Vectorman 2

Vectorman 2
Developer: BlueSky Software Publisher: Sega Platform: Genesis Released in JP: August 11, 2005 (Sonic Gems Collection) Released in US: November 15, 1996 Released in EU: October 7, 2005 (Sonic Gems Collection) Released in KR: November 24, 2005 (Sonic Gems Collection) This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select.

Vectorman 2 is the rare and somewhat-rushed US-only sequel to Sega's answer to Donkey Kong Country. It would later appear in Sonic Gems Collection as an unlockable game.

To do: Research the prototype ROMs. I know some unused stages off the top of my head ("A lake of silver", the title for quicksilverlake and quicksilverreservoir), but there's more to it than that. Also, I think there's a developer interview that may have some good info.

Unused Songs

To do: See if either of these appear in the prototype and/or are used in there.

There are two songs that remain unused in this game. In fact, one of these most likely isn't used due to time constraints.

Intro B

An alternate version of the intro song.

Options

The song that was supposed to play in the options menu. It sounds very similar to a lot of other songs in the game. In fact, it sounds eerily similar to the song that plays in the Invader bonus stage in particular.

Coordinate Displays

There are at least four different coordinate displays in the game, all accessible with button codes. Pause the game and enter any of the following codes to activate the corresponding display:

B, A, Left, Down (BALD)

The two coordinates on the left are Vectorman's X and Y positions, and the two on the right are the screen's X and Y positions.

B, A, Left, Left (BALL)

Also displays Vectorman's X and Y positions, with 4 digits.

Left, Up, A, Up (LUAU)

Also displays Vectorman's X and Y positions, with 3 digits.

A, Left, A, B, A, Mode, A (ALABAMA; this one requires a six-button controller)

This one increases when the game slows down and constantly decreases back to zero.

Free Movement Mode

Pause and press Up, Left, A, Z, Y, B, Up, Mode (U LAZY BUM; this one also requires a six-button controller) to activate a free movement mode. Vectorman will turn into a cursor and can be moved around with the D-Pad. In this mode, he is immune to damage and can defeat most enemies simply by touching them. Pause and enter the code again to disable.

Level Select

While paused, press Up, Right, A, B, A, Down, Left, A, Down (U R A BAD LAD). There is also a sound test, but it is the same one that is already available in the Options menu.

Ron's Test Level

A short test level accessible from the level select. It uses an otherwise-unused debug tileset and tests the game's various types of platforms, as well as destructible walls. Oddly, Vectorman starts the level as a tank. The bottom of the level is inescapable, but the level can be exited by using the level select code or by taking a moving platform up to the "2" platforms at the start of the level.

Unused Intro Screens

The level select contains two unused entries, "AND" and "PRESENT", both of which display the respective words in simple blue text on a black background. The former leads to the Blue Sky Software logo, whereas the latter leads to the title screen. In prototype versions of the game, these screens appeared after the Sega and Blue Sky Software logos, respectively.

Unused Text

Development Text

Scattered throughout the ROM are some development-related error messages.

Playfield A map type ID out of range
Playfield B map type ID out of range
Window map type ID out of range
Background x mask is not a power of 2
Background y mask is not a power of 2
Background type ID out of range in draw routine
Map Tile Decompression Buffer Overflow
Internal Error get_hscroll_table
Internal Error get_vscroll_table
Character hscroll mode not implemented yet
Invalid scroll mode for standard_hscroll_set
Invalid scroll mode for standard_vscroll_set
width must be power of 2 if wrap is enabled
height must be power of 2 if wrap is enabled
bgvv 64 tall error 0
stile driver not implemented for window
world height in stiles cannot be greater than BG_MAX_MAP_HEIGHT
Too many supertiles
allocate VRAM - unused stack underflow
VRAM pools exausted
no mem for typewriter
get_tile_ptr called outside a tile vtile vvtile map
illegal difficulty
unknown message
invalid controller set
undefined environment tile
invalid hit type
Unknown complex collision type
unknown score event
stack underflow or highram overflow
bad comment ID
bomb tile not found
invalid special object
no RAM for time bonus text
no RAM for TV bonus text
no RAM for photon bonus text
no RAM for tally
no VRAM for watch
watch VRAM not initialized
no VRAM for hero projectiles
projectile VRAM not initialized
cannot create photon list OCB
no photon VRAM
could not allocate OCB for colmask
too many piece characters
special non-flipped piece
special tween no h-flip piece
special h-flip piece
special tween h-flipped piece
special v-flip piece
special tween v-flipped piece
special h-v-flip piece
special tween h-v-flipped piece
no mem for status
invalid coord mode
unknown chr in status message
too many powerups
bad powerup ID arrangement
unimplemented powerup
call to add_bg_animation without an active bg anim OCB
cannot add bg animation
invalid bg type for bganim
too many bg changes to save
bad input to setup_vscale
no mem for realloc obj
unknown realloc mode
waypoint no hero
invalid waypoint index
invalid waypoint handler
no mem for region
cant find region OCB
no room for explosion buffers
no RAM
purgeable OCB wo O_REACT
stext no RAM
invalid ASCII
internal invisfx error
no VRAM for rivet
rivet VRAM not initialized
no VRAM for dummy
dummy VRAM not initialized

(Source: Ferrox)

Object Names

Some object names can be found at 0x3E968 in the ROM.

create_girder
CrawlerCreate
SlugCreate
FleaCreate
SnakeFlyCreate
SpiderCreate
PaintballCreate

(Source: Ferrox)

Unused Level Names

The six scenes of the opening cutscene have level names which are never displayed.

NIGHT IN THE INTRO1
NIGHT IN THE INTRO2
NIGHT IN THE INTRO3
NIGHT IN THE INTRO4
NIGHT IN THE INTRO5
NIGHT IN THE INTRO6

(Source: Ferrox)