Gotoh's stats in Chapter 14
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Unused content
Last revised: 29th July 2012
If you look around a couple of pages on this site, or around the web, you'll often see mentions of unused things like weapons or classes.
Why are they in the games?
Obviously they were planned to be used but ended up left out for various reasons. Maybe the developers didn't have time to fully implement them (some unused spells in Thracia 776 had unfinished animations) or perhaps they thought they disrupted the balance of the game (too many S Rank weapons in Path of Radiance?). Nonetheless, they remained in the game data.
Why didn't the coders just delete them?
Game coding can be a rather tricky process. Keeping track of every single string of data is probably not a viable option. That's before you consider whether deleting the data will cause adverse effects. If people aren't ever to see the unused things (normal people anyway...), why not just leave them in? Usually, there's no worry of the unused data hogging up space, especially with game sizes these days.
So just what exactly is unused in all the Fire Emblem games?
Well, I've tried to make a list of everything interesting that
I've come across. Most people find these stuff just by using codes
or hacking the game. Also, when compiling data for games, it's not
uncommon to bump into unused data.
Characters
Gotoh's stats in Chapter 14
Gotoh--about the only playable character in Shadow Dragon who isn't
playable in this game--has unused data for his iconic appearance
in Chapter 14; his stats are mostly inferior to his Shadow Dragon stats.
Dialogue
Unused dialogue restored for
your pleasure
During Prologue 7, Katarina asks My Unit if there's somebody
important in their life; usually My Unit responds that person is
their liege, but there is an unused dialogue branch where they say
that they don't know if there's such a person. Presumably this
branch was removed because My Unit is going to become one of
Marth's knights tomorrow and it would seem odd if My Unit doesn't
want to serve their liege, Marth.
At the end of Prologue 8, there is an unused scene where Norne
says goodbye to My Unit, like most of their other allies. Judging
from the dialogue, it seems Norne was going to be playable in the
Prologue, possibly if Ryan reached 0 HP.
Portraits
There are three unused portraits, of Midia, Minerva and Shiida,
in different (more casual-looking) clothes. Additionally, there is
an unused portrait of Nehring, the boss of Chapter 19 of Mystery of the Emblem, which
is slightly different to his portrait in New Mystery of the Emblem.
Classes
Fire Dragon, Mage Dragon and Divine Dragon exist as separate
classes, but without fully working map animations; their
statistical data is actually used when fighting with the
Fire/Mage/Divine Dragonstones. There is also data for male and
female Cavaliers on foot, which probably meant dismounting (like
in Mystery of the Emblem)
was planned to feature at one stage.
Characters
Items
Notable items include Slim Lance, Warp Powder, Wild Stone
(probably functions as a Wildheart version of the Laguz Stone or
Gem), Serenity, Tempest, scroll versions of the Beorcguard,
Laguzguard, Knight Ward, Full Guard and Knight Ring items from Path of Radiance, as well as
two Dark variants of the final boss's special attacks. Basic dark
tomes could also be forged.
Names
Tabasa, Nabe and Lalomi appear amongst a bunch of NPC characters,
while Gritz and Jacob appear with the relationship diagram
characters.
Dialogue
In Part 4 Final-1, there is dialogue suggesting that Hetzel could
be spared in that chapter. Additionally, there is an unfinished
synopsis of the story, which has a few details that are slightly
different, such as Marado being named Rino and Ludveck being named
Charolai. Digging a little further, it seems the Dawn Brigade was
originally going to be named the "Dawn Feather".
Supports
It seems the developers were originally going to include full
length support conversations (like the ones in the previous three
games) instead of the watered down ones that you see now. One
major difference is that only data for A-rank supports exists, so
it's possible the developers intended to utilise the current
"everybody supports" system, but have special conversations for
certain pairs when they reach the A-level support (that's just my
guess though).
The list of support pairs can be found here.
