Chaotix/Hidden content
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Contents
No 32X error message
Code exists to display an error message if the game does not detect a 32X on startup. However, on real hardware the 32X security code tries to access the 32X directly without checking if it's there, which makes it hang up on a black screen. The message can be seen in emulators that don't implement this hang up, such as Kega Fusion.
Curiously, this error screen always uses the name "SUPER32X" (sic) regardless of region.
Metal Sonic Kai attacks
In any of the game's five attractions, if the player waits for 56 seconds without pressing any buttons, Metal Sonic Kai[1] will fly in and attack. He will use one of two possible attacks: his new Plasma Pulse Attack, or a move resembling his V. Maximum Overdrive Attack.
Extra sound test controls
If the player has a Six Button Control Pad, there are two extra options on the sound test screen. Holding while pressing or toggles between mono and stereo output, while holding and doing the same allows the tempo of the song to be adjusted. While the Japanese manual mentions this feature[2], the North American and PAL versions do not, explicitly stating that the and buttons are unused.[3][4]
Amy cameo
Amy, while not a playable character in Chaotix, nonetheless makes a cameo appearance as an unlockable for the sound test screen. Setting the first nine MARS color test values to 0, 06 0B 11 and 8 17 will cause Amy to appear in the bottom right of the sound test - she moves from side to side, with a speech bubble that says "Cool sweet & catchy!"
Stage select and debug mode
Set the first six MARS color test values to 06 0B 11 and 04 00 04 to add a "stage select" option to the main menu. From here you will be able to select a stage, the time of day, and the combination of characters.
This also enables debug mode - during gameplay, press to pause the game, and you will be able to move freely around the level. To go faster, hold one, two or three buttons.
Notes:
- World Entrance Level 0 is the normal world lobby, level 1 is the penultimate boss, level 2 is the final boss, and all the others crash the game.
- Special Stages number from 0 (0 is the first, 1 is the second, etc.). Special Stage Level 6 is the wireframe version of the first Special Stage, with the rest being inaccessible. Each Special Stage starts you off with 200 Rings. Once completed, a Special Stage takes you back to the title screen.
- Not Used level 0 will show the bad ending. Due to the title screen resetting game progress, it is normally impossible to select this option while having Chaos Rings; if one uses a cheat code to obtain them on the title screen, however, the appropriate Chaos Rings screen will play, as will the good ending if all six are acquired.
Recycled jumping animations
Knuckles (Chaotix) |
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Sonic (Sonic CD) |
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Mighty (Chaotix) |
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Both Knuckles and Mighty borrow their jumping animations for the Special and Bonus Stage from Sonic the Hedgehog CD. While care was taken to remove Sonic's ears (and add more colours), Knuckles still has Sonic's spikes, while Mighty has had the border crudely trimmed to make the ball look smaller. The Knuckles sprite even keeps errors from Sonic CD. Here, the middle frame for Sonic has two erroneous pixels which are marked as transparent instead of grey/white, something carried through to Chaotix.
Both Chaotix animations also fail to take into account the 256x224 screen resolution of Sonic CD's Special Stage. Whereas in Sonic CD the graphics would be stretched horizontally to fit 4:3, Chaotix is already running with a 4:3 resolution, and so does not stretch its graphics at all. This means Knuckles and Mighty have "thinner" jump animations than they should.
