ActRaiser 2

ActRaiser 2 is the somewhat-contested sequel to the beloved ActRaiser. It did away with the city-building aspect, preferring to focus on 100% Pure Action and Excitement... but unfortunately, this had the nasty side effect of removing what made the original game unique. As a result, it never achieved anywhere near the same level of popularity.

Hidden Passwords#

A few hardcoded passwords exist leading to secret content.

Team Sketch Screen#

TEAM ACT. SHOW

MTkM SkTk HNSH

Shows a drawing of the development team, with speech bubbles appearing showing their roles.

ActRaiser 1 Tanzra Boss#

Long long ago.

Xxxx Yyyy Zzzz

While Tanzra's second form from the original ActRaiser appears in the demo, turns out the entirety of the original boss fight was ported over! Both forms award 99990 points on defeat. (Not that it matters, since the game resets if you beat the fight.)

Play Demo Level#

!!!! DEMO !!!!

BJQX YRKC DLSZ

Allows you to play the level shown in the demo after the Enix logo. Unlike the other two passwords, this one will be considered invalid if hard difficulty is not selected in the options.

Debug Mode#

A debug mode can be activated with the following game enhancer codes:

4DC2-1407
FBC2-1467
6FC2-14A7
ED68-4D0D

80ADD920
80ADDA19
80ADDB81
8080B1F0

Controller 2 instructions:

• Start: Instantly finish stage.
• Select: Warp to next area (may not work in all areas).
• Hold L + R: Freeze action.
• Hold Y, press Start on controller 1: Pauses without the word "pause" displayed.

Regional Differences#

To do: Apparently the Japanese version is easier?

Company Logo#

Japan	US	Europe

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe

High Scores#

Japan	US	Europe

The names on the default high score table were all replaced for the US version. In addition, the European release capitalizes the "Best 5 Players!" title.

Password Screen#

Japan	US

All vowels were removed from the US version's passwords. The European version also adds a sound effect when moving the cherub cursor, which applies to all menus.

Ice Palace Boss#

Japan	US

The boss for Ice Palace has less skin revealed in the US version.

Big Ghost Minibosses#

Japan	US

The big ghost minibosses also got a cosmetic change. The US version changed the shape of the horns, made the horns the same color as the rest of the sprite, and adds sharp rows of teeth. These changes also apply to the palette swapped version fought later.

Tower of Souls Room#

Japan	US

The boss rooms used for the rematches with the minibosses in the Tower of Souls (or Tower of Babel in the Japanese version) were changed to eliminate the Star of David religious imagery. Also worth noting is that the spheres held by the statues are smaller in the US version, but also start out black and flash into blue to mimic the blue wall effects that appear as soon as you are in the center of the room.