Unused Content Compendium

zxin · May 4, 2017

[WORK IN PROGRESS...]
This is a compendium of all the unused content and assets in Cave Story.
This compendium uses both the AGTP translation and the original version of Cave Story as references.
Any contributions to speed up the completion of this compendium are welcomed, mostly regarding unused pieces of code, as I do know extensive amounts of information about other unused things already.

In addition, if something has been added to this compendium in error (as in it is not unused content) then please tell me where it is used and I will remove it immediately. Particularly any time you see '[citation needed]', that means that I'm not entirely sure whether something is used or not.

These assumptions will be used to speculate about aspects of the creation of the game.

It would seem that entity draw orders couldn't be changed in Pixel's map editing program (that or he very rarely changed them), and that entities couldn't be deleted. It would also appear that the draw order indicates the order in which the entities were created.

Also, at this point there is enough evidence that "NiCALiS' official translation" is an edit copy of AGTP's translation patch, evidenced by the fact that they both have pieces of script only present in Cave Story 1.0.0.5*, Cave Story 1.0.0.6 being the latest version, and also used in the Japanese files for Cave Story+.

*All of event -0505 in Eggs, and a bug in an <FLJ in #0110 of River.

3 of the events in this map have comments after the event number that relate to which map the event shows in the credits.

Code:

#1010jenka
<CNP0400:0150:0000
<ANP0400:0099:0000
<FAI0001<WAI0400<FAO0001
<TRA0075:0100:0020:0001
#1020Malco
<CNP0400:0150:0000
<ANP0400:0099:0000
<FAI0001<WAI0400<FAO0001
<TRA0076:0100:0001:0001
#1030cemet
<CNP0400:0150:0000
<ANP0400:0099:0000
<FAI0001<WAI0400<FAO0001
<TRA0077:0100:0001:0001

These comments are actually exactly the same in the Japanese version.

There is a null entity with event 100 on the far right of the map.

Event 100 is an unused event that leads directly to the Sand Zone, it was likely used for testing and then never removed.

Code:

#0100
<PRI<FAO0004<TRA0010:0094:0018:0032

~~----------~~
There is an unused event in the script, event 101.

Code:

#0101
<PRI<FAO0004<TRA0012:0094:0037:0011

This event probably served a similar purpose. However there remains no entity with its event number on the map.
~~----------~~
There is a null entity in an unreachable part of the map.

This entity is actually moved and changed into Professor Booster when he first teleports in to give you the Booster v2.0 after you return from the Waterway.
~~----------~~
There is a chest in the roof of the map. It was added after the beds and the blackboard. It has event 1100, is intractable, and only appears once flag 151 is set.

However, flag 151 is never set, nor can it be found anywhere else in the game's scripts. And event 1100 can't be found in the game's script.
~~----------~~
There is a null entity with no special properties over one of the bookshelves in the map. The entity was placed right after the chest with event 1100.

The placement of this entity indicates that the bookshelf may have once been intractable.
~~----------~~
The red flowers on the ground in this map were, in fact, the last entity placed. And just to the left there are two null entities with no special properties that were placed around the time the teleporter was.

There is an unused event in the script of this map.

Code:

-0505
<PRI<MSG<FAC0013What...?<NOD<CLRWhere am I...?<NOD
What did I...?<NOD<CLRWho are you?<NOD<END

The event number has had its '#' replaced with a '-' to make the event unusable. Obviously this text was originally intended to play after Igor was defeated, and implies that he didn't die. And the facepic number is one after Igor's regular facepic number, meaning Igor was likely meant to have a non-enraged facepic. The number is now used by Jenka.
However interestingly this event only appears to be in version 1.0.0.5 of the Japanese version of the game. Although a slightly different version of it can be found in Cave Story+.

Code:

-0505
<PRI<MSG<FAC0013
What?<NOD<CLR
Where am I?<NOD
...I?<NOD<CLR
You are?<NOD<END

~~----------~~

In ArmsImage.pbm there is a sprite for weapon ID#0.

And a sprite for the unused weapon ID#8.

~~----------~~
On the far right of the Bullet.pbm spritesheet you can see unused sword sprites, King's sprite in the style of his spirit, some lvl3-Bubbler-like bullets, and a red thing.

~~----------~~
In Carret.pbm you can find lots of odd unused sprites.

This one would imply that there was once a basic tutorial of some kind.

There is also this sprite, which is for effect 0xE, but has been moved down by 78 pixels, and left by 8 pixels, so it's no longer within effect 0xE's framerects. See: Effects, 0xE.

~~----------~~
In casts.pbm you can see an unused version of Pixel's bowing sprite from the credits where he is wearing white instead of blue.

~~----------~~
There is an unused facepic in Face.pbm for Sue as a human.

This facepic was used as a base for Quote's facepic in Cave Story+.

~~----------~~
The unused circle fade seen in Fade.pbm is an inverted, reversed, recoloured version of Ikachan's fade.

There are similar cases with bkGray.pbm and Loading.pbm.
~~----------~~
There is a sprite for item number 0 in ItemImage.pbm.

It's merely a few brown dots that do not appear to mean anything.
There is also a sprite for the unused 'Beast Fang' item.

~~----------~~
In MyChar.pbm there are unused sitting sprites for Quote. There aren't sprites of him sitting with the mimiga mask on, just slightly different copies of the other sprites.

