived as minibosses before being replaced with Big Bully and Chill Bully in the final game.
Additional data in the Gigaleak indicates that at some point in development, Motos was reconfigured into a boss version of the Chuckya enemy, labeled "Katsugikun" in the source code, before being scrapped altogether. Unlike Motos, no assets for Katsugikun exist other than a filename and behavior code.
Like Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, Pokémon Platinum contains the unused Azure Flute item, which triggers a battle with a level 80 Arceus in the otherwise inaccessible Hall of Origin atop Spear Pillar. The event is almost identical to how it appears in Diamond & Pearl, with the sole difference being a redesigned sprite for Arceus. The Azure Flute was intended to be given out to players as an event item, but was scrapped due to concerns that it would be too confusing for players. Instead, Arceus was directly given out as an event Pokémon.
The music for the Hall of Origin and the battle against Arceus, which are carried over from Diamond and Pearl, go unused here too, but the latter song would be reused for the Sinjoh Ruins event in Pokémon Heart Gold & Soul Silver, where players can obtain a Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina if they have an Arceus at the front of their party. This event additionally contains code allowing it to be triggered by an Arceus from the Hall of Origin, indicating that Game Freak still considered distributing the Azure Flute this late into Generation IV. Spoiler:The Azure Flute and Hall of Origin would eventually be implemented in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, where players can access both if they import Pokémon Legends: Arceus save data after catching Arceus there.
An item called the Azure Flute is present in the game's data, but can't be legitimately accessed. Hacking the flute into one's inventory triggers a battle with a level 80 Arceus in the Hall of Origin, an otherwise unused area hidden above Spear Pillar. Both the Hall of Origin and the battle with Arceus feature unique themes, which also go unused in the normal course of play.
The Azure Flute was intended as an event item to be given out to players, much like the Event Card and Oak's Letter (which allow the player to fight Darkrai and Shaymin, respectively). However, Game Freak scrapped the idea upon concluding that it would be too confusing for players. Instead, Arceus was directly given out at events.
Arceus' battle theme would later be used for the Sinjoh Ruins event in Pokémon Heart Gold & Soul Silver where players can obtain a Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina if they have an Arceus as the first Pokémon in their party. This event additionally contains code allowing it to be triggered by an Arceus from the Hall of Origin, indicating that Game Freak still considered distributing the Azure Flute this late into Generation IV. Spoiler:The Azure Flute item and its corresponding event would eventually be implemented in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, where players can access both by importing save data from Pokémon Legends: Arceus after catching Arceus there.
The Wii U Virtual Console port of the game has the option to select both Multiplayer and Ghost Exchange. However, both options are locked out due to the physical game requiring the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable, which unlocks those game modes on the actual Game Boy Advance hardware.
In Hyrule Town, three travelers in the lobby of the Happy Hearth Inn, named Din, Nayru, and Farore, are the same characters as the Oracles from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. They are each looking for new homes to move into, which is the basis of an optional side quest that can be started after completing the Fortress of Winds. Gorman will now be renting out a house to tenants, and Link can convince one of the travelers to move in and obtain a Charm from that traveler. Afterwards, if Link fuses Kinstones with Bremor, Mutoh will become motivated to build a second house for Gorman to rent out. Link can then convince one of the remaining two travelers to move in, and will obtain their respective Charm. Each of the two houses built have a red roof and a blue roof, reflecting the color schemes of Din and Nayru respectively. However no third house can be built in the game, leaving the third Oracle homeless and stuck in the inn's lobby. In the European version of the game, Gorman makes a comment about wanting to build a house just south of the Royal Hyrule Library, on a plot of land occupied by cats, but he never does. This comment was removed from the North American release of the game which came out two months later.
Although the choice of who will remain homeless is entirely up to the player, the most probable canonical traveler to remain homeless is Farore. This is based on the lack of a green-roofed house to reflect her color scheme, her figurine description noting that she is bothered by people who "take advantage of her kind nature" (unlike Din and Nayru's descriptions which only point out where they are from and are looking for a new home), and by the development history of Oracle of Ages and Seasons, which was originally planned to be three games with each focusing on a different piece of the Triforce represented by a different Oracle, although only two games centering on Din and Nayru would ultimately be developed.
It's unknown if this incomplete side quest was an oversight, or if it was an intentional in-joke by Capcom, who developed both The Minish Cap and Oracle of Ages and Seasons.
Through the use of Action Replay codes, it's possible to die on the Level Select map. When this happens, Pac-Man will respawn on the game's title screen; moving around will reveal a stool and fishing rod off-screen, suggesting that he was originally planned to fish on the title screen instead of just standing and playing idle animations.
