Proto:Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones/Debugging Functions

This is a sub-page of Proto:Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

This prototype has a fairly extensive set of debug features.

Boot-Up Menu

Upon starting the game, it immediately goes to this boot-up menu without much fanfare. The commands available are:

• リリースエントリ (Release Entry) - This starts the game normally; and begins by showing the game's introductory sequence (which, as of this revision, is unchanged from Fire Emblem).
• どこでも再開 (Continue Chapter) - Restart the game from the currently saved file.
• 手再開 (Manual Continue) - Restart the game from a suspend. This is notable as suspend files can be at any point in a chapter instead of just the start of the chapter.
• ファイル初期化 (Initialize File) - Anna appears to ask the player if they want to delete all the save data. Regardless of the player selecting yes or no, the game experiences graphical glitches and save data is not actually deleted.
• ワールドマップ (World Map) - Starts the game from the World Map, normally all battles are skipped. If the game is saved, reset, and resumed chapters and skirmishes begin to occur normally instead of being skipped.
• The last unlabeled row is a map select. Press Left or Right on the D-Pad to navigate the list, press A to select a chapter. Hold the R shoulder button while selecting certain chapters to load that chapter in Irzark/Ephraim mode instead of Eirika mode. The only real effect this has is changing who has access to the convoy (unit storage).

The L Button

Yes, the L button is awesome enough to have its own section.

The L shoulder button allows access to one of the more interesting and most versatile debug functions. These functions vary on where it is used.

In a unit's stat screens, it can be used to modify just about any variable a character can have. To change a stat, press L, and a little hand will appear, probably pointing at the Str or Mag stat to start. Place the hand over what you want to change by using any direction on the D-Pad. Once on the desired stat to change, hold A then press Left or Right on the D-Pad to decrease or increase that stat.

If the L button is used like this on the character's inventory, every item and weapon in the game is accessible. In this instance pressing Left and Right while holding A scrolls through the entire game's items in their internal order.

If used on the status screen during a chapter, the player can give themselves a large amount of money or set the chapter's turn count.

Debug Map Menu Commands

Hanging out with the regular options in the map menu are several debug commands. Amusingly, in certain situations, like skirmishes, which add a "retreat" command, the map menu can get too long and cause minor graphical glitches.

• 担当 (Charge) - Allows the player to set what has control of enemy and NPC units. The specific options for each faction are CP, the default, meaning the computer controls them. 人間, human, which gives the player control. 不参加, nobody, the units will do absolutely nothing.

• デバ (Debug) - Opens a debug menu. (detailed below)

• 記録 (Save) - Makes a Manual Suspend, which then can be loaded from the boot-up menu.

The デバ (Debug) menu mentioned above has several options appear in a new window.

• マップ (Map) - The chapter select, works just like it does on the boot-up menu.
• デバ情報 (Debug Information) - Toggles a debug value tracker of some sort. The exact meaning of some of the numbers is unknown, but one value on it is the cursor's coordinates on the map.
• 天気 (Weather) - Inflicts weather conditions on the current map. It does not include Fog, as that is handled differently.
• さく敵 (Enemy Search) - Toggles Fog of War, seems to only work on chapters that begin in Fog of War.
• 周回数 (Playthrough count) - Use Left or Right on the D-Pad to decrease or increase the number of playthroughs. The maximum number recorded is 13.
• クリアずみ (Clear) - Selecting this brings up another window. Selecting the glowing 'confirm' letters doesn't seem to... actually... do anything.
• The next line is unlabeled, but allows the player to modify the tactician. It defaults to Ice affinity, and A blood type. Press Select to alter their affinity and blood type. Left and Right on the D-Pad changes the tactician's rank (this is, under normal circumstances, used to judge the performance of the player). Pressing the L shoulder button disables the tactician entirely, press the R shoulder button to re-enable the tactician. There appears to be no way to set the tactician's name, though judging by the tactician weapons (these weapons have the tactician's name applied to them) the game defaults to マーク (Mark).
• おやすみなさい (Good Night) - Puts the console into sleep mode. Hold the L and R shoulder buttons to exit. This functionality is unused in the final game despite many GBA games having such a feature, presumably since the automatic resume saves render it pointless.
• M - Press Left and Right to select the music. ("M" will change to the title of the song that is currently playing.)

