Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Nintendo 64)

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Also known as: Star Wars: Teikoku no Kage (JP) Developer: LucasArts Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo 64 Released in JP: June 14, 1997 Released in US: December 3, 1996 Released in EU: March 1, 1997 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article

To do: Investigate the Nintendo debugging tape. If this bug doesn't appear in the final game, create a prerelease page and document it there. See if there's any other beta stuff here (graphics, objects, etc). (timestamp).

A game about a grizzled Han Solo-style mercenary with his own Millennium Falcon and Chewie going through a bunch of familiar Star Wars locations, developed in tandem with an expanded universe novel as part of the series' first multimedia project. Before The Force Unleashed, even!

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Prototype Info

Debug Mode

In-game pause screen where you can see the debug mode activated, labeled as "Game Secrets". Game information is shown in grey text below the purple options.

This game has an unusually complicated Debug Mode to activate which makes the one in Zanac look like a piece of cake. There are quite a few interesting options available for experimenting if you do manage to unlock it, however.

Start a game on the Medium difficulty setting, using "_Wampa__Stompa" as your entry name (note that there is one space before Wampa and two spaces before Stompa).

After that, begin the game on any level and pause the game. Now, hold C-Up + C-Right + C-Down + C-Left + L + R + Z + D-Pad Left. While holding all those buttons, move the Control Stick halfway to the left, and hold until you hear a sound effect, then move the Control Stick halfway to the right until you hear the sound effect again. Repeat this, holding the control stick halfway to the left, then the right, and finally the left again. If done correctly, you should see some purple text appear at the top of the screen with some info below it (see screenshot).

This is the debug menu. While the menu is active, you can use the L and R buttons to move forward or backward through the options and Up or Down on the control stick to change whatever values are enabled at that time. To activate an option, press A while it is on-screen; the game will un-pause, and the option will activate. To re-enter the debug menu, input the button code as before, but instead of moving the Control Stick five times you only need to move it to the side once.

Version	GameShark Code
US Prototype	800CFD2B 0001
US v1.0	800D017F 0001
US v1.1	800D01BF 0001
US v1.2	800D098B 0001
Europe	800D3F33 0001
Japan	800DE083 0001

NOTE: Some debug options are not available in all versions.

Debug Option	Effect and/or Description
Get all stuff	Gives the player all weapons with full ammo plus the jetpack, and unlocks all levels.
Invincibility	Makes the player invincible. Can be toggled on or off.
Debug Display	Displays debug info in the corner of the screen. Can be toggled on or off. Example information is below with a brief description: 320x240 32 Hz G - Screen resolution, refresh rate (variable) pos -69,-135,6 - Position on x axis, y axis, and z axis (respectively) in units sector 8 - Current room number player is in
50 Lives	Gives the player 50 lives.
Villains are(n't) sleepy	Can be set to aren't (default) or are (enemies freeze and AI is turned off). In the latter case, enemies can still be killed and will die when woken back up.
Kill Dash	Kill yourself immediately. Does not work if Invincibility is on.
Teleport	Teleports the player to a seemingly-random point in the current level.
Next Level	Warps the player to the next level.
This Level	Warps the player to the start of the current level.
Prev Level	Warps the player to the previous level.
Wall Ghost	If set to ON, will disable collision for some walls, doors, ceilings, and objects. Enemies and destructable objects will still be solid, though.
Jump Power	The height of the player's jump. 1.000 is the default, but can go as low as 0.100 and as high as 3.000.
Gravity	Change the value to alter the amount of gravity. 1.000 is the default, but can go as low as 0.100 and as high as 3.000.
Texture	If set to OFF, all objects will lose their textures and be shaded in grey.
Lighting	If set to OFF, objects will not be affected by light.
Fog	If set to OFF, will disable the distance fog and make clipping visible in the distance.
Antialiasing	Can be toggled on (default) or off. ntialiasing is on by default.
Screen Resolution	Seemingly does nothing. May just be a header for the nect set of options.
vertFOV	Alters the FOV (field of view) of the camera. 77 is the default, but can go as low as 4 and as high as 120.
aspect	Alters the aspect ratio of the screen. 1.33 is the default, but can go as low as 0.10 and as high as 10.00.
dither	Can be toggled on (default) or off.
Fog Max	Sets the maximum view distance by altering how far back the fog starts. 200 is the default, but can go as low as 10 and as high as 999.
Fog Thick	Interestingly, this value seems to act in reverse, with higher numbers making the fog "thinner" and lower values making the fog "thicker". 996 is the default and highest value, but can go as low as 10. Very sensitive to changes.
Fog Red	Sets the color value of the fog on the red channel. Can be set from 0 to 255, with higher numbers meaning more color and 0 being no color. 150 is the default value.
Fog Green	See above. 200 is the default value.
Fog Blue	See above. 255 is the default value.
Amb Light Red	Sets the color value of the ambient light on the red channel. Can be set from 0 to 255, with higher numbers meaning more color and 0 being no color. 82 is the default value.
Amb Light Green	See above. 83 is the default value.
Amb Light Blue	See above. 88 is the default value.
Dir Light Red	Sets the color value of the directional light on the red channel. Can be set from 0 to 255, with higher numbers meaning more color and 0 being no color. 204 is the default value.
Dir Light Green	See above. 230 is the default value.
Dir Light Blue	See above. 241 is the default value.
Dir Light Ve	Alters the direction of the lighting used on objects with the values representing the x axis of rotation, the y axis, and z axis. The default is -62 -54 86, but is incredibly sensitive with almost no chance of obtaining a desired result on any or all of the values. Use the Control Stick to alter the value.
Revert Fog and Lights	Resets all light and fog values back to their defaults. Does not change any other values like gravity or jump height.

