Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire
Also known as: Breath of Fire: Ryu no Senshi (JP) Developers: Capcom, Status Publishers: Capcom (JP), Squaresoft (US) Platform: SNES Released in JP: April 3, 1993 Released in US: August 10, 1994 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a notes page

Breath of Fire is the first in a series of RPGs made by Capcom. This first entry was published by Squaresoft because Capcom USA didn't know how to translate and promote RPGs. Given how the sequel's translation turned out, maybe they should have kept this arrangement going...

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Notes

Unused Items

The game contains a number of unused items that can be hacked into your inventory via codes.

DrWarp

This is a developmental item that will allow your party to warp to any location in the game. It was mistakenly left on the list of items that came with the game. A complete list of everywhere the DrWarp can send you can be found on the notes page.

Using it, you can access three unused areas: the unfinished Nanai Bar, a glitchy house in Nanai, and a large, unfinished shrine.

The Japanese name of this item is "どこでもドア", which matches the name of the magical teleportation door used by the Japanese cartoon robot cat Doraemon. Considering what the debug item does, it's very likely meant as a reference to Doraemon. Official English translations of Doraemon call the door the "Anywhere Door". Thus, the heavily-truncated name "DrWarp" possibly meant "Door Warp", rather than "Doctor Warp" or "Developer Warp".

Coach

This item's description states that only a very strong person can pull the coach. It doesn't do anything as an item, but can be equipped on Ox as an accessory, and provided he isn't fused with Karn, his overworld sprite will change to that of him pulling a coach, the graphics of which are not used anywhere else in the game. This protects everyone except the one pulling the coach from poisonous marshes.

Others

To do: Find the Japanese names, which should help clear up the ambiguous ones.

Unlike the DrWarp and Coach, these items don't do anything whatsoever. Each one has the same unhelpful description used normally for some key items ("The use of this item is pretty obvious. It's just what the name suggests."), and can't be used, discarded, sold, or anything else. With the exception of the ClnWtr, DrSoul, and Lifter, all of these names are exclusive to the English version.

• ClnWtr (やすらぎのみず - Water of Peace) - It's possible that the healing water you obtain to purify Romero was originally a separate item, but changed later, as it makes much more sense to collect water in a container.
• DrSoul (りゅうのたましい - Dragon Soul) - Not to be confused with the DrWarp or D.Hrt, this can be equipped as an accessory, but does nothing obvious. It's completely unknown what this would have been for.
• ExpBug (はずれ - Missing) - This item can technically be "used", though it appears to have no function. Its name suggests that it may have been something that increased the amount of experience points you'd earn from a battle. This item can also be sold (for a whole 4G) or discarded. Curiously has no proper Japanese name.
• Lifter (とうぞくのうで - Thief's Arm) - Unlike the rest of these unused items, this one has a different (although still extremely vague) description: "This is a mysterious item". It can be equipped as an accessory, but appears to have no effect. Possibly intended for Karn.
• Nails (はずれ - Missing) - These, like most of the other items here, have no discovered use...although they're stackable. Has no proper Japanese name.
• Oath - I solemnly swear that the use of this item is not, in fact, obvious; it has no use and seems to be an item that was added and forgotten about.
• Paper - Rather generic, but it isn't used. It was probably just intended as another "note" item.
• PlceBo - This item's intended purpose is also unknown. Placebo is a "fake" medicine, used to fool a test subject into thinking they're getting actual medicine with varying effects, which might be a clue into the original intent of this item.
• Whskrs (はずれ - Missing)- Also can be stacked, but it also has no known function. These and the Nails were probably intended to have in-battle functions. Has no proper Japanese name.

Equipment

There is a surprisingly large number of blank pieces of equipment, most of which is character-specific. They all work fine, and most have stats, some of which are beyond anything normally available.

To do: These were obtained by save state hacking. Can someone provide Game Genie/Pro Action Replay codes?