Quick Debug Menu

Hold Select and press Start twice with the cursor on an empty space. This opens a small window that contains the following.

• Turn - Set the turn count.
• 2軍CP (2Army Computer) - Turn enemy units' AI on or off, when off enemies will do nothing.
• 3軍CP (3Army Computer) - Turn NPC units' AI on or off, when off NPCs will do nothing.

Character Debug Menu

To open this menu, hold Select and press Start twice with the cursor on a character. The menu includes:

• ドーピングする? (Uhh, Dope the unit?) - Maxes out the character's stats. (apparently with performance enhancing substances?)
• HP - Sets the character's max HP.
• Attack AI - Only does anything for NPC and enemy units.
• Movement AI - Only does anything for NPC and enemy units.
• Recovery - Not sure what this does...
• Condition - Afflicts the unit with a status effect. Choose the status effect by pressing Left or Right on the D-Pad. It should be noted this menu doesn't support any of the new status effects added in Fire Emblem or The Sacred Stones, as the game explodes into a glitchy mess if the player tries to scroll past the Berserk (はっきょう) status effect.

Debug Stat Screen

To do: Figure out what some of the values stand for.

Hold Select and press the R shoulder button while the cursor is on a character, this will open an alternate set of stat screens. These screens have the same data and more as the regular stat screens.

On page two, the one displaying a character's possible support partners, pressing the L or R shoulder buttons brings up a hand cursor over the names of the support partners. Pressing Left or Right decreases or increases support points, which, for whatever reason, don't increase normally in this build.

The debug stat screen is also interesting in that it can be used to view the stats of player units who are not deployed in the current chapter, as well as dead units. Undeployed units are marked with "隠居" (Retire) on their stat screen. The stat screen also keeps track of if a unit has ended their turn. A unit whom has ended their turn has their stat screen marked with 行動ずみ (already moved).

World Map Debug

On the world map, hold the R shoulder button, then press A with the cursor somewhere that isn't the main character. This will open the map menu, but with a new option added to the bottom, sneaky fella, eh?

The new option is called デバ (Deba), and selecting it will open another window with two choices. The top ルート (Route) option removes the most recent map location and path, essentially reverting the world map to the previous chapter. The bottom choice proceeds the map into the next chapter, loading the next path and world map location.

Debug Button Combinations

Miscellaneous combinations that cause useful (or not so useful) effects, though they in themselves don't bring up any menus.

Win Everything

Very usefully, the prototype has a "win the chapter" button combination. Press and hold the R shoulder button and B at the same time, then press Select twice. After this is done, the game will skip to the current chapter's ending scenes.

Unlock Sound Room

Holding the L shoulder button before pressing A to enter the game's Sound Room auto-unlocks everything in it.

Disable Tutorials

On the startup menu's chapter select, hold the L shoulder button when entering a chapter to disable the game's forced tutorials.

Escape the Tutorial

If you, for some reason, didn't disable the tutorials you can break out of a forced tutorial with another button combo.

Hold any direction on the D-Pad, then also hold A, B, Start, and Select to exit the current forced tutorial segment. Be careful, this button combination includes the combination for a soft-reset in it, if you don't hold a D-Pad direction first, the game will probably soft-reset.

It's not super useful, as the game will sometimes force you back into the tutorial again depending on what part of the tutorial you exited. This is actually in the final release, too, wonder why it was left in?

(Source: Serenes Forest)

Title Screen Animation Test

Holding the L button while going to the title screen (either by skipping the intro or backing out of the menus) causes the logo's fly-in animation along with the sword and axe to play. Usually when backing out of menus and such, the logo fades in without movement.

Crash Info Display

While this sometimes displays when the prototype experiences an error, it can be brought up at the player's discretion by holding B, the R shoulder button and Right on the D-Pad.

Contains information relating to the state of the game, such as the status of the save files, playthrough count, and status of the tutorial and sound room. (And other things this editor is not smart enough to understand.)

Skip Battle Animations

Holding the L shoulder button before selecting attack (or pretty much all the time on an enemy or NPC turn) makes the game act as if animations are off, even when they are on. A similar feature was introduced in Fire Emblem Awakening. Holding the R shoulder button seems to disable the map animations, units will walk up to each other like they're going to attack, but instead of making the map sprites 'bump' into each other they just vanish or end their turn depending on the outcome of the battle.