Music
Not counting alternate versions of many existing songs (which
only differ very slightly), there are around 25 unused songs. The
most notable ones include themes for Mist, Tibarn and Naesala, as
well as a map theme that is a remix of Arum's victory map theme
from Gaiden. The song
data also suggests the final boss was going to have a multiple
berserk-inflicting attack, instead of stun-inflicting...
Characters
Some of these characters appear in dialogue, but never on the battlefield. The full list can be found here.
Zelgius's data might just be proof of the Black Knight's true
identity. Melty is used as the Pegasus Knights summoned by
Tanith's Reinforce skill, while Heather doesn't seem to ever make
a physical appearance. Leanne and Nealuchi both have escape and
death quotes, as well as support data, perhaps indicating they
were going to be playable characters or at least characters on the
field. Additionally, there are map models for Deghinsea, Sothe as
an Assassin and an older Sanaki (some images here).
Unlike regular Sanaki, older Sanaki has a magic casting animation
on the map.
Portraits
These include some generic Thieves, Renning and a hooded Soren.
The Renning portrait is often used as evidence that Bertram, of
the Four Riders, is in fact Renning.
The same person?
Classes
These include most of the female mounted knights, female Bishops, Black Dragons and non-royal Herons. The female Bishop is actually used as a dummy class, most notably for Elincia (although Sanaki, Kurthnaga and Gareth use it as well). The Black Dragon class is used for Kurthnaga during an event.
Items
This game has got tons of these, most notably three extra S Rank weapons- Urvan, Rexcalibur and Rexflame. All three work fine, although the latter two don't seem to have proper map animations. Rexcalibur is apparently shown in a game demo, leaving a few people wondering how to get their hands on it.
(Click to enlarge)
Additionally, there are three staves, several Skill books, the
Devil Axe and the Bright Bow. The Bright Bow is the the
magic-based weapon for bows and can also target enemies adjacent
to the user, so it could have been a strategically useful weapon.
The Vigilance scroll can be used on Ulki as expected, but can also
be used on Sephiran in the Japanese version. Amusingly, the Canto
scroll can only be used on transformed herons, but herons cannot
transform in the base... There are also unused Rapier and
Lightning Sword models and hints of a Silver Card and Member Card.
Skills
The Iron Wall skill is the most complete unused skill, possessing its own skill icon and scroll, but its effect is still unclear. More mysterious skills include Bargain (same name as in Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776), Chants (galldr?) for every stat (perhaps similar to the Dancer/Bard rings in Blazing Sword?), Chaos, Charisma (another returning skill, translated as Charm in the English version, and I think this skill is actually attributed to every boss in this game), Confront (Charge?) and Evil Eye (Glare from Radiant Dawn)
Additionally, it seems Wyvern Lords, Falcon Knights, Sages and
Bishops were each going to get their own Mastery skill, instead of
sharing Stun and Flare. Finally, Wrath and Great Shield were
planned as Mastery skills--the Wrath Mastery later became
Colossus, while Great Shield presumably became the Hawk's Cancel.
Supports
A whole slew of supports were cut from the game:
Stefan/Tauroneo, Sothe/Volke, Astrid/Tanith, Tanith/Volke,
Ranulf/Tauroneo, Lucia/Titania, Marcia/Mia, Mist/Tormod,
Mist/Volke, Muarim/Stefan, Nephenee/Mia, Oscar/Astrid,
Reyson/Ulki, Kieran/Lethe, Gatrie/Bastian, Geoffrey/Kieran,
Geoffrey/Bastian, Haar/Sothe, Haar/Ulki, Ike/Zihark,
Janaff/Reyson, Janaff/Sothe, Shinon/Mist, Devdan/Makalov,
Elincia/Jill, Elincia/Lucia, Elincia/Muarim, Elincia/Nephenee,
Elincia/Tauroneo, Boyd/Devdan, Calill/Shinon, Brom/Geoffrey,
Brom/Makalov
No conversations exist for these supports, although Zihark has an
unused alternate dialogue in the Epilogue, which seems to be a
remnant of his support with Ike.
