Shin Megami Tensei II (SNES)

Shin Megami Tensei II
Developer: Atlus Publisher: Atlus Platform: SNES Released in JP: March 18, 1994 This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a bugs page

The sequel to the original Shin Megami Tensei, with more demons, improved graphics and laying the groundwork for even more future mechanisms and fan-favorite recurring demons.

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Bugs

Debug Mode

Utilizing the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E0E1C10 allows for the activation of Debug mode. This will add various debugging-related functions.

RAM Check

A function is added to the COMP, allowing to operate a Boolean Flag Editor not unlike those found in Shin Megami Tensei and the Majin Tensei games.

To do: Test the flags for their potential effect.

RAM Check also contains a plethora of additional functions. Depending on which button is held down on controller 2 whilst selecting RAM Check in the menu with controller 1, different functions are accessed:

Button	Function	Notes	Screenshot
A	Item Adder	What it says on the tin, select an item with Up and Down and add it to the inventory by pressing A on controller 1. Pressing B closes the menu.
B	Macca/MAG Modifier	Add or subtract Macca or Magnetite carried. Up and Down on controller 1 changes the Macca, Left and Right, the Magnetite. Holding down Y and a directional button increases/decreases by a factor of 2000, holding X while doing so increases/decreases by a factor of 5000.
X	Alignment Change	Change your alignment value with the D-Pad on controller 1. The game is nice enough to even tell you when your value sufficiently changes to count as the according alignment.
Y	Status Ailment Change	Change the status of a team member. Up and Down on Controller 1 selects the status, abbreviated with 2 letters such as DE for death, PO for poison, BA for bat, etc.; Left and Right changes the target. 0 is the hero, 1 is the heroine, if any is present, 2-14 represents the demons in your stock/party.
L	Heroine Choser	Lets you choose your partner. You can pick Beth, Hiroko, or neither. You can't have both of them, however.
R	Partner Skill Adder	Seems to let you add skills to the heroine currently in your party. Up and Down on Controller 1 selects the skills. The second number can be changed with Left and Right, going from 0 to 63, but it's not been determined what exactly it seems to do. Extra Skills CAN theoretically be added, but since neither heroine has access to the "Extra" command, there's no real point to it.
Select	Backup RAM Changer	Far as can be figured, this is an in-game hex editor for the SRAM of the game. "Scroll" through the SRAM with the D-Pad on controller 1, switch to editing mode with A and, perhaps as a failsafe against doing something stupid, press and hold A again and then use the D-Pad to change the selected byte.
Up	Sound Test	Adds Sound Test. Overscan might cover the hexadecimal number on the upper-left some. D-Pad on controller 1 is used for changing between tracks. Some music tracks might take an unusual long while to load, whilst others (probably deleted or unimplemented tracks, i.e. 98) freeze the game completely. (Image highlighted for clarification's sake; red border does not appear in-game.)
Right	Background & Sprite Test	Lets you look at the various backgrounds that are not a physical part of the 3D dungeons, as well as the game's various sprites. Select a number with the D-Pad on controller 1, change the background with A and summon a sprite with X. Scrollable backgrounds (like the Tokyo Millenium News Network screens) can have their scrolling induced by pressing Y. Be careful that there is a LOT more sprites in this game than there is prerendered backgrounds, nonexistent backgrounds may well crash the game.
Down	Demon Adder	Select from the 254 demons available to (theoretically) join your party. Probably the only failsafe way to get that coveted Chris the Car. Select a Demon with Up or Down on the D-Pad of controller 1, select which slot for it to take (from 0-11, representing your total demon stock, able to overwrite demon party members) with Left or Right. A to add the demon, B to close the menu.
Left	Stat Point Adder	Loads up the Level Up routine for the protagonist, acting as if you gained one level. Only works on the protagonist, however.

Alignment Display

The character's alignment is displayed in hexadecimal under the Moon Phase. Default value when starting up the game is 80. It is not determined what the two digits after the alignment value mean.

Auto-Win Combat

If the L or R buttons are held down while a turn of combat starts, all enemies are immediately wiped out.

(Near) Invincibility

While in Debug mode, the Protagonist cannot be killed by loss of HP; his HP will return to their maximum amount the moment they hit 0. However, instant-death-attacks like Mudo still work.

Background Style Change

In a 3D Map, press L or R on controller 2 to cycle through the various background styles for these areas (presets of walls, floors and ceilings).

Combat Information Display

Several hexadecimal numbers are displayed during battle at the bottom of the display window, relating to damage calculation. Damage calculated may differ from what is displayed in the text box, as an attack never deals more damage than the target has HP, in spite of the calculations.

Position Change and Animation Test

Pressing the Start button inside a 3D Map accesses further debug controls. On top, two coordinates are displayed, X and Y. The entire game actually takes place on a single gigantic map. X coordinates reach from 00 to 7F, Y coordinates from 00 to 3F. Up and Down on controller 1 change the Y coordinates, Left and Right the X coordinates. Additionally, this menu allows for Battle animation testing. Pressing L or R cycles through the animations, the A button plays them. Holding down the B button while cycling through coordinates or animations will move forward by 16 instead of 1. Pressing Start will resume regular gameplay.

Enemy Summoning

The above Animation Testing has a secondary function. First, select an animation number. It doesn't matter if the animation is being played. Press Start to return to regular play. Now press X on controller 2. This will summon a demon with the same ID as the number you selected. You can also spawn two enemy groups. Select an animation number as above. Then press X on controller 1 to activate two-enemy-group-mode (confirmation sound is heard). Now if you select a second demon ID from the animation list and press Start, then press X on controller 2, you'll be faced with two demons at once. You can resume single-enemy-mode from these test-spawns by pressing the X button on controller 1 again while selecting animations. You will hear the cancel sound effect as way of confirmation. Everything past 0136 bears a potential for bugs as the enemy demon index does not reach to this point, but the animation index does. Thus, Glitch demons might occur. (And thus, you might run into such nonsense as "Flight Bufu", "NO DATA Mazionga", or "threw a bomb at you! Megidolaon". These glitch demons utilize sprites for Sword Fusion and can potentially break the sound engine or the running game itself.)

Level Up Cancel

You can cancel the Level Up screen by pressing the Start button without distributing any points.

Debug Casino

Using the above position changer, at coordinates 48 3E, you will arrive in a large room with no exit and a smaller room in the middle. This smaller room contains a Debug Casino, allowing to play every minigame in the game (though still requiring Coins for the Casino games, minions for Russian Roulette and Metal Cards for Code Breaker).

Additionally, some debug features for the Slot Machines can be found, though their exact purpose is not clear. Slot Check 3 and every option after it in the menu will crash the game, implying the features associated with those menu items were taken out of the final game.

Unused Pac-Man Sprite

Hidden in VRAM while on the 2D Map screens is a sprite of what can be identified as Pac-Man.