Super Bomberman

Super Bomberman
Developer: Produce Publisher: Hudson Soft Platform: SNES Released in JP: April 28, 1993 Released in US: May 10, 1993 Released in EU: November 20, 1993 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has regional differences.

Bomberman makes the jump to the SNES. There were no survivors.

Sound Test

A sound test can be accessed by pressing R on Controller 5 at the title screen, which in turn requires a Multitap. Alternately, use Pro Action Replay code 7E00A43C.

Unused Text

Debug Menu

Various debug options and text. This all maps to the unused font below. Text starts at 0x607D8 in the ROM. The code for the menu and most of its features still exists in the game code, but due to missing function calls and short-circuited functions it cannot be accessed without code modification. A rebuildable disassembly of the game can restore the menu.

 P:
 STAGE NO.  1-1
 NO DEATH   OFF
 GAME SPEED  X1
 BOMB UP     00
 FIRE UP     00
 SPEED UP    00
 REMOCON    OFF
 WALL PASS  OFF
 BOMB PASS  OFF
 FIRE PASS  OFF
 FIRE FULL  OFF
 BREAK THR. OFF
 POWER      OFF
 KICK       OFF
 SKULL      OFF
 TIME CHECK OFF
 VS CHECK   OFF
 BGM NO.     00
 SE NO.      00

1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7 1-8
2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-6 2-7 2-8
3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4 3-5 3-6 3-7 3-8
4-1 4-2 4-3 4-4 4-5 4-6 4-7 4-8
5-1 5-2 5-3 5-4 5-5 5-6 5-7 5-8
6-1 6-2 6-3 6-4 6-5 6-6 6-7 6-8
END TIT SEL DM1 DM2 DM3 DM4 CON
PAS PRM DRW WIN B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4
B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 B-9 B-A B-B B-C
 DR WIN  
 X1  X2  X3  X4

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Debug Font

A font that is always loaded in VRAM and is used in the debug menu.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Palettes

Thanks to a disassembly of this game, some unused color palettes for certain objects were found.

Green Bomb

A Green Bomb. This could have possibly been an early Pierce Bomb palette. Green bombs would later appear in the sequel's battle mode, albeit as a color-coding mechanic.

Starnuts

An old, darker palette for the Starnuts enemy.

Gold Mecha Bomberman

An old palette for Gold Mecha Bomberman that's different from the final JP and US palettes.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Regional Differences

Title Screen

Japan	International

Copyright information was updated and a trademark symbol added. The font is more colorful in the international versions, with a yellow streak in the center of the letters. The cursor palette was also changed.

Prologue

The Japanese version has a short introductory cutscene that plays before the other demos. Despite having no dialogue to be translated or objectionable content, it was disabled from international builds of the game. Cutscenes do exist in the international versions, however and can be accessed by using Pro Action Replay code 7E00A433. Pressing the X Button during this sequence will allow players to start the game with nine lives.

Normal Game

Japan	International

Moguchan, an enemy from Stage 3, lost its mouth and had its color scheme changed from brown and red to green and purple. This was probably done because the original design could be interpreted as a negative racial stereotype of African-Americans.

Japan	International

The color palettes of Bombermen that appear after clearing Stage 3 and on the world map during the ending differ between regions. Notice that the highlights on the Japanese Bombermen look messed up, meaning these palettes could be remnants from earlier Bomberman graphics, left in by mistake. Interestingly, the playable Bombermen use very similar looking palettes on Battle Stage 9, Light Zone, in all versions of the game.

Japan	International

Similarly, all eight of the Mecha Bombers received palette changes for the American and European versions. The first four now have colors identical to the four playable Bombermen.

Battle Mode

Japan	International

The Bombermen in the victory screen of Battle Mode had their colors altered in the international version. This makes their appearance consistent with the rest of the game. However, a mistake was made in the change, and as a result the shading on Black Bomberman's head is now messed up.

Japan	International

The draw screen is also different between regions. In the Japanese version, the DRAW text is stationary and the four Bombermen fall onto the screen separately. In the international versions, each letter of the word DRAW falls onto the screen separately, and no Bombermen appear at all. The code and graphics for both screen types exist in both versions, but each version only uses one screen.

Battle Length

In the European version, the code for the timer was modified to correctly count seconds in 50hz. However, since no other modification was done in the European version, everything else runs at ~83% speed, effectively making battles in the European version shorter.

(GoldS: Original TCRF research)

Unused Content

To do: Integrate the rest of this information into the article proper

The following unused content was discovered when disassembling the game:

• There were at least two levels in the game that never saw the light of day, judging by leftover data:
  • Two unused level structures. One has its palettes right after the park palettes, and one has its deleted palettes after the tunnel zone palettes. The first structure was not structured like a regular level, but had a big unpassable object in the middle of the level, making the level ring-like. These structures do not match any of the existing tilesets, and no unused tileset exists in the ROM.
  • Groups of 5 unused or delete palettes in the middle of background palettes section.
• A few chunks of empty tiles inside the animated tiles graphic file, and an unused animated tile. The unused tile does not match any palette in the game.
• A strange purple palette that seems to match the Bomberman sprite. It's unused.
• The game has a debug menu that cannot be accessed (It can be built with a debug flag). It seems that official debug builds had a debug menu instead of a pause option. Some features no longer work (game speed) some are labeled incorrectly (kick and power are swapped, and the Sound Test screen, that was added later is unlisted causing an offset), and some are simply cryptically labeled (VS check is a debugging tool for Pakupa). If the debug flag is used, the debug menu can be accessed using the Select button. It restores missing function calls and removes a short circuit in a function.
• Generally, it seems that most changes in the US versions appear, at some level or another, in the Japanese version, but are unused or incomplete. This possibly means the Japanese version was rushed and the released game was not in a perfect, final form.
• The ROM includes a strange graphic that isn't used anywhere.

(Source: Original TCRF research)