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Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

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Title Screen

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Also known as: Mario & Luigi RPG (JP)
Developer: AlphaDream
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Released in JP: November 21, 2003
Released in US: November 17, 2003
Released in EU: November 21, 2003
Released in AU: November 28, 2003


AreasIcon.png This game has unused areas.
CodeIcon.png This game has unused code.
DevTextIcon.png This game has hidden development-related text.
EnemyIcon.png This game has unused enemies.
GraphicsIcon.png This game has unused graphics.
ItemsIcon.png This game has unused items.
Sgf2-unusedicon1.png This game has unused abilities.
MusicIcon.png This game has unused music.
SoundIcon.png This game has unused sounds.
TextIcon.png This game has unused text.
DebugIcon.png This game has debugging material.
RegionIcon.png This game has regional differences.


ProtoIcon.png This game has a prototype article
PrereleaseIcon.png This game has a prerelease article
BugsIcon.png This game has a bugs page

Hmmm...
This page is loooong...
Consider grouping related content into additional subpages to ease readability.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is sort of a spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (a significant part of AlphaDream staff worked on that game prior, and Geno even gets a cameo here), with an excellent soundtrack and a massive amount of humor that would continue in later games in the series. It was later remade for the Nintendo 3DS in 2017 as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions.

Sub-Pages

Read about prototype versions of this game that have been released or dumped.
Prototype Info
Read about prerelease information and/or media for this game.
Prerelease Info
Read about notable bugs and errors in this game.
Bugs
TextIcon.png
Regional Differences
For versions of games released in such a short span of time, there sure are a lot of these.
NotesIcon.png
Kiosk Demo
A kiosk demo with significantly rearranged stats, maps and events? That's not something you see everyday.
MLSS-GoldenBill.png
Unused Graphics
Unused decorations, characters and golden Bullet Bill.
MLSS-Goomba-0.gif
Unused Enemies
Looks like we have a big ol' Goomba mess here.
ML-SS-Link-SpinAttack.gif
Unused Cameos
Multiple franchises in one game. Seriously.

Unused Music

The game has eight unused audio tracks, ranging from early versions of existing tracks to a few completely original ones. Additionally, there also exist two variants of the title theme from AlphaDream's previous game, Tomato Adventure, which formed the basis for Superstar Saga.

01
A jaunty little tune which starts off similar to Little Fungitown's music. Possibly an early version of said theme, seeing how both of them use an old-school Mario leitmotif. In the E3 2003 demo, this track was used in places where the intended music wasn't implemented yet. It can also be heard in an old trailer here, from around this same time.
02
A variant of the battle theme, which heavily resembles a MIDI-based track. Likely a very early version.
06
A rearranged version of the title screen from Tomato Adventure. It uses the Game Boy's pulse channels for lead and harmony, rather than using samples.
07
The second rearranged version of the Tomato Adventure title screen. It uses samples for the lead rather than the Game Boy's pulse channels, unlike the first variant, and it also doesn't loop.
2B
A rather ominous theme which sounds somewhat similar to the one used in Woohoo Hooniversity.
2D
A variant of the Teehee Valley theme without the lead, which is possibly an early version.
2E
A variant of the Beanbean Castle Town theme without the lead, which is possibly an early version.
2F
A variant of the File Select theme, which is possibly an early version.

Unused Sound Effects

F1
An unused variation of E. Gadd's voice babble sound effect.
EE
E. Gadd saying "Luigi". This was later used in Luigi's Mansion 3 in the ending sequence, albeit barely audible.
EF
E. Gadd saying "Mario".

Unused Items

Colored Bean Fruits

Mlss-Beanfruit.png

Bean Fruit sprites matching the colors of the seven hungry Yoshis. In the final game only the purple Bean Fruit is used. Corresponding item descriptions for these unused colored Bean Fruits also exist:

You got a Blue Bean Fruit!
You got a Red Bean Fruit!
You got a Green Bean Fruit!
You got a Yellow Bean Fruit!
You got a Purple Bean Fruit!
You got an Orange Bean Fruit!
You got an Azure Bean Fruit!
Item Name Description
Blue Bean Fruit A juicy blue bean grown in the ground.
Red Bean Fruit A juicy red bean grown in the ground.
Green Bean Fruit A juicy green bean grown in the ground.
Yellow Bean Fruit A juicy yellow bean grown in the ground.
Purple Bean Fruit A juicy purple bean grown in the ground.
Orange Bean Fruit A juicy orange bean grown in the ground.
Azure Bean Fruit A juicy azure bean grown in the ground.
(Source: TheMushroomKingdom.net)

Neon Beans

There also exist item descriptions for unused items called "Neon Beans" which appear to be early/alternate versions of the Bean Fruits, matching the colors used with those. It's possible the original intent was to have Neon Beans make the Yoshis lay Neon Eggs. No graphics or corresponding "You got (item name)" text exist for these.