Regional Differences

US/Europe	Japan

In the US and European versions, there are 14 letter slots, necessary for activating the debug mode with the name "_Wampa__Stompa". However, in the Japanese version, there are only 11 slots, which may mean one of three things: you cannot access the debug mode through an in-game trick, there's another way to do it, or perhaps it was removed entirely for some reason.

Another noticeable change to this part of the game is the way the cursor moves about the letters. In the US/European version, the cursor glides over the entire selection of letters freely in a very fluid motion. When you stop moving the cursor, it snaps to the nearest letter. In the Japanese version, the cursor has a more rigid motion, so it can only be directly over the letters and not over the spaces in between the letters. The lack of rigid placement in the American/European versions also explains the lack of sound effect that the Japanese version has when the cursor moves from letter to letter.

The Japanese version uses cheats of _R_Testers, Credits, _Wolfy, _Wampa__St and _WIPE_ALL according to RAM. Although untested as to whether it can be activated the normal way, the debug menu can be activated by GameShark cheats of 800DE087 0001 (Activate debug menu) and 800DE083 0001 (Activate pink menu). The options are the same. The _Wolfy cheat also appears in NTSC, but its effect is unknown.

The Japanese version also features a better ammo route and different challenge point locations in Gall Spaceport and Mos Eisley.

To do: Find out which of the three possibilities mentioned above is the case for the Japanese version's debug menu. Also, replace the videos with clean screenshots.

(Source: Samuel Miller (Tetrahedrus))

Hidden Text

This space is intentionally left blank. If you can read this, you need to get a life. Elf needs food... Badly.
If found, drop in any mailbox. Postage is pre-paid. Do not submerge or take internally. No user-serviceable parts inside.
Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. This end up. Do not stack more than four high.
Dry clean only. One size fits all. and (sic) Weena Merkatur as The Hopping Woman. Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby
Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby
Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby
Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby
Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby
Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby Wampas! Baby
Wampas! Baby Wampas!

The above message, repeated 12 times in the American ROM, is located at BFCAD0. The European ROM begins the message at BFDDF0 and repeats it seven times, while in the Japanese ROM it starts at BFCB10 and is repeated 11 times.

(Source: Samuel Miller (Tetrahedrus))

Developer Text

US version
800E8DBC

time %02d:%02d:%02d
dl time %d usec
rsp time %d usec
rdp time %d usec
frm time %d usec
frm rate % 0f Hz
%dx%d %d Hz %c
pos % 0f,% 0f, % 0f
sector %d
~cturtle %d %c
~c%c
~c%c
~c%c

Japanese version
800DFF10

This file is LucasArts Proprietary and Confidential
If you can read
If you can read
If you can read
this, you need to get a life.