Kero Blaster/Unused NPCs

This is a sub-page of Kero Blaster.

To do: I may have missed one script NPC: JetCharge. Is it anything notable?

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

Note: some NPCs do not have sprites in the final game's data. If available, graphics from Pink Hour or Pink Heaven that match up with an entity's animations will be used. Otherwise, a mockup spritesheet showing the NPC's sprite map will be displayed.

Functional NPCs

(009) Test

A floating Hero sprite that, as the name implies, was likely used for testing. One was used in v1.4's 04port room as an event trigger.

(020) Big Press

Sprite Map

A large, solid block. If the player walks under it, it will slam into the ground, killing the player instantly if they happen to be underneath it. Strangely, it doesn't appear to recognize the player in taller maps.

(032) Ladder Box

Sprite Map (fuFixNPC.png)

HP: 6

A 12x12-pixel square that flashes between two frames, and can be shot and destroyed. When it is destroyed, it makes a shutter noise for a brief period. That's about it.

(034) Combo Cue

HP: 12

Just like LadderBox, it's a 12x12 object that can switches between two frames, can be destroyed, and otherwise does nothing. However, this NPC is different in that it has a solid hitbox (the player can stand on it) and it has graphics still in the game. The first design is a red eye similar to the Deletes from Cave Story, and the other is... a box with a ladder on it. Maybe that's why the Ladder Box was scrapped.

(038) Heart

A standalone NPC for the health-restoring hearts that drop from enemies, except this one floats in the air and doesn't despawn. It functions exactly like you would expect it to, restoring the player's health when collected.

(048) HiddenChest

Sprite Map (fuFixNPC.png)

HP: 18

In pre-release versions, there were invisible chests that could be uncovered by shooting their location, with this NPC likely being a remnant of that feature. The functionality of this NPC in the release version is slightly broken, however: it does not spawn a chest when its HP is depleted. A possible explanation for this is that the name of the chest object in the final version is "Chest2", implying that it is not the original chest NPC; the hidden chest could be trying and failing to turn into the now nonexistent original chest.

(050) Rouge

Sprite Map

HP: 32

A stationary enemy that fires a volley of bouncing projectiles at the player. A tweet by Pixel revealed that this enemy was a big-lipped plant with an eyeball in its mouth, and its projectiles seem to be seeds/poison bubbles. This enemy was overwritten with the Mini Trunk object when Zangyou mode was added.

(060) Barbwire

Sprite Map

A trap that tries to shock the player if they go in between its two rods. The distance between the poles depends on the Param2 of the NPC.

(061) Domino

An invisible object that immediately runs its event when its flag is set. Likely scrapped because a similar effect can be achieved by... the level script itself.

(062) Explain

Another invisible object. This one runs its event when touched, unless its flag is set. Somehow this NPC is even more redundant than Domino, as the standard event trigger NPC does everything this NPC can and more.

(076) Tokobushi

HP: 12

This little guy's sprites can be found in fu16.png in version 1.0.6.3. The player can touch it and even ride on it without being hurt. However, if the player shoots it while standing in front of it, it will shoot out spikes from its face as it cowers on the ground for a bit. This enemy can be seen in an early screenshot of Stage 6, which is likely where it would've appeared.

Although this enemy isn't used, an invincible gray variation, known in the unit type list as "Metalbushi", is still used plentifully in the final game.

(082) RouteArrow

1.0.6.3 - 1.0.7.2	1.4 -

Animated floating arrows. They don't seem to do anything else. Due to sharing its color with that of the Kurono-themed enemies' eyes, this NPC's sprites were inadvertently changed to a teal color starting in version 1.4.

(083) GrayEnemy

Sprite Map

HP: 64

An enemy that stands still until it notices the player, when it will jump from its spawn point and back, away from the player if possible. When it gets low enough on health, it will try to jump towards the player. It was overwritten with the blue fly enemy in version 1.4.0.0.

(090) Goldrush

Sprite Map

HP: 48

An enemy that glances both ways until, upon spotting the player, it will jump away from the player and sprint, occasionally stopping to jump again. When the player is far enough away, it will become idle again. Judging by this behaviour and its name, this enemy may have been a Metal Slime-type enemy, being quick to run away but dropping a lot of money when defeated. This NPC doesn't appear when spawned in later versions.

(095) Quaker

An invisible object that shakes the ground if its flag is set. When "show info" is toggled in the debug menu, it appears as a blue "Q".