Unused content
Art
Art | Description |
---|---|
Unused "dizzy" sprites of every playable character (bar Heavy and Bomb) exist. In Sonic Crackers, similar graphics are rendered when Sonic and Tails repeatedly touch spikes. | |
Many characters have unused throwing frames, some more elaborate than others. | |
An unused wall jump frame for Mighty. Briefly seen in Chaotix prototypes, with a similar pose going unused in Sonic Crackers. | |
Flying or diving sprites for Mighty, sans combi ring. | |
Extra ledge animation for Knuckles. Seen in prototypes, but not the final game. | |
Knuckles in a strange ball form, not looking happy. | |
An extra frame of animation for when Knuckles starts to glide. | |
Extra pulling frames for Charmy Bee. | |
Dash starting graphics for Charmy. | |
An unused sprite of Vector, which was possibly part of his climbing animation. | |
A forward facing spinning animation for Vector. | |
Possible ending frames for Vector's air dash, in both horizontal and vertical varieties. | |
A wall latch frame for Vector, and possibly falling off. | |
A jumping frame for Bomb. | |
Horizontal spinning sprites for Espio, presumably for when walking on walls. | |
Holding and throwing sprites for Espio when standing on walls. These moves aren't possible in the final game. | |
An animated sprite of an unused Super Sonic. Colors are incorrect and fan-made, no known palette in the game matches. Unknown use; speculated as part of an intro/outro. | |
Another Super Sonic, this time with his arm outstretched. | |
Sparkles. | |
An animated sprite of an unused Tornado with Tails. Unknown use; speculated as part of an intro/outro. | |
An unused banner-looking sprite. Possibly planned for use in the scrapped "Time Attack" mode. | |
A bubble sprite. Likely meant to be used in an underwater section, though none exist in the game. | |
Animated splashing sprites. Same case as above. | |
Spinning bumpers or balls, in both red and yellow varieties. Would later be recycled in Sonic Mania's Studiopolis Zone. | |
An unused enemy, stored near the Badniks for Amazing Arena. | |
Animated Needlenose sprites, possibly used in intro. | |
The final boss has plenty of animations that were never used in the game. On the Mega Drive's side, there is a disembodied head. | |
Unknown purple effect associated with the final boss. | |
Final boss fire effects with an unknown purpose. | |
Spinning wrist animations for the final boss, complete with fire attack. | |
Fireball graphics for the final boss. | |
Rotating left hand sprites for the final boss. | |
While partially used, some specific animation frames of Dr. Eggman in the "bad ending" are unused, as well as this background. | |
Unused, however it was probably going to stay that way. | |
Unused, unknown what it was intended for. Possibly a joke sprite. The japanese text reads "tobu" (とぶ), which translates to "to fly, to jump". | |
Hourglass icons for monitors. The "thinner" one was used as a placeholder graphic for the Combi Catcher in the 0111 prototype. | |
The text "Cassablanca projects" for the credits sequence. | |
A strange device. | |
An unused grey enemy. | |
Cape or flag graphics. | |
Bendy or moving spikes. | |
A coiled spring-like object. | |
A small spinning star. | |
A machine with a rolling tube. | |
Red buttons at various angles. | |
A lamp post associated with the title screen, complete with errors. | |
A larger icon for Isolated Island. This was used in some prototypes, but not in the final game. | |
A curved corner grouped with Speed Slider enemies. It is thought this could be part of an attempt to get loops working in the stage, which were featured in prototypes of Chaotix, but not the final game. Due to the way 32X graphics are drawn, characters are always rendered on top of loops in these builds. By making the 32X draw this corner, this limitation is disguised. | |
Hazardous platform for Amazing Arena. | |
Horizontal tube ends for Amazing Arena. In the final game, all tubes end vertically. | |
Amazing Arena blocks with sun and moon logos on them. | |
Clouds for Amazing Arena, presumably to be seen through the background windows. | |
Stars for Amazing Arena. Same as above, but perhaps further up the level? | |
Rotated versions of the Poptank enemy. In the final game, Poptanks are only ever placed on flat surfaces. | |
Unknown object (with equally unknown palette). |
Text
Chaotix stores individual word graphics rather than a full alphabet, and many of these word graphics, in various states of completion, remain unused. Most are thought to be leftovers from the scrapped "Time Attack" mode hinted in earlier prototypes.
The correct palettes are not known.
Art | Description |
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PLAYER | |
MISS | |
START | |
THE | |
CLOCK! | |
TO | |
NEXT | |
LEVEL! | |
GO | |
FOR | |
GOAL! | |
GET | |
ENEMIES | |
SCORE | |
POINTS | |
FINISH | |
IT'S | |
A | |
NEW | |
RECORD! | |
RINGS | |
Colon and "x" |
Audio
Audio | Description |
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The Sega screen at the beginning of the game was to have an accompanying sound, as evidenced by prototype builds. The sound intended for the screen is different from the one heard in prototypes and can be heard by playing the sound effect 6B in the sound test menu. |
**********
Enabling the above stage select code also reveals an unused playable character, labelled by the game as "**********".
Due to its appearance in game, ********** has, for many years, informally been known as "Wechnia", a portmanteau of "white" and "echidna". This is because in-game, ********** uses garbled, palette-swapped sprites of Knuckles and the moveset of Mighty. ********** can also be selected as a partner.
********** is a curious creature, being second in the list of selectable characters (after Mighty) and using Mighty's sprites when entering a bonus or special stage. ********** is not, however, playable in normal gameplay without hacks - as soon as the character touches the floor, the game will freeze (and even if this is fixed, interactions with other objects will likely cause problems). Incidentally this is the case with the majority of Chaotix prototypes, however up until the release of prototype 0119, ********** has an entirely different moveset - by holding the button after performing a double jump, the character will fly.