Item Name Description
Neon Blue Bean A bean that shines with a bright blue light.
Neon Red Bean A bean that shines with a bright red light.
Neon Green Bean A bean that shines with a bright green light.
Neon Yellow Bean A bean that shines with a bright yellow light.
Neon Purple Bean A bean that shines with a bright purple light.
Neon Orange Bean A bean that shines with a bright orange light.
Neon Azure Bean A bean that shines with a bright azure light.
(Source: TheMushroomKingdom.net)

Equipment

The following equipment exists in the game, but you're unable to obtain any of it during the course of the game, despite the official player guide stating they could be dropped by enemies.

Item Name Description Bros. Def Effect
Chuckola Pants Pants made to look like Chuckola Fruit. Mario 45 60% Poison Dodge
Heavy Slacks Very heavy pants made of Hoohoo Blocks. Both 48 Heavy G
Light Slacks Very light and made of Parabeanie wings. Both 48 Light G
Jeanie Jeans Magic jeans that boost DEF in battle. Luigi 60 DEF-Up
Jeaniest Jeans The best-looking, best-fitting jeans. Luigi 74 -
Safe Guard An outfit that blocks status ailments. Both 78 60% Poison Dodge
Oho Gear Pants with a raging wave print. Both 28 -

Interestingly, the Oho Gear would go on to be obtainable in the Japanese localization of the game, as well as every version of the game's remake.

Miscellaneous

You got a Game & Watch!

The Game & Watch appears to have been a key item, since it can be found in the game's text right after the Beanlet and Beanstone. Either way, no other code related to this item exists in the game.

You got a Spiritual Bros.!

The purpose of this string and the item it refers to is unknown, aside from the name somewhat resembling one a badge would have. Once again, no other code related to this item exists in the game.


Unused Names

These enemy names are listed in the ROM, but never appear in-game due to various reasons:

Chompa

The position of this string in the files suggests that this is an early name for Mecha-Chomp enemy.

Sharkbone

The "real" name of the enemy known as ???? which appears in Gwarhar Lagoon. Technically the ???? enemy is composed of two distinct creatures: a skeletal shark and a Cheep Cheep with a shark fin, both with their unique stats and attack patterns, and the reason why the name is a series of question marks is because the Bros. have to anticipate which one of the two fish will attack them.

Seeing how they always hide in the sand, then it makes sense why the name would never appear in-game. Strangely enough the name "Sharkbone" did make an appearance in the enemy list of the official player guide, as well as actually being mentioned in the Easy mode hints of the game's remake.

Sand-Cheep

Only present in the German version is this string which overwrote the aforementioned "Sharkbone" line. This name actually refers to the shark-finned Cheep Cheep which can be found when encountering the ???? enemy, instead of the undead shark, but since this name also can't be seen due to similar issues it is unknown why it was changed at all.

Strangely enough this enemy is known as a "Puffer-Cheep" in the official player guide, while the enemy having this name in the final game is there referred to simply as a "Cheep-Cheep", therefore it's likely the two had their names mixed-up. The "actual" name would actually end up being mentioned in the Easy mode hints of the game's remake, albeit simply as "Sand Cheep", without the hyphen.

Left Pincer
Right Pincer

Unused alternate names for the "Left Claw" and "Right Claw" from the Hermie III battle, which ironically enough are more biologically accurate than the ones used in the final game.

(Source: TheMushroomKingdom.net)

Unused Enemy Scripts

Two enemy scripts can be found at 0828335C and 082833C8 in the US version. These two scripts are mostly alike, but the second one makes use of the arrow keys. When it is an enemy's turn, it'll wait for you to press a button before attacking, much like how they do in battle tutorials.

  • A button - Attack Mario with first ability.
  • B button - Attack Luigi with first ability.
  • L button - Attack Luigi with second ability.
  • R button - Attack Mario with second ability.
  • Left arrow key - Attack Luigi with third ability.
  • Right arrow key - Attack Mario with third ability.

Unused Rooms

Hmmm...
To do:
Add the rest of the unused rooms. 0004 (Seabed), 0005 (Test room), 0008 (links to 0005), 0009 (Bicycle Blocks), 000D (Cutscene Debug Room), 0016 (unused Starfields room), 01FF (Test room).

Debug Room

There is a somewhat buggy debug room hidden in the game, which can be accessed by using the code 02001E90:0001 (to bring Luigi along with you, put in 02001E9C:0001). To access the room you’ll have to start a new game, save and quit, turn on the code after the game resets, and then select your save file.

