Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was the third Mario RPG game, the first on a handheld system and the first of the Mario & Luigi sub-series.

Starbeans Cameos
There's text and an awful lot of sprites which suggest that originally, each drink you made at the Starbeans cafe was supposed to trigger a cameo by a Nintendo character. All the text is still in the game and written below.

E. Gadd
E. Gadd : Hmm... My sniffer's detecting the aroma of a new kind of juice... Cashier : Oh! Professor Gadd! How've you been, sir? Are you here to try our new drink? You can ask those two there for Woohoo Blend! E. Gadd : Oh! Just wonderful! A new blend! How about a try, youngsters? Hmm... This flavor fills the old bones with brimming strength! Yep, a drink like this'll surely boost my spirits during ghost research. Listen, youngsters, let me thank you. I insist you take this. Hmm... I wonder what I should invent next...

Wario
Wario : Ah ha ha ha! Move it! Wow! Now that I'm here, this game's finally gettin' good! Cashier : Oh! Wario! What's a bad dude like you doing here? Oh! I got it! You came to pay your tab from the other day! Wario : What are you talkin' about?!? You tryin' to give me a bad rep with stupid rumors? I oughta...  Cashier :  Aww, come on! Just pay up! I'll even take beans if you got 'em. Come on! You're a rich guy, right? Wario : Uh... OK. Maybe next time. But... Don't you have free drinks for celebrity guest stars in this game? Wa ha ha ha ha ha ha! BLECH! AWFUL! Do you guys really like drinking nasty stuff like this? ...Losers. Ah! Whatever! Hope this covers your costs! Blech! Drinkin' that stuff made me wanna go shave my tongue! Uh-oh! Gotta go!

Fox McCloud
Fox : Fox here! Cashier : Hey! Aren't you Fox McCloud, the Star Fox leader? Are you here to taste our new juice? No way! Fox : Uh...yeah. So why don't you serve me up a cup at your special guest star rate? What's that? A call? A call : Fox! Help me! Fox! Where are you?? Cashier : Wow! You sure are one busy guy... Er, I mean, one busy fox! Fox : Thanks for the discount! Will this cover the rest? Mission complete!

Fox Walking Forwards



Fox Walking Backwards



Fox Drinking Coffee and Answering Call



Incoming Call



Captain Olimar
Olimar's dialogue would have been presented in item text boxes as opposed to speech bubbles (as if he is logging his thoughts rather than actually speaking, befitting of his native series). Olimar : ...I detect a strange, yet pleasing aroma drifting through the atmosphere of this cafe. It would seem to require further investigation...  Cashier :  Wow! This is a rare treat! If it isn't Captain Olimar! Olimar : What is this? Before my eyes stands a strange life form. It resembles me slightly, so I shall dub it...Marlio! ...Further investigation indicates that the drink that this Marlio holds is the source of the aroma. I shall now partake of its flavor. Why! Its flavor is most satisfying! Finding that such a drink could be partook of in such a place is a tremendous discovery, indeed! This Marlio creature exhibits what seems to be a longing expression... Perhaps it will react if I present it with something... I have just noticed a strange, unsightly green creature standing next to the Marlio... It could be a dangerous life form. I feel I should attack it before it attacks me.

Olimar Walking Forwards



Olimar Walking Backwards



Olimar Walking Sideways



Olimar Drinking Coffee



Olimar Throwing A Pikmin



Blue Pikmin Being Thrown



Pikmin Crowd Idle



Pikmin Crowd Moving



Samus Aran
Cashier : Whoa! A power outage? Yikes! Samus Aran! I see you're rocking and rolling as usual! ...Looks like your energy tanks are empty! Sorry, but can't you give your Hoolumbian to Samus? Oh! Feeling better?

Excitebike Racer
Cashier : Hey? Is that the sound of a motorcycle I hear? Hey, buddy! What are you doin'?! This isn't a drive-through!!! What? Are you thirsty or something? Fine, but no need to get so...EXCITED! Are your engines on full throttle?

Link
Cashier : Whoa! Link! The Hero of...what is it, now? Anyway, long-time, no see, buddy! What are you doing here? Did you get lost in a dungeon again? What? You're having trouble finding the fairy fountain? Oh... It's game over, and your bottles are all empty? Are your hearts filled now, kiddo?

