Arcana

Arcana is an RPG by Hal Laboratory. Though you battle through dungeons in a first-person view, the game has the feel of more traditional console RPGs due to the preset characters and storyline.

Equipment
Arcana has a large number of unused equipment in the ROM.

Placeholders

 * Sword 1-4: Placeholders for undefined weapons.
 * Armor 1-15: Placeholders for undefined armor.
 * Amulet 1-2: Placeholders for undefined amulets.
 * Ring 1-3: Placeholders for undefined rings (see below).

All of these numbered items appear to be placeholders to allow for more weapons and armor had the developers wanted to add more. They can be hacked into the Equipment menu, but they cannot be equipped by anyone.

Rings

 * Secret Ring
 * Life Ring
 * Euhancer Ring
 * Ring Inspiration
 * Peace Ring
 * Ancient Ring
 * Ring of Life
 * Ring of Valor
 * Ring of Hope
 * Sparkling Ring
 * Shining Ring
 * Ring Amazement
 * RingAstonishment
 * Crooked Ring
 * Twisted Ring
 * Grand Ring
 * Charm Ring

These rings were probably supposed to boost stats or grant other special abilities based on their names. They can be hacked into the Equipment menu, and anyone can equip them, but unfortunately they have no effect on anything. It's evident the developers did not finish programming the attributes for these rings and thus they were left out of the released version of the game.

Spells
There are several Magic Spells in the ROM that are unused in the final version of the game.


 * Requiem
 * Emancipation
 * Final Liberation
 * Way Point
 * Way Point Warp
 * Diminish Encounters
 * Diminish Encounters 2

As of yet, it is unknown what any of these spells do or would have done. Because similar spells are listed together in the ROM data, it's possible that Requiem, Emancipation, and Final Liberation were weaker versions of Ruinous Mission, in which a Spirit Helper sacrifices itself to inflict damage on the enemy party.

The names of the Way Point and Diminish Encounters spells suggest they were probably debugging tools. Way Point and Way Point Warp were probably used to create warp points in dungeons. Diminish Encounters and Diminish Encounters 2 were probably meant to decrease the amount of random attacks, possibly by a certain percentage or altogether.

Healing Items
There are a couple of unused healing items in Arcana's ROM file. They were mistakenly left in the manual, but you can never actually get them anywhere in the game.




 * Maiden's Tears: Reverse petrifying spells. One of your party will return to their original condition.




 * Moon Oil: Reverse paralyzing spells. One of your party will return to their original condition.

At this time it is not known why these items were removed or if they even work properly.

Stage Select
Enter this code at the game's title screen to activate a level select: Down, Select, Select, X, Y, Select, Select, L, R, Select, Select, Left, Right, Up, then...


 * A: Chapter 2
 * B: Chapter 3
 * X: Chapter 4
 * Y: Chapter 5

Using this code will start you off at an advanced experience level with various spells, items, cards, equipment, and money.



Chapter 2: Start in Doraf with Rooks at Level 10 and Salah at Level 7.



Chapter 3: Start in Doraf with Rooks at Level 20.



Chapter 4: Start in Elf Village with Rooks and Axs both at Level 30.



Chapter 5: Start in Bintel Castle with Rooks and Teefa both at Level 40, and Darwin at Level 43.

Sound Room


Hold L, R, and B, and press Start on the title screen to access the Arcana Sound Room. This allows you to listen to all of the music and sound effects in the game.

Tracks #57 and #83 are unused.

Track #57: "Two Beautiful Princesses"


According to the OST, this 14-second song should have been used in the ending, right before the end credits song, but it isn't there in the American or Japanese versions of the game.

Track #83: "Grass Flute"


Judging by its name, this two-second fanfare was likely intended for a dropped "Grass Flute" item.

Unused Class Descriptions
In the English version, the class descriptions for the 9 party members are unused. They are:


 * Card Master = Rooks
 * Spirit of Wind = Sylph
 * Spirit of Land = Dao
 * Spirit of Water = Marid
 * Spirit of Fire = Efrite
 * Betrayer = Teefa
 * Princess = Salah
 * Vagabond = Darwin
 * Woodcutter = Axs

The descriptions are used in the Japanese version, where some of them are also different:


 * 魔法使い = Magician = Teefa
 * 僧侶 = Priestess = Salah
 * 魔法剣士 = Magic Swordsman = Darwin
 * 騎士 = Knight = Axs