Jul -- The Cutting Room Floor: Sword of Mana (GBA)

shadowrelm3
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Posted on 07-19-10 05:21:17 PM

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Hey all, I was directed here by someone and thought you might be interested in some of the deleted stuff from Sword of Mana, the GBA remake of Final Fantasy Adventure. I wrote a FAQ for the game years ago and found a lot of unused content while doing research. I actually had an update to my FAQ ready which detailed the cut content, but for some reason never submitted it, likely due to my tendency to procrastinate

First, most of the text is stored in ASCII form. Capital letters and symbols, however, have non-standard values. Also, the Hero/Heroine's names, which are customizable, are represented by four-byte codes. My documentation says that Hero is 86 00 00 04, while Heroine is 86 01 00 04. If anyone wants to take a go at dumping the text, I'd be happy to lend a hand. It's been a long time since I've played the game, though, so I don't quite remember what may or may not have been cut.

There was only one unused dialogue sequence that caught my eye. It appears that it was supposed to take place near the end of the game, and what makes it so fascinating is that it involves the character, Goremand. In the released version, Goremand sort of disappears about 3/4 into the game with no explanation. Well, the unused dialogue still doesn't really explain what happens to him, but it does flesh the story out a bit and gives him a more proper exit. I have no idea why it wasn't used, although it may have something to do with the ridiculous line, "I'm not letting anyone turn you into a tree."

Heroine: Eating... the souls... of the dead... to survive. How low can
you go!?

Goremand: Humans do the same thing. You're the chosen one who'll follow
in the path of Mother Mana.

Heroine: Mother...? Mana?

Goremand: Pph, pph, pph. You still don't know? That Bogard can be a
cruel man, can't he? Your whole family line was specially chosen among
all the Mana Clan. You become a Mana tree in Sanctuary and supply the
world with Mana power.

Heroine: What?

Goremand: Just as your mother, Mana, transformed herself into a Mana
tree, so will you. That's how Mana power gets to humans.

Hero: Don't be ridiculous! What a bunch of hooey!

Goremand: I'm ridiculous and this is all hooey? Pfah! My work here is
done. Time for me to make my exit.

Hero: Don't listen to him! He's full of it!

Heroine: Uh-huh... But...

Hero: Cibba told us, right? A legend's a legend!

Heroine: Mm-hmm...

Hero: Legends, my eye! We'll bust them all!

Heroine: You're right. And the Sword of Mana didn't shine, huh? It was
all just a fairy tale.

Hero: You got that right! I'll beat Julius whether a sword shines or
not! And Heroine, I'm not letting anyone turn you into a tree!

Heroine: Thanks, Hero...

Hero: Let's bolt.

Heroine: But... What if I...

Hero: I said we bust legends! You better believe it!

Heroine: Okay...

I've always been fascinated by the inner workings of games, so I love the work you guys have done. I'll post more Sword of Mana stuff soon, and if I have time I'll see if I can remember what Wario Ware stuff was cut.

shadowrelm3
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Posted on 07-19-10 07:44:54 PM

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Next up, some unused options on the title/menu screen:

The image on the left is from the Japanese version, while the image on the right is from the US.

"Licensed to Nintendo" was added because Nintendo handled publishing duties in the US. However, even though "Demo Game" was added it's not a selectable option on the title screen.

"Passward" is not an option in the retail game. No idea what it would have been used for.

I don't believe "Collaboration" is selectable in the final game, but it's been a while since I've tried using the Amigo system, which requires linking two GBAs.

Most disappointing of all is that it appears Brownie Brown did intend for there to be a multi-player mode, as evidenced by the "Multiplay" and "2Player Mode" options.

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Posted on 07-19-10 09:47:24 PM

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"Demo Game" may have been used for a kiosk version, if there ever was one.

____________________

shadowrelm3
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Posted on 07-28-10 07:18:50 PM

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In Legend of Mana, Monster Eggs could be captured and hatched to create a third party member to accompany you. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that a similar Pet system was planned for Sword of Mana, but was abandoned at the last minute.

I spent some time hacking the game looking for items, and stumbled upon Eggs:

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