Proto:Super Ghouls'n Ghosts

This page details one or more prototype versions of Super Ghouls'n Ghosts.

This page or section details content from the July 2020 Nintendo Leak. Check the July 2020 Nintendo Leak category for more pages also sourced from this material.

A prototype of Super Ghouls'n Ghosts dated with a last file modification date of June 26th, 1991 was leaked along with several other prototypes and source code in July 2020. It can be found in NEWS\テープリストア\NEWS_05\NEWS_05.tar\home\kimura\games.lzh\games\makai. Extract game.exe, then change the extension to .sfc or .bin.

Sub-Page

Stage Differences Mapping out changes.

Title & Menus

Title Screen

Prototype	Final

• The title logo is less spiky than the final version's and the shading underneath the kanji characters are lighter.
• The game takes an agonizing 120 frames to fade to and from black on this screen and others like it. This was thankfully quartered to 30 frames in the final version.
• The prototype uses the Select Button to, well, select between options, while the final game just uses the D-Pad.

Options

Prototype	Final

• While the border around the options menu has the same design between versions, the final game touched up the shading and made everything shinier.
• All text except the highlighted option is orange in the prototype. The final game colors "Option Mode" red and all of the options headers purple.
• The Beginner difficulty is misspelled, while the Professional difficulty is instead named, appropriately enough, "Cho".
• The prototype lets the player assign the Shot and Jump keys to any of the four main buttons (ABXY). It's even possible to assign both to the same button, though why someone would do that is anyone's guess.

The final game simplifies this by letting the player choose between 3 preset control schemes:

Shot	A, Y	B, Y	A, B
Jump	B	A	Y

• There's no starting lives option in the prototype.

Hidden Menu

• To access this menu in the prototype, the player has to hold 1P L Button + 1P Start. This was changed to 2P L Button + 2P Start in the final game, presumably to keep the player from accidentally triggering it.

Prototype	Final

• Like the normal options menu, the option headers are orange in the prototype and purple in the final version.
• The Stage and Area options don't actually work in the prototype.

Continue Screen

Prototype	Final

• The shiny golden trim is even shinier in the final version, and the entire border is slightly more horizontally symmetrical. The shading on the lance was also redone.
• The prototype doesn't list the number of money bags the player collected.
• The Credits number is orange instead of white.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

General Changes

Items

Prototype	Final

The left side of the money bags was adjusted in the final game.

Weapons

Weapon	Proto	Final	Weapon	Proto	Final
Lance	1 HP	6 HP	Flaming Lance	2 HP	9 HP
Dagger	1 HP	4 HP	Magic Dagger	2 HP	7 HP
Crossbow	1 HP	3 HP	Magic Crossbow	2 HP	6 HP
Scythe	1 HP	6 HP	Magic Scythe	3 HP	9 HP
Torch	1 HP	7 HP	Magic Torch	2 HP	10 HP
Axe	2 HP	6 HP	Hefty Axe	2 HP	9 HP
Tri-Blade	1 HP	6 HP	Shuriken	2 HP	9 HP

• In the prototype, most standard weapons do 1 HP of damage, with the one exception being the standard Axe which does 2 HP. The final version increases the base damage to 6 HP, which allowed the developers to reduce the damage values of the spammable Dagger and Crossbow weapons to make them less busted and to slightly buff the low-range Torch. Of course, to make up for this, enemy HP was also increased - read on for more information.
• The upgraded weapons in the prototype do double damage except for the Hefty Axe, which does the same as the base Axe, and the Magic Scythe, which does triple(!) the damage of the normal scythe.

In the final game, all upgraded weapons do 3 more HP of damage than their base versions. With the increased based damage values, this makes the Hefty Axe better, the Magic Crossbow the same, and all other upgrades worse than they were in the prototype.

Proto	Final

• Both the normal and Magic Torch, the Hefty Axe, and the Shuriken's icons were changed in the final version to better match how the projectiles look in-game.

Proto	Final

• In the prototype, the Magic Dagger has a unique graphic with a shining green blade and a golden hilt. In the final game, the Magic Dagger shares the same graphics as the normal Dagger.

Proto	Final

• The Torch weapon works a little differently between versions:

In the prototype, the flames stay on the ground and persist for 56 frames.

In the final game, the flames rise 16 pixels off the ground and persist for 32 frames.

