Antonball Deluxe/Unused Rooms
This is a sub-page of Antonball Deluxe.
From broken levels to simple UI, Antonball Deluxe has quite a few unused rooms, each with its own quirk.
Contents
Stages
VS. Antonball Stage Template
rm_vs_template is a template room used to create the VS. Antonball stages. Compared to Sewer Slam, this stage lacks a fourth row of bricks and uses colored bricks for both teams. Because regular bricks are used instead of the dedicated red and blue bricks used for all other VS. Antonball stages, the stage plays indefinitely.
| rm_vs_template | Sewer Slam |
|---|---|
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The tileset seen in the level is an early Boiler Sewers tileset, seen in a handful of prerelease demos and footage before release. As is the case with a few other stages on this page, all the tiles are misplaced because the tileset was modified at some point. The background used for this stage (which was an early variation of Boiler Sewers background) has been erased from the game's files.
By default, the variable global.vs_win is unset, causing the game to crash. Setting this variable at any point before the stage loads fixes this crash.
Antonball Stage #1
rm_l25 is a scrapped Boiler Sewers stage[1] referred to as Phase 18 in the stage's intro. This is the only stage where the ball could pass through the floor and result in the player losing lives. Much like other stages, the tileset is misaligned and the background has been deleted from the files. Completing the stage sends the player to rm_l68.
By default, this stage and the next two stages will crash the game because obj_player_spawn is missing. Instead, the game uses obj_player1spawn and obj_player2spawn.
Antonball Stage #2
rm_l26 is a scrapped Jam Jungle stage referred to as Phase 26 in the stage's intro. Unlike other stages, this is the only stage in which bricks would extend to the stage's ceiling, and in which the early tileset for Boiler Sewers is aligned correctly. One of the instance layers (instances_2) is set to be invisible, which results in the HUD not displaying. Completing the stage sends the player to rm_lotteryMenu.
Screenshots posted on Twitter reveals this stage originally would've been part of Boiler Sewers[1].
Antonball Stage #3
rm_l68 is another scrapped Boiler Sewers stage[2] referred to as Phase 4 in the stage's intro. The unused Big Ball powerup is present, the tileset is misaligned, three big chips can drop at random points, and the stage incorrectly plays Sewer Slam's music. Completing the stage sends the player to fin.
Antonball Phase 35 (VOID)
 | This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Was this stage playable in other versions of the game with this DLC? |
rm_l35 is the final stage of Antonball's Classic Ball Training DLC. The stage features a Ballbuster pressing switches on top, forcing the player to time their jumps. Big chips are inaccessible, and this stage has the only instance of obj_crab, even if it's practically useless here.
Due to a programming oversight, this stage is unplayable and is skipped after completing Phase 34. After completing this stage, the game attempts to move the player to rm_vs_aftermath.
Menus
Ending
fin (starting without the usual rm_ prefix) is an otherwise empty room that displays some text congratulating the player. Originally, the game used a room_goto_next() instruction to move to the next stage. To prevent the game from crashing because the game had no more rooms to warp to, this screen was present. Interestingly, this room is set to be an adventure-type stage, with global.adventure being set to 1. Furthermore, the associated background has been erased, though a prerelease version of the game once displayed artwork of Anton.
Because the game's resolution was different when this room was created (320x180 as opposed to 256x144), the text is very pixelated and hard to read. Below is an example of what the text is supposed to look like.
256x144 (base game).
320x180 (corrected).
Proponent Games Screen
rm_proponent is a splash screen for Proponent Games. Prior to The First BALLance Update on November 27th, 2022, Proponent Games had the publishing rights. However, after this update released, Summitsphere gained publishing rights, and any reference to Proponent Games was removed. As such, this screen is skipped over in the latest version of the game.
Unlock Screen
rm_unlock is a screen that would've been displayed exclusively in the prerelease 2020 SAGE demo after beating Antonball. The intermittent visitor in question is Paul, who would be unlocked as a playable character. Unfortunately, the variable meant to make Paul appear in rm_sage has been removed.
Curiously, this room has a stage name set ("INT", short for intermittent) despite never being displayed.
Work In Progress Message
rm_demotext is a screen informing the player that what they're about to play is a work in progress. This screen was used in prerelease demos, though the copyright date was crudely changed to 2021.
Other
Beach Brawl Background Test
rm_beachbrawl_bgtest is, as the name implies, a background test for Beach Brawl. This is meant to test the rippling effect seen in the city's reflection in the water. One disabled instance layer is present (Border) as well. Enabling it toggles the game's arcade border.
Demo Hub
rm_sage is a simple hub created for the 2020 Sonic Amateur Gaming Expo demo, though the hub got a makeover for the 2020 Steam Autumn Next Fest demo. Upon entering, Anton's Dog will greet Anton. After closing the dialog box, the player is free to walk around the hub and select between one of the three game modes (Antonball, Punchball and VS. Antonball respectively) represented by arcade machines. On the left is a trash can, which cannot be picked up unlike in VS. Antonball. On the right is a Punch Bowl, which, when broken, grants the player 150 points, despite not being in a stage. Pressing Up on any of the machines sends the player to the menu screen of the dedicated mode. Returning to the hub skips Anton's Dog's dialogue.
Without applying fixes, the hub itself is pretty broken due to a variety of issues.
- obj_snick, the object later repurposed for Anton's Dog, doesn't have a sprite set.
- obj_paul doesn't have a variable set (unlockIndex.paulApparition) related to unlocking him on the hub. Additionally, since the object had some of its code altered, Paul will be unlocked as a playable character upon entering the hub.
- There is no player object present in the room.
- obj_dialoguebox wasn't updated when player_input() was updated. This script in particular expects two arguments to be set, but only one is set.
If the player were to quit to the main menu, a voice clip of Anton saying "Goodbye!" can be heard, which in itself is a leftover when quitting the demo.
