Sonic Heroes

Sonic Heroes
Developer: Sega Studio USA Publisher: Sega Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows Released in JP: December 30, 2003 (GC/PS2/Xbox), November 17, 2004 (Windows) Released in US: January 5, 2004 (GC), January 27, 2004 (PS2/Xbox), November 26, 2004 (Windows) Released in EU: February 6, 2004 (GC/PS2/Xbox), December 9, 2004 (Windows) Released in KR: 2003 (PS2, Windows) This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

Sonic Heroes lets you control teams of three characters and change between Speed, Flying, and Strength whenever that character is needed.

To do: Some glitches only work on some versions. For instance: The Team Blast quick build-up glitch, by pressing Attack and switching to Power while using Fly doesn't work on the PC version. This glitch is GameCube exclusive. More stuff here and here. Investigate this.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Voice Clips They won't shut up!

Debug Modes

Debug Menu

Apply the code below to be greeted by this screen when first starting the game (PlayStation 2 US). The second page options do not work properly anymore.

Known controls:

• X / Circle to change level order. It is unclear what this means or if it works properly anymore.
• D-Pad Right / Left to move through options.
• Square to change page.
• START exits the menu.

Debug Menu At Boot
D0477DEC 00000000
002BA108 000000C8
D051969C 0000FFF7
002BA108 000000C4

For GameCube, apply this code to access the menu after selecting any non-Story mode:

$Level select menu (10.8)
000a1e27 00000003

$Level select menu (NTSC-U):
000a9ebb 00000003

For the PC version, change the value at 0x54E8 (0x2750B if using Story Mode) or 0x2712D (the startup navigation) in Tsonic_win.exe from 02 to 03 (to enter the level debug menu) or 05 (to go to the movie debug menu).

(Source: Punk7890 (PS2 port), Muzzarino (PC Port))

Debug Displays

Camera Info

To do: Codes for other versions.

The Action Replay code below will enable a debug display during gameplay. Alternately, apply the code below it for the PlayStation 2 US version. The PS2 version of the code will lag the game a lot for unknown reasons.

GameCube US
042B9080 00000001

Camera Debug Info. Press Select to enable, R3 to disable.
E002FFFE 0051969C
204AD1C0 00000001
204AD1C4 00000001
E002FFFB 0051969C
204AD1C0 00000000
204AD1C4 00000000

(Source: Ferrox, Punk7890)

Object Editor

Apply the code below for the PlayStation 2 US version to enable this. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to work correctly anymore and will lag the game a lot.

Object Editor. D-Pad Down to enable, R3 to disable.
E002FFBF 0051969C
00B11895 00000001
20B817DC 00000001
E002FFFB 0051969C
00B11895 00000000
20B817DC 00000000

(Source: Punk7890)

Geometry Debug

Apply the code below for the PlayStation 2 US version to enable this. With the code on, press and hold D-Pad Up / D-Pad Down to increase/decrease geometry distance.

Geometry Debug. Press L3 to enable. R3 to disable.
D051969C 0000FFFD
00B11898 00000001
D051969C 0000FFFB
00B11898 00000000

(Source: Punk7890)

Unused Enemy

To do: Document.

Unidus, which had appeared in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, is present in "en_element.one" only on the E3 builds of the game.

(Source: http://info.sonicretro.org/Game_Development:Sonic_Heroes and Ralphael)

Unused Techniques

When Amy and Espio have been given their own tornado jump techniques during the development, these original tornado jump moves were scrapped and the two colors for them were put out of use. Amy's tornado was pink and Espio's was green. Thus, the voice clips to those were also not used. Additionally, Chroma Camo versions of other speed characters weren't used as only Espio can use that technique.

File	Sound	Character	Transcript	Language
bank3e.pac		Amy	Take this!	English
bank3j.pac		Amy	そーれー！	Japanese
bank3e.pac		Espio	Summoning Ninja Power!	English
bank3j.pac		Espio	忍法木の葉隠れ！(The ninja art of hiding in the leaves of trees!)	Japanese

For the PC version, this can be put into effect by hex-editing "Tsonic_win.exe". When doing so, change the bytes at these addresses:

• 0xDF6B5 - 00
• 0xDF912 - 00
• 0x17909C - 00
• 0x179B3E - 00
• 0x184587 - EB
• 0x1B007A - 00
• 0x1D29EE - 8B CE
• 0x1D324B - E9 9E F7 FF FF
• 0x1D356B - E9 7E F4 FF FF
• 0x1D40F6 - F7 C1 00 00 40 00 75 12 81 C9 00 00 40 00 C7 85 30 03 00 00 00 00 80 3F EB 06 81 E1 FF FF BF FF 3C 0F 0F 85 37 01 00 00
• 0x1D4256 - 0F
• 0x1E2F6D - 00
• 0x248B1C - EB (Fixes alpha blending issues for proper invisibility rendering)
• 0x382A44 - F0 29 5D 00

and then test the EXE to see if Amy and/or Espio will perform their original tornado jump moves as shown in the pictures in the beginning of the section.