********** is, in fact, what remains of Tails, and further proof that Chaotix evolved from Sonic Crackers. With Mighty (in the first slot) being thought to have evolved from Sonic, ********** (in the second slot) was suggested to be Tails, though the addition of flight suggests more work went into the character after Crackers before he was scrapped.
Botanic Base 3 corridor
Levels 3, 4 and 5 of Botanic Base have "indoor" corridors, however one in Botanic Base 3 is inaccessible through normal play. Despite having working doors, the corridor links one empty room to another, and has no objects inside.
Cheat device codes
These are cheat codes that can only be used with game enhancer devices. Support for these codes is available in most emulators.
Game Genie
Unofficial codes
Code | Effect |
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SAXT-DTWA | Rings are worth 4. |
AL2A-EA2J | Infinite time. |
BC2A-EB2L | Infinite time/your ring count constantly increase if it reaches zero. |
RE8T-A6XN + AN8T-AAE0 | Enable level select. |
RFHA-A6TY + RFHA-A6W8 + AJLT-CA8W | Enable debug mode. |
AAPT-CAF4 | It doesn't cost any rings to call your partner (it usually costs 10 rings). |
SAPT-CNF2 | Gain 10 rings every time you call your partner (don't combine with the "it doesn't cost any rings to call your partner" code). |
SAPT-CNF2 + NTPT-CAF4 | Gain 100 rings every time you call your partner (don't combine with the "it doesn't cost any rings to call your partner" code). |
AKGA-AA3L | Keep rings between levels. |
AC9A-BAGR | Knuckles has mega jump. |
AEYA-CAG2 + AEDA-CADJ + AEET-CABA | You only have to have 1 ring to access the special stages at the end of levels (you normally need 50 rings). |
Action Replay
Unofficial codes
Code | Effect |
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FFE009:63 | Have infinite 99 rings. |
FFADB8:01 | Always have shield (leader) |
FFAE78:01 | Always have shield (partner) |
FFADFC:01 | Have Speed Shoes (leader). |
FFAEBC:01 | Have Speed Shoes (partner). |
FFADC1:05 | Enable grow (leader) (only works if "always have shield" is enabled). |
FFAE81:05 | Enable grow (partner) (only works if "always have shield" is enabled). |
FFE01B:0? | Have Chaos Rings
(Any other number higher than 6 results 6 Chaos Rings and FFE01B:06 then switching codes to FFE01B:05 will trigger the bad ending with 6 Chaos Rings getting destroyed.) |
FFDFFE:0606 + FFE000:0606 + FFE002:0606 | All levels cleared (after completing a level). |
FFDFF3:0? | Level modifier
(any other value will crash the game) |
FFDFF5:0? | Stage number modifier (1-5 for normal levels) |
FFDFF7:0? | Time of day modifier (0: Morning, 2: Day, 4: Sunset, 6: Night) |
FFFFED:FF | Amy appears in sound test. |
FFFCEA:0? | Attachment to partner modifier (0: Not Attatched, 5: Attatched). |
FFFFEC:FF00 | Enable debug mode |
FFFFEE:FF00 | Enable level select (Pick "stage select" at the main screen). |
FFE20E:0500 | Play as Bomb The Mechanic (must use at the "player select" screen). |
FFE20E:0600 | Play as Heavy The Mechanic (must use at the "player select" screen). |
Mighty: He's A Sonic Clone?
The absence of Sonic the Hedgehog as a playable character in Chaotix resulted in a lot of speculation from various members of the community, which often resulted in questioning whether Sonic was ever planned for Chaotix. Furthermore, the speculation is fueled with the presence of leaked games such as Sonic Crackers, which offers a similar gameplay engine to Chaotix, except with Sonic and Tails as the only playable characters. However, careful observation proves that Sonic may not be entirely absent from this game. Mighty the Armadillo is one of the available characters in Chaotix, who shares a lot of the behavior of Sonic in Sonic Crackers.
As the sprite sheet above demonstrates, nearly all of Mighty's poses match up with Sonic's poses from Sonic Crackers, and occasionally Sonic the Hedgehog CD. Likewise, some of the unused poses in Sonic Crackers match up with Sonic.
References
Chaotix | |
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Main page Manuals Development |
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