Room 1 Room 2
M&LSS-DebugRoom1.png M&LSS-DebugRoom2.png

You start in the left map with Mario alone. It's possible to leave through the northern part of the stage and immediately return with Luigi. Returning with Luigi alters the level somewhat, or perhaps takes you to a different room. It's possible to return to the first map (with Luigi still) by walking north on the "island" at the top-left of the stage.

Both rooms lack music, and have multiple copies of Popple which don't say anything despite having a "talk" icon appear when you're next to them. Touching the Beanie in the second map immediately begins a battle with a single Goomba, except the game crashes after pressing A when a message bubble appears reading "Press the A button here!". It’s also impossible to walk up hills in the first map (they act more like walls), but it’s possible to get stuck in the air and still able to walk around by jumping into objects from below. With Mario alone, pressing Start exits the room and attempts to take you back to where you saved your game, which essentially freezes the game.

If you use 02006E15:DB for Mario and 020071B1:DB for Luigi, you should be able to walk up the slopes in the buggy room. This just removes the 20 flag that causes the glitches. Alternately, if you are using the US version, put in 082FB0B3:6F for Mario and 082FB0C7:6F for Luigi (this is the Bros. data in the NPC section).

(Source: Cen)

Debug Menu

Hmmm...
To do:
List the rest for the first three options.

Mlss-warpdebug.png
Room 000D is a cutscene Debug Menu which looks very much like the Starbeans Cafe’s bean blend machine, except you are given four numbers without bean sprites above them. Future games have a similar debug menu. Many of these warps will affect your items, coins, and flags that are set/unset.

You can go up to 80, 40, 20, and 15 for each option respectively, but the ones at the end are usually glitched/don't work.

4th option:

  • 0 = Teehee Valley - Cutscene where Peach is captured at beginning.
  • 1 = Border Jump rewards screen (Stardust Fields).
  • 2 = Diamond Mines rewards screen (Hoohoo Mountain).
  • 3 = Chuckola Bounce rewards screen (Chucklehuck Woods - Winkle Colosseum).
  • 4 = The Barrel game reward screen (S.S. Chuckola).
  • 5 = The Barrel game reward screen (Fungitown).
  • 6 = The Star 'Stache Smash reward screen (Fungitown).
  • 7 = Beanbean Castle where the camera guy is at. You are also given 684 coins.
  • 8 = NE Beanbean, outside Teehee Valley (Ship area).
  • 9 = Teehee Valley.
  • 10 = Teehee Valley - down a yellow pipe.
  • 11 = You are in Beanbean Castletown outside Starbeans Cafe, with 99 of each type of bean.
  • 12-15 = Crash

Unused Room Objects

Perhaps once used as a sort of gatekeeper?
There's a Toad programmed out in Toadtown Square that can be programmed back in by memory editing. You can walk right under him, and he has no conversation or movement data. It’s possible at one point of development this Toad would have prevented you from accessing the next room without a certain requirement being met.

Better safe than sorry?
In the room on the Koopa Cruiser where you battle Goombas is a disabled Save Block which can be programmed back in by memory editing. This Save Block is fully functional and saves the game like it is supposed to, though the game displays glitched text for the area in which it displays where you saved at.

(Source: Teawater of Yoshi's Lighthouse)

Unused Loading Zones

Hmmm...
To do:
A more complete list can be found here.

A few rooms have a dummy loading zone in the top left corner of the screen, at position 0, some of which will lead to nearby rooms while others will lead to room 0 (the debug room in the English version and the opening cutscene in the Japanese version).

Room Leads to Room
51 (Starbeans Café) 41 (Beanbean Castle Town East, intact)
197 (Sea bed, yellow pipe to mainland) 0 (Debug / Opening Cutscene)
101 (Stardust Fields, Highjump/Spinjump Tutorial) 0 (Debug / Opening Cutscene)

Bros Attack Placeholders

MLSS TempBrosAttack.png

There are placeholder Bros Attack entries which can be turned on by setting the appropriate flags. They all have the in-battle description Temp (short for Temporary), and when used they deplete the brother's BP and the turn ends immediately with nothing happening.

Attack Name "Have it" flag "Know Advanced version" flag
Jump 3 0200485F (5th bit) 02004861 (7th bit)
Hammer 2 02004860 (2nd bit) 02004862 (4th bit)
Hammer 3 02004860 (3rd bit) 02004862 (5th bit)
Fire 2 02004860 (8th bit) 02004863 (2nd bit)
Fire 3 02004861 (1st bit) 02004863 (3rd bit)
Jump 2 0200489B (4th bit) 0200489D (6th bit)
Jump 3 0200489B (5th bit) 0200489D (7th bit)
Hammer 3 0200489C (3rd bit) 0200489E (5th bit)
Thunder 2 0200489C (8th bit) 0200489F (2nd bit)
Thunder 3 0200489D (1st bit) 0200489F (3rd bit)

Development Text

Build Dates

The following build dates are found in the ROM at 0x5202A4 in the US version, 0x521C74 in the European version, 0x4119A0 in the Japanese version and 0x33bb6c in the Not For Resale Demo.

