SFX Test

SFX Test
Also known as: snd_test (filename) Developer: Nintendo Platform: SNES This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused graphics.

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.

To do: Do the inaccessible options exist in the ROM? Any unused text? The sound data from the ALTTP mid-1991 overdump seems to fit somewhat better.

SFX Test is an SNES test program that was found among the files from the July 2020 Nintendo leak. Notable for containing a primitive Mario game with elements from Super Mario World, as well as using sounds and music from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

In addition to using sounds from A Link to the Past, this program was found in that game's source code and uses the game's actual sound data, suggesting that it had some sort of role in the game's development.

The program's sound data (which, as mentioned above, is from A Link to the Past) is not included in the ROM. Use this patch to add the sound data:

Download SFX Test (Sound Restoration Patch) File: snd_test_full.zip (51 KB) (info)

(Source: Taftq (original discovery), armadylo on Discord (patch creator))

General

• The ROM can be found in other\SFC.7z\SFC\ソースデータ\ゼルダの伝説神々のトライフォース\日本_Ver3\asm as snd_test, though the sound data is separate from the main ROM. Use the instructions found in snd.sdm to combine them into a complete ROM. You'll also have to add a filetype to the ROM before you can use it.
• Text present in the ROM dates the program to December 26th, 1990, just over a month after Super Mario World was released and nearly a year before A Link to the Past would be.
• Starting the program greets you with a screen with various options that take you to various screens seemingly intended to test various functions of the system. Options 8-10 and 15-19 are inaccessible, while options 11-14 contain levels of a primitive Mario game.
• The game uses sound effects from A Link to the Past. Which sound effects are used changes in each level, suggesting that the developers were experimenting with them.
• The Mario game is quite glitchy; the collision is unstable, Mario occasionally falls through solid platforms and interacting with certain structures can cause Mario to teleport to the top of the screen.

Controls

Controller: Port 1

General

• D-Pad: Navigate
• Start: Select
• Select: Toggle
• X / Y: Increment
• A / B: Decrement
• L: Toggle frame advance
  • R: Advance by one frame
• L + R: Return to main menu

Mario Game

• Left / Right: Move
• B: Jump
• Y: Run
• Start: Restart level
• Up / Down: Move cloud

Controller: Port 2

• Y: Play sounds/music

Unused Graphics

A sprite of a Warp Pipe. It's identical to the final pipe sprite from Super Mario World, just with a different palette. Likely intended for the primitive Mario game.

A sprite of a ? Block. Unlike the Warp Pipe, this appears to be a unique sprite. Shown here with the ground palette, which appears to be its intended palette.

Sprites of a mysterious girl character who bears some resemblance to Alice from Balloon Kid, a game developed around this time. She appears to have been the original player character for the platform game included in the program, since her sprites match Mario's.

Interestingly, even though her sprites aren't used, her palette is; it's used in the second level whenever Mario gets hit.

Out of the game's main alphabet, the letters Q, W, and Z are unused. Other unused font characters include a question mark, a horizontal line, a multiplication symbol and a duplicate of the minus symbol (which is used).

Four small pink arrows, each one facing a different direction.

Red numbers in brackets. Only 0 and 1 are used.

A whopping 48 tiles for the numbers from the "DOT EDITER" screen are unused! Only the first row (00-0F) is used.

Miscellaneous tiles. Purpose unknown. Located directly above the unnamed girl's graphics.

More miscellaneous graphics: four quarter-circles in the Super Famicom logo colours, a box made of dotted lines, a grey line and a dot, and a duplicate of the pink cursor with a black background.

Even more miscellaneous graphics. They generally seem to be border-related.

A set of colored squares. The one on the far right has two miscolored pixels.

Another set of colored squares. These are nearly identical to the other ones, with the only differences being that these ones are slightly smaller and that the rightmost square has a checkerboard pattern.

There are multiple black squares like this one scattered throughout the graphics. Some are different colors, but they all appear as black in-game. Some are used, some aren't.

Duplicates of the tiles for the Mario game, including the unused ? Block. Contrary to what you'd expect, it's the ones next to the unnamed girl that are used rather than the ones that are next to Mario, with the exception of the cloud.

This frame of the Goomba-like enemy walking is unused. The game simply flips the first frame instead. However, this frame is simply the first frame flipped horizontally, so there's no visible difference.

Options

1 SOUND TEST

A screen showing a sound test. There are four sections, each with four groups of eight values that can be switched between 0 and 1, and themselves each affect another set of two values, which can also be edited manually.

These groups of values can be toggled on and off by pressing Start.

Additionally, pressing Select allows you to access the groups of two values in the center of the screen.

There's a graphic of a Super Famicom controller's buttons in the center, and what appears to be a dancing rhinoceros beetle on the right.

Using Controller 2 allows you to play sound effects and music from A Link to the Past, which this program uses the sound data of. Be warned that leaving music on for too long can have glitchy effects.

The Japanese text seen here (サウンド) means sound.

2 COLOR TEST

A screen showing a color test. It features two sections where you can combine two colors to make another one, as well as a strange phallic-looking character with a sword at the bottom of the screen.

3 COLR TABLE

A screen featuring eight meters numbered 0-7, as well as a color mixer like the ones seen in COLOR TEST. There are also two numbers at the top-right of the screen.

