Recca

Legend Consumer Series: Summer Carnival '92 Recca
Also known as: Summer Carnival 92: Recca (title screen) Developer: KID Publisher: Naxat Soft Platform: NES Released in JP: July 17, 1992 Released in US: September 5, 2013 (3DS Virtual Console) Released in EU: August 15, 2013 (3DS Virtual Console) This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has revisional differences.

Recca is a self-described "super hard shooting game" that's very modest in describing itself. It's also very impressive for being a Famicom game, but they don't mention that.

To everyone's surprise, it was released outside Japan via the 3DS Virtual Console service in 2013.

To do: Specify which levels are which in the Level Select. Rip the sounds of the hidden intro.

Disabled Intro

Enable Game Genie codes IEUSTGAA AXUSYKGG NKKIAGEI KSKIPGUI, then hold Start before the animated Naxat Soft logo appears.

A "S?GA" logo appears, complete with a version of the "SE-GA!" chant (sound effect #21). It's then blown up like an in-game boss. A "Nint?ndo" logo then moves down the screen much like in the Game Boy startup sequence, complete with a similar-sounding chime (sound effect #22) upon stopping in the center. Unfortunately the game locks up afterwards and needs a reset.

The two sound effects can also be found in the "Sound Test" menu below.

(Source: Rachel Mae)

Unused Text

ROM address 0x01DBFA contains the texts for the title screen menu items. The first three items are used on the title screen, but the last two - "ZANKI ATTACK" and "SOUND TEST" - aren't. Notably, both are secrets accessed via button codes, so it's possible they weren't always hidden or were intended to stay unlocked after being accessed.

ROM address 0x01A876 contains some unused text. This table also contains the "CHANGE LIMIT" text. While some of these strings are used in-game, the data is read from elsewhere. The game never accesses these particular strings. The unused strings in this table are:

• SCORE
• HI-SC
• GAME OVER
• TIME
• TOP
• LEFT

Unused Enemies

Enemy ID 00

Uses the same sprite as the Stage 1 mini-boss cannons and fires a stream of small bullets while rotating. This object moves along the playfield as the background scrolls.

Game Genie codes PAKPXEAA AAKPUEAL will replace the first wave of enemies in Stage 1 with this enemy.

Enemy ID 3E

Moves along the playfield as the background scrolls. This enemy blocks all player bullets and can't be destroyed. Most likely intended to be used as a blockage, whether simply to be dodged or to protect enemies from regular projectiles (or both).

Game Genie codes PAKPXEAA TLKPUEAU will replace the first wave of enemies in Stage 1 with this enemy.

Unused Level Background Data

At ROM address range 0x00A010-0x00B262 are several background-related data tables. They are still used in the list containing all backgrounds at ROM address 0x010605. This background uses CHR banks 0x38 and 0x3A, however those banks have been filled with "blank pattern" (a pattern some developers use to fill empty space). The existence of this background data suggests that the CHR data did exist at some point in development.

Change Time Attack Limit

Usually, Time Attack ends after five minutes, if the score exceeds 10,000 points, or you run out of lives, whichever comes first. By holding Select when the intro starts up then pressing any button to proceed to the Mode Selection screen, though, you can change the score limit to anything from a meager 9 points to a very difficult 9,000,000 points. This will also drop the time limit to just two minutes.

Zanki Attack

On the title screen, start a Normal Game by pressing and holding Start. Then quickly before the screen has faded out, additionally hold A + B + Up + Select.

In this mode, the player starts with 50 lives and explosions from destroyed enemies will shoot bullets in random directions. Score is ranked by remaining lives. No ending is shown once the game is beaten. This game mode can be played in the second quest stages as well.

(Source: GameFAQs)

Infinite Lives

Enter the "Change Limit" screen and hold A + B + Up + Select, then press and hold Start to return to the title screen. After this, start any game mode (including Zanki Attack!) to have infinite lives.

Unused Music

Listed on the official soundtrack as "AD 2302 (Opening Demo [Unused])". One of four songs that can only be heard in the Sound Test (see below), though unlike the others this one was clearly meant to be used elsewhere.

Sound Test

Choose "Normal Game" and hold Select before the screen fades out.

Track 00 - N/A
Track 01 - AD 2302 (Unused Opening/Demo)
Track 02 - Recca (Title Screen/Area 7)
Track 03 - Jetter (Stage 1 First Half/Area 5)
Track 04 - M.O.M. (Stage 1 Second Half/Area 3)
Track 05 - Hyde (Stage 2/Area 6)
Track 06 - Heiner (Score Attack First Half)
Track 07 - Elm-39 (Stage 3/Stage 4)
Track 08 - Gelgoog (Score Attack Second Half)
Track 09 - Tera (Area 2)
Track 10 - Deepspace (Area 4)
Track 11 - Crisis (Boss)
Track 12 - Botsune (Final Boss)
Track 13 - Death-Troy (Ending)
Track 14 - Over (Game Over)
Track 15 - D.A.D. (Area 1)

When the Sound Test screen appears, one of three otherwise-unused songs (Track 16, 17, or 18) will play at random:

Track 16 (Lovin' You)

Track 17 (Dreamin' You)

Track 18 (Throbbin' You)

According to an interview with the game's composer, these three tracks were created as a joke to fit the bizarre "Recca-chan" illustration the artist created for this screen.

Level Select

Enter the Sound Test while holding Select + Start. Once in the Sound Test, release Select but keep holding Start. Next, hold A + B; now, each time you press Select it will toggle a hidden level counter in the bottom-right corner from 2-12.

Once you choose which level you want, release all the buttons and press Start to exit the Sound Test. Starting a new game will now take you to the selected level number, where:

• 02-04 is Stage 2 to 4 of first quest.
• 05-11 is Area 1 to 7 of second quest.
• 12 starts the staff roll.
• If the number doesn't appear, then the game starts from Stage 1 normally.

Virtual Console Changes

In the original Famicom version, the background will flash red whenever you land a hit on a boss and will flash white when the boss explodes upon defeat. The Virtual Console release instead has the background alternate between blue, purple, and black at a much slower rate in both cases.

This change goes with Nintendo's policy of toning down potentially-epileptic elements in Virtual Console releases.

(Source: Official trailer, at about 0:21)