Descent (PlayStation)

Descent
Developer: Parallax Software Publishers: Softbank (JP), Interplay (US/EU) Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: January 26, 1996 Released in US: March 12, 1996 Released in EU: May 1996 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

The poster child for 6DOF combat got a console port a year after its PC debut, introducing coloured lighting effects, a remixed soundtrack from the Mac version, and some deliciously cheesy pre-rendered FMV sequences that would be also reused for both Descent II (the DOS version being released a day after this port came out) and Descent Maximum. There are also five additional exclusive multiplayer maps that were recently made available to play on PC in September 2022. It's also well known that this game and Descent Maximum are known to suffer from slowdown and choppy frame rate.

Unused Graphics

Each level has its own texture set, stored in a .pst file. The .pst file includes a table mapping Descent's texture ids to regions of the Playstation's VRAM, as well as including blocks of graphical data to load into VRAM. Most .pst files have some garbage data and a few unused textures left over from other levels, but all of the .pst files have the following unused graphics.

The error texture is present, but never normally appears.

The cut afterburner gauge is also packed in, as unused as ever.

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Key gauges and the energy bar for the status bar view are present, but the status bar itself is not.

FPS Display

Use the following code to display a FPS counter.

JP	US	EU
800BE674 01	800BF264 01	800BF980 01

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Text

descent.tex is the game's main text repository file, and can be found within DESCENT.HOG. Within it, there are several unused strings:

JP	US/EU
\nBeta v3.0 \nベータ版３．１	\nBeta v3.0
Seems to refer to an early version of the game.
View Demo デモ	View Demo
Refers to a mode from the DOS release of the game which is not present here.

Regional Differences

To do: More documentation.

Title Screen

JP	US/EU

The title screen in the Japanese version is slightly brighter compared to the American and European releases. Additionally, there's no copyright text in the main menu.

In-Game

Weapon Names

JP	JP Translation	US/EU
レーザー	Laser	Laser Cannon
クワトロレーザー	Quattro Laser	Quad Laser
バルカン砲	Vulcan Cannon	Vulcan Cannon
拡散砲	Spread Cannon	Spreadfire Cannon
プラズマ砲	Plasma Cannon	Plasma Cannon
核融合砲	Nuclear Fusion Cannon	Fusion Cannon

Sub Weapon Names

JP	JP Translation	US/EU
ショックミサイル	Shock Missile	Concussion Missile
追尾ミサイル	Homing Missile	Homing Missile
爆弾	Bomb	Proximity Bomb
拡散爆弾	Spread Bomb	Smart Missile
メガミサイル	Mega Missile	Mega Missile

Stage Names

The European release fixes a typo in the fifth Total Chaos stage's name.

US	EU
Bushwacker's Paradis	Bushwacker's Paradise