The Pokémon Toedscool and Toedscruel (divergent evolutions of Tentacool and Tentacruel) are called "OKAKINGU" and "OKAGYARADOSU" in the game's data respectively. This is interesting as these names seem to instead reference the names of Magikarp, called "Koiking" in Japan, and its evolution Gyarados respectively, meaning that the games were originally going to feature a pair of divergent evolutions for the Gyarados family instead of the Tentacruel family. However, there is no other data in the games but names for these scrapped Pokémon.
Before the save point in the Forgotten Region of the Human World, there are multiple locked cells which can be opened with the Brass Key. Near the save point is an empty cell that appears to have nothing of note inside. However, if the player positions the camera correctly a hanging corpse can be seen hanging out of bounds through the wall. In a Japanese trailer for the game, a similar location can be seen with a corpse hanging inside a cell which gets unlocked so it's likely that the corpse was moved out of bounds in the final version to keep players from seeing this scenery.
In 2021, the game's debug menu was discovered on a demo disc and was later executed in the retail version through the creation of a GameShark code. The menu contains four options featuring the surnames of four of the game's programmers (most likely to test out certain aspects of the game each one focused on more easily): Satoshi Kishiwada, Yasuhiro Yamamoto, Tamotsu Goto, and Naoto Uenaka.
Additionally, by selecting "Area 7 Action" and "Scene 06 - Last-Scene", you can access a beta version of the crumbling Soda Fountain, the final area of the game Spoiler:where Musashi battles against Dark Lumina, lacking textures and featuring an overhead camera compared to the sidescrolling camera in the final game.
Contrary to the official explanation about Kirby's lack of a Keyblade after inhaling Sora, there is an unused Keyblade model for Kirby, meaning that at some point in the development of the final DLC Fighter, Kirby would have indeed wielded Sora's Kingdom Key during the use of Sora's Neutral Special, but this idea was scrapped. The weapon can be found in the game's data but remains functionally unfinished, and even when the game is modded the Keyblade will not spawn in.
In numerous official video game demo compilation discs (such as the fondly regarded Pizza Hut demo disk that came about as a promotional stunt co-jointed by Sony Computer Entertainment America and Pizza Hut), there was a "late demo" of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped included, featuring a playable beta version of the level "Under Pressure".
As this version of the stage came from an earlier build of the game, there are distinguished differences between this version and the final version. Two differences that stand out between versions is that the signature pufferfish is purple instead of its usual orange, and that the Time Trial record times differ in such a manner that the demo version appeared to be deemed too difficult shortly before the final build's completion and retail release.
In the demo: •Sapphire Relic Time: 1:28:33 •Gold Relic Time: 1:04:93 •Platinum Relic Time: 0:58:73
In the final release version: •Sapphire Relic Time: 1:46:00 •Gold Relic Time: 1:17:90 •Platinum Relic Time: 1:10:50
In the console version the boss rush takes place in the fifth stage instead, right before facing the militia. The sixth and final stage is simply the final boss battle set atop the rooftop of the high-rise building, with the harbor stage being completely removed. Additionally Spoiler:the crime boss from the arcade version is missing in the SNES port, which establishes Martha Splatterhead as the leader of the gangs early on.
In an early unused version of the "Mountain of Rubble" cutscene, Fiona is voiced by a different voice actress, but she is completely silent in the final version. In addition, there's a unique music in the cutscene that was removed in the final version, and the dirt effects when Fiona falls back down were originally brown instead of grey.
The opening scene in the interrogation room was originally supposed to be darker. In the released version, the police detectives only gave Joker a couple of shots of a sleeping drug and beat him up. An unused cutscene found in Persona 5 Royal shows a tray of some kind which implies that the police detectives brutally tortured him.
In addition to the multitude of NES games obtainable as furniture items, the player can also acquire a blank NES. On the surface, it appears to be nonfunctional, and interacting with it simply brings up the text "I want to play my NES, but I don't have any software." However, in 2018, dataminers discovered that using the item actually causes the game to scan the GameCube's memory cards for externally installed NES ROM data. By downloading NES ROMs onto the memory card, it's possible to play them in Animal Crossing via the blank NES, including titles not obtainable in the base game. This indicates that at one point in development, Nintendo planned to distribute additional NES games via memory cards.
The ROM loading function additionally enables one to patch NES ROMs after they are loaded, which can be used to install mods for Animal Crossing itself via the memory card.
Originally, a news van and a storm chaser served the purpose of following the tornado around and alerting the people within area to seek shelter or evacuate from their homes entirely.