(096) Flag Mine

An invisible object that tracks the player's movement and sets its flag when the player touches it. When its flag is set, it will automatically delete itself. Would have been a simple way of closing shutters, or starting earthquakes when used in combination with the Quaker.

(098) Saucer

To do: Remove the "alternate direction" sprites from the tilemap & screenshot; looking back now, this NPC clearly wasn't intended to have the alternate direction bit set.

Sprite Map

A UFO belonging to the original antagonist, as seen in pre-release footage, besides the fact that its original sprites are nowhere to be found in the files. It does not harm the player, though strangely it still blocks bullets with its hitbox. While it doesn't appear to do anything at first glance, it actually has animations that can be triggered with the <swtN script command.

• State 2 makes it fire a tractor beam for a few seconds, then fly away towards the top right of the map. This was exactly the animation used in the prologue pre-development reset.
• State 3 causes it to take off directly upwards.

(105) Bacteria

HP: 10 (large), 4 (small)

A scrapped enemy that was later recycled into "Dark Ameba", a similar enemy that appears in Stage 7 of Zangyou mode. Graphics can be found at fuPudding.png in version 1.0.6.3, as well as PiHsora2.png in Pink Heaven. This enemy appears on an early Gero Blaster slide depicting Stage 6, suggesting that is where it was planned to appear.

When hurt, it changes colors and tries to charge at the player. After being defeated, it splits into tinier bacteria that also attack the player when hurt. When Param2 is set, it will spawn as a big bacteria with the behavior of its smaller variation, meaning it won't split when defeated.

(107) Roof Worm

HP: 20 (original)/8 (Pink Heaven onwards)

A worm enemy that spawns hanging from the ceiling. When the player shoots it, it falls to the ground and starts crawling around. When spawned with its Param2 set to 1, it will spawn already grounded. When defeated, the resulting explosion fires lightning bolts in three different directions.

Its graphics can be found in Pink Heaven, where it was eventually re-used, albeit with lower HP. However, all Roof Worms in Pink Heaven spawn already grounded, leaving the ceiling hanging state (ironically, the namesake of the Roof Worm) still unused.

(108) Big Worm

HP: 96 (original)/64 (Pink Heaven onwards)

A larger variation of the Roof Worm that was planned to appear as a mini-boss in Stage 8, before the game's plot changed. It spawns standing still, only moving once the player shoots it, where it will launch itself and flail in the air. Getting hit by this attack will deal 2 damage to the player, a trait that no enemies found in the final game have.

After it calms down and starts moving, the first causes it to either speed up or fire a lightning bolt in the player's direction, while the second shot makes it leap into the air again. Its original graphics cannot be found in the final game, but can be seen in the files of version 1.0.7.3 of Pink Hour.

This NPC was later reintroduced as a mini-boss in Pink Heaven, with changes including revamped graphics, lowered HP, and it being invincible while standing still, needing to be triggered with a script command in order to properly engage. These changes would carry over to version 1.4.

(110) Zombie

Sprite Map

HP: 48

An enemy that is normally passive, but goes on a rampage for a brief period when shot. For whatever reason, its angry sprites are clipped slightly into the ground. When its Param2 is set to 1, it will stand still using a unique sprite instead of walking around. It can be defeated by depleting its HP or by simply touching it while it's not angry. When defeated, it sets its flag and turns into a Silhouette. If its flag is set when the map loads, it will spawn already transformed into a Silhouette. Strangely, when its alternate direction bit is set, it deals 2 damage when angry.

(111) Leather

Sprite Map

HP: 120

What appears to be a mini-boss variation of the Zombie. It doesn't move until the player hurts it or switches its state to 1. Like the Zombie, it can be killed by touching it before it is angered, and when killed it sets its flag and permanently turns into a Silhouette. In battle, it jumps back and forth, occasionally jumping forward while throwing projectiles at the player that deal 2 damage.

(114) Stone Gate

Sprite Map

The gate that the bosses guarded in pre-development reset builds. When the player touches it while its flag is set, it will lift itself up until it hits a ceiling. It also has a few unique animations:

• In state 1, an invisible sparkling key will come down from above and unlock the gate, setting its flag.
• In state 2, it is forced to stay closed even if it is unlocked.
• State 3 opens the door.
• In state 4, an invisible key comes out of Kaeru towards the door, unlocking it and setting its flag.

(126) The Bar

Sprite Map (Foreground)

A tall, solid moving girder that bobs up and down, intended to appear in Stage 6 according to a pre-release screenshot. The speed it travels at and the distance it goes depend on the Param2: 0 is slowest, 1 is medium speed, and 2 is the fastest.

