Gunstar Super Heroes

Gunstar Super Heroes
Also known as: Gunstar Future Heroes (EU) Developer: Treasure Publisher: Sega Platform: Game Boy Advance Released in JP: October 6, 2005 Released in US: October 25, 2005 Released in EU: November 4, 2005 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences.

Gunstar Super Heroes is a sequel/remake of the Genesis original.

Debug Menu

Two unused debug menus remain in the ROM: one for playing sound effects & BGM, and another for viewing cutscenes.

Viewing them can be done by patching 0x01720008 to offset 0x00593888 in the ROM, replacing the default main menu.

Pressing L & R during the demo test selects the character & their difficulty.

Pressing L & R during the sound test pans the speakers from left to right. B stops all sounds playing and resets the panning.

Unused Music

Several unused music tracks exist in the ROM. The game was originally supposed to feature numerous references to classic Sega games, but unfortunately, they were axed very late in development. All of these songs were based on their Genesis/Mega Drive versions.

Track Name	Audio	Notes
Alone Fighter		One of two tracks from Galaxy Force II. Since there are two space segments, the Galaxy Force tracks were likely supposed to have been used there. This song appears first in the ROM.
Burning Point		From Super Thunder Blade. This probably would've played during the first portion of Moon 2, since it plays like Thunder Blade.
Final Take Off		From After Burner II. This is one of the tracks that was actually heard in a pre-release trailer, in the first section of Moon 1. Numerous noted references to "AFTER BURNER" further cement this.
Altered Beast		From...Altered Beast. Starts with the opening from "Rise From Your Grave". Likely would have been part of Black's Dice Maze along with a matching boss.
ESWAT Boss		From ESWAT: City Under Siege. May have been used during the boss rush before the final boss, as it seems to fit the mood there.
Wilderness		From Golden Axe. Unknown where it would play, since there don't seem to be any Golden Axe references.
Beyond The Galaxy		The second of the two Galaxy Force II tracks. This one appears to be early and unpolished: it has a false start, stopping after a few seconds, and loops after the first main section.

Unused Graphics

To do: Get correct colors and better rips for some of these.

The protagonist from ESWAT, which possibly fought against the player in one of the areas of Black's Dice Maze. (Colors are incorrect.)

Unfinished graphics of one of the monsters seen in Altered Beast. Apparently, it was supposed to be one of the bosses in Black's Dice Maze. (Colors are incorrect.)

"Teddyman". (Colors are incorrect.)

Numerous unused attack frames for Golden Silver, which clearly show that the final boss was supposed to be able to use melee attacks against the player.

Kicking animation for what appears to be an early version of Red. (Colors are incorrect.)

Unused rolling sprites for Red. (Colors are incorrect.)

Early artwork for female Red. (Colors are incorrect.)

Early artwork for Blue, using a very different character design. (Colors are incorrect.)

Early artwork for Yellow, also using a very different character design, which appears to depict her piloting...something. (Colors are incorrect.)

Unused portraits of Yellow and Green.

Some unused tiles and names for areas of Black's Dice Maze.

The full font used for the debug menus, which includes an unseen logo for something called "kein soft dec."

Unused tiles, likely debugging-related.

Regional Differences

Between the Japanese and American versions, most of the differences were merely aesthetic.

• Many voice samples (including just about all of Red's) were changed.
• A lot of the Engrish was cleared up, though at least one throwback to the original game was lost in the fix.
• One of the last bosses of Black's board had the save file delete threat removed.
• Certain background details were erased or altered, including the electronic Japanese writing on one of Earth's buildings.

The European Gunstar Future Heroes had further changes, such as multiple languages (including Japanese, which still refers to the group as Gunstar Super Heroes) and changing Earth's menu symbol to that of a rotating "goddess" (Mother Earth?) similar to that seen decorated in the 3YE headquarters. To simplify the language select option, the level names were entirely removed.