X
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Developers: Nintendo,
Argonaut Software This game has unused sounds. This game has a prototype article This game has a notes page |
X is a 3D space combat tank game loosely based on Argonaut's earlier Starglider, the SNES version of which would later evolve into Star Fox. It was developed mostly by Argonaut’s Dylan Cuthbert, with guidance from Nintendo. Initially slated for a Western release under the name of Lunar Chase, Nintendo of America got cold feet and backed out of the deal fearing it was too complicated for the small American brain.
(Polygonal 3D space figurines included and already assembled. May pose choking hazard.)
Contents
Sub-Pages
Prototype Info |
Notes |
Debug Inputs
Press B, Right, B, A, Down at the title screen to wipe the save file.
While paused on the surface of Earth or Tetamus II, press B, A, Down, Start, A, Right, B, Up, Right, Start to trigger the credits which add two stars to both sides of the "Press Any Key" text on the title screen permanently.
Unused Item Shop
Use Game Genie code 03E-E58-F7E and enter any regular ground base to see what appears to be an early Item Shop, with Fvarg; an alien character who doesn't appear in the final game. Interestingly, this text is still in English.
There is more code and data to draw an actual shop environment and actual item selection, but most of it is unreferenced at all and may be accessed via advanced hacking.
Unused Junction Shop Behavior
By changing the byte at 0xC120 to 00 00 (Game Genie code 001-20B-E65), you will be allowed to re-enter the Military Store in the junction after receiving a pickup from it, with a handful of otherwise-unused English text at 0x16B3B now utilized to give the player messages if certain pickups (or all of them) are out of stock:
This Base Has Run Out Of Supplies. Out Of Missiles. Out Of Fuel Supplies. Out Of Materials
The line mentioning missiles also goes unused by this behavior, as the game mistakenly uses the Fuel Supplies line for that pickup as well.
Leftover Weapon Energy Mechanic
For the primary weapon, energy will charge over time, and the weapon can only be fired if it's over a minimum energy threshold, depleting that much energy in the process. The threshold for the default laser, however, is set to 0, effectively disabling the mechanic altogether. 7 energy is recharged each game tick, and the byte at 0xE5E3 is the threshold. Game Genie code 285-E39-E6A will change the beam's threshold to $28, for demonstration purposes.
Inventory System Leftovers
The item inventory system from the prototype is still present in the final game, albeit hijacked by the new equipment system. Slot 1 is set to Laser, and Slot 2 is set every frame based on equipped equipment, for use with the B button. Pressing Select to scroll through slots goes unused. Here are all of the items in internal order:
In-Game Item Name | Description |
---|---|
BALLS | A weapon firing twin plasma balls, similar to the one seen in Star Fox. Uses $30 energy. As they are projectiles, they will damage the player if they can move fast enough to collide with them. |
PULSE | A weapon with the same base damage as the base Beam (1), but takes $28 energy to fire. Fires a single beam from one of the two sides of the screen randomly. |
D PULSE | Functionally identical to the default Beam, but can be fired with either button. |
D BEAM | Calls the same function as D PULSE. |
Q BEAM | Fires four beams instead of the default two. Deals 4 damage, costs $50 energy. |
MESON | Fires twin "wavy" beams. Deals a whopping 8 damage, costs $50 energy. |
FUEL | Replenishes two segments (one half) of the fuel gauge. Consumed on use. |
HP | Replenishes half of maximum health. Consumed on use. |
X POWER | Grants a 3× damage multiplier whenever the item is in the inventory. |
FINDER | Seemingly has no function in final game. Active just by being in the inventory. |
Torpedoes | Four items that simply print a missile character for how many that item represents. Firing one takes $40 energy as well. Currently unknown damage output. |
Smart Bombs | Two items that print an airbomb character for how many that item represents. Takes $80 energy to fire, and damages the nearest loaded entity. Currently unknown damage output. |
CRYSTAL | If you're not already carrying a Power Crystal, it will use a full segment (1/4 max) of fuel to generate one in your possession. Consumed on use. |
XPUTER | Seemingly has no function. |
CUBIFY | Turns any loaded default enemy tanks into Power Cubes. Consumed on use. |
GO BEAC | Warps you to the first Beacon entity that was loaded. Consumed on use. |
GO BASE | Warps you to the Junction. Consumed on use. |
GO LOCK | Warps you to whatever entity you are currently locked on to. Consumed on use. |
Mines | Three items that print a detonator character for how many that item represents. These are the same time bomb objects from the second mission. |
BOMB | This item is used by the equipment system. Consumed on use. |
X FUEL | Fully replenishes the fuel gauge. Consumed on use. |
X HP | Sets VIXIV's health to the stored maximum value (usually 8). Consumed on use. |
JETPAC | This item is used by the equipment system. |
LASER | This is the item used by the A button. |
LOCK ON | This item is used by the equipment system. |
HIGH EX | This item is used by the equipment system. |
Any weapons dealing more than 1 damage overrides the check for if beams should damage particular entities.