Gifts
The gift you get when you make a new drink was also supposed to be specific to the character cameos above. In fact, there's unused text relating to these gifts:

You got the Triforce! You got an Energy Tank! You got a Gold Ring! You got the Game Boy Horror! You got a UV Lamp! You got Wario's Gold! You got an Excite Spring!

The Excite Spring managed to survive into the final game unaltered. The others survived too, but had their names changed to be less obvious references to the cameos:

Equipment
The following equipment exists in the game, but you're unable to obtain any of them during the course of the game. They're listed together with their in-game description.

Chuckola Pants - Pants made to look like Chuckola Fruit. Heavy Slacks - Very heavy pants made of Hoohoo Blocks. Light Slacks - Very light and made of Parabeanie wings. Jeanie Jeans - Magic jeans that boost DEF in battle. Jeaniest Jeans - The best-looking, best-fitting jeans. Safe Guard - An outfit that blocks status ailments.

Others
You got a Game & Watch!

The Game & Watch was probably supposed to be a key item, since it appears in the game's text right after the Beanlet and Beanstone text.

You got a Spiritual Bros.!

This could've been a badge. Either way, it isn't coded in the game.

Unused Sprites


There are different colored palettes for the Bean Fruit; in the final game, only the purple one is used.



Unused item sprites of a book, diploma, and key.



Unused coin sprites, including a palette for red and blue ones.



Unused sprites of what appears to be an early Lady Lima.



Boddle's assistant has an alternate palette.



An unused sprite of the statue from Woohoo Hooniversity on fire.



An unused cloaked Beanish character.



Early ability icons. The final "bubble" sprites are larger, and the final icons are bigger and more detailed.



Extremely small sprites of what appears to be a fly with hair... It's pretty hard to tell.



Graphics for the letters M, A, R, I, and O, as well as one of a star.

Goomba
A dummy Goomba enemy. At level 100, it has 100 HP, 3 DEF and 100 Speed.

Getme!
A dummy enemy, also at level 100. It has 0 HP, 3 DEF, and 100 Speed. Players get 999 EXP points after defeating it.

Dummonster
Another dummy enemy, with the same stats as the dummy Goomba.

Mossy Goomba


A purple palette swap of the Goomba enemy. It has stats lower than the average Goomba.

Pop Goomba


Same as above, except it's a red palette swap.

Paragoomba


A paragoomba! It has lower than average stats.

Nice Guy


Appears to be a standard Hoohooligan. Not seen in battle through normal gameplay.

Others
These aren't programmed in as enemies, but their names appear in the ROM.

Chompa

More than likely an alternate name for the Mecha-Chomp enemy.

Sharkbone

This was supposed to be one of the names of the ???? enemy which appears in Gwarhar Lagoon, as is evident by the official Nintendo Power guide which actually lists this as the enemy's name.

Left Pincer Right Pincer

Likely alternate names for the Left Claw and Right Claw from the Hermie III battle.

Debug Room
There is a somewhat buggy debug room hidden in the game, which can be accessed by using the code. To bring Luigi along with you, put in.

How to access:
 * 1) Start a new game.
 * 2) Save and quit.
 * 3) After the game resets, turn on the code.
 * 4) Restart your save game.

You start in the left map with Mario alone. It's possible to leave through the northern part of the stage and immediately return with Luigi. Returning with Luigi alters the level somewhat, or perhaps takes you to a different room. It's possible to return to the first map (with Luigi still) by walking north on the "island" at the top-left of the stage.

Miscellaneous notes about the room(s):
 * There is no music.
 * The multiple copies of Popple don't say anything despite having a "talk" icon appear when you're next to them.
 * Touching the Beanie in the second map immediately begins a battle with a single Goomba. The game crashes after pressing A when a message bubble appears reading "Press the A button here!"
 * In the first map, it's possible to get stuck in the air (still able to walk around) by jumping into objects from below.
 * In the first map, it's not possible to walk up hills. They act more like walls.
 * With Mario alone, pressing Start exits the room and attempts to take you back to where you saved your game, but essentially freezes the game.

If you use for Mario and  for Luigi, you should be able to walk up the slopes in the buggy room. This just removes the 20 flag that causes the glitches. Alternately, if you are using the (U) version, put in for Mario and  for Luigi. This is Mario and Luigi's data in the NPC section.

Unused Room Objects


There's a Toad programmed out in Toadtown Square that is able to programmed back in with memory editing. You can walk right under him, and he has no conversation or movement data.