Just two- an alternate Game Over theme (which was recycled in Radiant Dawn) and a Comical
theme.
Meanwhile, the sound data suggests there were plans to give
Bertram, Ena and Petrine each their own battle theme. Maybe Ena
was originally going to be the last of the Four Riders, in place
of Bryce? Similarly, Sephiran and Ashera were each going to have
their own theme (although Ashera's theme may not have been used
for herself, but when explaining her history, although that's just
my guess). Interestingly, there were apparently plans to implement
an arena of some kind and possibly a class roll.
Alacalibur (also known as Aircalibur) mysteriously features in this game despite not featuring since Sword of Seals. The spell animation works fine, but the music cuts dramatically whenever it's used. Also, it has a Killer Ballista icon...
Aircalibur after fixing the icon
Other unused items include a dummied Mani Katti, Forblaze, Luce,
Earth Seal, Mine and all of Ninian's dancer Rings from Blazing Sword. The Earth Seal
works normally (probably has the same effect as the Master Seal),
as do the dancer Rings and the Mine. Forblaze and Luce don't have
spell animations, while the Mani Katti cannot be used by anybody
(normally). All of the dummied weapons have the name "Dummy" in
the English version.
Bizarrely, the Nightmare "staff" used by the Demon King has an
unused stat bonus of +5 Defence and +5 Resistance. This stat bonus
cannot be seen normally because staves can't be equipped, so maybe
Nightmare was originally going to be an item type that could be
equipped?
Names
Nate's stats in the prototype
version. Quite the looker, huh?
Nate was a Wyvern Rider whose role was replaced by Cormag (who
originally had Joshua's role as a coin-flipping Mercenary). Demi
appears amongst generic boss names. Mehve, Loewe and Mulitia are
unused names in the prototype version, appearing at the very end
of the character names list.
Characters
For futher details, please check here.
Bramimond has the class "Bramimond", incredible stats (and growth
rates) and S Ranks in Dark and Staves; amusingly, he is equipped
with both Forblaze and Aureola, but can't use either. Leila is a
Thief, but with an Assassin map sprite and a S Rank in swords.
Uther is a General, with great stats as well. Eleanora is a Bishop
that can use Anima magic in addition to Light and Staves. Elbert
is a Peer and can use both swords and lances. Elbert and Eleanora
have generic growth rates, whilst the former three do not. Perhaps
it was planned that you could use them?
Left: not so interesting, Right: interesting...
Sadly, Ephidel isn't quite as lucky, as he's programmed to be a
weak civilian Sage. I guess he he does have an interesting
inventory though (see above image), even if he can't use them...
Classes
Items
The unused items in the
prototype version
These only have names and, include: Tiina staff (same as in Sword of Seals), Battle robe
and Battle call. According to leaked data from Intelligent
Systems, the Battle robe item was changed to a Defence robe, which
eventually became the Ninis's Grace item held by Ninian in the
final release. Digging into the prototype version, the Battle robe
is shaped like the Dancer's robes, while the Battle call (with a
placeholder heart symbol in its name) is shaped like a Bard's
flute.
Names
Quite a lot of unused names in this game: Igrene (likely the same character as in Sword of Seals, also an Archer in the prototype version), Nadine (no, not Natalie, Dorcas's wife), Bruno, Bogan, Efta, Igor, Alexis, Baudouin (probably all bosses, Efta sounds like a Morph's name).
Opening text
Before the English release, it seems the developers already
intended to have an English text opening for this game, similar to
in Thracia 776. Luckily
they decided to stick with good old Japanese in the end...
There was a continent where "people"
and
a "dragon" live together a long time ago.
Both they were living by not invading.
However suddenly The balance was torn
by invasion of "people."
Fighting has also changed natural
providence.
This to fight was called
"war of a dragon and a man."