For GameCube, apply this region-free Gecko code to use the original tornado techniques:

$Original Tornado Jump techniques for Amy and Espio
F6000001 80008180
7C840774 2C040009
D2000004 00000009
2C040009 41820028
38000001 2C000000
4182001C 881C06A0
7C000774 68000001
981C06A0 3C003F80
901C069C 38000000
2C000000 40820008
3880FFFF 2C040009
60000000 00000000
E2000001 80008000
F6000001 80008180
2C000009 40820108
D2000000 00000009
2C000009 41820028
38800001 2C040000
4182001C 889C06A0
7C840774 68840001
989C06A0 3C803F80
909C069C 38800000
2C040000 40820008
3800FFFF 2C000009
60000000 00000000
E2000001 80008000
F6000001 80008180
2C000009 40820084
D2000000 00000009
2C000009 41820028
38800001 2C040000
4182001C 889C06B0
7C840774 68840001
989C06B0 3C803F80
909C06AC 38800000
2C040000 40820008
3800FFFF 2C000009
60000000 00000000
E2000001 80008000
F6000001 80008180
2C000009 4182000C
38600000 4E800020
12000004 00004800
E2000001 80008000

*Note: On the E3 prototype version, the leaves emit even though Espio used the original tornado technique.

(Source: Muzzarino (sound effects and codes (for the GameCube port)))

Unused Textures

The textures are accessed in pretty much the same way one would access those of Grand Theft Auto III. By using the Magic.TXD editor one can view, edit and create textures for all platforms Sonic Heroes was released on.

A few texture dictionary files have textures for leftover objects such as those fireworks textures in stg06.txd.

indirect_test.txd

This tile texture was used to test the indirect shader to see if it functions correctly before applying to an object or a part of the level geometry.

stg06.txd

• 

  k06_han1

• 

  k06_han2

• 

  k06_han3

• 

  k06_han4

• 

  k06_han5

In this texture dictionary file, the 5 textures applied to the fireworks models were unused as the object was not placed anywhere in the Casino levels.

stg09.txd

This txd file has only one leftover texture applied for the colored powder objects that was left out of the game. For particles emitting from the mushrooms, they use "ef_p00" from the cmn_effect.txd file instead.

s12.txd

There is a leftover particle texture in the main level's txd archive which has differences with the sharpness/smoothness of the textures assigned as particles for the teleporters that trigger in Mystic Mansion.

Used (from the stage effect txd archives)	Unused (from s12.txd)

On the right, it also appears to look like the particle texture was painted with watercolor painting.

e3Adv.txd

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Included in the textures for Stage 14, Final Fortress, is a 512×512 version of the sky texture. Only the 256×256 version is used in the stage and subsequent boss fight. The test indirect texture files "indirect_test.txd", "e3Adv.txd" and "play_ground.txd" located in the textures folder were also stored as leftovers.

For the cmn_effect.txd file in the PC version, the blue crescent particle which is named "ef_solid" went missing and the shuriken explosion would disappear with the particles being invisible as the developers forgot to add it to the txd archive.

Strangely, the PC version is essentially "padded" with duplicate texture files, such as "event____.txd" files. Also, comsoon.txd is empty.

Unused Objects

The silver swirl warp effect that was going to be used in one of the warp objects went unused and the file to that is "adv_ef_warpb.dff" which is located in the dvdroot folder and the comobj.one archive. Unlike the two other warp effects, this one rapidly permeates on the screen and quickly teleports the player to another position. It can be used in the game by hex editing the byte at an object offset such as 717FB from 58 to 60 and 71967 from 54 to 5C and then test it to see if this warp effect will be in use when you use a transportation object. For the orb switch, their codes are 68 at 103132 and 64 at 10333D.