Proto	Final

• The Magic Torch is completely different:

• In the prototype, the projectile is a massive pillar of flame that stays in place. This flame lingers for 132 frames.
• In the final game, the Magic Torch works much like the normal Torch, creating four flames that each rise 48 pixels upwards. Each flame lasts for 44 frames.

Proto	Final

• The Axe in the prototype is 25% faster than the final Axe, is animated twice as fast, and has a slightly wider area of attack.
• The Tri-Blade and Shuriken are silent in the prototype.

Magic

Proto	Final

• Like Arthur's weapons, some of the magic icons were adjusted to better match how they actually appear in-game.
• The Sun Shield doesn't double magic charge speed in the prototype.

Prototype	Final

• The prototype has a more impressive-looking effect for Seek Magic where the first and third background layers "split": Odd-numbered scanlines move to the left, even-numbers scanlines move to the right. The final game gives each background palette a gray-scale palette instead.

The splitting effect was abandoned because it's incredibly buggy. Using it on the left or right bounds of the level reveals random clusters of garbage tiles, animated backgrounds will glitch out something awful, and effects like the rotating towers in Stage 3 are ruined because the animation doesn't do anything to sprites.

• The screen flashes twice for one frame each in the prototype, later intensified to four times for four frames each in the final version.
• In the prototype, the player is left vulnerable after using Seek Magic, while the final game gives the player 45 frames of invincibility.
• Lightning Magic's sound is cut off after about half a second in the prototype, while Nuclear Magic doesn't make any sound at all.

Transformations

• Both the Steel Armor and Golden Armor share the maiden transformation in the prototype. The sea lion is in the game and can be accessed with a debug function (see below), but it uses the code and tilemap of the bee transformation.

Prototype	Final

• The maiden's graphics were touched up a bit after this prototype. The prototype design is a single-pixel taller and her eyes match Arthur's eyes.

• The maiden has an extra mechanic and animation in the prototype: When she lands after jumping, she briefly falls down before getting back up. To make this transformation less of a punishment, and to keep the maiden from having the exact same poise as a literal baby, this mechanic was removed.

Enemies

	Proto	Final
Skull Flower Weredog Seiren Gargoyle Statue Axe Ghost	2 HP	10 HP
Coral Cannon Skull Flower Multi	3 HP	18 HP
Doomblossom	4 HP	23 HP
Red Arremer Ace	4 HP	30 HP
Gririan Woo	5 HP	35 HP
Cockatrice	48 HP	170 HP
Storm Cesaris	23 HP	149 HP
Death Crawler	16 HP	197 HP
Hydra (Head)	24 HP	70 HP

• Using the standard Lance as a baseline, most enemies end up taking the same number of hits, though the Red Arremer Ace and Gririan/Woo take one extra hit to defeat in the final version.
• Cockatrice and the Hydra's heads take fewer hits to kill in the final game, while the total number of hits that Death Crawler can take more than doubled. Storm Cesaris is about the same in both versions.
• Death Crawler's AI is very basic in the prototype: All it does is spawn in and then spin in place. The final game gives it a projectile attack and lets it teleport around.
• Astaroth is in the prototype, but its object is basically just an animation test. It can't move around and its projectiles have yet to be drawn, though strangely it's able to invisibly damage the player...somehow.

Cutscenes

...there aren't any in the prototype. That's all.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Debug Features

Debug Inputs

There are a few debug features that can be accessed through the 2P controller:

• 2P X Button: Cycles through weapons (Both default and upgraded) in the following order: Lance, Dagger, Crossbow, Scythe, Torch, Axe, Tri-Blade.
• 2P L Button: Toggles No-Hit mode, disabling collision with enemies and their projectiles. Be warned that this also disables collision with the warp objects in Stage 4.
• 2P R Button: Upgrades Arthur's armor, or, if already wearing the Golden Armor, removes Arthur's armor.

There are two other debug functions that have been dummied out. Put the following Pro Action Replay (PAR) codes in to activate them:

01C9A4EA

01CAD800

• 2P B Button: Gives the player 128 HP. Getting hit will still break the player's armor, but they'll be able to take more hits afterward.
• 2P Y Button: Transforms the player into a baby, but doesn't load the baby's graphics or disable the player's weapons.

Additionally, Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 01CA23EE will add the baby, sea lion, bee, and maiden transformations to the armor switching debug feature. However, the baby and sea lion don't have proper tilemaps, trying to do pretty much anything as the baby will crash the game, and getting hit will usually glitch the game out.

