Castlevania (Nintendo 64)

Castlevania
Also known as: Akumajou Dracula Mokushiroku (JP) Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe Publisher: Konami Platform: Nintendo 64 Released in JP: March 11, 1999 Released in US: January 26, 1999 Released in EU: May 14, 1999 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused items. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has a bugs page

To do: A bunch of pre-release material and possible in-game remnants documented here. Any notable differences between V1 and V1.2 of the USA release?

More commonly known as Castlevania 64. It's the first game in the Castlevania series to be in 3D and is often seen as the black sheep of the series, to put it lightly.

Sub-Page

Bugs

Unused Content

Stage Select

An unused stage select menu can be enabled with the use of the below code and pressing L + Z at any time in-game.

Version	GameShark code
Japan	D10D80A0 2020 81342084 FFFF D10D80A0 2020 81342086 FFFC
USA 1.0 USA 1.1	D10D5E20 2020 81342084 FFFF D10D5E20 2020 81342086 FFFC
USA 1.2	D10D61C0 2020 81342084 FFFF D10D61C0 2020 81342086 FFFC
Europe	D10D68F0 2020 81342084 FFFF D10D68F0 2020 81342086 FFFC

(Source: Original TCRF research)

"Test Grid" Debug Room

• 

  This debug room is mostly empty...

• 

  ...but it does have a ceiling.

This room can be accessed using the GameShark codes below. Start a New Game and press the GS-Button while in the Forest:

Version	GameShark code
Japan	89389EE0 001D 89389EE2 0000
USA 1.0	89389EE0 001D 89389EE2 0000
USA 1.1	89389EE0 001D 89389EE2 0000
USA 1.2	89389EE0 001D 89389EE2 0000
Europe	89389EA8 001D 89389EAA 0000

Status Effects

To do: Do the "unused" Status Effects affect the gameplay at all?

There are several unused Status Effects in the game, a few of which are unnamed. Most of them do not visually change anything, nor can they be healed using the "Healing Kit", as it only checks for Poison and Vampire.

One status effect, STO (Stone), seems to be the most developed status effect, as it's the only one that displays itself in the player's HUD when enabled with the GameShark code below. It was likely cut because there is only one area where you can be petrified, and having a separate status effect just for that didn't make sense.

Version	GameShark code
Japan	80389C88 0004
USA 1.0	80389C88 0004
USA 1.1	80389C88 0004
USA 1.2	80389C88 0004
Europe	80389C8D 0004

As the variable for Status Effects is a 8-bit bitmask, each bit has its own status effect, which can be combined. Along with STO and combinations that feature it, this reveals 3 more unused status effects. They seem to be empty however, and have no real effect when applied and can't even be removed with the Healing Kit. Whether they were other cut statuses or simply placeholders/dummies is unknown.

Digit (hex)	Bits	Effect	Can be healed using items?	Displayed as
0x01	0000 0001	Unknown	No, ignored	Unused
0x02	0000 0010	Unknown	No, ignored	Unused
0x04	0000 0100	None	No, ignored	STO (Unused)
0x08	0000 1000	Turns Vampire between 0:00 and 1:00 AM	Yes	VAMP
0x10	0001 0000	Drains Health	Yes	POISON
0x18	0001 1000	Combined	Yes	V + P
0x1C	0001 1100	Combined	Heals only V + P, ignores STO	V + P
0x20	0010 0000	Slump over	Yes, when HP > 21%	(Animation)
0x40	0100 0000	Unknown	No, ignored	Unused
0x80	1000 0000	DEATH	No	(Death Animation)

Items

To do: Rip the sprites for PowerUp.

Incandescent Gaze - Highlights player's focus for a fixed period.
This could highlight a fixated target for a certain amount of time, even after the player disengages its target.

Pot-Pourri - Cures fossilization. Aroma softens fossilized body.
Likely used to revert from stone quicker.

Engagement Ring - A present from the Dark Lord. By only holding it (Description in JP only, empty in NA).
Holding it in the Japanese version raises Carrie's status by 10%.

The contract - Summons the demon salesman Renon After recall, if you decide to purchase, 1 point is used After recall, if you do not purchase, no points are used
This item is semi-unused. Instead of being used from the Inventory, it was placed in certain spots in-game instead, using the pickup trigger. Interestingly, if the inventory already has "the contract" hacked in, trying to pick up the contract will give the "You cannot carry any more of this item." dialogue box, but will summon Renon anyway.

PowerUp - No description.
Semi-unused. Has no effect when being hacked into the Inventory, but only when picked up. Unlike the contract, when this item has been hacked into the inventory, it doesn't show the "too many items" dialogue when picked up.

Ending Message

Normally, the game ends prematurely on the Castle Center level if playing on Easy mode. But if the stage select code is used to jump to the last stage in Easy mode, and finish the game that way, then after the credits are over the following message will be displayed: "One adventure is over. But the truth remains in the darkness... Clear NORMAL to discover the truth!". Presumably, the game was originally going to let you play through the entire game in Easy mode.

(Source: Torentsu)

Unseen Faces

To do: GS Codes for JP/US/EU versions.

This face is used after being transformed into a vampire and depicts Carrie with make-up, giving her a more adult-like appearance. However, it is overlayed by the eyeless vampire face, which requires this face to be set first. It is unknown where and in what context this face could have been used.