The defeated dragon disappeared
to somewhere
People who won made it steady and
lengthened power.
And about 1000 years after...
Characters
Idoun's human form
William appears to be an unused boss, with a similar portrait to
Roberts (a mini-boss who appears in Chapter 11A, in Hard Mode).
Idoun has some basic Shaman stats for her various appearances; her
description reads "The Priestess of Darkness ordered by Zephiel to
liberate the world".
Classes
The Divine Dragon class is basically Fa's transformed state. However it has a glitchy map sprite and no battle animations. There are also female Mercenaries, Social Knights and Paladins programmed. The "female" Mercenary has an alternative map sprite (which looks a bit like a Myrmidon), but no battle animations. The latter two have very glitchy map sprites and, again, no battle animations.
Roy modified to be a "female" Mercenary
Items
Sword of Seals features
the infamous Watch staff. It's supposed to reveal rooms hidden by
roofs (like the ones in Chapter 6), but it doesn't do anything in
this game. The Demon Dragonstone functions identically to Idoun's
Dark Breath, but bestows stat bonuses so maybe it was intended for
a Mamkute version of Idoun. The Demon Dragonstone is
actually listed under some of the official guidebooks, but
is definitely unused. The Bridge Key doesn't seem to do anything
since there are no drawbridges. Finally, the Blizzard tome was
going to be another long-ranged Anima tome, but was replaced by
Fenrir.
I apologise for the bright
yellow background, blame IS for picking a nasty transparent
colour!
There were a few world map locations that ended up not being
used: Phestos, Siene, Alesia, Terina, Calach and Regia.
Characters
For further details, please check here.
Manfroy and Yurius have data for this game, despite making very
brief appearances in the dialogue. They both have the wrong
portraits though- Manfroy has Machua's, while Yurius has Yuria's
(another version of Yurius has Cyas's portrait...). Also there is
an unused Bishop character, Gunna, who is stored amongst the
playable characters' data. He has the same portrait as Coen (Ida's
father). Gunna is speculated to be Asvel's father or grandfather,
due to his class and death quote.
The portrait is real, everything else I made up
Several classes from Genealogy of the Holy War appear, most notably: Lord Knight, Master Knight, Falcon Knight, Dragon Master, Junior Lord, Emperor, Dark Prince and Forrest. There are also unused map icons for the Princess, Queen and female Loputo Mage classes.
Items
Almost too many to name. Most of these are from Genealogy of the Holy War as
well: Gaeborg, Gungnir, Falaflame, Thorhammer, Aura, Loputousu,
Bolganone, Darkness Spear, Master Proof and... the Watch Staff.
Just highlighting some of the spells freezes the game because
their descriptions are incorrect. Otherwise they all work, albeit
with very glitchy animations. The Gaeborg and Gungnir are
interesting in that they possess the holy weapon flash from the
previous game (that and the Gungnir's weapon description even
tells you that hacking is bad and not to do it!).
Hacked Ishtar, holy weapons and more
The Master Proof finally made a proper appearance in The Sacred Stones (known as a Master Seal in the English version). The Watch Staff causes the screen to glow when used (like when you conquer the throne in the Final Chapter), but doesn't seem to do anything else.
Dialogue
Several unused conversations feature. In Chapter 19 there are
conversations that suggest Ishtar was supposed to make an
appearance in battle (backed up by the fact that she and her
Torhammer spell has data). In the Final Chapter it seems there was
going to be another (final?) boss- perhaps a monster since its
lines are in Katakana (like Mediuth and Loputousu). Also there is
some kind of timeline, similar in style to the one seen in Genealogy of the Holy War,
which also states the full names of major characters Celice and
Leaf- Celice Baldos Chalphy and Leaf Faris Claus respectively.
Classes
Lots of soldiers, or more precisely: Soldier, Sword Soldier, Spear Soldier, Axe Soldier and Archer. They are all Soldiers with different weapons (like the Armours in this game). The Spear Soldier seems to be a stronger lance-using Soldier. Perhaps they were axed in favour of the Sword/Axe/Lance/Bow Armours?
