Version 0.09 updated the Witch effect so that a unique sound plays when moving around while riding the broom, rather than simply reusing the regular footstep sounds. This is accomplished by giving every map two copies of the same tileset: one for regular mobility and one for the broom, with the game swapping between the two as needed. While this is retained in Version 0.10, the code is simplified in the later build so that a copy of the full string is not needed on every map.
However, three areas of the game were not properly accounted for during the conversion process: the second room in Neon Tile Path, the room full of beds in Number World, and the Pink Sea all play the regular footstep sound regardless of whether or not Madotsuki has the Witch effect equipped and active. Additionally, these areas still contain leftover event data from Version 0.09's method of swapping between the two tilesets. Because the indexes for the game's tiles were altered concurrently with the streamlining of the broom code, triggering these leftover events with cheats instead swaps out the maps' graphics with ones from other areas:
• The pyramids in the second room of Neon Tile Path are replaced with Henkei Shita heads from Footprint Path A, and sitting down changes the entire tileset to that of Snow World, with the background additionally changing from solid black to solid white. It reverts back to the mostly complete Neon Tile Path tileset when Madotsuki sits back up. • The tileset for the room full of beds in Number World is replaced with that of Forest World, temporarily reverting back to the proper visuals whenever Madotsuki sits down. The background, however, is unaffected. • The Pink Sea is completely blacked out, as the game attempts to call blank divider tiles when in this state.
In the Japanese version, the test battle in the debug room features a proper background and models for the enemies included (borrowed from other enemies), whereas the international version simply pits the party against yellow pyramids in a black void.
Additionally, the very first Japanese release contains an unfinished eleventh section of the debug room, left over from an earlier build of the game. Because the game's code changed significantly since that build, much of the eleventh section is broken: Cloud's model does not show up (though he is still able to move around and interact with the NPCs there), text is corrupted, and the background music is a heavily distorted version of Aeris' theme.
The game contains data for a second party member, despite the fact that Madotsuki is alone in standard gameplay. Using RPG Maker 2003's debugging tools to add this figure to Madotsuki's party shows that it does not have any sprites or even a name. However, various changes occur to the game's world, indicating that Kikiyama most likely used this for testing purposes:
• Almost all Toriningen are despawned; the only exceptions are the one in the Mall who changes the menu's palette when spoken to and the group throwing a party in the wilderness. • The top-left cupboard in both versions of the Guillotine Room disappears. However, it can still be interacted with: pressing Z or Enter when standing where it normally would be transports Madotsuki to a random cupboard in the Number World, as if she had used one of the randomly generated exit cupboards. Returning to the Guillotine Room restores the top-left cupboard to its normal position. • Movement is disabled upon waking up. • The Witch's Flight event can be accessed by walking off the top-right corner of the Mall's rooftop, regardless of whether or not Madotsuki has the Witch effect equipped and active. • An unused parallax background (named ネオン背景.xyz in the game's files) is enabled in Neon World, which normally has a solid black backdrop in Version 0.10 and all available early builds. This background, which depicts a series of ripples distorting a group of red, blue, and green lights, does not scroll correctly, only showing the top-left corner of it. Notably, this is the only unused background in the final game.
The notion that this invisible party member was used as a debugging tool is further bolstered by the presence of three similar extra party members (which also have no graphics or names) in Version 0.06. In that earlier build, Madotsuki is internally listed as the fourth party member; enabling the first one adds NASU to the game's debug map, though both that version and the one in Madotsuki's room will not progress past the title screen.
In all recovered early builds of the game, the Fatten effect was provided by a funhouse mirror hidden in the large red maze (colloquially known as Hell). In Version 0.10, the mirror is removed and the effect is instead obtained by interacting with a tall, flashing humanoid (colloquially known as Strober) in the Docks B, and the portion of Hell where the mirror was once located is now empty. Incidentally, the Docks B is only accessible through Hell, preserving the association between the latter area and the effect.
Despite the mirror being removed from the normal course of play in the final build, it is still present in a debug room hidden in the game's code, functioning as it did in earlier versions. However, in the official English release, the text that appears when interacting with it, "★ふとる★", is corrupted due to it not being translated.
Due to a programming error, the player has a random chance of accessing debug mode in Super Mario Bros. 3 (specifically the one from the NES version of the game, which is carried over to the Super Mario All-Stars port). The debug mode only activates if a value of 80 is stored at the RAM address 7E0160, which can be manually edited by a devkit.
The NES version initializes the equivalent RAM address to 00 whenever the game is turned on, preventing the player from encountering debug mode during the normal course of play. However, due to an oversight, this does not occur in the SNES version, resulting in Super Mario All-Stars reading whatever value is generated by the console itself. Because this value is randomized during bootup, this means that the game has a small chance of activating debug mode in Super Mario Bros. 3 on a retail unit. While the theoretical probability of this occurring is 1/256, it can vary depending on the console's build and the power grid that it is connected to.