Reinhardt has even more facial issues. While the two post-transformation vampire faces do match the actual status and skin color change, they suffer from a graphical issue which makes the teeth somewhat blue. When setting both the face and overlay to 0x01 before the transformation, the correct overlay face is shown. But as soon the transformation is complete, it reverts to the "After V" or "After V+P" face, oddly keeping both values unchanged at 0x01.

Normal	Vamp	After V	V+P	After V+P	Overlay	Overlay 2

Developer Text

NTSC-U 1.0

The lines "ND3EA4" and "KCEK CastleVania the Apocalypse" are written to the Memory Pak.

Address	Value
0x80096AD4	ND3EA4
0x80096AF0	KCEK CastleVania the Apocalypse.
0x8018BFA0	BG3D SYSTEM INITIALIZE START
0x8018BFC0	BG3D SYSTEM : PLAYER WAIT
0x8018BFE0	BG3D SYSTEM : PLAYER IS READY
0x8018C000	Initialize DL Analyzing work
0x8018C020	Analyze Instance DL
0x8018C038	Initialize GRID WORK
0x8018C050	Initialize other BG3D Work
0x8018C06C	BG3D SYSTEM INITIALIZE END : Frame %d
0x8018C0A0	00 MORI
0x8018C0AC	01 TOU
0x8018C0BC	02 TOUOKUJI
0x8018C0CC	03 NAKANIWA
0x8018C0DC	04 BEKKAN 1F
0x8018C0EC	05 BEKKAN 2F
0x8018C0FC	06 MEIRO TEIEN
0x8018C10C	07 CHIKA KODO
0x8018C11C	08 CHIKA SUIRO
0x8018C130	09 HONMARU B1F
0x8018C144	10 HONMARU 1F
0x8018C154	11 HONMARU 2F
0x8018C164	12 HONMARU 3F MINAMI
0x8018C17C	13 HONMARU 4F MINAMI
0x8018C194	14 HONMARU 3F KITA
0x8018C1AC	15 HONMARU 5F
0x8018C1BC	16 SHOKEI TOU
0x8018C1CC	17 MAHOU TOU
0x8018C1DC	18 KAGAKU TOU
0x8018C1EC	19 KETTOU TOU
0x8018C1FC	20 TURO TOKEITOU
0x8018C210	21 TENSHU
0x8018C21C	22 ENDING DUMMY
0x8018C230	23 TOKEITOU NAI
0x8018C244	24 DRACULA
0x8018C254	25 ROSE
0x8018C260	26 BEKKAN BOSS
0x8018C274	27 TOU TURO
0x8018C284	28 ENDING
0x8018C290	29 TEST GRID
0x8018C2A0	X 30 NO PART
0x8018C2B0	X 31 NO PART
0x8018C2C0	X 32 NO PART
0x8018C2D0	X 33 NO PART
0x8018C2E0	X 34 NO PART
0x8018C2F0	X 35 NO PART
0x8018C300	X 36 NO PART
0x8018C310	X 37 NO PART
0x8018C320	X 38 NO PART
0x8018C330	X 39 NO PART
0x8018C340	X 40 NO PART
0x8018C350	X 41 NO PART
0x8018C360	X 42 NO PART
0x8018C370	X 43 NO PART
0x8018C380	X 44 NO PART
0x8018C390	X 45 NO PART
0x8018C3A0	X 46 NO PART
0x8018C3B0	X 47 NO PART
0x8018C3C0	X 48 NO PART
0x8018C3D0	X 49 NO PART
0x8018C3E0	SUNLIGHT SYSTEM START
0x8018C400	ポリゴンバッファ確保失敗！ (ID=%d Index=%d,%d,%d)
0x8018C434	%08X : このインスタンスは実体が存在しません。
0x800A7FE0	PRIM_COLOR R %02X G %02X B %02X A %02X
0x800A8008	ENV_COLOR R %02X G %02X B %02X A %02X
0x800A8030	BLE_COLOR R %02X G %02X B %02X A %02X
0x800A8058	FOG_COLOR R %02X G %02X B %02X A %02X
0x800A8280	glbcam: can't find open door
0x800A82F0	eventman: get on elevator
0x800A830C	eventman: get off elevator
0x800A8A50	set camera mode boss01
0x800A8AA0	set camera mode boss04
0x800A8AD0	set camera mode boss05
0x800A8B50	set camera mode boss11

Regional Differences

• The Japanese version saves to the cartridge, while the international versions require a Controller Pak to save.
• The Japanese and European versions feature voice acting for Gilles de Rais in the Castle Keep in the cutscenes when he's shown and defeated.
• Some sequence breaking glitches were patched out in the Japanese and European versions.
• The unused Pot-Pourri item was completely removed in the European version.

Localization Oddities

On the European version, the translators did quite an interesting number on some of the items, mostly the unused ones.

English	French	German
engagement ring	ring	-
Incandescent gaze	gaze	-
The contract	Le contrat	Der Vertrag
PowerUp	Article de renfort	Posten laden

While the "Engagement Ring" and "Incandescent Gaze" was blanked out in the German localization, The Contract was properly localized. On the other hand, the German localization for the "PowerUp" is completely out of the window, translating back literally into "Load Items". Why they even partially localized some unused items and went out of their way to blank out others is unknown.