The game's data contains unused sprites for Rubber Soul detransforming into his true form while lying down on the floor. This is likely an special knockout animation that would play after Rubber Soul is defeated under certain conditions.
Within the data of the PlayStation version of this game is an unused track which was supposed to be a bonus race track which was dropped because of time constraints. This track is in a very unfinished state with no texturing present.
Among the files included in the Gigaleak, a massive 2020 content leak of internal data from Nintendo, are assets associated with Super Mario 64 depicting a fully-coded enemy named Motos, which is absent from the final game. The enemy is programed to chase Mario, pick him up, and throw him similarly to Big Bob-omb and Chuckya. Like those characters, Motos can be picked up and thrown, but unlike them, it can only be defeated by being thrown into lava, similarly to the Bully and Big Bully. This weakness implies that Motos was originally intended to appear as an enemy in Lethal Lava Land and Bowser in the Fire Sea, which is corroborated by the fact that various other assets associated with the levels feature "motos" in their filenames.
Like Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, Pokémon Platinum contains the unused Azure Flute item, which triggers a battle with a level 80 Arceus in the otherwise inaccessible Hall of Origin atop Spear Pillar. The event is almost identical to how it appears in Diamond & Pearl, with the sole difference being a redesigned sprite for Arceus. The Azure Flute was intended to be given out to players as an event item, but was scrapped due to concerns that it would be too confusing for players. Instead, Arceus was directly given out as an event Pokémon.
An item called the Azure Flute is present in the game's data, but can't be legitimately accessed. Hacking the flute into one's inventory triggers a battle with a level 80 Arceus in the Hall of Origin, an otherwise unused area hidden above Spear Pillar. Both the Hall of Origin and the battle with Arceus feature unique themes, which also go unused in the normal course of play.
Through the use of Action Replay codes, it's possible to die on the Level Select map. When this happens, Pac-Man will respawn on the game's title screen; moving around will reveal a stool and fishing rod off-screen, suggesting that he was originally planned to fish on the title screen instead of just standing and playing idle animations.
Before the save point in the Forgotten Region of the Human World, there are multiple locked cells which can be opened with the Brass Key. Near the save point is an empty cell that appears to have nothing of note inside. However, if the player positions the camera correctly a hanging corpse can be seen hanging out of bounds through the wall. In a Japanese trailer for the game, a similar location can be seen with a corpse hanging inside a cell which gets unlocked so it's likely that the corpse was moved out of bounds in the final version to keep players from seeing this scenery.
In 2021, the game's debug menu was discovered on a demo disc and was later executed in the retail version through the creation of a GameShark code. The menu contains four options featuring the surnames of four of the game's programmers (most likely to test out certain aspects of the game each one focused on more easily): Satoshi Kishiwada, Yasuhiro Yamamoto, Tamotsu Goto, and Naoto Uenaka.
Contrary to the official explanation about Kirby's lack of a Keyblade after inhaling Sora, there is an unused Keyblade model for Kirby, meaning that at some point in the development of the final DLC Fighter, Kirby would have indeed wielded Sora's Kingdom Key during the use of Sora's Neutral Special, but this idea was scrapped. The weapon can be found in the game's data but remains functionally unfinished, and even when the game is modded the Keyblade will not spawn in.
In an early unused version of the "Mountain of Rubble" cutscene, Fiona is voiced by a different voice actress, but she is completely silent in the final version. In addition, there's a unique music in the cutscene that was removed in the final version, and the dirt effects when Fiona falls back down were originally brown instead of grey.
In addition to the multitude of NES games obtainable as furniture items, the player can also acquire a blank NES. On the surface, it appears to be nonfunctional, and interacting with it simply brings up the text "I want to play my NES, but I don't have any software." However, in 2018, dataminers discovered that using the item actually causes the game to scan the GameCube's memory cards for externally installed NES ROM data. By downloading NES ROMs onto the memory card, it's possible to play them in Animal Crossing via the blank NES, including titles not obtainable in the base game. This indicates that at one point in development, Nintendo planned to distribute additional NES games via memory cards.
Originally, a news van and a storm chaser served the purpose of following the tornado around and alerting the people within area to seek shelter or evacuate from their homes entirely.
The game's data contains unused sprites for Rubber Soul detransforming into his true form while lying down on the floor. This is likely an special knockout animation that would play after Rubber Soul is defeated under certain conditions.
Within the data of the PlayStation version of this game is an unused track which was supposed to be a bonus race track which was dropped because of time constraints. This track is in a very unfinished state with no texturing present.