Unused Sounds
The "X" forming into position and title attraction sequence were supposed to play sounds, however it is likely they were disabled because the music volume was set way too loud, making the sounds barely audible. Game Genie code F53-50A-081 will enable the unused sounds, while Game Genie code 292-01F-E6E will play the sounds without music.
Unused Ending Screen
There are two identical copies of staff credits at 0x22B69 and 0x391F5 (the latter is actually used, another one is a part of a large block of BANK E data copied to BANK 8).
Both of them contain an unused part started at 0x22DD1 and 0x3945D correspondingly which appears to be planned for use in the US version:
LUNAR CHASE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY NINTENDO 1991
You may even see this message in action in the final version. Activate Game Genie code 0FC-65D-E6A and then use the Staff roll cheat mentioned above.
Totaka's Song
This game contains the first instance of composer Kazumi Totaka's famous musical signature.
Play Mission 4 and rescue a fake scientist, bringing up an image of a funny face. Wait around 45 seconds on this screen and Totaka's Song will play.
Unused Text
There is a lot of unused text in English, presumably holdovers from mechanics that were scrapped before Nintendo translated the game to Japanese. These include leftovers from the original, unreleased Western version known as Lunar Chase (likely including the prototypes that were leaked).
At 0x9228 is a list of names for models, mostly from the Eclipse tech demo. The list is incomplete and contains some names reflecting earlier models that were replaced with others (such as the GAMEBOY).
CUBE TANK RADAR GAMEBOY GUN PYRAMID SFX GLIDER HOMING BEACON BOMB BIRD SILO MILITARY BASE POWER CRYSTAL PETRIFIED TREE HOMING MISSILE PENDULUM SPROG MINE NUCLEAR SILO MUTATING PLANT ALIEN BASE CIVILIAN BASE SPROG INSECT THING COIN WAREHOUSE CRUISE MISSILE SPROG MUSHROOM SUPER GUN NUKE BOMB GAS CAN GAS STATION TRUCK ANOTHER TRUCK BLACK BOX TIME BOMB LITTLE MAN REACTOR ROD ARROW WALL GRASSHOPPER FLOWER LARVA MAN SCORPION TUNNEL ENTRANCE LIGHT TANK HEAVY TANK SMALL TANK SKIMMER CONE CRAB ROCKET LAUNCHER CHRYSALIS FLOWER SPIDER MOUSE COLLECT MISSILE TRANSPORTER SCENERY ONE SCENERY TWO SCENERY THREE SCENERY FOUR SCENERY FIVE MINI RADAR BUTTERFLY SCENERY SIX SCENERY SEVEN PLANE ONE PLANE THREE PLANE FOUR SUGINO TANK FOUR ALIEN BASE DRAKE SLEDGE SUGI TANK ONE SUGI TANK TWO SUGI TANK THREE SUGI TANK FIVE DRAKE TWO SEA PLANE SCENERY EIGHT SCENERY NINE
At 0xDE03 is some Crystal text:
ONE CRYSTAL WILL RESTORE YOUR SHIELD TO MAXIMUM START CANCELS A CONTINUES YOU HAVE NO CRYSTAL TO USE YOUR FUEL
At 0x12ACF are some leftover mission hints from the prototype, followed by some mission/tutorial descriptions. Notably, this lists 15 missions whereas the final game ends after the 10th:
HELP THE CRYSTAL IS LOCATED TO THE NORTHEAST FROM THE BASE HELP FOLLOW THE DIRECTION OF THE TANKS BACK TO THEIR BASE AND DESTROY IT HELP THE GUN FIRES MISSILES THAT TRACK YOU FLY BACKWARDS AND SHOOT THEM HELP YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN FOR THIS ONE GOOD LUCK MISSION ONE COLLECT ONE CRYSTAL MISSION TWO DESTROY FIVE TIME BOMBS MISSION THREE DESTROY THE HEAVY TANK MISSION FOUR FIND OUR SCIENTIST MISSION FIVE DESTROY THE ENEMY TUNNEL MISSION SIX ESCORT THE CONVOY OF TRUCKS MISSION SEVEN DESTROY THE FOUR GLIDERS AND COLLECT THE REACTOR RODS MISSION EIGHT DESTROY THE LARVA MISSION NINE DESTROY THE CRUISE MISSILE THAT IS HEADING FOR THE SILO MISSION TEN DESTROY THE BIG ALIEN BASE MISSION ELEVEN REPORT MINE FIELD SIGHTED FRIENDLY CRAFT STRANDED WITHIN OBJECTIVES COLLECT PERSONNEL FROM STRANDED CRAFT AND RETURN TO BASE MISSION TWELVE TRAINING MODE MISSION THIRTEEN REPORT MINES BECOMING A MAJOR HAZARD OBJECTIVES DETONATE ALL MINES WITH TIME BOMBS OR SIMILAR HIGH EX AND RETURN TO BASE MISSION FOURTEEN REPORT MAJOR CLUSTER OF ENEMY BASES SIGHTED EASTWARDS EXTREME CAUTION OBJECTIVES SEEK AND DESTROY AND RETURN TO BASE MISSION FIFTEEN REPORT FORMATION OF ENEMY FORCES SIGHTED TO THE NORTH EXTREME DANGER OBJECTIVES DESTROY ALL ENEMY AND RETURN TO BASE
At 0x28C95 is some further mission text:
