Jan 20, 2006 at 12:17 AM
A lot of people think that the Beast Fang is one of the only things hidden in Cave Story, because it's the most obvious. In reality, there is a lot of unused script that was only intended for those testing the game before its release, as well as other text in the game unused for who knows why. After looking at the decoded TSC scripts for a long time, I have noticed interesting things here and there that I hope to share in this post. Warning: This page does contain some spoilers.
- First of all, let's look at some script in the Egg Corridor:
See those questions at the end of this section of script? "Where am I", "What did I", etc? They are apparently supposed to connect to an NPC with a TSC code of #0505, but there has been some typing error and they reference -0505 and thus don't appear in gameplay. In any case, the person who speaks these words, as you might expect, is supposed to be the defeated Igor in the Egg Corridor. I don't know why they were excluded from the game, maybe plot, maybe accidentally, but it's still left in the script. Interesting to note that Igor still talks (supposedly) after he's dosed with red flowers and is defeated.
- Next, Labyrinth I. The first section of the Labyrinth you land in, where you climb to the top and open the door.
Everything's normal except at the end. There's some Japanese that my computer won't even display because I don't have Japanese font installed.
Who knows what it means? Not particularly interesting, I admit.
- Let's go to the Camp in the Labyrinth.
Remember all those questions about how to beat Monster X that people have asked? I had no idea how to beat the darn thing when I first played the game, since it wasn't damaged by my weapons. Apparently included in this script was a tip on how to beat Monster X, but unfortunately no character in the Camp says it during gameplay. It's not even referenced by anything in the same script. An oversight or not, I don't know.
- This piece of script IS used, unlike the rest of these, but it's rarely ever witnessed so I put it in here anyway. It's in the Labyrinth Shop.
Alright, you know that there's a Gaudi in the Labyrinth Shop who is hungry for Mimiga Flesh? And you know that you can get and wear a Mimiga Mask thanks to Mrs. Sakamoto? Pixel saw this possibility and put in the script the fact that when you're wearing the Mimiga Mask, that same Gaudi will know it's you and just tell you "You're funny." Amusing, no?
- This is, in fact, one of the most interesting hidden pieces of text discovered yet, so if you're skimming through and you read this, I recommend you actually look at this part. It happens in Labyrinth B, where Booster falls from the sky.
This actually gives us a timeline on when it was when Pixel completed this part of the game! He completed most of the Labyrinth by late September 2003 (2003/09/27), and had people game-testing already, as you can tell by the script. AGTP, I guess, decided to translate this part anyway, even though it never appears in gameplay. The message that's there _would_ appear when you go through the door to get to the next part of the Labyrinth, but it doesn't appear because before it can be displayed, you are transported to the next part of the Labyrinth. In other words, because the door didn't lead to anywhere when Pixel made the level / wrote that message, people saw the message and knew, "Oh, okay. I've game-tested everything so far."
- The Outer Wall. There are a few things here.
This indicates that the Outer Wall is as far as Pixel has made levels so far at this point in time (whenever it was). There's more, though, and this is very interesting.
Now this is pretty awesome, I think. There's a hidden character in the Outer Wall, two blocks down and two blocks to the left of the top door. His name is Pixel the Cat, and he's one of the supposedly "unused" character sprites. You can move him using Miza or Sue's Workshop if you want to actually see him and talk to him. Anyway, he says the text above, indicating that Pixel wanted to make the Plantation the last stage. Obviously, he decided to expand a great deal. Not only is the Plantation the largest section of Cave Story, it has numerous doors that connect to other places, and it was not the last stage, as you know. I wonder why Pixel wanted to know how far he could get in two months. Was it a deadline of sorts? Who knows.
- Now to the Plantation.
Who knows what that block of text means? It's not said by any character or anything in the Plantation, as far as I know. What's interesting is, after it's said, it transports you (<TRA) to map 57, namely, Jail No. 1 where Sue and Jack and the gang are hanging out after being captured by the Doctor. It actually transports you to _inside_ the jail, the same place you get transported after trying to teleport to Arthur's House from the Plantation Teleport Room and then get stomped on by the orange dude. Remember that? "Do you want to teleport to Arthur's House?" "Yes" "KILLER ROBOT!" "*smash*" My guess is that this script was supposed to be used IN the Plantation, not one of the side rooms, but Pixel found it easier to have it happen in the side room when you try to teleport and instead get sent to the jail.
- Momorin's Hideout has one piece of script that should never be used, unless you've been hacking your save files or the game.
Pretty self-explanatory. She won't take your Booster unless you actually have it (and you should have either 0.8 or 2.0 by now). Interesting how she knows that it's called a Booster; I guess she knew about the Professor's project.
- The Balcony actually has two different TSC/Map files: Blcny1 and Blcny2. Blcny1 is the file that has the rabid Mimigas attacking you when you get to the Balcony and has the power-up supply at the top. Blcny2 is different: it has no attacking Mimigas and no power-up supply. It also is the Balcony that you run across when you go to jump off the island or when you go through the door to the Prefab House to Hell. Anyway, from Blcny1:
There's a Cthulhu (the native guys in green robes) stuck in the rock near the door of Blcny1 who says this. From Blcny2:
Again, the same Cthulhu. Pixel put him there to let the game-testers know what was going on, as before. "The next part is still under construction" ... That part, would of course, be Hell.
As far as I know, there's no other great unused and interesting parts of Cave Story. There are a lot of little snippets of text that most people don't ever know are there. For example, examining a dead Sky Dragon, talking to the Mimigas right during the Doctor Boss Fight, or talking to the hungry Gaudi in the Labyrinth while wearing a Mimiga Mask are just a few ways you can see unusual responses. These responses I have shown you you will never see, except in the case where you decide to pull Pixel the Cat out of his hole in the Outer Wall, or one of the Cthulhus out of the Balcony using a map-editing program.
