DKC Atlas Forum

[Mattrizzle]

Oh, and...

dk_kick.gif (17.46 KiB) Viewed 183378 times

...it appears that D.K. has an unused attack! A similar move does appear in Donkey Kong 64, though.

If you want to see the individual sprites--well, you know the drill...

[Simion32]

Great work, Mattrizzle!

[aperson98]

Wow Mattrizzle who would have guessed rare made DK's leaping kick way back in DKC I think that it may have been used as a special attack another use could have been that DK leapfrogged off Diddy to attack enemies.

[Phyreburnz]

I wonder if the Diddy and Dixie mourning sprites were used for loosing a bonus game? They really don't have any kind of sequence for that, doesn't the screen pause and play you loose music? Maybe they get sad and walk off screen.

[Phyreburnz]

I animated the barrel opening! I fixed a few it up a bit. Thanks for finding these!

[teh epicnes]

Oh, and...

dk_kick.gif

...it appears that D.K. has an unused attack! A similar move does appear in Donkey Kong 64, though.

If you want to see the individual sprites--well, you know the drill...

Maybe that could be an unused animation for switching from Diddy to DK? They probably made it where he leapfrogs off of Diddy and land in front of him.

[Markster]

I always wondered what the jungle plants did, i pretty sure i seen them in the dkc exposed video.

[Markster]

Bump!

I think i might of found a unused object, i was working on my DKC Hack Patch, then all of a sudden i found a weird sprite, look in the attachments for them, interesting eh.

EDIT : And look at all the other sprites i found as well, its in the YY-CHR Screenshot, and by the way, sorry about the messed up palette.
EDIT2 : I dont think it was an unused object, but hey, at-least i tried.

[Simion32]

It's a normal barrel. Mis-colored due to having wrong palette.

Keep in mind that the sprites are not explicitly stored at aligned offsets, so you'll only see a few at a time in YY-Chr. That fuzzy "garbage" below it is also more sprite data, possibly the next barrel frames.

[Markster]

I think i was exaggerating a little bit, ah well, back to DKC Hack Patch.

[Mattrizzle]

Just when I think all of the unused sprites are found in the first DKC, more of them crop up!

arrow_without_sign.png (251 Bytes) Viewed 183090 times

exit_without_sign.png (249 Bytes) Viewed 183090 times

These have also been added to the Miscellaneous sheet.

I'm now wondering how small of a percentage of the ROM is occupied by data that is used...

EDIT: Also, looking at the previous three posts, that is the OFF Barrel used in Loopy Lights.

[Markster]

I just noticed something, the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country has the cranky walking animation.

[Mattrizzle]

Yes, and that was already mentioned, too.

[Markster]

Yes, and that was already mentioned, too.

Did not know that, ah well.

[Markster]

I found a video by nintendo that contains the BETA version of DKC, check that out >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGGMLtRs ... re=related
you notice the bananas go up more than 100, thats a BETA element.

[Markster]

One day i will hunt down the world for that prototype cartridge, no matter what it takes.

[Krow111]

Remember that code I found that showed all those sprites in DKC3? Well I found a code that shows EVEN MORE SPRITES! First, turn on the codes 7E007F02 and 7E007EF8 and go to Swanky's Sideshow with Dixie ONLY. Then, the sprites will continue after KAOS' third head (where my original code ended) and see more sprites. I didn't find any unused sprites (at least when I looked), but I did find this. This would be fine except I'm playing on the US version.

[Mattrizzle]

Don't forget, I created patches to view nearly all the sprites in all three games. They're in the Minor DKC hacks & early works in progress topic.

The fact that a portion of the Japanese subtitle is in the North American version of the game simply shows that work was already being done for the Japanese version. It's not unusual for one localization of a game to contain some of the assets intended for another localization.

I can think of several examples where I've run into this:

• The (U) version of Donkey Kong Country has the full language select screen and German text for the (E) version, but the Language option has been dummied out.
• The (E) and (U) versions of Donkey Kong Country 2 have graphics for a Deutsch (German) language option, but only English and Français (French) are implemented. The same goes for the French option in the German version.
• The North American version of Yoshi's Island contains graphics for multiple languages, but English is the only one fully implemented.
• All versions of Stunt Race FX/Wild Trax load the palettes of both logos in their title screens.

Still, I suppose it is unusual to see Japanese assets in a western version of a DKC game, considering the Japanese version tended to be the last worked on.