Weapons

Digit	Power	Weight	Hands	User
15	255	0	1	Nina
1B	255	0	1	Nina
23	100	13	2	Ox
25	160	2	1	Ox
2C	46	6	1	Bleu
2E	50	0	1	Bleu
30	10	0	1	All
37	82	5	1	Gobi
39	1	63	1	Gobi
3E	100	3	2	Mogu
40	0	0	1	Bleu
48	86	8	1	Ryu/Karn
49	100	8	1	Karn
4B	126	14	1	Karn
4D	255	6	1	Ryu/Karn
57	100	8	2	Bo
58	124	8	2	Bo
59	138	14	1	Bo
5C	0	0	1	Bleu

Armor

Digit	Defense	Weight	User
0D	104	11	Ryu/Bo/Ox
10	12	5	All but Bleu
13	17	10	Ox
21	46	2	Nina/Bleu
23	55	11	All
24	8	2	All
27	65	16	All but Nina/Bleu
2A	128	10	All but Ryu
2C	94	18	Ox
2F	105	18	Gobi

Shields

Digit	Defense	Weight	User
39	15	4	Ryu/Karn
3A	2	1	All
44	110	0	Karn
46	42	9	Nina
4E	48	6	Gobi
50	5	40	Nina
55	60	10	Ox
88	0	0	All

Helmets

Digit	Defense	Weight	User
60	20	5	Ryu/Mogu
61	10	0	All
6F	0	0	Nina
77	38	8	All but Nina/Bleu
7A	110	0	All
7B	0	0	Nobody
7D	0	0	Nobody
81	0	0	Nobody
82	0	0	Nina
83	0	0	Nobody
89	35	5	All but Nina/Bleu

Unused Object

This strange object is loaded into VRAM on the world map, along with the other field items (meat, antlers, apples, coconuts, etc.). No idea what it could possibly be.

Unused Areas

There are a few unused areas, accessible via the DrWarp. A glitch in the original Japanese release allows visting most of the locations in Nanai, though the item shop remains inaccessible. In the first release, if the player skipped Camlon one of the Nanai guards that is supposed to be impassable is incorrectly set to wander instead of stand still, allowing the player to visit a Nanai mostly free of guards.

To do: Check if this was fixed in the Revision 1 release and exactly what actions in Camlon will prevent this.　Add screenshots.

Nanai Item Shop

Normally there is a guard in Nanai that will kick you out before you can ever enter the item shop.
But by hacking the DrWarp into your inventory and going to map 0023, you will warp to Nanai in the daytime with the guard out of the way.
It is actually a standard item shop and fully functional.
The most unusual item in the shop is Curex9 for 4500G. There's no way you can afford it at such an early point in the game, and no way to return once you advanced the plot. Cures are normally sold alone at 2000G apiece, and they are only sold at the bulk rate inside the two dream worlds, which cannot be exited once entered except by completing the story events, and cannot be returned to once the story event has been completed.

Item	Price
Herb	10G
Herb x9	90G
Antdt	15G
Antdt x9	135G
Acorn	30G
Acrn x9	270G
Life	500G
Cure x9	4500G

Nanai Bar

The infamous hidden bar.

By hacking the DrWarp into your inventory and setting it to location 0023, you will be able to explore Nanai during the day. Nanai is home to one of the game's two bars, but it is inaccessible during normal gameplay, as Nanai is blocked off by soldiers during the day and a sleeping guard blocks the bar's door at night.

The "bar" itself is rather unspectacular, however. It doesn't actually resemble a bar at all – it's just a duplicate of the elder's house in Drogen. There are a few people wandering around that spout stock dialogue heard throughout the rest of the game, and a square of floor a few steps below the fireplace that can't be walked over (this is where the treasure chest is in the identical house in Drogen). The most fascinating part is that the bar's music is not heard anywhere else in the game. The bar can also be warped into directly by setting DrWarp to 0043.

To do: The dialog seems to be different in the Japanese version.

Nanai Glitched House

The glitchy house, in full.

Another odd building in Nanai that's usually blocked off but can be accessed via DrWarp is the largest house in the upper-left corner of town. The right side of it appears to be half of a larger building, while the left side appears to be normal, yet inaccessible, as attempting to enter any of the black space will cause you to exit. You can warp to it directly by setting DrWarp to 0044, which reveals that it looks much like the Tantar mayor's house during the wedding sequence, albeit with some graphic glitches. The staircase doesn't work.

Unfinished Shrine

The shrine, in all its incomplete glory!

There is another unused area that can be accessed by entering 0071 on DrWarp. It appears to be an incomplete dungeon or shrine with purple floors. The exterior of the area is a ruined dragon shrine identical to the one on the island north of Gramor. The interior of the shrine has several stairs going up and down, and two side chambers that both have a set of stairs leading up into a small room with a treasure chest that cannot be opened. This area has random encounters with blue slimes.