In the room on the Koopa Cruiser where battles with Goombas are available, there's a disabled Save Block able to be programmed back in. It is fully functional, and saves the game like it is supposed to, though the game displays glitched text for the area in which it displays where you saved at.

Gsys Labels
There seems to be a bank of pointers to gsys labels located at in the (U) version. ( in (E), and in (J)). Above and below this bank seems to be associated with this. Probably used as On/Off for Mario and Luigi. Was this once used as a debug menu? It is assumed that the assembly codes that used this data were deleted before release. Some of these gsys labels have "kusu" in them, which I assume to mean "hand." It seems odd that they are named "solar" and "moon" hand powers, though. One of these has "Kuppa" in them, which is the Japanese name for Bowser/Koopa.

gsys_undefined_0200 gsys_hi_jump gsys_spin_jump gsys_solo_hamm gsys_solo_hamm2 gsys_solo_hamm3 gsys_mario_hamm2 gsys_luigi_hamm2 gsys_solo_kusu_solar gsys_solo_kusu_moon gsys_mario_kusu2 gsys_luigi_kusu2 gsys_undefined_020C gsys_undefined_020D gsys_undefined_020E gsys_undefined_020F gsys_undefined_0210 gsys_undefined_0211 gsys_undefined_0212 gsys_undefined_0213 gsys_undefined_0214 gsys_undefined_0215 gsys_undefined_0216 gsys_undefined_0217 gsys_undefined_0218 gsys_undefined_0219 gsys_undefined_021A gsys_undefined_021B gsys_undefined_021C gsys_undefined_021D gsys_undefined_021E gsys_undefined_021F gsys_menu_badge gsys_menu_item gsys_menu_card gsys_menu_bros gsys_menu gsys_menu_map gsys_menu_map_kuppa gsys_menu_twin gsys_shop_sale1 gsys_shop_sale2 gsys_shop_sale3 gsys_shop_sale4 gsys_shop_sale5 gsys_undefined_022D gsys_undefined_022E gsys_undefined_022F gsys_btl_defham gsys_btl_defham2 gsys_btl_twin gsys_btl_item gsys_btl_run gsys_btl_solo_hamm2 gsys_btl_solo_hamm3 gsys_shop_new_cti gsys_shop_new_cte gsys_shop_new_lki gsys_undefined_023B gsys_undefined_023C gsys_undefined_023D gsys_undefined_023E gsys_undefined_023F

Battle Backgrounds
In battle, you only see 240&times;160 of each background, but the backgrounds themselves are all actually 512&times;256. Only the final battle makes use of scrolling in any way. Perhaps scrolling was originally intended to happen in all battles, as is the case in Bowser's Inside Story.

Background 00 - This looks like something that might have been used as a template for making the backgrounds. If the battle data's background is 00, it will use the Room's defined battle background, if that is 00, then you could get this background.

Background 01

Background 02

Background 03 - Note: The animated dust clouds are not shown.

Background 04

Background 05

Background 06

Background 07

Background 08, Background 0B

Background 09

Background 0A

Background 0C

Background 0D

Background 0E

Background 0F

Background 10

Background 11

Background 12 - Note: The animated waves are not shown.

Background 13 - Note: The animated flames are not shown.

Background 14

Background 15

Background 16 - Note: Unused. Enemies do not appear in any of the rooms that use this tileset.

Background 17

Background 18 - Note: Unused. Enemies do not appear in the room that uses this tileset. The stars twinkle more erratically than shown here.

Background 19

Background 1A

Background 1B

Background 1C

Background 1D

Background 1E

Background 1F

Background 20 - Note: The animated flames are not shown.

Background 21

Background 22

Background 23

Background 24

Background 25 - Note: The final battle does scroll some in the beginning. The animated lightning bolts are not shown.

Background 26

Background 27

Wrecking Crew


Graphics and a tilemap for a Wrecking Crew-like scene exist within the ROM. A proper method of accessing them has not yet been discovered.

((U) version – Palette: 0x08201790; Image: 0x082017B0; Map: 0x08201210)

Build Dates
The following build dates are found in the ROM at in the US version,  in the European version, and  in the Japanese version.

Unused Music
There are three unused songs in the game. One seems to be simply a scrapped song, while the other two are alterations of the title screen music from the Japan-only game Tomato Adventure, which formed the basis for Superstar Saga.