Version Build Date
E3 2003 demo
May  3 2003 15:56:48
North American
Oct  4 2003 06:21:36
European
Oct  4 2003 06:25:50
Japanese
Oct 16 2003 18:10:12
North American Kiosk Demo
Oct 27 2003 18:22:53
Chinese (Unreleased)
Feb  7 2007 15:06:03

Gsys Labels

There seems to be a bank of pointers to gsys labels (located at 0839ECC4 in the US version, 083A0504 in EU, and 08388B34 in JP) which were probably used as On/Off for Mario and Luigi. Not much is known about these, and while they are assumed to at once point have been used as a debug menu the assembly codes which used this data were deleted before the game’s release.

Some of these gsys labels have "kusu" in them, which comes from “Kusu Island”, the Japanese name for Oho Oasis. Moreover the hand powers are named "solar" and "moon", apparently in reference to the Fire and Thunder Gods who teach the moves (their heads are shaped like the Sun and Moon respectively). One of the gsys has "Kuppa" in them, which is the Japanese name for Bowser.

These labels seem to be related to the flags located at 02004338, and it's unfortunate that labels weren't found for the rest of them.

gsys_undefined_0200
gsys_hi_jump
gsys_spin_jump
gsys_solo_hamm
gsys_solo_hamm2
gsys_solo_hamm3
gsys_mario_hamm2
gsys_luigi_hamm2
gsys_solo_kusu_solar
gsys_solo_kusu_moon
gsys_mario_kusu2
gsys_luigi_kusu2
gsys_undefined_020C
gsys_undefined_020D
gsys_undefined_020E
gsys_undefined_020F
gsys_undefined_0210
gsys_undefined_0211
gsys_undefined_0212
gsys_undefined_0213
gsys_undefined_0214
gsys_undefined_0215
gsys_undefined_0216
gsys_undefined_0217
gsys_undefined_0218
gsys_undefined_0219
gsys_undefined_021A
gsys_undefined_021B
gsys_undefined_021C
gsys_undefined_021D
gsys_undefined_021E
gsys_undefined_021F
gsys_menu_badge
gsys_menu_item
gsys_menu_card
gsys_menu_bros
gsys_menu
gsys_menu_map
gsys_menu_map_kuppa
gsys_menu_twin
gsys_shop_sale1
gsys_shop_sale2
gsys_shop_sale3
gsys_shop_sale4
gsys_shop_sale5
gsys_undefined_022D
gsys_undefined_022E
gsys_undefined_022F
gsys_btl_defham
gsys_btl_defham2
gsys_btl_twin
gsys_btl_item
gsys_btl_run
gsys_btl_solo_hamm2
gsys_btl_solo_hamm3
gsys_shop_new_cti
gsys_shop_new_cte
gsys_shop_new_lki
gsys_undefined_023B
gsys_undefined_023C
gsys_undefined_023D
gsys_undefined_023E
gsys_undefined_023F

Battle Backgrounds

In battle, you only ever see 240×160 of each background, but it turns out they are all actually 512×256, even the one exclusive to the demo version. Only very few battles make use of any kind of scrolling, such as the battle against Trunkle or the one against Cackletta’s Soul, so it’s likely scrolling was originally intended to happen in all battles, as is the case in Bowser's Inside Story.

Oddities

Incorrect Action Icons

M&LSS Bowletta Hammer Icons.png

When Bowletta uses her fireball attack the Jump icons appear as they must be, but strangely enough when the attack is finished the Hammer icons appear for a split second.

Incorrect Sound Effects

Throughout the game there are many situations where the wrong sound effect is played:

  • When Gigi demonstrates the advanced Firebrand technique, and also in Mario's "surprise" to Gigi (when Mario is sitting in the chair), the Thunderhand sound is played instead.
  • If Luigi gets filled up with water by the garden hose that is northeast of the Teehee Valley entrance, instead of Luigi making his normal sound effect when he empties himself of water, the sound of an Oho Jee speaking will play instead.
  • If Mario and Luigi High Jump or Spin Jump into the flaming rock southwest of Hoohoo Village, they will yell, but if they simply walk or jump normally into it, they will perform the same motions but not make any sound. Also, if Mario is filled with water and walks into it, he laughs but Luigi doesn't.
  • After Luigi begins pulling on one of the Piranha Plants on the runway and Mario begins explaining something to Lady Lima, the gibberish talk Mario makes is actually Luigi's voice, not his.