~~----------~~
In TextBox.pbm there is an unused points graphic, implying that the game once has a scoring system of some kind.

~~----------~~
In Title.pbm to the far right there is some Japanese text that says "どうくつ物語|洞窟ものがたリ"

This text is just a couple of variations of the Japanese spelling of "Cave Story", which is most commonly "洞窟物語".
Also underneath the Cave Story logo there is an odd romanization of "洞窟物語", "DUKUTSU MONOGATARI".

There are many unused bullets in the game. A list of each of them and their behaviours is listed below.
0x2C: Deals "- 000" damage to all shootable enemies within its (massive) range. This means that things like beetles that aren't shootable before they first appear are not killed.
0x2E: Is completely blank.
0x2F: Deals 0 damage to every entity on the map within its (massive) range. [citation needed] This sets off enemies like behemoths and triggers a couple of strange temporary graphical glitches.
0x30: Is the same as 2F.
Bullets 0x31 and on are

Leo40Story · May 4, 2017

zxin said:
intractable

If you're gonna be grammatically correct, use "interactive".

Code:

-0505
<PRI<MSG<FAC0013What...?<NOD<CLRWhere am I...?<NOD
What did I...?<NOD<CLRWho are you?<NOD<END

Unused event... well, technically not an event, since the # in the event number has been replaced by a -.
The line, and the fact that the used face is just before enraged Igor's face picture, implies that this was supposed to be said by Igor, presumably after defeating him.

Unused "Points" HUD text in Textbox.pbm. Perhaps a leftover from a scrapped score system.
----------

Some text in Caret.pbm saying "PUSH JUMP KEY!" Maybe it was part of some tutorial...?

Also, you might want to link The Cutting Room Floor's page for Cave Story.

EDIT: Fixed BBCode.

Code:

-0505
<PRI<MSG<FAC0013What...?<NOD<CLRWhere am I...?<NOD
What did I...?<NOD<CLRWho are you?<NOD<END

Unused event... well, technically not an event, since the # in the event number has been replaced by a -.
The line, and the fact that the used face is just before enraged Igor's face picture, implies that this was supposed to be said by Igor, presumably after defeating him.

The Cutting Room Floor's page for Cave Story[/URL].

Leo40Story · May 4, 2017

zxin said:
In addition to this, you completely broke the BBcode. Proof reading is important.

Hey, how was I supposed to know that the ' character would completely break the spoiler?

zxin said:
Also I'm not going to copy text from The Cutting Room Floor.

I didn't say "copy", I said "link in post".

Leo40Story · May 4, 2017

zxin said:
Why would I do either?

Well, since this is a compendium, it should also include some references to other sources.

tlo · May 4, 2017

I don't really have the means to actually crop it/whatever for you, but there's the sprites for the green frog thing with a sword.

Edit: Oh, yeah, there's also those songs that didn't get into the actual game. Not sure if they apply, but the ones like Pier Walk and People of the Root

Mint · May 4, 2017

Might be a bit of a nitpick, but maybe you should consider writing in the OP what this is all about.
I wasn't sure what the thread was about until I checked the spoilers out.

tlo · May 4, 2017

zxin said:
I already know about all of the unused sprites.

Alright, I wasn't sure because they weren't in the first post.

tlo · May 4, 2017

zxin said:
Not really sure how to describe it myself, though. I mean, the title is about as good of a description as I could think of.

maybe something along the lines of 'This is a catalogue of all the unused assets/whatever in cave story' for people who don't know what compendium means or just don't read big words
redundancy is redundant, though, to be honest. Though.

Jade · May 5, 2017

Don't forget the insane amount of unused enemies (Owl, Frog, Flying Dog, Cyclops, etc.)

andwhyisit · May 5, 2017

Glag said:
for people who don't know what compendium means or just don't read big words

I feel ashamed of the Human race if this is actually an issue. Idiocracy here we come.

EnlightenedOne · May 5, 2017

Why don't we like just add to the Cutting Room Floor page then? Its litterally dedicated to this and I personally don't see the need to make a forum thread for documenting this.

But uh, heres a list off the top of my head:
- Beast Fang and Debug Cat
- Theres some unused script in Momorin's secret hideout for when you don't have a booster
- Map Jump and Map Set commands
- The unused Balrog Entity
- An unused blue fire NPC that follows the player after a short amount of time stationary. Think its near where the Core Projectiles are.
- This one is a stretch but since there are 2 slightly different Hell42 maps and you need to set a flag to spawn most enemies in Hell, I feel there was something scrapped possibly removing those entities and Heavy Press.
~~- I don't recall the "Bullet Only" tiles ever being used, wait now that I think about it were air currents ever used? I think it was just the waterlevel using water currents.~~
- NpcMiza definitely has unused animations for Sue/Misery

Espeon78 · May 5, 2017

EnlightenedOne said:
- I don't recall the "Bullet Only" tiles ever being used, wait now that I think about it were air currents ever used? I think it was just the waterlevel using water currents.

the bullet only tiles are in hell b3 where the deleets are, and air currents are used in labyrinth M

EnlightenedOne · May 5, 2017

Espeon78 said:
the bullet only tiles are in hell b3 where the deleets are, and air currents are used in labyrinth M

Oh shoot I forgot about both of those.

Which is funny because I've been using Labrynth M to test hacks and stuff. Oops