kirby

Kirby Squeak Squad [DS – Beta / Unused]

Kirby: Squeak Squad, known in Europe as Kirby: Mouse Attack and in Japan as Kirby of the Stars: Calling on the Dorotche Gang is a platform game developed by Flagship and Natsume and published in 2006 / 2007 by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory for the Nintendo DS. Mariosegafreak noticed a page of unused sprites on the Spriter’s Resource archive. Apparently the unused “Block Kirby” ability is a three-star Kirby wearing a hat from the beam ability. Not enough proof? Check the ability icons sprite sheet and you will find ‘block’. When trying to use a cheat code to activate it, Kirby just spits it out as if you pressed select/X.

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Kirby Air Ride [GC – Beta / Unused / Debug]

Kirby Air Ride is an Spin-off Kirby game developed by HAL laboratory for the Nintendo GameCube, which has been featured as the first racing game starring the pink-character that has been released. Kirby Air Ride was originally developed for the Nintendo64, but the Nintendo 64-bit version was postponed many times and then cancelled. The project seemed doomed, but Nintendo somehow resurrected it for the GameCube in 2003.

However, some Beta elements remains in some of the E3 Trailers, let see them below:

  • 0:14 ~ By a quickly look, you can see the arrow as RED color, but the Kirby is Pink;
  • 0:23 ~ In Checker Knights the graphics are little “non-detailed”;
  • 0:27 ~ When showing the HUD, it’s possible to see the map as 3D, on the final product, the map have been changed to 2D, such as a Sprite;
  • 0:27 ~ Plasma ability had an another icon (on the final version is different and it’s green) and his charge wasn’t tilt the control, it seems you would recharge such you recharge the machine, holding A;
  • 0;32 ~ Frozen Hillside was really different during the Beta;
  • 0:34 ~ The “Laps” was very bad specific, the lap counter was only a number at the top of the screen, it have been changed lately;
  • 0:34 ~ All the icons “1P-2P-3P-4P-CPU” was totally different, you can see them many on the videos, but you might only see the 2P on 0:34;
  • 0:42 ~ Inside the house on City Trial was totally pink, it was changed with more colors and objects in that house;
  • 0:44 ~ Rocket Star recharged much more faster in the Beta, in the Final version, it takes about 10 Seconds to recharged totally;
  • 0:49 ~ The volcano was totally solid with only one color, it was more detailed lately;
  • 0:49 ~ The Jumper platform was changed;
  • 0:59 ~ A lot of enemies doesn’t have shadow during the beta;
  • 1:05 ~ There is a mysterious flower in Checker Knights;
  • 1:09 ~ The Signs were removed;
  • 1:25 ~ Mike Ability seems to be uncompleted on the Beta Section;
  • Most of the stages have a minor differences: in Checker Knights, there wasn’t buttons at the end and some other stuff (such as other ways); at the desert, there wasn’t any slopes; and on other stages there was other minor differences too.
  • And here, an another trailer showing even more beta stuff:

  • 0:03 ~ The Start flag is really different;
  • 0:03 ~ The Red arrow have returned;
  • 0:17 ~ The 3D map again;
  • 0:25 ~ Look how different was the sign;
  • 0:27 ~ And look again, how different was the boost pad, there was a square with arrows, in the final version, it was much more detailed, there wasn’t a floor (square), and have more shading and etc;
  • 0:53 ~ Wheelie ability is slightly different;
  • 0:56 ~ Beta Plasma Ability as already show in the other trailer;
  • 1:02 ~ Enemies didn’t turned into dust in the Beta version, they just were fly up away;
  • 1:05 ~ In this part of the video, it’s possible to see again the uncompleted Mike ability;
  • 1:06 ~ The Spike ability had much more range;
  • 1:17 ~ This time, everyone have got Red arrows;
  • Some of the stages have little differences.
  • Hidden in the game’s code of Kirby Air Ride, there is a Debug Menu screen, which is really similar to the one in Super Smash Bros. Melee, with many features on it, such as:

  • Camera Debug
  • Item Spawner
  • Enemy Spawner
  • Game Modification
  • Effects Viewer
  • Debugging tools
  • and such others
  • I want to thanks Mack for discovering these!

    On the debug menu, we can see much unused stages and unused vehicles.

    Stages

  • TEST: It just Crashes. Update:ConkerGuru discovered a way to access this stage by just disabling an option on the Debug Menu. Let’s watch the video below!
  • TEST6: Finishing Test (just a really long line)
  • TEST7: Gliding Test
  • SIMPLE: It just Crashes
  • SIMPLE2: General Arena testing, contains some unused stuff:
  • Health Bar on Air-ride mode
  • There is a flying block enemy, which probably was to be replaced
  • Other stuff
  • DUMMY: Just nothing [It’s just like Super Smash Bros. Melee)
  • Vehicles

  • WHEEL_NORMAL: A very old model of a wheelie vehicle
  • STAR_HANDLE: Used on Top-ride, but not on City Trial/Air-ride
  • STAR_FREE: Used on Top-ride, but not on City Trial/Air-ride
  • Another informations by Mack:

