Densetsu no Starfy/Unused content

This page is a collection of unused content found within Densetsu no Starfy.

Debug menu

For detailed information about the debug menu, refer to this article on The Cutting Room Floor.

The debug "main menu"

A debug menu is available in Densetsu no Starfy. The text for the debug menu begins at offset 74990h. The "Main Menu" as it is called, can be accessed by pressing select on the Stage Select menu, changing memory address 030053ABh to EEh and then pressing A.

It is notable that according to GameSpot the Nintendo Space World 2000 trial demo had a few pre-production items in place, including a working debug menu, so it is possible that this debug menu is based off that.

Text for a similar debug menu later appeared in Game & Watch Gallery 4, also developed by TOSE and Nintendo. A third debug menu like this appears in the game Dan Doh!! Tobase Shouri no Smile Shot!!.

Although the debug menu is of considerable size, some of the options appear to be unchangeable, specifically the 'Song' option on the 'Sound Debug' menu and all of the options on the 'Map Jump' option. These options only appear as text in the ROM.

The debug "Main Menu" has the selectable options "map jump", "CHR check", "sound debug", "bitmap test", "STR chek", "demo chek", "title check" and "mgame Check". All but "bitmap test" and "title check" (which leads to the title screen) lead to sub-menus, although it is possible to return to the "Main Menu" on the "bitmap test" via the select button.

Possible actions include:

• Listening to various music and sound effects through the "sound debug" option by changing "song" with L and R (the Sea Jams option omits the unused Opening Demo variant and sound effects). Values vary from 00h to 75h.
• Jumping straight into the game with "map jump" (however it is impossible to change any of the options).
• Viewing some glitchy graphics with "bitmap test" (some 16-color tiles get loaded to character base 0x6000000 when this option is chosen and can be viewed in an emulator's tile viewer).
• Entering any conversation by changing the "talk demo" values on the "demo chek" menu with the L and R buttons.
• Forcing a Game Over through the "game over" option on the "demo chek" menu.
• Loading common selectable screens including the Pause Menu, Photograph screen, Opening Demo, File Select, the Picture Book screen, the Treasure Items screen, the Sea Jams, the Extra menu and the Minigames screen through the "demo chek" menu.
• Loading the Pearl add screen through the "demo chek" menu.
• Loading the first Ending (although there is an adjustable value all options seem to load the worst ending).
• Loading the first Staff Roll (again, although there is an adjustable value, value 01 does not load Staff Roll 2).
• Loading the "Perfect" screen for obtaining all the Treasure Items panels through the "demo chek" menu.
• Returning back to the title screen through "title check".
• Playing any minigame on any difficulty through the "mgame check" menu.

It is possible to return to the "Main Menu" from any of the sub-menus with the select button.

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A video showing various features of the debug menu

Developer text

Densetsu no Starfy has hidden development text that can be viewed from the ROM in ANSI encoding.

Date

The text "Feb 5 2002" can be found in the ROM at offset 0x75B57. It is unclear what this is for. It may be a compilation date like the "OptRls" messages hidden in Densetsu no Starfy 2 and Densetsu no Starfy 3.

STAFY OK

The message "STAFY OK" appears in the ROM twice, firstly at offset 75168h and secondly at offset 75174h. It proceeds the "Go" option for the "mgame check" option in the debug menu, possibly suggesting it was meant for the debug menu.

Unused Opening Demo variant

There is an alternative version of the Opening Demo theme in Densetsu no Starfy without the background percussion that is seemingly unused. It is also quieter.

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The unused Opening Demo variant

Photograph with 0 Pearls

The Photograph with 0 Pearls

There is data for the Photograph with no Pearls, showing only Starfy on the Photograph. As it is impossible to clear Lobber's Cave without obtaining one Pearl, it goes unused (losing all hearts and choosing to continue still loads the previous number of Pearls). It only takes 1 Pearl for Old Man Lobber to appear on the Photograph.

Seal Block rooms prior to completing the game

A room in Lobber's Cave past some Seal Blocks where the Mole Tank or an outline of the Mole Tank should appear, but doesn't due to the stage being from prior to completing the game

If the player makes it to a door past a Seal Block from a stage prior to completing the game, it can still be entered but it will be empty, with any enemies, vehicles or Treasure Boxes removed. This is normally impossible, but through memory hacking it is possible to either go through the blocks (for example, by changing the memory address 03006485h to 02h to allow Starfy to fall through the floor) or go to the room directly (through changing the memory address 0300EBEh to a certain room value).

The way that the rooms are different is due to the fact that internally, the stages after defeating Ogura are different to the stages before completing the game. The Stage Select is programmed to take the player to stages '10-18'; which are copies of the first nine stages with events removed and full versions of the Seal Block rooms and the rooms that follow them added in. If the player modifies the memory address 03000EC0h to a value ranging from 00h (Stage 1) to 08h (Stage 9), he or she is able to revisit stages as they are prior to completing the game but some of Starfy's abilities and the actual ability to break the Seal Blocks are removed.

Unused Sea of Sky door

Starfy near the door

In Sea of Sky there is an unused door in the main room with the boss doors, in the middle of the air above the section with a long cloud where Pufftop can be seen in the background. It is impossible to stand on this cloud without cheating, because going near it initiates a conversation with Moe before beating the game (technically only if all bosses through the boss doors were defeated) and after beating the game.

In the 'before completion' version of Sea of Sky, it is possible to see it and enter it by changing the memory address 0x03006485 to 02h. This is an 'orientation' address that lets Starfy move freely across the area when it is set to 02h. Starfy will fall if the code is not used in water, but the player can jump as many times as they want and in the middle of the air. It is not possible to see the door in the post-game version this way however, since a conversation with Moe always triggers. For this reason it is hard to find out whether the door appears in the post-game version of Sea of Sky.

When Starfy stands on top of the cloud, the door can be seen with a Dash & Jump, but not entered without the free movement code. When it is entered, it leads Starfy to 'map 6' - the room past a door behind some Seal Blocks in the room Starfy is taken after beating Kuragen. The door disappears for some reason if Starfy enters a door and returns to the room later.

Unused Starfy sprite

There is a seemingly unused Starfy sprite (below) that depicts Starfy standing up straight with a straight face and with his arms down. It is surrounded by a blue border if the player alters one of the memory addresses that manages a conversation (03000D84h) to that of obtaining a Treasure Item, probably because an actual Treasure hasn't been registered by the game. One method of seeing it is altering 03000D84h to 16h then talking to Moe in Pufftop.