This trivia has been marked as "Not Safe for Work". It may not be appropriate for all visitors and definitely isn't appropriate for work or school environments. Click here to unhide it.
▲
1
▼
Within the game files, some of the game makers vented their annoyance over the game development process:
"I hate this game's coding. I can't see jack or shit of what's in it! Stream %d has read %d more bytes than the file size. Please tell Keith. If possible, save your debug output and mail it to him......Please also note the level on which it happened, how long you were playing for and what if any dialogue was playing Serious Shit. SOUNDSYS thread does not work.....SOUNDSYS secondary thread has started...Serious Shit. Second thread does not work request to free %d bytes of spu ram failed !!!!...things are shit. memory allocated above 2mb."
On September 11, 2022, several cheat codes were discovered in the game by a user on game wiki The Cutting Room Floor. The list of codes that have known functions prior to December 2023 are as follows:
• On the Options menu, by pressing Circle/Left on the D-Pad/Right on the D-Pad/Circle/Up on the D-Pad/R2, you can unlock a Cheat Menu with basic toggles for Infinite Ammo, Infinite Health, No Chestburst and No Drown. All four of these options have dedicated cheat codes which are listed below:
• L1/L2/Up on the D-Pad/L1/L2/Up on the D-Pad/Circle = Dedicated Infinite Ammo code, can have unlimited ammo with weapons you can have at selected point in the game. • R1/R2/Down on the D-Pad/R1/R2/Left on the D-Pad/Square = Dedicated Infinite Health code. • R1/L1/Left on the D-Pad/R1/L1/Square/Down on the D-Pad = Dedicated No Chestburst code. • R2/L2/Right on the D-Pad/R2/L2/Circle/Down on the D-Pad = Dedicated No Drowning code.
Remaining miscellaneous cheat codes that can be activated include:
• L1/Circle/Square/L1/Down on the D-Pad/Up on the D-Pad/Circle = Have weapons you can have at selected point in the game. • R1/Square/L2/L1 = Selecting quit warps you to section 0 of selected level. • R1/Triangle/Square/L1 = Quit functions as a restart. • Triangle/L1/R1/Square/L1/R1/L1/Square = Press L2 + L1 to display debug information while in-game.
As of December 2023, there are three codes that have unknown functions:
Zener Works was originally working on a game for the Panasonic M2 prior to that system's cancellation. Sony would later contact them in June 1997 about making a game for the original PlayStation, thus leading to Okage's development. However, the project was moved to the PlayStation 2 per Sony's request the day before they announced their next-generation console on March 1, 1999. This lead to the graphics and coding being redone in order to be compatible with the Emotion Engine. Programmer Yasushi Takeda noted that debugging proved to be a challenge due to the company working with the console in an early state, and the appropriate tools not being available.
According to Suikosource user JiN88, the Japanese demo of Suikoden II contains two debug/testing rooms.
The first test room claims to be in Radat Town, despite seeming to be in Kyaro Town. The room contains various warping and unfinished textures, out-of-place objects like barrels, and two non-functioning Warp points. Of the warp points, one can be found down near a river and loads nothing, while the other can be found near a bridge with an Anita NPC and some invisible objects. While this test room seems to be empty, except for one small area featuring several invisible objects, a pushable tree that you can talk to, and a row of NPCs that can be pushed, but cannot be interacted with without crashing the game. There are also two Gabocha NPCs, one of which can warp you back to somewhere else in the test room, while the other has some dialogue and acts like a shopkeeper. Finishing the conversation with the shopkeeper Gabocha will cause the game to crash. Interacting with any Anita NPC will cause the game to crash.
The second test room contains several repeating groups of Anita, Gengen, and Old Man NPCs in a sort of army formation. The name of this second debug room is "神様の村" which means "Village of God"/"God's village". Talking to the Anita and Gengen NPC groups will have them say a single line of dialogue (the Anitas however will have no text), and once finished will cause the game to try and load something, which results in the game crashing. It's thought that they would try to warp you somewhere with a cutscene. Raww Le Klueze, global admin of the Suikosource forums, has translated this room's dialogue as such:
"The Gengens each say: • "I am the sound change god" • "I am the sound test god" • "I am the window change god" • "I am the unit change god" (for this phrase, he uses the same word as Apple does when you rearrange war units)
Some of what the Old Man says follows the same format "I am the god of !" in the middle row Library, Suggestion box, Restaurant, Cooking Battles, Guardian Deity and Peeping...? (He also laughs after that one. Bath scenes maybe?)