Items
The Charm staff seems to be a status affecting staff like Sleep, Silence and Berserk. It doesn't do anything (it freezes the game when used), but maybe the name has a clue... The Thief staff only works with map animations (it freezes the game otherwise) and steals gold from enemies, which might have come in handy. The Thief staff reappears in Thracia 776, where it is one of Tina's personal staves.
The Charm staff (don't ask why Sigurd is a High Priest)
Skills
A couple of skills never appear as personal or class skills,
although they have icons. These include: Return (same effect as
the Return Ring), Recover (same effect as the Recover Ring),
Re-Move (same effect as the Knight Ring), Holy Sword and Darkness
Sword. More details on them can be found in the Skills list for Genealogy of the Holy War.
Characters
The characters from the original who didn't return, like Riff and Daros, have data but no portraits.
Classes
The Guardian looks very similar to a General, but I don't believe it is programmed to use any weapons. The Dark Knight is basically like a Social Knight or Paladins (it has a Social Knight battle sprite). Perhaps it was meant to be a custom class for Camus. Finally we have the Sea Dragon, which has the ability to move freely on water just like Pirates; it uses a Fire Dragon battle sprite, which is disappointing. All three classes have a glitchy inactive map sprite.
The Sea Dragon (AKA Marth)
Items
Includes Silver Key, Dark Dragonstone and Ohm Fragment. The Ohm
Fragment was supposed to resurrect its user after death, before
vanishing, but doesn't actually do anything.
Names
Not completely related to the game and not quite unused content,
but I couldn't think of a better place to put this.
(Click to enlarge)
The world map of Akaneia that briefly appears in the Fire Emblem OAV reveals the
names of two territories to the far north east, which aren't named
anywhere else. Although, I don't think anybody would consider
these names canon, because what kind of names are Jdayd and
Adeecde...?
Dialogue
There is an unused battle conversation that suggests Midia was
originally an enemy character in Book 2. Judging from the
dialogue, maybe she was convinced by Hardin's lies just like the
Wolf Knights?
"Heartless fiends who point their
arrows at our holy kingdom, if you wish to step foot inside
Akaneia Palace, then you'll have to kill me first!"
Classes
There are at least two unused classes: Serpent and Naga. Naga is
also the same name as the Divine Dragon King from Akaneian lore,
but these are probably just monster classes (Naga are serpent
deities in Hindu mythology).
Items
Judging by its name, the Gaia spell was likely an Earth-based
spell. It doesn't have a proper spell animation though.
Dark Dragon and Sword of Light
Characters
Sabre (slightly different name to Savor from Gaiden) is an unused playable character, with Misheil's portrait, who also has data as an enemy. Wylar is one of the first non-playable characters and doesn't have a portrait. Heimler appears to be a generic knight boss and is likely the same character as in Shadow Dragon. Basilisk, Salamander and Narga appear towards the end of the character list, along with Gaia; the first three are names of the dragon tribes, so maybe Gaia was going to be the Earth Dragon tribe's name?
Items
Wyvern, Gargoyle, Salamander, Shenron, Neptune and Dark Dragon
can be equipped by Mamkutes, but can't be used to attack with. The
Helarn staff has the unusual ability of making equipped weapons
permanently indestructable and the staff itself has 22 uses! No
wonder it was removed...
The joys of an infinite use Iron
Sword
Before it was finally implemented in Thracia 776, it seems Fog of War was initially
planned for this game, judging from the Telescope item, which
claims to increase Vision by 5 when used. The Dark and Time Orbs
(no Life Orb?) can be used 3 times each, but nothing seems to
happen when you use them. Finally, we have the Fire Emblem in item
form; unlike in Mystery of the
Emblem, anyone can hold it--Shh, don't tell anyone!
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