Pressing Y turns the arrow at the top-right of the screen, allowing you to edit whatever it's pointing at. Changing the color of the rectangle from COLOR TEST allows you to apply different colors to the spaces in the meter.

Strangely, selecting the two numbers above the arrow doesn't move the cursor there, instead keeping it at the meters. However, pressing A and Right after selecting the two numbers changes the second number to 1.

Pressing Select resets the cursor to the top-right of the screen, as well as resetting the direction of the arrow.

The Japanese text seen here (ファイル), as well as in DOT EDITER below, means file.

4 DOT EDITER

A screen with another meter numbered 0-F above a square with all four sides numbered from 00-0F. There's also a set of two numbers that range from 0-8 and 0-7 respectively on the top right, with controller buttons and a smaller square below them. Pressing Select moves the cursor to the big square.

Strangely, this option takes a few seconds to load after being selected. All of the other options load instantly.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be functional, with only the numbers on the right being editable.

5 FLASH OBJ

A screen featuring two sets of three numbers ranging from 000-999, with the one on the left being labelled "ON" and the one on the right being labelled "OFF", as well as a group of three squares below them. The left square is blue, the middle one has a black-and-white checkerboard pattern, and the right square is black with pink spots.

The squares also have a second state. In this state, the middle square disappears and the other two turn into 0s.

The ON values determine how long the squares stay in the first state, while the OFF values determine how long they stay in the second state.

6 FLASH COLR

A screen showing a meter like the ones from COLR TABLE and three sets of three values changing the color of a rectangle like COLOR TEST, as well as a square accompanied by a set of three numbers at the bottom.

Pressing Select moves the cursor to the color mixer. From there, the cursor can be returned to the meter to apply different colors to the squares in it, like in COLR TABLE.

Pressing Start moves the cursor to the square at the bottom of the screen. Changing the 3 numbers located down there causes the square to cycle through the colors on the meter at different speeds.

The Japanese text seen here (カラー) means color.

7 OBJ MOVE

A screen showing a set of two numbers labelled "SPEED" and the rhinoceros beetle from SOUND TEST. Changing these values causes the beetle to move left or right at different speeds.

Option 11

The first of four blank options containing levels of a primitive Mario game.

Mario starts with 16 hit points, and will die if he runs out. This is the only level where Mario has an actual death sequence; when he dies in the other levels, the level simply restarts. When Mario dies, the text "GAME OVER" appears on the screen, with the text "HIT START" below it.

This is the only level that has a HUD. It scrolls with the rest of the level, and displays how many hit points Mario has left.

There's a brief sequence before the level starts where the word "READY!" appears in the middle of the screen for a few seconds. Mario can't move during this.

Collecting all of the coins causes the enemies to despawn. A few seconds later, the word "GOUKAKU!!" ("Success!") appears. Below it is the text "HIT START" like in the death sequence.

There are three hidden blocks under the coin that's in the air, but they're difficult to hit due to the wonky physics.

Mario can get trapped under the alcove made of stone blocks. Jumping while in it can also cause Mario to teleport to the top of the screen.

There's also a moving cloud that can be controlled by pressing Up or Down. Jumping on it causes Mario to ride it. This is the only object besides Mario and the enemies present in any of the levels.

Option 12

Interestingly, Mario's physics are noticeably more refined in this level compared to the first one. Mario flashes when hit, which doesn't happen in the first level, though he can't die.

Mario also jumps higher here compared to the other levels.

Additionally, the level doesn't end after collecting all of the coins.

The game may randomly freeze while playing this level. It's unclear what causes this.

Option 13

A non-functional duplicate of the first level, with the only difference being that Mario and the enemies are absent.

Option 14

The only level that lacks the Goomba-like enemy. The Super Koopa charges at Mario when he's on the same horizontal plane as it, which doesn't happen in the other levels. The Super Koopa also flies up and down faster and in a smaller wave.

Mario's physics seem to be more complete than the first level's, but less complete than the second's. Mario has noticeably worse traction compared to the other levels. He jumps higher than in the first level, but not as high as in the second level. Additionally, the number of hits Mario can take without dying varies.

He also flashes when hit like in the second level, though his sprite also glitches here. Like the second level, this level doesn't end.

Mario can go inside the stone block on the floor. Jumping while inside of it has a chance of teleporting him to the top of the screen like in the first level.

There's also a one-way invisible wall at the upper part of the right edge of the level. Trying to go through it from the left won't work, while going through it from the right can cause glitches.

Additionally, the background in this level is noticeably unpolished: it doesn't loop properly, and there's noticeable cutoff where the clouds and mountains meet.

20 CHAR DISP

Displays the CHR data for the program. That's it. Strangely, the graphics for the Mario game are missing.

Most of the unused graphics can be seen here.

Oddities

Header Oddity

For some reason, this program uses the header from Super Mario World. It shares this trait with Super Donkey and Black Out, suggesting that this is the default header for SNES games.

Super Koopa Palette

For some reason, in the fourth level of the Mario game, the Super Koopa uses a different palette. This palette doesn't seem to be used anywhere else. This is not visible in-game.

Obscured Details

Some of the letters and numbers used in the program have shadows. However, these usually aren't visible due to being the same color as the background.

Some of the other tiles have details that are rendered invisible by this too. Some of them are completely invisible because of it!