(128) EarthFly

Sprite Map

HP: 3

An enemy that continuously moves at an angle dependent on Param2 until it hits a wall, similar to the once-unused Spin enemy in the final game.

(129) Walking Moss

Sprite Map

HP: 2

A rather basic enemy that travels along solid surfaces, including walls and ceilings. When its Param2 is set to 1, it will move slower. A group of this enemy can be seen in a pre-release screenshot of Stage 4.

(130) Mob Stand

Sprite Map

HP: 2

An enemy that simply stands idle, only dealing damage if the player touches it from the side. According to its unit type image, it was an alien enemy with stereotypical tribal markings on its cheeks. The only other interesting thing to note about it is that occasionally, when it is defeated, it will play the item drop sound without dropping anything. A remnant of a scrapped item, perhaps?

(133) Katanakaji

Sprite Map (fuFixNPC.png)

An NPC that turns to face the player. In later versions, interacting with it will make the game attempt to run the event "ArmsShop", whereas the shop script used in-game is labelled "Kajiya". According to its unit type list image, it was a discolored version of Mizutani. In the final game, both variants of Mizutani are the same NPC, just with a different Param2.

(143) New Arms

An alternate design for weapon pickups. Instead of bouncing on the ground, it floats softly up and down in the air. Notably, its sprite map fits perfectly with item.png, which the first and second stages' goal areas still have set as the NPC spritesheet in the final game.

(149) Booster

Sprite Map (fuFixChar.png)

A strange object that boosts the player vertically if they already have upward momentum, using similar physics to when the player jumps out of water.

(172) Kankisen 2

Sprite Map (Background)

A variant of the decorative fan object with no animations. Likely scrapped for being redundant.

(179) Call Glider Bird (Fire)

An object that spawns orange bird enemies at the edge of the screen. However, the orange bird enemies are in an incredibly primitive state, having no movement or even a hitbox, despite their graphics being present in multiple tilesets.

(200) Walking Box

HP: 100

A scrapped, cardboard-covered variant of the Walking Black enemy that was reskinned to match the aesthetics of the new Zangyou enemies. When it is defeated, instead of fading away it explodes. Its graphics location just so happens to line up with the easier Pink Hour variation's graphics, hence its appearing that way in-game.

(218) Oshima

Sprite Map

An NPC depicting Ooshima standing up and walking around; in the final game, he remains at his desk, except during his boss fight. More interestingly, he has animations for speaking with a comic balloon similar to that of Nanao, suggesting that he wasn't even originally going to talk. His animations are as follows:

• State 1: Talking
• State 2: Talking with alternate head
• State 3: Quick animation with head, possibly him shaking his head
• State 4: Alternate head
• State 8: Walking
• State 12: Talking with standard head, alternate body
• State 14: Alternate body

Not-Quite-Unused NPCs

Some NPCs are used, just not in their original intended context.

(084) Spin

Early	Used

HP: 12

While this enemy is technically used in Zangyou mode, as the orange spinning blade enemy, it existed unused before then, using different sprites. While the early graphics can no longer be found in the final version, they do exist in Pink Heaven at PiHsora2.png, but by that point the place where it pulled its graphics from was already changed.

(109) Silhouette

Sprite Map

A passive NPC that wanders back and forth. Setting it to state 1 will make it do a pose, which it also does after being transformed from a Zombie. This NPC can be found in a few glitch areas in Omake mode.

(229) Hinotama

An NPC that floats in random directions. When shot, it will disappear temporarily, then fade back in. Its graphics can be found in both enemy spritesheets used in Destination, suggesting that is where is was planned to appear. Two of this NPC can be found at the beginning of the White Laboratories glitch area.

Non-Functional NPCs

To do: Check if any of these entities are actually used internally. "Comic balloon" seems to fit with Nanao's animations in the final game, and "Fall Light" could refer to the tractor beam used by the unused UFO NPC.

These unused NPCs don't seem to do anything, but still have names in the unit type list.

• (050) comic balloon
• (158) Fall Light
• (217) Position

Unused Script NPCs

Some NPCs have no defined ID and are only accessed using the <chgN command in a pxeve script, such as most of the bosses. Despite how comparatively few of them there are in the game, there are still a good chunk that remain unused. For each entity listed, there will be a string that can be used in a .pxeve file to turn an NPC labelled "Test" into that entity.

HeavyProc

<chgN[Test;HeavyProc]<exit

A strange object that spawns 102 small flies that home on the player, each with one health point. How do we know they're flies? Because their graphics were found in Pink Hour v1.0.7.3. According to Pixel, this entity was created to test the game's performance, hence the name "HeavyProc", which is shortened from "Heavy Processing".