Top says "The detective god is here!" Bottom "Fishing god here!" "I'm the god of tablets" (same word as the plates found in the Sindar ruins, presumably tests that?)
Last one on the bottom I don't know, he just seems to be making noise cause it just says BABANBABANBANBAN - HAAPIBANONO."
This latter piece of dialogue might be a reference to the song "Nice Hot Water", a 1966 song in the "Nihon no Uta" Japanese local song series that was famously covered by the Japanese comedy rock band The Drifters. The first line before the hyphen is the same as the song, and the second line after the hyphen is almost the same as the song.
The section for passwords in the manual for Wario Blast shows an image of the game's title screen with a debug code (2264) that lets the player start the game with all power-ups as Wario. It is unknown if this was an oversight, or intentionally included.
The NES and SNES versions of Super Mario Bros. 2 contain different insta-kill cheat codes, likely used by the game's developers for debug purposes. The code for the NES version involves pausing the game and holding Up/A/B on a second controller, and then unpausing to lose a life. The code for the SNES version is simpler, where you only need to pause the game, hold L and R, and then press Select to lose a life.
There are a pair of glitches that can be triggered with this code in the NES version. If the code is inputted while riding a Rocket, the health bar will effectively turn invisible by displaying all the heart pips as empty, but the player character will emerge unharmed. If the code is inputted during the transition for walking through a door, the player character will continually fall through the floor and lose their lives until a Game Over is reached.
On December 24, 2022, an anonymous user on the Internet Archive uploaded the source code for Rayman 4, the original prototype for what would later become Rayman Raving Rabbids. The Rayman 4 prototype, which was known to be a 3D Platform game with beat'em up elements that involved the Rabbids as the game's antagonists, showcases several interesting features. Some of the content featured in the E3 2006 trailer can be found in the prototype such as rideable animal companions, interchangeable costumes, combat gameplay, and explorable settings such as a forest, cave, & gear temple.
Some newer never-before-seen content includes: • Early unfinished cutscenes some featuring a witch doctor from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. • Explorable Rabbid bases/lairs with programmed Rabbid enemies. • Rayman utilizing several projectile weapons. • Other explorable worlds such as a village setting and a sphincter-inspired level. • Rayman controlling Rabbid vehicles such as a hovercraft and large robots. • When receiving damage, Rayman loses his clothing except for a leaf covering. This costume was repurposed as the Rayomz skin in Rayman Legends seven years later.
An unused exit screen with the label "underconstruction_exit" exists within the game files. When activated in-game, the level will abruptly end and transition to the boss variation of the level's stage.
Adding the line "Charmy_Shutup 1" to "%AppData%\SEGA\SONICHEROES\sonic_h.ini" on the PC version will deactivate all non-subtitled speech from the characters during gameplay (including attacks and idle quotes).
Unlike its Wii counterpart, characters such as Zephyr, Nimbus, and the Wind Warrior use two separate models in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports of the game.
The first model is used during fly-through cinematics while the second one is used in-game. The Wii version only used one model, presumably because of the lack of resources on the Wii's hardware.
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.
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.
This trivia has been marked as "Not Safe for Work". It may not be appropriate for all visitors and definitely isn't appropriate for work or school environments. Click here to unhide it.
▲
1
▼
The game contains a lot of debug text, starting at offset 0xC6370 and mixing with the rest of the game's text. Of note, two dates appear in the debug text that may be the dates the game finished development in North America and Europe:
North America: Jun 6 1997.21:45:51 Europe: Nov 17 1997.20:23:27
The rest of this submission contains a few examples of the debug text scattered throughout the ROM. Most of it is routine stuff, but there are some interesting gems in there. The developers were certainly not in a good mood or this was "kinda" a joke from them. Note that "tell dave" likely refers to David Pridie, one of the programmers:
"*** GAME CRASH CONFIRMED!!! ***
ERRRRRRORRR
*** WARNING! generatelevel.c -> PlacePiece is going to plot z+1!
*** ERROR! generatelevel.c -> PlacePiece did not function to avoid breaking a piece!
This trivia has been marked as "Not Safe for Work". It may not be appropriate for all visitors and definitely isn't appropriate for work or school environments. Click here to unhide it.
▲
1
▼
The last of the game's security switches, which is present in offset 0x8FB54 of a decompressed FIREBEAT.EXE, when read backwards, reveals a colorful message from a programmer.
This trivia has been marked as "Not Safe for Work". It may not be appropriate for all visitors and definitely isn't appropriate for work or school environments. Click here to unhide it.
▲
1
▼
Located at offset 01F961 in the ROM is a cheery message saying:
"FUCK YOU"
This is copied into save RAM to mark the presence of saved game data.