Debug Menu

There's a fairly extensive stage debug menu in the game, though there's no way to access it normally in this build. First, you'll need to change the ROM header to make the game use SRAM: Change byte 0x07FD8 to 04. Then, use the following Pro Action Replay (PAR) codes to replace the No-Hit debug feature with the debug menu:

01AC6320

01AC6418

01AC65FF

Note that this menu is very, very broken. The code to display text doesn't seem to work right, and when it does display text it comes out as a garbled mess. The following is a list of menu options taken from the ROM for reference:

• SCROLL CG TEST
• OBJECT CG TEST
• OBJECT CHAR TEST
• SCROLL CHAR TEST
• SOUND TEST
• POSITION TEST
• EYIT (sic)

Press 1P Up / Down to move the invisible cursor and 1P Start to access the selected debugging tool.

Controls (Universal)

• 2P A Button: Toggles BG Layer 3.
• 2P B Button: Toggles BG Layer 2.
• 2P Y Button: Toggles BG Layer 1.

Scroll CG Test

Controls

• 1P Up/Down: Navigates between colors in the current palette.
• 1P Left/Right: Navigates between Red, Green, and Blue columns.
• 1P B Button: Decreases R/G/B value.
• 1P Y Button: Increases R/G/B value.
• 1P Start Button: Should exit to menu, instead freezes the game on a black screen.
• 1P L/R Buttons: Navigates between BG palettes (16 in total).

Object CG Test

Controls

• 1P Up/Down: Navigates between colors in the current palette.
• 1P Left/Right: Navigates between Red, Green, and Blue columns.
• 1P B Button: Decreases R/G/B value.
• 1P Y Button: Increases R/G/B value.
• 1P Start Button: Should exit to menu, instead freezes the game on a black screen.
• 1P L/R Buttons: Navigates between palettes (8 object palettes and, for some reason, the first 8 BG palettes).

Object Char Test

Should display object graphics, but instead displays a garbled mess of nothing. That thing on the top-left corner should display hexadecimal numbers from 00 to 1F but, again, broken text display.

Controls

• 1P Up/Down: Navigates through object graphics / garbage.
• 1P Start: Exits to menu.

Scroll Char Test
Like the object char test, this also doesn't work, but in this case, it doesn't display much of anything. Just press 1P Start to exit to the main menu.

Sound Test
This is a worse version of the sound test in the hidden options menu. Maybe use that instead.

Controls

• 1P Up: Increments Sound ID by 01.
• 1P Down: Decrements Sound ID by 01.
• 1P Left: Increments Sound ID by 10.
• 1P Right: Decrements Sound ID by 10.
• 1P B Button: Mutes BGM / sound.
• 1P Y Button: Plays BGM / sound.

Position Test

This is a basic map viewer. Careful about going out of bounds or the game might crash! Use 1P D-Pad to move the camera and press 1P Start to exit to the main menu.

Exyit
Should exit the menu and return to normal gameplay, but it hangs the game instead. Oh well.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Audio Differences

BGM

ID	Context	Proto	Final
01	Stage 1
02	Stage 2
03	Stage 5
04	Stage 4
05	Stage 3
06	Stages 6 & 7
09	Stage 1 Boss
0A	Stage 2 Boss
0B	Stage 3 Boss
0C	Stage 4 Boss
0D	Stage 5 Boss
10	Stage Clear
11	Game Over
12	World Map
13	Continue

Obviously enough, most samples are different from those used in the final game. All tracks except "Continue" use lower-pitched samples in the prototype. The Game Over BGM is also missing stereo effects, and the Continue track has an echo that was taken out of the final game.

The biggest difference is the completely different track for Stage 6 & 7 that was eventually scrapped. Another notable difference is the fact that the Stage 2 track is a few seconds longer, featuring a small section that was eventually cut.

The prototype is also missing all cutscene music, the ending track, and the Boss BGM for Stages 6 & 7 and 8.

Sound Effects

ID	Proto	Final
36
4B
62

• Sound 36, the pause sound, is slightly higher-pitched in the final version.
• The sound in slot 4B is used for the collapsing ice bridges in Stage 5. The final game instead reuses the ice snake sound effect for the bridge, reassigning slot 4B for the opening cutscene's fireworks.
• The Capcom Logo jingle in sound 62 is missing the stereo effects and lingers on a bit longer.

(Source: Original TCRF research)