(Source: Studio Pixel on Twitter)

Elevator06

Sprite Map

<chgN[Test;Elevator06]<exit

A 32-by-16-pixel solid block. When the player stands on it near the middle, it will stop animating. This may have been an early concept for the elevators in the Train Station, being cut in favor of more realistic elevator doors.

bbl1UP

<chgN[Test;bbl1UP]<exit

Spawns a 1UP as though it were dropped by an enemy.

zaDoor

Sprite Map (Foreground)

<chgN[Test;zaDoor]<exit

A scrapped rectangular NPC, which slides forward a short distance when its state is switched to 1. Probably a shoji, given its name, behavior, and the setting of Destination in Zangyou mode.

WoodBarri19

Sprite Map (Middleground)

<chgN[Test;WoodBarri19]<exit

A decoration that was meant to be placed in Destination, but seemingly scrapped at the last minute, as it is still mentioned in the latest flags.txt as being placed in the now-nonexistent map "19keepout". The name "WoodBarri19" is shortened from "Wood Barrier".

testCircle

As the name implies, it is an object with a perfectly round, solid hitbox. Its graphics can be found in mptTest.png, and are technically used in a single room in Omake mode, but this NPC is not.

BossScr2

Sprite Map

HP: 510 (original)/6 (v1.4 onwards)

<chgN[Test;BossScr2]

A flying saucer boss from before development reset, which, according to this tweet, was originally planned to be the main boss of Stage 6. Judging by the pictures in the tweet, it appears to be the same kind of UFO as the one responsible for capturing Ame in the original plot. Little wonder why it was scrapped!

In order to be properly interacted with, it must be initialized by going through states 1 and 2, in that order. This can be done by running the below script:

<swtN[Test;1]<dely[1]<swtN[Test;2]<exit

The boss follows a strict pattern:

• First, it will follow the player as it rapidly drops projectiles, which can be destroyed by using the Fire weapon.
• After a while, it will repeatedly slam into the ground, firing three more projectiles every time it jumps. Getting hit by this attack deals two damage, but unfortunately the boss's hitbox does not extend very far into its lower half, so if the terrain is flat it tends to bounce off the ground before it can hit the player.
• Third, it goes to a certain spot and drops what were originally wireframe alien enemies in random directions, which each have 12 HP. Then the cycle repeats.

The only place to hit the boss is the core that it uses to shoot. When defeated, it will drift downwards while exploding indefinitely, until the player decides to leave the room or quit to the title screen.

After 1.4.0.0

Interestingly, BossScr2 received many changes when Zangyou mode was added. Pixel was planning to use this NPC as a boss in Omake mode, which would explain these differences:

• The boss is invisible until its state is switched.
• The boss's pattern is slightly different. It will only enter its chasing attack the first time; every other time after the bouncing projectiles attack it will skip straight to the slamming phase.
  • Possibly as a consequence of this, whenever it fires projectiles after the first chasing attack, the cannon's shutters do not open. Fortunately, the core itself still pops out without a hitch.
• Once it is defeated, it will actually crash into the ground and explode. This code was likely copied from the UFO boss from Pink Heaven, which has a similar death animation.
• Most drastically of all, the boss now has a paltry 6 HP.

Pink Hour & Pink Heaven Leftovers

Every NPC exclusive to Pink Hour and Pink Heaven exists in Kero Blaster unused. These include:

• PinkHourLogo - The logo for Pink Hour and Pink Heaven, obviously.
• txtStart - The "START" text on the Pink demos' title screens.
• txtContinue - The text that says "CONTINUE".
• phAdam - The UFO boss from Pink Heaven.
• phRom - The Famicom cartridges used in the Kero Blaster advertisement in Pink Hour.
• phPinkFall - Comomo falling in the bad ending of Pink Heaven.
• phUmbreFall - Comomo and Tsubasa drifting downwards with an umbrella in the good ending of Pink Heaven.
• phSmallUFO - Adam flying in the background in the Pink Heaven credits.
• phAdam_weed - The weeds in Adam's boss room that change back after you beat him.
• phTsubasa - The NPC used for Tsubasa in Pink Heaven. All of his graphics remain in Kero Blaster.
• phZubo - The "FWIP!" when Comomo falls through the clouds in the ending of Pink Heaven.
• phRubi - The Japanese subtitle used beneath the Pink Hour and Pink Heaven logos.