FIND THE CRYSTAL AND TAKE TO SILO BEFORE THE ALIEN DESTROYS THE SILO THE CRYSTAL IS IN SECTOR YOU HAVE A CRYSTAL NOW GO TO THE SILO IN SECTOR ENEMY HAS PLANTED FIVE TIME BOMBS DESTROY THEM ALL BEFORE THEY BLOW TIME BOMBS LEFT HURRY UP QUICKER QUICKER PLENTY OF TIME HEAVY TANK IS ON COURSE TO DESTROY ALL OUR RADARS DESTROY THE TANK RADARS REMAINING SITUATION DRASTIC HURRY UP PLEASE SITUATION SAFE MISSION
At 0x0BA34 is a list of names and scores meant to be used as a default Hi-Score table. "Dylan" may be developer Dylan Cuthbert, while the others may just be joke names:
DYLAN 0,0,5,0,0,0,0,0 FRED 0,0,0,4,0,0,0,0 BOB 0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0 SUPERMAN 0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0 DYLAN 0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0
Unused Training Text
At 0x30000 is a table of pointers to briefing sequences, the first eleven of which correspond to the mission order as well as the final brief before the credits.
The twelfth entry at 0x30016 is an unused training briefing, instructing the use of Power Cubes to repair Beacons, and showing the bonus pickups; the thirteenth entry is for completing the training. There is also a pointer table for story recap text at 0x28018, with its twelfth entry for the training mission similarly unused.
The texts that show up at the top of the screen at the start of each mission and whenever Select is pressed also has an entry for the Training Mission at 0x17E33, which never gets triggered.
Tunnels
The data for all the tunnels are at the top of bank 9, with four different tables throughout the rom referencing them: one for start of levels (this handles the tunnels from training to Tetamus II, resuming the story, and the final escape tunnel), one for the tunnels to and from the junction, one for the alien tunnels used in Mission 5, and a table for the autopilot demos shown at the title screen (which have some overlap with the other three). The junction tunnels table has an unused ninth entry pointing to the tunnel at 0x251A7, and there is an additional tunnel with the starting shutters (used in the first table's tunnels) that goes unreferenced by any of the tables at 0x24150. Game Genie codes 41F-AFC-E6B 50F-AEC-4CF will change the tunnel to Tetamus II to the unused shutters tunnel, and codes 51F-AFC-E6B A7F-AEC-4CF will change it to the unused tunnel from the Junction table.
The starting three bytes for each tunnel get loaded into ram that is never read from, and only the first seven tunnels in the data (not exclusive to any of the tables) have nonzero values assigned to them. Just before the strings for "GET READY" and "GO GO GO" used in the first tunnel table's start sequence, there are additional strings "BONUS" (0x3475) and "10 X TIMER" (0x347B), which may suggest that the three bytes are some sort of time limit or par time, with some reward for speed involving the scrapped score mechanics.
Two unused tunnel entity types exist, types 7 (a nonmoving barrier that modifies its fill pattern [swap nybbles, increment, and invert the centre four bits]) and 9 (displays a 3D string "TUNNEL X", where X is the current level, 1-indexed). Use code 091-47B-C4A to change the "Exit" entity at the end of the tunnel to Tetamus II to a type 9 entity.
Eclipse Screens
At 0xA007, a fullscreen tilemap with run-length encoded tiledata is located, containing the title screen for Dylan Cuthbert's original tech demo, Eclipse, which led to the creation of X. The dumped prototype of X still carries the original name in the header, owed to the fact that Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi had it changed at the last minute.
The background of this title screen is an edited version of a NASA photograph of Bruce McCandless II a few meters away from the Challenger space shuttle from February 7, 1984. He is known to have made the first untethered spacewalk, and this was also the first use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU); a nitrogen-propelled, hand-controlled device.
At 0xE7A3 is another tilemap set, laid out as a menu with a few options for play.
The X series
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Game Boy | X (Prototypes) |
DSiWare | Trajectile • Starship Defense • X-Scape (Prototype) |
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