- First of all, let's look at some script in the Egg Corridor:
See those questions at the end of this section of script? "Where am I", "What did I", etc? They are apparently supposed to connect to an NPC with a TSC code of #0505, but there has been some typing error and they reference -0505 and thus don't appear in gameplay. In any case, the person who speaks these words, as you might expect, is supposed to be the defeated Igor in the Egg Corridor. I don't know why they were excluded from the game, maybe plot, maybe accidentally, but it's still left in the script. Interesting to note that Igor still talks (supposedly) after he's dosed with red flowers and is defeated.
- Next, Labyrinth I. The first section of the Labyrinth you land in, where you climb to the top and open the door.
Everything's normal except at the end. There's some Japanese that my computer won't even display because I don't have Japanese font installed.
Who knows what it means? Not particularly interesting, I admit.- Let's go to the Camp in the Labyrinth.
Remember all those questions about how to beat Monster X that people have asked? I had no idea how to beat the darn thing when I first played the game, since it wasn't damaged by my weapons. Apparently included in this script was a tip on how to beat Monster X, but unfortunately no character in the Camp says it during gameplay. It's not even referenced by anything in the same script. An oversight or not, I don't know.
- This piece of script IS used, unlike the rest of these, but it's rarely ever witnessed so I put it in here anyway. It's in the Labyrinth Shop.
Alright, you know that there's a Gaudi in the Labyrinth Shop who is hungry for Mimiga Flesh? And you know that you can get and wear a Mimiga Mask thanks to Mrs. Sakamoto? Pixel saw this possibility and put in the script the fact that when you're wearing the Mimiga Mask, that same Gaudi will know it's you and just tell you "You're funny." Amusing, no?
- This is, in fact, one of the most interesting hidden pieces of text discovered yet, so if you're skimming through and you read this, I recommend you actually look at this part. It happens in Labyrinth B, where Booster falls from the sky.
This actually gives us a timeline on when it was when Pixel completed this part of the game! He completed most of the Labyrinth by late September 2003 (2003/09/27), and had people game-testing already, as you can tell by the script. AGTP, I guess, decided to translate this part anyway, even though it never appears in gameplay. The message that's there _would_ appear when you go through the door to get to the next part of the Labyrinth, but it doesn't appear because before it can be displayed, you are transported to the next part of the Labyrinth. In other words, because the door didn't lead to anywhere when Pixel made the level / wrote that message, people saw the message and knew, "Oh, okay. I've game-tested everything so far."
- The Outer Wall. There are a few things here.
This indicates that the Outer Wall is as far as Pixel has made levels so far at this point in time (whenever it was). There's more, though, and this is very interesting.
Now this is pretty awesome, I think. There's a hidden character in the Outer Wall, two blocks down and two blocks to the left of the top door. His name is Pixel the Cat, and he's one of the supposedly "unused" character sprites. You can move him using Miza or Sue's Workshop if you want to actually see him and talk to him. Anyway, he says the text above, indicating that Pixel wanted to make the Plantation the last stage. Obviously, he decided to expand a great deal. Not only is the Plantation the largest section of Cave Story, it has numerous doors that connect to other places, and it was not the last stage, as you know. I wonder why Pixel wanted to know how far he could get in two months. Was it a deadline of sorts? Who knows.
- Now to the Plantation.
Who knows what that block of text means? It's not said by any character or anything in the Plantation, as far as I know. What's interesting is, after it's said, it transports you (<TRA) to map 57, namely, Jail No. 1 where Sue and Jack and the gang are hanging out after being captured by the Doctor. It actually transports you to _inside_ the jail, the same place you get transported after trying to teleport to Arthur's House from the Plantation Teleport Room and then get stomped on by the orange dude. Remember that? "Do you want to teleport to Arthur's House?" "Yes" "KILLER ROBOT!" "*smash*" My guess is that this script was supposed to be used IN the Plantation, not one of the side rooms, but Pixel found it easier to have it happen in the side room when you try to teleport and instead get sent to the jail.
- Momorin's Hideout has one piece of script that should never be used, unless you've been hacking your save files or the game.
Pretty self-explanatory. She won't take your Booster unless you actually have it (and you should have either 0.8 or 2.0 by now). Interesting how she knows that it's called a Booster; I guess she knew about the Professor's project.
- The Balcony actually has two different TSC/Map files: Blcny1 and Blcny2. Blcny1 is the file that has the rabid Mimigas attacking you when you get to the Balcony and has the power-up supply at the top. Blcny2 is different: it has no attacking Mimigas and no power-up supply. It also is the Balcony that you run across when you go to jump off the island or when you go through the door to the Prefab House to Hell. Anyway, from Blcny1:
There's a Cthulhu (the native guys in green robes) stuck in the rock near the door of Blcny1 who says this. From Blcny2:
Again, the same Cthulhu. Pixel put him there to let the game-testers know what was going on, as before. "The next part is still under construction" ... That part, would of course, be Hell.
As far as I know, there's no other great unused and interesting parts of Cave Story. There are a lot of little snippets of text that most people don't ever know are there. For example, examining a dead Sky Dragon, talking to the Mimigas right during the Doctor Boss Fight, or talking to the hungry Gaudi in the Labyrinth while wearing a Mimiga Mask are just a few ways you can see unusual responses. These responses I have shown you you will never see, except in the case where you decide to pull Pixel the Cat out of his hole in the Outer Wall, or one of the Cthulhus out of the Balcony using a map-editing program.
