The Fallen Angels

The Fallen Angels
Also known as: Daraku Tenshi (JP) Developer: The Steel Hearts Publisher: Psikyo Platform: Arcade (Psikyo SH-2) Released internationally: 1998 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material.

The Fallen Angels is an obscure fighting game. Despite being released to Japanese arcades and seeing a very limited release in America, the game was not finished and tons of unused content exists in the game and outside it.

Though the game provides very limited story information, the plot involves several misfits in Eden, a Japanese city severed from the mainland by an earthquake, trying to dethrone Carlos, a local crime boss with ties to a kitchen sink of illicit activities.

To do: this game has debug mode.

Additional Test Menu Options

By holding down Player 1 Light Punch and activating the game's settings menu, additional options will be revealed that allow you to view all the bitmaps in the game, as well as see all the character sprites' actions. The aforementioned bitmap dump contains several pieces of concept art, many of which were revealed to be intended to be used in the game's cut story interludes and endings.

Bitmaps

Bitmap Dump Unused graphics tucked away by the developers to be discovered by curious users...

Unused Characters

One of the first things curious new players will find in the game's bitmap dump are sprites for 4(3) unused characters: Snake, Lapis, Sid, and Jimmy.

Snake

To do: Try getting a raw graphic rip. If that's not possible, this will be moved to the prerelease section.

Snake's sprite is a bit of a mystery. It has been on the internet for ages, but the place it should be in the ROM is instead a random sprite of a character from the final game, Haiji Mibu. Despite his actual sprite being missing in game, he shows up in several bitmap dump sketches and the game's storyboards reveal that he was to be one of the final boss Carlos's henchman. On the developer's website, Hajime Ito notes that Snake seemed to have a slimy personality and was an enemy of Taro.

Lapis

Lapis was to be a more lighthearted comedic character, who was a treasure hunter in the city of Eden looking for a priceless relic Carlos stole from her father.

She is the only unused character whose storyboards have turned up on the internet, posted by a former developer. Thanks to these storyboards, we know that she is an 18-year-old high school student and the daughter of a famous professor named James. The item Carlos stole from her and her father is a key to great power, but Carlos is unable to unlock it without Lapis' help and is trying to find her. On his old blog devoted to the game, Psikyo staff member Hajime Ito said that Lapis would be a long range fighter and was to wield a whip. This design would later be merged with the character Whip in King of Fighters '99.

Sid

Little is known about this character other than his name and that he does not seem to care for Carlos, as he tells another character in their storyboard that Carlos is responsible for everything that's going on in Eden. According to the developer's website, he was to use Muay Thai.

Jimmy

The bizarre Jimmy was to fight completely naked, but lacking any genitalia at all. Storyboards for other characters reveal that he was to be a relative of Yuiren, who is in the final game, and Maya, who was cut. He was kidnapped by Carlos and experimented on in his genetic weapons projects. The following image of him next to Carlos was drawn by one of the game's developers and posted online.

Translation: "Hi, I'm Otani. Right one is Carlos and left one is the character who was deleted by mistake, Jimmy. If I had more power, you wouldn't be deleted. Sorry, Jimmy."

Unused Title Screens

At the end of the Bitmap dump are prototype title screens featuring early names for the title. These are never shown during the end credits with the rest of the concept art. "Rubbin' Out", "A Blow For Freedom", and "Gut Reaction" were early names that were considered.

The "Rubbin' Out" screen is an awkward name and very simple, likely as result of being an early idea for a title.

"Gut Reaction" has two variants, with one in particular being much more polished and likely the name they were thinking about before settling on The Fallen Angels.

"A Blow For Freedom" fits with the game's themes, but the art style is completely different than that used in the final game and much too colorful for a drab fighting game.