The upwards stairs in the main chamber lead to a room that has an altar with nothing on it. But if you search the altar, the game freezes. It seems likely that it would've been a save point, but the Dragon Lord statue is missing. The downwards stairs of the main chamber take you to a scrambled room that eventually warps you to the Obelisk dig site at Scande.

Attempting to exit the shrine places you on the world map just outside Drogen.

(Source: Flying Omelette)

Unused Music

Unused Bar Theme

This is the song that can be heard in the unused bar, as seen in the section above. It is not used in any place that's accessible during normal gameplay.

Unused Heroic Theme

Much, much lesser known than the other unused song, as this one doesn't play anywhere in the game, although it sounds like it could have been intended for part of the ending.

Obscure Cutscenes

While not unused, there is a couple obscure cutscenes players are likely to miss.

Nanai Dungeon

After defeating the boss, Knight, Ryu needs to take the E-Key from the machine in the basement and exit through the teleporter a few steps away. However, if the player waits in the room for about 10 seconds, the machine will speak to them, saying "...Run while you can, for I am returning...". Wait about another 20 seconds, and the machine will speak again. Wait about another minute, and the machine will repeat the message for a final time before the screen will fade to white, giving the player a non-standard Game Over.

Forest Fortress

This is probably less missable, though. When encountering the Tuntar chief at the end of the forest fortress, he will ask if the player wants to go to the stored weapons. The thing is, the player needs to answer No to the same question THREE times and they will activate a cutscene variation that also skips one of the two boss consecutive fights. Most veteran RPG players would likely assume it's a But Thou Must after the first or second response.

New Game Passwords

The devs left in a secret way to warp to various points of the game, presumably for testing purposes. This is done by a convoluted method of controller input on Ryu's naming screen, followed by entering a specific name for Ryu:

1. On the naming screen, hold the A+Y+L+R buttons on Controller 2. While these are held, press Up x4, Right x2, Down x8, left on Controller 1. The screen background color should turn red. If it hasn't, back out of the naming screen and try again. 2. Enter one of the following names (all of which reference characters (Ryu, Chun-Li, Vega, Ken, Dee Jay, and Fei Long) from the Street Fighter series; in Japan, they reference this game's staff members) for Ryu. They are case-sensitive:

US version	Japanese version	Japanese password reference
RYU	きよみ	Kiyomi (Kiyomi Kaneko, programmer)
CHUN	コジー	Kojii (possibly Noriko Kojima, programmer; the game credits her as "Madame Noriko", though)
VEGA	なふきん	Nafukin (reduction of "Inafuking", a.k.a. Keiji Inafune)
KEN	バンブー	Bamboo (Yoshinori Takenaka, planner)
DeeJ	ドン	Don (Miki Kijima, background artist)
Fei	(n/a, see below)

The Japanese version also accepts "ボ" as a first character, but rejects everything afterwards. It is assumed this is the equivalent of "Fei" in the US version, but disabled because the Fei code is basically useless.

• All equipment is default.
• All starts begin with 100000 gold.
• Mostly the items are similar.
• Characters are mostly underlevelled for the most part.

RYU / きよみ:

• Start on Overworld, east of Windia.
• Nina recruited. Ryu Lv.8, Nina Lv.7.
• Items: Cure x2, Antdt x9, Acorn x9, M-Drop x9, T-Drop x9, Charm x2, Life2 x2, Shell x1, I-Ore, E-Key, Rang, SuedeGN, BronzHT, SuedeSH, SuedeHT

CHUN / コジー:

• Start on Overworld, east of the shrine south of the volcano.
• Nina and Bo recruited. Ryu Lv. 14, Nina Lv. 12, Bo Lv. 12.
• Items: Cure x2, Antdt x9, Acorn x9, M-Drop x9, T-Drop x9, Charm x2, Life2 x2, Shell x1, E-Key, Tablet, Ring, WtrJr', KngKey, Key, LongSD, IronSH, ArmPad, BronzHT, Rapier, Bracelet, SuedeGN, Tiara, SteelBW, SuedeAR, BronzHT

VEGA / なふきん:

• Start waking up at cutscene where Manillo steals all your money to buy the Gills in Prima.
• Nina, Bo, Karn, Gobi recruited. Ryu Lv.18, Gobi Lv.15.
• Items: E-Key, Tablet, Ring, WtrJr', KngKey, Key, LtKey, DkKey, Book, Icicle, Fife, BroadSD, MetalSH, PlateAR, BronzHT, Rapier, Bracelet, WoolRB, Tiara, SteelBW, PlateAR, BronzHT, Dagger, HuntCL, MetalSH

KEN / バンブー:

• Start on overworld right next to Gust.
• Nina, Bo, Karn, Gobi, Ox, Bleu recruited. Everyone is Lv.24. Ryu/Bo/Nina/Karn is the active party.
• Items: Cure x2, Antdt x9, Acorn x9, M-Drop x9, T-Drop x9, Charm x2, Life2 x2, E-Key, Tablet, Ring, WtrJr', KngKey, Key, LtKey, DkKey, Book, Icicle, Fife, Sphere, Gills, B-Rang, ProSH, RangerVT, FaceMask, Rapier, Bracelet, WoolRB, ChainHT, PoisonBW, RangerVT, ChainHT, Tri-DR, ProSH, HuntCL, FaceMask, OldSP, RangerVT, ChainHT, GiantHR, ChainML, HornHT

DeeJ / ドン:

• Start on overworld right outside of the Empire building.
• Everyone is recruited, including older Nina. Everyone is Lv.29. Party setup has Ox and Bleu in the active party.
• Items: Antdt x9, Acorn x9, E-Key, Tablet, Ring, WtrJr', KngKey, Key, LtKey, DkKey, Book, Icicle, Fife, Sphere, Gills, B-Rang, Pass, TmKey, SkyKey, Cowl, Maestro, ProSH, RangerVT, FaceMask, Rapier, Bracelet, WoolRB, ChainHT, Tri-DR, ProSH, HuntCL, FaceMask, OldSP, RangerVT, ChainHT, GiantHR, ChainML, HornHT

Fei:

• Ryu is stated to be level 1 on the file screen.
• An ominous, imperial theme will play when loaded, but quickly fades out and goes back to the title screen where all controller input is refused until the demo plays all the way through, then the title will operate normally.

(Source: Myria)

Regional Differences

Karn/Danc

Japan (Danc)	America (Karn)

Karn, whose name was Danc in the Japanese version, received a "race-lift" in the overseas release, going from a pale, almost ash-grey skin-tone with full lips and curly hair to vaguely Arabian-looking with small lips and straight hair. Given that the face portrait seems to be done in the stereotypical (and culturally offensive in the West) "Blackface"-style, it isn't too surprising this was changed.

Enemy Behavior

To do: Figure out which behavior is used in both GBA versions and mention it

P-Bug/Graniddo: In the Japanese version, the enemy Graniddo (グラニッド) will usually attack the player with a small chance of using a Poison move, which doesn't do immediate damage but inflicts Poison status on the player. In the English version (where it is known as P-Bug), it will Poison you every time.
As this is a very common enemy at the beginning of the game, you'll probably need to blow most of your money on Antidotes to cure the inevitable poisoning each time.

Character Names

As is common for games translated by Ted Woolsey, many character names were changed. The playable characters are listed below even if their name didn't change.

Japanese	Literal Translation	English Release
リュウ	Ryu	Ryu
ギリアム	Gilliam or Guillaume	Bo
ニーナ	Nina	Nina
ビルダー	Builder	Ox
マニーロ	Manillo	Gobi
ダンク	Danc	Karn
モグ	Mogu	Mogu
ディース	Deece	Bleu
へいし１	Soldier 1	Sr-1
へいし２	Soldier 2	Sr-2
へいし３	Soldier 3	Sr-3
セイラ	Sayla	Sara
エラン	Elan	Alan
キュラ	Cula	Cort
ジグムト	Zygmut	Mote
カーラ	Carla	Cerl
ジュダス	Judas	Jade
ゾーゴン	Zorgon	Zog
ミリア	Myria, Miria, Millia, etc.	Tyr

One interpretation of the above is that Mr. Woolsey may have attempted to keep important names at four characters long, even though this was only mandated by the game's programming for the eleven playable characters.

The soldiers were given meaningful names in the Japanese GBA release, but this was not retained for the English GBA release, which reused the Woolsey translation.