[aperson98]

Ah here I was thinking you found some more sprites again, oh well. *Crosses fingers that Mattrizzle finds Dixie's ledge animation in DKC2 rom someday.

[Mattrizzle]

Ah here I was thinking you found some more sprites again, oh well. *Crosses fingers that Mattrizzle finds Dixie's ledge animation in DKC2 rom someday.

I have checked for Diddy's ledge animation in DKC2, and it isn't present. This raises doubt that I will ever find a ledge animation for Dixie in the game.

If it's any consolation though, here are some other things I found in Diddy's Kong-Quest (I didn't type this incorrectly; the hyphen exists in the title screen logo ):

Unused baddie palettes! Used (purple background) and unused (gray background) palettes are all included in these images for the sake of completion.

Here's a Green Zinger...

dkc2_zinger_palettes.png (3.84 KiB) Viewed 182836 times

...four different Flitters...

dkc2_flitter_palettes.png (3.8 KiB) Viewed 182836 times

...and two for Flotsam!

dkc2_flotsam_palettes.png (3.01 KiB) Viewed 182836 times

[aperson98]

Thats a bummer I guess just because you see it in the GBA version doesn't mean it's in the Snes version somewhere, anyway thanks for input Mattrizzle.
Oh by the way has anyone found any leftovers in from DKC1 in DKC2 or leftovers from DKC2 in DKC3 by any chance? I know Markster found some of Klubba's text in DKC3.

[Markster]

I did find klubbas text in DKC3, it's amazing, and also in the beta versions of DKC2, there are klaptraps, and DKC1 (KONG) letters, I don't think there is any leftovers in the final though, it's sad.

[aperson98]

Well when game makers make a sequel they tend to overwrite the contents of their old game rather then make it from scratch, good proof of this is looking at the Sonic 2 Nick arcade build. That's why I was asking if anyone saw any leftovers.

[VideoViking]

Your best bet, Aperson, would be to manually create a custom sprite for the Dixie tilt. I, too, was hoping for one to exist, but often times things never go your way. But I have a feeling that someone out in the internet world (not just the DKC-Atlas) may be able to help you create that specific animation, so don't lose hope just yet.

It is rumored that it may be possible to use some of Diddy's frames in place of Dixie (Diddy and Dixie are fairly similar), such as for her swinging on a rope. I am 100% certain that they never created sprites for that scenario, due to DKC2 and 3 relying on horizontal and vertical rope climbing. Donkey Kong doesn't have animation frames for a horizontal rope climb, mainly because he was not playabale on 2 and 3.

[aperson98]

I'm surpised Simion32 isn't nervous about this problem you brought up, even if he competes the delta engine, he would still need to have someone make sprites for DK and Dixie somehow.

[Mattrizzle]

Here's some stuff that many will find interesting, mostly copied from elsewhere.

While working on DKC: Boss Blitz, I found the portion of code responsible for displaying several of the game's counters (SNES $80:A1AB).

Adding a jump to 389B3F (SNES $B8:9B3F) gave me this the instant I entered a level:


It's a debug display, appropriately titled "DK's Problem Page!"

Here's the meaning of the hex data:
Lines 1 and 2: The first 8 16-bit words of Save RAM (the last two words on line 2 spell out "RARE" in ASCII)
Line 3: Value of current level (RAM address $3E)
Line 4: Value of last exit used when inside a level, otherwise it is 0000. (RAM address $40)
Line 5: Various level-related flags (RAM address $1E15)
Line 6: If the Continue Barrel is touched, this will contain the level value to return to after losing a life; otherwise, it is 0000 (RAM address $2E)
DATE CODE: Probably displayed a build date at one point, in MMDD format. However, the code now just loads the constant #$0000 into the accumulator, not a memory address.


If a jump to the subroutine at 389D6B (SNES $B8:9D6B) is added to this area instead, and $1E3B is set to a nonzero value, a different debug display will appear...


...the one seen in the DKC: Exposed video!

Line 1: As with the DATE CODE above, always displays 0000 (In the video, it displayed 0811, which is possibly a build date)
Line 2: The current level's value, just like line 3 of DK's Problem Page
Line 3: The first 2 digits display the number of bonus areas found; the last two show the total number of bonus areas in the level (note that completing a level counts as finding a bonus area)

Notice that in the video, the display disappears after a certain amount of frames. RAM address $1E3B is the counter for this, which is why its value must be greater than zero for the display to show. Judging from the video, it should be initialized with #$0078.


