Kirby Super Star/Unused Graphics

Spitting Sprites


These two are rather strange, especially the second! Both of them involve Kirby spitting out something, and only appear in the sprite set referenced when Kirby has no ability. The weird glow on the front of Kirby in the second sprite might suggest that he was supposed to use this when spitting out something hot. However, there's also motion lines.

Wheelie Kirby Victory Pose


Wheelie Rider Kirby doing a victory pose. If you've played the game, then it's obvious that this should be used at the end of his dance, or when opening a treasure chest in the Great Cave Offensive. In the first of these cases, Kirby dismounts Wheelie; in the second, you either cannot open a treasure chest (if the first player is in control of Wheelie), or Kirby automatically dismounts Wheelie (if Player 2 is in control). An entirely different victory pose for the Wheelie Rider "ability" is used for both instances in Kirby Super Star Ultra.

Unused Beam/Mirror Ability Sprite


Found among Mirror Kirby's sprites in the Beam/Mirror ability sprite set. The base sprite (minus the hat and palette) is identical to one of the Ninja ability's poses. This may be part of a scrapped aerial attack, as the Mirror ability doesn't have any unique ones.

Cursors


Two cursors that are loaded with the main menu. Left over from an earlier version of the game selection menu.

Locked Great Cave Offensive


These tiles are found in the main menu graphics block. This is the same graphical style used for locked games. At one point, The Great Cave Offensive would have to be unlocked. In the final version it's one of six games available from the start.

The game's name appears as a sprite in VRAM. Since it's never seen in-game, it remains untranslated in the US and EU versions.

How it would have appeared in the menu.

Scythe


Some kind of scythe or sickle or something. Its actual use is unknown.

Text


Most likely used in The Great Cave Offensive's description box. It's the only game with large areas instead of stages.

The only game that uses a chapter system is Revenge of Meta Knight. This was probably used in that game's description box to show your progress.

Err. No idea on this one.

Untranslated and unused in all versions, this translates to "From the beginning". New Game option?

Translates to "Stage". This could have been used anywhere.

Translates to "Continue". Self explanatory really.

Another menu graphic for The Great Cave Offensive.

Tutorial Sprite


A smaller version of the icon used in the Japanese Tutorial screens.

The Arena Pause Screen Logo
In every pause screen, graphics for this miniature Arena logo can be found along with those for the other sub-games. As pause screens do not appear during boss battles, and The Arena is the game's boss endurance mode, no pause screen exists for it. Despite its unused status, the logo was still localized for the international versions.

Cloud Platform


This cloud platform is found in the same graphics set as the cutter platform, launch platform, and coconut. Its use is unknown, though it may have been used for floating platforms. The cutter platform is used for floating platforms in the final game.

Interestingly, platforms with a nearly identical design to this one were later used in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, where they act just like the cutter platforms!

Crowd


While not technically unused, some members of the crowd in King Dedede's arena are never seen because they're cut off by the stage border. Poppy Bros. Jr. and Bowser are out of view, and most of Princess Peach is as well.

However, this definitely isn't used during normal play. This early version of the crowd is what the level initially loads before overwriting it with animated graphics. Waddle Dee, Waddle Doo, and Poppy Bros. Jr. all look different. They're all based on artwork from Kirby's Dream Land! Mario's rampant bloodlust was toned down for the final version and Luigi's swollen face was fixed.

Filler Graphics


These kanji characters are loaded to VRAM at the start of the game, and are overwritten with food graphics when levels are loaded. It translates as, appropriately enough, "food".

These hexadecimal characters are used in foreground tilesets as filler.

Gold Medal


This gold medal is stored with the planets in Milky Way Wishes. Its intended use might have been to mark planets that were 100% completed.

Icon Graphics


Translates to "Goal." This icon and the one below suggest that at least one of the sub-games would have stages split into levels, as in Kirby's Adventure. Said game uses a Goal icon when a normal stage is completed.

Translates to "Clear." Kirby's Adventure uses a Clear icon when a boss stage (and thus, a level) is beaten.

Translates to "Anger", "Wrath," or "Rage." Obviously, Kirby would somehow get angry.

Megaton Punch Point Values


Sprites for the numbers 5000 and 10000 can be found in Megaton Punch's menu and results screen graphics. They resemble the point values awarded for beating a mini-game in Kirby's Adventure, so the original intent may have been for Megaton Punch to be entered from one of the other sub-games.

Meta Knight Bats


Loaded during the Halberd escape at the end of Revenge of Meta Knight. Meta Knight probably used them as projectiles.

Shotzo


A good two-thirds of Shotzo's frames are unused. Normally, it faces left or right and aims forward, diagonally, or straight up. The unused sprites have it facing in many directions that aren't really suitable for a two-dimensional platformer.