Intelligent Qube

Intelligent Qube
Also known as: I.Q.: Intelligent Qube (JP), Kurushi (EU) Developers: G-Artists, Sugar & Rockets Publishers: SCEI (JP), SCEA (US), SCEE (EU) Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: January 31, 1997 Released in US: September 30, 1997 Released in EU: October 15, 1997 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

In Intelligent Qube, you must ensnare squares with perfect flair. That'll show those aliens that Earth's not stupid. Seriously, that's the "plot". Unless you're European, where it all just happens for no reason.

Debug Features

I.Q. contains a reasonably sized but half-working debug mode. It comes in two parts which would have been activated by holding Down + Triangle + R1 + L2 then pressing other buttons. Unfortunately, one of the control variables of the mode is permanently set to 0 so no amount of controller gymnastics will now activate them.

Menu

Holding those buttons then somehow pressing Start + L1 would have given access to a menu. In order to enable it in a much easier manner, use the following GameShark codes and hold L1 while in a stage. Don't do it while a demo is playing or you'll be unable to exit the menu.

JP - SCPS-10029	US - SCUS-94181	EU - SCES-00866
D0076F28 0004 30076EE8 0005	D006C80C 0004 3006C7F8 0005	D006D68C 0004 3006D678 0005

What you get is this:

Each option leads to a submenu if you press Circle. Pressing X goes back or cancels the menu.

Stage Selection

Stage – Selects which stage to start the game from. 0 = 1st Stage, 8 = Final. This setting only affects new games started from the main menu. The game will progress normally until that happens. Section – Which wave of the previously selected stage to start on. Sound – The music to play on the stage.

Player

Speed1 – Affects how fast the 1P character moves. Higher means faster. Speed2 – Same as above but for the 2P character. Persons – Unknown/Disabled. SE Test – Press Circle to hear the game's sound effects. XA Test – Press Circle for music and tutorial speech. The second number is the duration, units unknown.

Blocks

Group – Which puzzle will be the next to hurtle towards you. Changing the number doesn't change the current pattern, only the next. Setting it to 200 restores the normal random sequence. Speed – How quickly your mettle is tested. Higher numbers make the puzzles move slower. Wait – Length of the pause between each cube roll. Higher means longer. Tex-1 – Texture used for the standard cubes / play area. Tex-2 – Texture used for the advantage / green cubes. Tex-3 – Texture for the forbidden / black cubes.

Note that the texture options only change the pattern, not the palette.

Stage Size

X Size – Width of the play area. Y Size – The height of the play area. Z Size – How many rows are on the play area. This maxes at 40 but achieving perfects will break this limit.

Camera

Prjction – The zoominess of the camera. Higher numbers mean further away. Type – Which base view to use. Cameras 0-2 are the standard selectable ones. Camera 3 is the standard camera inverted (swings to the left when you run right and vice versa). Camera 4 is a standard third-person view, reminiscent of the cover and insert artwork. Camera 5 is a more zoomed out version of Camera 3.

Debug

Sync – Prints three ever changing variables on the middle left of the screen. Packet – Prints a PAC and TPAC variable below Sync. Pac is related to character animation but TPAC is unknown. Clear – Unknown / Disabled. Frame – Unknown / Disabled. Window – Unknown / Disabled. Time – Set to 0 to stop everything. When 0, the game clock only advances when you press the D-Pad or a button. Holding Triangle will advance the characters animation cycle without any other effects.

Turbo Mode

The key combination mentioned above would have also activated another feature if you'd have pressed Select instead of Start and L1, that being a turbo mode. If you thought the game's level 4 setting was fast, this is another thing entirely.

Another GameShark code is needed to allow this to be turned on. Press Select to enable:

JP	US	EU
30076BC8 0001	3006C6E5 0001	3006D561 0001

Note that this disables the attract demos, even though they operate fine under it.

Unused Images

Early/Alternative Title Screen

The (/IQ)/CG/ETC/TitleIQ.15B is a raw 15bpp bitmap of a static title screen. The name of the game is given as Intelligence Quotient, the term people would expect IQ to refer to.

Characters

Large images of the selectable characters can be found in /CG/Player/PSet.4b. The Player text and the larger IQ logo are used in two player mode, but the character art goes unseen as character selection in the game is handled by rendering the 3D models rather than by static image. The game only features three selectable characters however, meaning the palette swapped version of Eliot on the far right doesn't exist in the game at all. The 'enable everything' GameShark code allows the character select cursor to go down beyond Spike, the third character, but doing so crashes the game.

Misc

/CG/ETC/Kana20.4b contains basic unused images of what looks like a memory card or the top half of a Pocketstation (the Japanese version of the second game was Pocketstation enabled), as well as a speedometer and a needle.

/CG/ETC/Hankaku.4b on the other hand contains some handwritten Japanese. This reads "かんじ予約", or "Reserved for Kanji".

Earlier Puzzle Set

Each region contains identical puzzle data, but the Japanese disc has an earlier file with puzzle data at /Enemy/Group.Dat. It's almost twice as large as the final versions but while this "new" data consists of valid puzzles, it is mostly zero bytes. This results in many standard-block-only puzzles. Some of the existing puzzles have been changed between this early file and the final, but due to the random nature of puzzle selection it's hard to pinpoint exactly which.

IQ Algorithm

The method of deriving the IQ score isn't divulged by the game. The number when you either finish the game or die is actually the sum of various percentages applied to points gained throughout the stages. Note that the percentage for a stage isn't applied to your total score, just the points attained on that stage - the game tracks this separately.

The percentages are:

• Stage 1 – 0.06%
• Stage 2 – 0.055%
• Stage 3 – 0.05%
• Stage 4 – 0.045%
• Stage 5 – 0.04%
• Stage 6 – 0.035%
• Stage 7 – 0.03%
• Stage 8 – 0.025%
• Final – 0.02%

(Source: What Makes A Genius: Intelligent Qube's IQ Algorithm)

Regional Differences

I.Q.	Kurushi

Obviously with different names come different title screens. The name change also results in the opening title FMV being omitted from the European version, rather than recreating it to accommodate the new name.

The Stage Bonus calculation after clearing a stage can be skipped in the Japanese version by pressing Square or Circle. In the US & PAL versions, only Circle works.

Japan	US	Europe

The options on the pause screen do the same thing in each version but have different labels. Selecting the options in the Japanese version does not require confirmation afterwards, others do.

Japan	US/Europe

The main menu options are singular in the Japanese version. Also, the Controller menu option is known as Key Config.

The US and European versions print out memory-related information to any attached debuggers throughout the gameplay. The Japanese version instead only prints info regarding screen state changes and play area resizing.

The credit sequence is also different between the Japanese and other versions. The Japanese version has the player character running down a cubed floor emblazoned with the credits while spotlights swing around. The others meanwhile have boring-by-comparison vertical scrolling white text on a black background.

Japan	US/Europe