It doesn't end there! Here's two others to try:
38830E (SNES $B8:830E) (JSL) Sets the pause flag; displays the palette addresses of each object loaded into RAM, as well as which palette lines they occupy
3CB13A (SNES $BC:B13A) (JSL) Shows Donkey Kong's collision box, his coordinates, and a slew of other values...

A quick way to see these for yourselves is to replace [29 B5 B8] at PC address A1B2 (the JSL to the Animal Token Counter display code) with the SNES address of the desired display.

[HellFire]

Wow, very interesting stuff! Can you take a screen shot of the one with DK's collision box? I could do it myself, but these numbers are like greek for me, don't really know what I'm supposed to do with em.

[Mattrizzle]

Sure. Here's screens and info on both of the remaining debug modes:

$BC:B13A

It's a little difficult to see the collision box boundaries in this screenshot, as they're thin black lines.

Here's what most of the "slew of values" represent:
084A: Camera X-Coordinate (The reason this is so high near the start of the level is because all levels of the same type are stored together. This level (Millstone Mayhem) starts at X=#$0800.)
0118: Camera Y-Coordinate
0030: DK's current sprite ($0D13 divided by 4)
0042: Current level value (yet again)
C000, 3274, 3288, ADFC, D225: Unknown
FFF1, FFDD: X- and Y- coordinates of DK's collision box, relative to the coordinates of his object
0018, 0022: Width and height of DK's collision box
0016: Unknown

$B8:830E:

Here's some additional info:

• $1E3D must be set to a nonzero value for this to work. It was probably originally accessed with a certain button combination.
• The second column doesn't display the palette line a palette occupies, but the number of currently loaded objects using that palette.

For the curious, here's what the palette values represent in the screenshot (all object palettes are in the range $BC:81CC-$BC:9037)
86F2: The global yellow palette used for the numbers on the counters, KONG letters, bananas, etc.
849A: Donkey's active player 1 palette
8440: Diddy's inactive player 1 palette
8BFC: The green hanging lamp
8512: The green Kritter
0000: Shown for the palette lines that aren't currently being used by an object

I'm not sure what the 0000 to the right of the second column is for.

[Joshy]

Awesome find on the debug data, that's pretty nifty haha.

[KremKrawl]

Donkey Kong doesn't have animation frames for a horizontal rope climb, mainly because he was not playabale on 2 and 3.

Actually, in Donkey Kong Land, DK has climbing sprites, although, they may have been custom-made for that game, but since Kopter's "defeated" sprite was used in Donkey Kong Land 3, it may not have been. It's possible Rare may have based those sprites off beta sprites that were removed, but who knows?

[Mattrizzle]

Donkey Kong Land was released only six months before Donkey Kong Country 2, so the former likely drew some inspiration from the latter (both were in development simultaneously). This is evident in the ship levels, which make use of those climbing sprites. Also, Wild Sting looks almost exactly like Flotsam.

[KingBrett]

Those unused Flitter palettes......Is it possible to make use of them? As in make new Flitter Sprites that use those palettes and not overwrite the existing Flitters? The red palette could be used for the fast moving Flitters. While the purple palette could be for the circling ones. The green one would be for the slow moving Flitters. The purple one with Green wings would home in on you or dive-bomb you like the Mini-Neckies. What do you guys think?

[R@ttleB@ttle2]

There already is a circling flitter.

[KingBrett]

I know that, I meant make a Circling Flitter sprite that uses the purple palette without every other flitter using that palette. You misunderstood my post.

[Markster]

I was messing arround in SDK2 Editor and I switched the style/palette to this unused once above all the used ones that where used in the Ship Mast levels, and look what palette I found!!!

SDK2 Beta000.png (78.03 KiB) Viewed 182319 times

SDK2 Beta001.png (72.91 KiB) Viewed 182319 times

If you look in the beta shots, you will see this palette.

DKC2 Beta.PNG (142.03 KiB) Viewed 182303 times

[The Banana Bird]

Do you remember a grey, green and brown klaptrap?

[Simion32]

DKCRE extracts these palettes, which is where I assume you got those from.

They have therefore already been documented, since the DKCRE GameConfig INI file is publicly viewable - and I got those from Mattrizzle anyway if I recall correctly. I'm sure he is aware of them.

