Old stuff, but still:
(Extremely incomplete)
Unsolved mystery #1: "Walking pumpkin"
Found in: Caves
I still think it looks a bit like the bottom part of Swooper Bat. In fact, that's how I missed this for so long. I was so sure that it was a part of the bat that I never really noticed it... and so, BMF discovered it first. :/
Lost tile #1: "Forest ring"
Found in: Forest
An (as far as I can tell) unused tile. Sort of looks like a Chain to me. What happens if you Chomp it? ...what?
Lost tile #2: "Note"
Found in: Levels with Chargin' Chuck.
I'm still quite sure that I've seen Whistlin' Chuck or such use it... I can't find any evidence for that, though.
Oddness #1: "Layer 1 paths"
Found in: Overworld
All but two (x69 and x6F) of the blank tiles in GFX1E are used for the Layer 1 path graphics. Yes, the Layer 1 path tiles does actually have graphics, but the tiles are normally blank. In the image above, I added some LM-like graphics to the file and got that result. Now, why are those tiles there? Did Nintendo once plan on putting the path graphics on Layer 1, or was it just a temporary solution used to show the roads until the real Layer 2 graphics where in place?
Unsolved mystery #2: "Nintendo file names"
Found in: Some GFX files.
Some GFX files contains an odd letter (or number + letter), which some (read: I) call "Nintendo file names", as the only reasonable explanation I can think of is that they were used to identify the files. Here's a list of the known "Nintendo file names":
GFX05: Z
GFX0B: 1F
GFX11: 1L
GFX18: E
GFX19: F (Found among beta graphics in Test ROM)
GFX1A: G
GFX23: 1S
GFX2D: 1Y
I find that the E-F-G thing in 18-19-1A supports my file name theory. Another interesting thing is that if one assumes that the file names went like this: {A, B, C, ..., Y, Z, 1A, 1B, ..., 1X, 1Y, 1Z}, file 1Z would have been the 52st file. Interesting, as there ARE 52 GFX files in the final ROM (assuming that the Mario/Animation files counts).
Also, one might think that the "Forest ring" is actually the letter "O" and is one of these file names, but it has more shading than all other letters, so it's not too likely.
Oddness #2: "Bullet Bill cannon's fate"
Found in: All level tilesets
(Left final, Right beta) The beta version seems to have used four unique tiles for the top of the cannon. The final version uses two. (That's right. The tile below the X is actually unused.) Why did they reduce the amount of tiles used from 4 to 2? To save graphics space? However, as you can see, these free tiles were never used for anything else in the final version. One odd thing to notice, however, is that only the upper right tile is overwritten by a placeholder, not the lower right one. Why is the placeholder there? To show that the space is free? In that case, wouldn't they have overwritten the lower right tile as well? The most likely explanation I can think of is that there were some completely different and unknown tile there, which was then removed and replaced with a placeholder... for some unknown reason... Let's come up with strange theories about that removed tile. Hmm.... I think it used to contain the secret to Stop 'n' Swop. |
