Talk:Castlevania (Nintendo 64)

Test Room

Torentsu shows a Test Room without giving the code to access it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzNaeog6NFw

source: Torentsu

Test Room Update: GameShark Codes for US version has been added - EXcentriX (talk)

Unused Track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS0m6ubySao

source: AspergerGamer64

There's also what appears to be a level select in the ROM. --From: divingkataetheweirdo (talk) 23:38, 8 June 2015 (EDT)

Cornel and Coller

When changing the character value during Gameplay and pressing START, you can read 2 names of (at this point) not coded characters. Setting it to 2, will turn the character into Cornel. Using this will result in an awkward jumping animation and every footstep will beging playing the boss theme. Setting it to 3, will turn the character into Coller, but there is nothing except the awkward jumping. I made a video for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UKPOKS5sZ4 — The preceding unsigned comment was added by NoSpax (talk • contribs)

Unused contents from previews

Hi, I am a big fan of Castlevania series and Castlevania 64 in particular. I've read about early versions of this game from previews and I made list of stuff, which can be researched in the game, based on them:

- werewolf boss: his model was possibly used for Cornell-Werewolf (or based on it). Possible remnants of Cornel animations, like in case of Gardener (Ex-Coller)?

- any unused player / enemy models or levels or their remnants?

- any traces of Cornel and Coller rivals (models, scripts, text)?

- any traces of Medusa and Spider Queen from Underground Waterway and Underground Tunnel respectively? In CV64 those levels have no bosses, however, they do exist in LOD. Possible connection between Medusa cut boss and cut Stone status (she can turn player into stone in LOD, but it is not a status there).

- according to almost all previews of the game, each character had their own storyline with branching paths / choices. And there was ability to "play character, according to their personality" to receive the best ending. Possible remnants of choice system / branching storylines for characters?

- investigate possibility that prisoner Fishman in the Castle Center was once Cornel.

- Each character had an ablity, which used MP bar. Any traces of that? Cornel special ability was transformation into a werewolf. This ability was used in LOD, but with Heart Counter replacing MP bar. Other special abilities are unknown. Supposedly Coller was becoming "faster". According to animation data from Gardener's file, Coller could Dash, but whether it was his special ability or not is unknown. It could have been replacement for a slide.

- any remnants of Reinhardt being able to swing across the gaps with a whip using hooks? Hooks still exist in a Tower of Executions. Or traces of his ability to swing his whip around like in Super Castlevania 4?

From old previews: each character had its own set of unique abilities - all accessible from the beginning of the game. However, some of them were secret and wasn't supposed to be listed in manual. Four characters represented four difficulties. Schneider was "normal" difficulty, Cornell was "hard" and Coller was "easy". Which difficulty was Carry is unknown.

Also, possible origin of human skins for vampires: according to early previews vampires could hide during the day in dark areas and couldn't go in some places. They could have been killed, if player could lure them out in the sun. Also, vampires could transform in regular people and ask for help from the player, luring them into the trap. HitmanJones (talk) 09:10, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

Hi! Answering your questions:

1) It makes sense that the Forest of Silence werewolf could be using leftover assets from when Cornell was in the game. Unfortunately, we don't have enough direct proof to prove that was the case, unlike with Coller (the Gardener overlay has unused strings referring to Coller).

2) Regarding player models nope. There is one unused wolf enemy model in the ROM though! It's on the page now. It appeared on a prerelease screenshot, and could possibly have been an early version of the Cerberus. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have code in the ROM, so we can't tell much about how it was supposed to behave.

3) We haven't found any at the moment.

4) I haven't looked into that. Though they're not the only enemy that later appeared as a boss in LoD. For example, the Gardener is a boss in LoD when playing in Hard Mode IIRC.

5) I think that's referring to how some stages and endings can only be accessed / seen depending on the character you play as and depending on the actions you do, just like in the final game.

6) Interesting. Just wondering but what makes you believe that the Fishman was originally Cornell? I don't remember seeing interviews or previews mentioning the possibility of the fishman being Cornell. That would be something interesting to investigate.

7) I haven't found any personally, though Player / HUD code is very extensive and I can't tell for sure yet. The "dash" in the Gardener's animation names could be referring to the Gardener's ability to run (he walks slowly at first, but after a few seconds he will start running if the Player is far from him).

8) Not yet, but again, Player code is very extensive, so it's hard to tell right now. The swinging points in the final game are actually decorative elements, and are part of the same actor that handles other 2D decorative elements that look at the camera (such as the statues in the Villa's yard). There is an animation that kind of looks like swinging in Reindhart's and Carrie's gameplay animation set (4:47), but I don't know if it's actually supposed to be a swinging animation.

Keep in mind, interest in CV64 / LoD reverse engineering has started fairly recently, and so there are a lot of things that we don't know about the game's internals yet. Feel free to join the CV64&LoD Speedruns Discord, that's where the CV64 / LoD community can be found: https://discord.gg/eKht382

We discuss the game's internals in the #tech-talk channel.

--B squo (talk) 18:01, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for answers and sorry for taking so long to answer.

1) Maybe there are some Cornell leftovers somewhere in the code of Werewolf, like in case of Gardener?

2 / 3) Wth the recent discovery of the unused skeleton enemy it is is possible there are some other models left "hidden" in the code.

5) Perhaps but wording was quite different. Though it might be the case of misunerstanding or mistranslation.

6) There is a fan theory that Cornell and Coller would've been unlocked Castlevania 3 style, which aligns with some evidence from the previews. According to this theory Coller was to be located in the garden (there is an empty enclosure in the middle of the maze with no purpose and it might explain Coller = Gardener connection). In this case most appropriate place for the Coller would've been Castle Cenetr. It could have explain why he has prisoner costume as his default (according to the CV64 concept art I think and LOD uses his secondary costume as default) and why there is such long quest with a nitro and stuff (to unlock a character). It does mean there is supposed to be similar quest for the Coller, but there is no, so, who knows. But at least Cornell being prisoner supported by his outfit and role in the OG story (trying to take revenge on the Drac).

7) With the reveal of Gardener / Coller animations meanings it is clear now.

Thanks you for the answers. I hope soon more stuff will be discovered. The best case scenario, if pre-cut version of the game will be leaked, which might help in restoring some cut content or at least understading it. HitmanJones (talk) 20:42, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

No problem! We have worked very hard these past months to document as much of the game's inner workings as possible (see the Notes page if you want further details, specially the sheets and the Discord server's #tech-talk channel).

To further clarify, I haven't investigated the Werewolf's code much, so right now I can't tell. What I can tell at the moment is that there are not unused strings in the Werewolf's code, like with Coller.

I'm pretty sure there are more unused assets in the ROM (whether unused assets files, or unused assets found in used files). Documentation of the game's files is still in progress. Any time I found a new unused asset, I put it in the TCRF page for this game. Regarding the unused skeleton enemy, the model he uses is the very same model used by the King Skeleton boss (as in the assets for both the unused enemy and King Skeleton boss are pulled from the same assets file in the ROM).

The unlocking characters theory is interesting, though so far I haven't found any code that could potentially be related to characters other than Reinhardt and Carrie. I have spent months analyzing the code, and I have to say, the devs really did a good job removing content that was featured in previous versions seen in magazines and interviews. Sure, there are many unused elements, but those are pretty small in comparison to what was featured in earlier versions of the game.

USA v1.0 is the version we're analyzing, as it is the earliest version of the game. Other versions of the game may contain interesting content not present in USA v1.0. I know for a fact that Legacy of Darkness contains a bit more debugging code than CV64, oddly enough. --B squo (talk) 15:05, 15 August 2023 (UTC)