[The Banana Bird]

Oh, what do they do different. Sorry if you guys have seen these pictures and if there just recolored too. I can only if a seperate GBA version of snapjaw, and his death? Gleamin breams can die too! Notice that last croctopus sprite too?

[Mattrizzle]

Oh, what do they do different.

The palettes aren't assigned to any objects that still exist in the game, so there's no way of knowing how baddies with these unused colors would behave.

The golden Croctopus palette was found around the same time as the unused Klaptrap palettes, when I noticed gaps in giangurgolo's palette documentation.

Give the "unused" death sprites for Gleamin' Bream and Snapjaw their proper palettes and they become the death sprites for Bounty Bass and Lockjaw. So they aren't unused.

[Simion32]

As Mattrizzle has stated,

Sprite Color changing does not equal an immediate difference in Sprite Behavior.

The behavior has to have been coded as an object and had that palette and sprite animation assigned to it.

Given how little space there is in the DKC's compared to what they wanted to do with the game, Rare didn't "waste" any space. It is very unlikely that code would exist for an object that they never, ever used (throughout the entire development, I mean).

[Markster]

I am not sure if this is unused, but it looks slanted and overwritten, I was wondering if this is beta.

DKC3 Kiddy Unused.PNG (7.13 KiB) Viewed 182215 times

[Simion32]

address please.

[Markster]

1A2E00 is the offset of the graphic.

[Simion32]

Upon further inspection it looks like the Squawks carrying sprite for Kiddy. The sprite data blocks usually are not on the same even offsets like a tileset is.

[Phyreburnz]

I know this is a little bit of a bump, But the mechanical Kremling is probably the basis off of the mechanical Kremlings in DK64. Check it out!

mechanical-kremling.gif (1.33 KiB) Viewed 182100 times

By the way, on the sprite sheet, the thing behind the foot is the key that goes in his back. Of the three misc sprites beside the two mechanical ones, I've found that one is a foot (the one furthest to the left) and the bottom right one is another key.

I can't find a picture of the mechanical Kremling in DK 64, but you should be able to tell how similar they are.

[The Banana Bird]

What would that do different then a normal kremling? Any ideas? I think he might take a bit more to kill. He probably was going to be used in factory levels.

[Mattrizzle]

I know this is a little bit of a bump, But the mechanical Kremling is probably the basis off of the mechanical Kremlings in DK64.

Yes, and I made mention of that back in this post.

By the way, on the sprite sheet, the thing behind the foot is the key that goes in his back.

It may be a key, but it isn't possible for it to be in his back for these frames, as the tilemaps for both sprites place that piece next to the left foot, as it is in the sprite sheet.

I think these are frames of its death animation, where the key would fall out.

Of the three misc sprites beside the two mechanical ones, I've found that one is a foot (the one furthest to the left)

Those three sprites are part of another animation frame for the mechanical Kremling. Most of the tiles were unfortunately overwritten by other data used in the final version. The sprite down and to the right is also a foot, but the lower bitplanes of the graphics were overwritten partially, making it look corrupted.

In other news:
Over 3.5 years have passed since I started searching for unused sprites, and just yesterday two more unused sprites crop up!

DKC-silver_sparkle.gif (484 Bytes) Viewed 181842 times

The first one isn't too exciting, though. It's a silver sparkle effect, which, unlike the gold one, isn't used in the game. It uses the same palette as the gold sparkles.

However...

DKC-early_necky.gif (6.98 KiB) Viewed 181842 times

...here we have an earlier design for the nut-throwing Necky! It has the coloring of Necky, but the proportions of Mini-Necky. This could mean that the two final designs branched off of this one. The animated GIF shows the frames in order, then reverse-order to show how this could have been used for throwing in two directions.

See the updated sheets in the thread's first post.

[aperson98]

Hmm the proto-Necky oddly looks closer to Master Necky then the two final Neckys do.

[The Banana Bird]

Hmm the proto-Necky oddly looks closer to Master Necky then the two final Neckys do.

His neck is really long. Anyone think he was slapping himself before you read or is it just me?

[aperson98]

Oh I have something I knew of for a while but never thought to share it here til now. In DKC 3 I believe there is a unused behaviour for Koindozer it is possible through ROM hacking to set up the game to allow a steel keg to kill Koindozer just like Koin. I know it's not very exciting really, after all Koindozer is just a color swap of Koin, but something I figured I would share none the less.