For the GameCube version, use this code to replace the gradient warp with the swirl one:

F6000002 80008180
2C000004 40820020
3860000A 38800002
12000004 48000000
E0000000 80000000
F6000003 80008180
818C0040 7D8903A6
4E800421 3800FFFF
901F0030 38000002
10000017 00000003
E0000000 80000000
F6000003 80008180
818c0044 7D8903A6
4E800421 3800FFFF
901f002c 38000002
10000017 00000003
E0000000 80000000

Warp Effects (Models):

Used	Unused

Warp Effects (In-game):

Used	Unused

There are stage objects that have not been used in the game at all which include the following DFF files and ONE archives (located in the dvdroot folder):

1. stg06_kw_hanabi_blue.one - Blue Fireworks
2. stg06_kw_hanabi_green.one - Green Fireworks
3. stg06_kw_hanabi_purple.one - Purple Fireworks
4. stg06_kw_hanabi_red.one - Red Fireworks
5. stg06_kw_hanabi_yellow.one - Yellow Fireworks
6. OBJ09_POWGREEN.DFF - Green Powder (stg09obj.one)
7. OBJ09_POWPINK.DFF - Pink Powder (stg09obj.one)
8. OBJ09_POWYELLOW.DFF - Yellow Powder (stg09obj.one)
9. OBJ09_FROGGREENBEAT.DFF - Battered Frog (stg09obj.one)
10. OBJ14_SANDERS_K.DFF - Green Thunder (s14obj.one)

Used	Unused

Unused Codes

Demo Gameplay

The access to the demo gameplay feature that pops up after doing nothing on the title screen in the PlayStation 2 version and GameCube prototypes was left out of the PC version, but can be re-enabled by replacing the original array at 5698A with 80 F9 06 0F 4D CB before testing the edits out to see if the demo gameplay will be used after the opening movie.

Transparent Magician Effect

To do: Add codes for other versions.

For the Magician/Bishop Robot that appears in castle-themed levels, there are material opcodes in the PC version starting at 212D5F (612D5F in RAM) which render the robot transparent with additive alpha blending which was never used by any of the enemy's techniques. However, editing the byte array at 210F83 from 00 00 80 3F to a lower float code in little endian may render a transparent version of the robot after it appears on the placed location.

For GameCube, apply the Gecko codes below:

10.8	USA
48000000 800030C8 DE000000 80008180 300815C8 D00302AC D20815C4 00000004 3821FFFC 3C803F80 3884FFFF 90810000 C0010000 38210004 60000000 00000000 E2000001 80008000	48000000 800030C8 DE000000 80008180 300AEF48 D02302B4 D20AEF44 00000004 3821FFFC 3C803F80 3884FFFF 90810000 C0210000 38210004 60000000 00000000 E2000001 80008000

There are also material flags that aren't used in the game especially to the objects that are leftovers. Examples of that include the Fireworks object at 0xB4AC3, the hint collision (which is a 72 flag pointer) at 0x75137, the green thunder at 0x48A700 and the three powder objects at 0x468ED4 (Green), 0x468EE4 (Pink), and 0x468EF4 (Yellow) on PC.

Original Rail Canyon chaotix mission

These codes restore the original Rail Canyon used for other teams aside from Chaotix on the team's stage mission.

PC:

• 0x4B69C: 0x08000000
• 0x55894: 0x08
• 0x3C8A24: 0x08

Original	Alternative

Inaccessible Areas

To do: Document the stuff here.

Team Rose's levels finish about halfway through the full level, which is played by Teams Sonic and Dark. However, using glitches, exploits, or cheats, one can have Team Rose explore sections of the level beyond the Goal Ring. Oddly, some of these areas still have rings and other items that the Team can collect. At the end lies the Goal Ring used by the other teams. In competitive ring challenges, the use of these areas for Team Rose is crucial. Some of these places can also be accessed by Team Chaotix.

Despite never entering these areas, some teams have dialogue for them which goes unused.

Another example is that the last area in Mystic Mansion where the torches and hammer enemies are cannot be accessed with other teams unless a cheating device is used. The rings and others are located in the same placement as for Team Chaotix in Super Hard.

Hidden Setting

In the PC version, adding the line

Charmy_Shutup 1

to "%AppData%\SEGA\SONICHEROES\sonic_h.ini" will disable all voice clips that do not have accompanying subtitles (such as attacks, idling, and scoring).

Oddities

As seen here, there's a self-destruct switch out of the wall in Team Rose's Final Fortress, to the left of where it normally is. If you fly next to the left wall, you'll be able to see it, and you can actually press it if you use glitches.

Voice Clip Oddities

A lot of voice files in the PC version are empty for unknown reasons, most notably Cream's A-rank line. In the versions that don't have this problem, she says "I'm so happy, I want to tell everyone!". The subtitles for most of the other empty voice clips will still appear, however.