    RACE3DMODEGoes into the 3d mode debug options (Stadium, City Trail and Air Ride)
    RACE3DMODEGoes into Top Ride debug menu (insanely complicated menu in Japanese);
    OPTION MODESome options such as sound option;
    PAL MODESets the language (PAL ONLY) to Europe ;
    CLEARCHECKIf enabled, all the check lists will be completed 100%;
    SOUND TESTA menu will pop which will be sound test. You can listen to both music and SFX;
    RUMBLE TESTTests the rumble feature;
    MOVIE TESTDisplays a list of all the tutorials and “movies” in the game that can be watched. Altough CPU gameplays are not present.(also know as demo movies);
    MEMCARD TEST: A bunch of complicated options related to the memory card.;
    ENDING TESTShow the 3 endings.;
    LAN EMULATELan testing feature.;
    LAN MENU TESTDisplays the lan menu.;
    SYNC TEST???? Possibly a test for sync;

    There is a Topride debug menu, which seems to edit the whole game. It’s possible to change attributes, change gravity, change items, change the track collisions, change in general, and even saves. But for now, it’s a very complicated debug menu, and will be more researches about it later.

    The Sync test, as said in Mack’s commentary, is the same box as Sound Checker, but it’s unknown about it

    There is also a vehicle called “VS_DEDEDE” which means “Dedede Stadium Arena” is the same as “DEDEDE_BIKE” the bike that you use when you choose Dedede on a Match. But this Stadium Arena version is kinda different, with worst Max Speed and better Charge Speed.

    There is a effect menu that can be accessed on gameplay (of course with the Debug Menu). There is lots of effects on the vehicles, on the levels and even, on the Menu (don’t know how view them).

    Thanks to Mack, Gabrielwoj and ConkerGuru for the contributors!

    Videos

    Unused Vehicles and Stages:

    TEST stage:

    General Debug Functions:

    Note: Mack asked me about upload the video on my profile, I gave all the credits to him, for make the video

    Enemy spawning: (all informations on the video)
    ?

    More Enemy Spawning:

    Tac and Meteo enemy usage:

    Effects Viewer:

    SYNC_TEST

    TopRide Debug Mode:

    VS_Dedede vehicle:

    Also not forgetting that the TopRide Debug Menu is very complex, this menu even was need a Save File for Debug into the game:

     
     

    Kirby’s Adventure [NES – Beta / Unused]

    Kirby’s Adventure is a platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the NES in 1992 (Japan)  and 1993 (USA andEurope). As we can read at Wiki Rusted Logic, the game features a great amount of debug rooms and unused content, some of which would end up in future Kirby games.

    Miniboss test rooms. Not just any minibosses though — these rooms have the faster, more difficult versions of Bugzzy, Poppy Bros. Sr., Rolling Turtle, and Mr. Tick Tock that are found in stage 7-2’s hidden route.

    Rooms 0142-0144: These rooms, however, weren’t used. Meta Knight battles for the layouts of rooms #142 & #144 still exist in the game, but not for room #143.

    Room 0145: A pretty cool cannon puzzle that’s only accessible from the debug room. To get the cannon to fire, you have to pound in the stake with the Hammer or Stone abilities, then quickly inhale the Laser Ball to get the Laser ability. Next, quickly fire a laser at the slope at the bottom before the ice block appears to block you, then hop into the cannon. It’s tricky to get it timed right, but it does work.

    Unused Ability : these tiles of a tiny Kirby are found in sprite bank 8C, along with the graphics for the Mike and Ball abilities. These graphics were possibly used for an ability that no longer exists in the game. The oddly sized Kirby would have been used for a shrinking animation […] This Mini ability might have been replaced with the UFO power [..] 12 years later, this ability would finally be implemented in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. However, in that game, you can’t slide while using this power.

    Also, CrashAndSonicChao found the lost Mini Kirby sprites thanks to a sprite editor:

    Thanks to ORKAL‘s Youtube Channel we can see an interesing video that shows many of the unused content.

    You can find more about the Kirby series in the WiKirby!

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    Kid Kirby [SNES – Cancelled]

    Kid Kirby was meant to be a “prequel” of the series, a platform game with a younger Kirby (with hair?) that was in development at DMA Design, the makers of Uniracers, Silicon Valley and Lemmings. A little image from this game was already seen in an old magazine, but only recently we found more concepts from the project, thanks to a flickr account from an ex-DMA developer. From an article on Gamasutra we read that Kid Kirby “was to be a showcase for the SNES mouse, but the mouse did not sell that well and the game was not great when played with a joypad, so it never saw the light of day”.

    Additional Kid Kirby renders were discovered on a 1995 Nintendo Source Book binder intended for retailers. These pictures were taken by Tomato and Heidi Poe of Earthbound Central.

    You can find more about the Kirby series in the WiKirby!

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    Kirby’s Dream Course [SNES – Beta / Unused]

    GoldS has found an unused icon in Kirby’s Dream Course: “This icon was probably supposed to be used for the Mix “ability” in the game, which gives you a random ability from an ability roulette. The icon is never used in the game. There IS a Mix enemy in the 2P mode, but this graphic is never displayed. It looks almost identical to the Mix icon from Kirby’s Adventure, apart from a different palette.” In the japanese game code you can even find 11 unused levels (check the video), that were removed completely from the USA rom. Big props to GoldS for this find!

    An interesting note: in the beginning, the game was not going to be a Kirby title. Rather, it was intended to be a miniature golf game entitled Special Tee Shot. It was only midway through development that the developers retooled it with elements from the Kirby series. Special Tee Shot was eventually released in Japan only on the Satellaview add-on. [Info from Wikipedia]

    You can find more about the Kirby series in the WiKirby!

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