Takeshi no Chousenjo

Takeshi no Chousenjo
Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Platform: NES Released in JP: December 10, 1986 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has unused graphics.

Takeshi no Chousenjo (たけしの挑戦状) is probably one of the most infamous and difficult games for the Famicom. Not even having both of the official strategy guides was enough to help you because of its unorthodox ways of beating the game.

Unused Graphics

(Note: Palettes may not be correct.)

A leg, present near the tiles used for when the salaryman is sitting in the movie theater. In-game, it uses an incorrect tile instead.

Another walking animation for the salaryman, except he's covering his crotch this time.

More unused sprites in the salaryman's graphic banks: the first has him face toward the screen, but the second is even weirder – either this is the salaryman in different clothing, or some kind of bystander. Either way, there's no graphics for the lower body.

One of the salaryman's graphic banks contains the holy stone near the tiles with his original suit on. Unless you use a password, it's impossible to have him wear the suit while still having the holy stone. When you do obtain it in-game, the holy stone tile comes from the graphic bank with his explorer gear on.

Unused (possibly an earlier sprite?) tiles for the kid's body. The head doesn't match up with this body, however.

An unused bystander. Although he appears to have no unique tiles for the body, his head is located near another bystander's, suggesting they used the same body.

Alternate upper body for an existing bystander, but there's no lower body tiles that match up with it.

Another head that could have been used for the ending or a cutscene.

A woman with a bikini, as well as a nude variant. These are present along with the sprites used for scenes, so it's possible that some sort of cutscene (or ending?) was planned to use them.

At one point in development, it seems like there were items that could be picked up in the cave.

This enemy's tiles are present in the same graphics bank as the Japanese soldier, suggesting that this was another enemy meant to appear on the island.

Alternate tiles exist for the boss' head, where he seems to be laughing. These tiles fit both sprites of when he's sitting down and when he catches you on the island if you didn't quit your job.

Several unused sprites with an unknown purpose, although the fact they are present near the tiles for the bullets and money suggests they were meant to be usable weapons or items. The sprite on the left resembles a chicken leg.

Hidden Message

On the street with the airport, you'll run across this man who just stands there and appears to have no purpose. However, by speaking to him twice (either by using the microphone or pressing A on Controller 2 with the in-game speech activated {itself toggled by pressing Down + A on Controller 2}), a third message will soon pop up that translates to "Hey Yoshikawa, I got married too."

This might be a reference to one of the developers.

Secret Island Hut Teleporter

If you enter any of the huts on the island (except for the chief's hut), you'll notice it's impossible to exit. However, if you stand in the same position as in the image and press Up, you'll teleport back to the resort center.

Secret Heart

Pressing Up while in front of the first tree in the forest reveals a heart. This is the only way to replenish health on the island before entering the cave, but there is nothing that tells you about this location.

Easter Egg

If you stand in the same spot as in the map below and press Up, you'll teleport to what appears to be a Japanese base in the South Pacific with soldiers attacking you. Talking to one of the soldiers twice makes them say "It feels good to take a dump at the top of a mountain." There's no purpose to this area, and you exit through the top-left of the screen.

Interestingly, if you try talking to one of your kids at home several times, he'll say "number 23" (the literal translation implies counting 23 skinny things). If you count the trees in the forest from the left, the spot where you need to stand is after the 23rd tree.

Nullified Inventory Function

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Need to find the hex address and the values for it to confirm whether the function was truly nullified or if the possibility of using it was just simply removed.

On the inventory screen, the third option from the left (はなしかた, "Speech") supposedly switches the salaryman's tone of voice from normal to threatening and vice versa. However, switching your tone of voice does not affect any of the bystanders' or enemies' dialogues and has no effect on the karaoke or yelling at the pachinko parlor.

It's possible this once had a purpose during development, but anything affected by it was removed and they never bothered to take the function off of the inventory screen.