Proto:The Blues Brothers (SNES)

This page details one or more prototype versions of The Blues Brothers (SNES).

This earlier proto shows the game was equally crazy in earlier installments. Most likely a very late proto, possibly a review copy within a month of the final.

Debug Text

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.

Programming for a debug menu begins at SNES address $82006, and a level editor at SNES address $828BF4. Unfortunately, the long jumps to $828000 and $828003 that lead to these addresses along with initialization code for the menus appear to be missing. It's currently unknown if it's possible to get these menus working with what's available. Debugging code seems to occupy most of bank $82.

Cheat Code

Hold Down-Left, B, X, L, R on controller 1 and Up-Right, L, A on controller 2 to activate the cheat (similar to the button combination used in the NES game.) It can be entered at any time as it's part of the controller read routine. On menu screens (eg: Titus logo, title screen, character select screen, etc.) it will set the background palette to index $08, the same palette set used on the license text screen. This code also includes a level skip cheat which was disabled in the final game. Press Start on controller 2 during gameplay to advance.

Level skip programming:

Prototype                                                                                           Final
$80/9C85 AF 00 01 7F LDA $7F0100[$7F:0100]   //Cheat mode status                                    $80/9C2E AF 00 01 7F LDA $7F0100[$7F:0100]
$80/9C89 C9 66 EC    CMP #$EC66              //Cheat enabled flag                                   $80/9C32 C9 66 EC    CMP #$EC66
$80/9C8C D0 09       BNE $09    [$9C97]      //Skip to $9C97 if cheat mode off                      $80/9C35 D0 07       BNE $07    [$9C3E]
$80/9C8E A5 18       LDA $18    [$00:0018]   //Controller 2                                         $80/9C37 A5 18       LDA $18    [$00:0018]
$80/9C90 89 00 10    BIT #$1000              //Start button                                         $80/9C39 89 00 10    BIT #$1000
$80/9C93 F0 02       BEQ $02    [$9C97]      //Skip to $9C97 if Start not pressed                   $80/9C3C F0 00       BEQ $00    [$9C3E]      //Branch distance zero, level skip gone!
$80/9C95 80 10       BRA $10    [$9CA7]      //Skip to level cleared programming

Title

Proto	Final

• Text formatting. The font is different in the final as well..

Proto	Final

• In the proto, the actual title screen remains in high res mode (a feature retained from the copyrights screen). This, unintentionally or not, gives the music notes in the background a sort of blurry effect.

• In addition, there is an extra option for Two-Player Mode - "Beginner" and "Master" modes. Neither of them seem to have any outright visible effect. More testing is needed.

Game

Proto	Final

• The character select in the final displays text that reminds the player to press Select to switch characters. This doesn't exist in the proto, so the image of the brothers and the jukebox was lower.

• Another "rock" was added to the Dan Aykroyd "rock and roll" clip when choosing characters. Weird.

• There is actual flavor text between levels where the venues change:

Proto Version	Final Version

Stage	Proto Name
1	Detroit concert
2	Montreal concert
3	Buffalo concert
4	Fresno concert
5	Oakland concert
6	Wichita concert
7	Boston concert
8	Miami concert
9	Seattle concert
10	Toledo concert
11	Akron concert
12	Tulsa concert
13	Dallas concert
14	Austin concert
15	Houstin concert
16	Duluth concert
17	Calgary concert
18	Omaha concert
19	Jackson concert
20	St Paul concert
21	Lincoln concert
22	Ottawa concert
23	Denver concert
24	Orlando concert
25	El Paso concert
26	Phoenix concert
27	Tampa concert
28	Quebec concert
29	London concert
30	Paris concert
31	Albany concert
32	Atlanta concert
33	Memphis concert
34	Chicago concert

This was probably changed because a two-player game starts on Stage 2 (Montreal Concert), but labels it as Stage 1 (Detroit Concert) and labels the further levels as one previous onwards (in other words, Stage 5 would be labelled as Stage 4, etc, so in the proto, Stage 4 would be "Oakland Concert" whereas in the single-player game it would be "Fresno Concert").

• Even when playing single player, the other player's HUD will remain on screen in the proto.

• Some starting record counts are different between the proto and final.

• Spikes instantly kill you in the proto. In the final you take four hearts worth of damage (half of your life meter). This can make some situations incredibly frustrating, especially in the first single-player level, which is probably why it was fixed in the final.

• Enemies respawn the second they're off screen in the proto. Thankfully this was eased up in the final.

• The scrolling is slightly different and more centered on the player in the final.

• Stage 2 (Toronto Concert) has a different sky gradient in the proto.

• Holding down and pressing B while holding Y makes your character stand in the proto, and actually jump in the final.

• In a two-player game, Jake is player 1 and Elwood is player 2 and Jake is player 1 in the proto but in the final this is reversed to better portray the HUD alignment.

• The jukebox in Stage 30 is clearly visible in the proto; in the final you must shoot the boxes to reveal it (you still have to shoot the boxes to access it in the proto).

• Stage 31 starts you off with no records in the proto, which means you must travel to the end of the first corridor to collect some in order to break the blocks and lower the jukebox.

• Stage 33 is much easier to beat in the proto due to the aforementioned different scrolling. At one point you must break blocks to continue to release the jukebox (similar to Stage 31). In the proto this is no problem, but in the final, you must hold the L button while doing so.

Proto	Final

• The copyright was updated in the end credits.

Hidden Text

At SNES address $808006, almost at the very beginning of the ROM, is a message seen only in the prototype:

BLUES BROTHERS SUPER NINTENDO 1.0 Designed by Flynn, Eric, Rob, Florent, Fred, Francis & Bob.