There are some clips in-game for when the characters explain the bobsled controls. However, these explain that if the Flight character is thrown off, the bobsled won't be able to jump. The order for character removal is Speed, Power, Flight, so when the Flight (i.e. last remaining) character is thrown off a life is lost. This hints that previously, the order for character removal was different or random.

When fighting Metal Madness, the Hint Orb at the right makes Team Rose say that the boss will shoot fire if you grab his right arm (the flame-shooting arm). Maybe this battle was different earlier in development, because you can't do anything even remotely close to grabbing in it, and the moment he decides to shoot flames appears to be random.

Regional Differences

• The North American and Japanese PS2 versions are the only versions to have a voice language setting, which lets you choose between the Japanese and English dub as well as being able to change the language for text. The GameCube, Windows, and European PS2 versions only have a menu to change text language. The Xbox version has both voice languages present, but has no language menu and uses the set console language.
• The European PS2 release has a notorious glitch where the game sometimes registers two button presses instead of one, which can cause issues during gameplay, e.g. doing an air dash instead of jumping, not selecting the wanted character, etc.
• The European GCN version provides the option to play in 60hz; however, this just takes the 50hz mode (which already plays at the right speed and only skips frames) and forces it to run at 60hz, instead of properly adjusting the gameplay speed.
• In the PS2 version, the Cross (X) and Circle (O) buttons were not switched from their Japanese functions (being no and yes, respectively) in the North American version. The button assignments were switched in the European release.

Platform Differences

There are many differences between the GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and Windows versions.

• Team Sonic's intro lines during Team Select only play all the way through on GameCube. All other versions cut Knuckles off mid-sentence. No other teams get cut off, but the fade is faster.
• The GameCube and North American PS2 versions have no music in the File Select screen, while the European PS2, Xbox, and Windows versions do.
• Data for Korean localized text is present in all versions, but is only selectable on the Windows and Korean PS2 versions.
• The GameCube and North American PS2 versions have no music in the File Select screen, while the European PS2, Xbox, and Windows versions do.
• Team Sonic's intro lines during Team Select only play all the way through on GameCube. All other versions cut Knuckles off mid-sentence. No other teams get cut off, but the fade is faster.
• The PS2 version has no progressive scan support, runs at 30 fields per second, and has texture layering issues in certain places, resulting in a decidedly unclean image. Both the Xbox and GameCube versions support progressive scan and run at 60 frames (or fields, when in interlaced mode) per second. The Windows version also runs at 60 fps (though it's able to go lower depending on the hardware) but, as it's a PC games, lacks an interlaced mode.
• Certain texture animations are missing in the Xbox and PS2 versions.
• The Xbox version contains FMVs at a higher resolution and bitrate. These were replaced with the GameCube FMVs for the Windows version due to install space concerns (hard drives were rather small at the time), but the Xbox FMVs can be patched back in.
• The ADX audio files in the Xbox version have a sample rate of 48000 Hz. In all the other versions as well as the Windows version for the same reason, the audio is downsampled to 32000 Hz.
• Although the Xbox didn't include the original high quality RoGSanSrfStd font for the HUD, the Windows version uses the stretched version of the font.
• The Windows version does not reuse the Xbox version's button icons and instead replaces them with generic versions which are all gray in color. It uses the letter Z for the Team Blast button, rather than the Xbox version's black face button.
• Big's stripes are missing in the Windows version, though this can also be patched back in.
• Xbox and PlayStation versions, the energy indirect textures are brighter.

Windows version	Xbox/PS2 version

• The Windows version contains HUD textures with fewer compression artifacts than those in other versions.
• The Windows version makes use of a launcher, with which higher resolutions can be selected. The shading in-game is also somewhat improved.
• In Team Battles, Speed characters (Sonic, Shadow, Amy, and Espio) do not enter a hurt animation when hit in the PC version and only lose rings, making them harder to defeat.
• An in-store build (though not the demo/kiosk versions released) playable in Walmart years ago had the file selection screen replaced with a Battle screen. Picking either side still navigates to the main menu, and has all features from the retail as usual.
• A Free Camera mode a la Sonic Adventure DX was added to the Windows version; however, unlike DX. it doesn't enable full dual-analog. All versions of the game allow the player to move the camera left and right with the right analog stick, but if the stick is moved up or down while standing still, the player enters first-person mode. This still occurs when Free Camera is enabled. The addition of the new option forced a redesign of the pause menu.
• The Xbox version contains a brightness setting, and the GameCube version has a setting for a deflicker filter.