Boot-Up Debug Menu

This is a sub-page of EarthBound.

To do: Somebody needs to make a code to access the Japanese version's debug menu, to be honest. Might need reformatting. P.S., source is from Starmen.net.

The Boot-Up Debug Menu is much easier to navigate than that other one, plus the text is actually readable! Enable Game Genie codes 6B88-54D4 3188-5404 3E88-5464, then upon booting up the game you'll be brought to the debug menu. At the top of the screen in all versions of the game is the text "MOTHER2 ROM 1994/07/09 VERSION".

Strangely enough, the menu's cursor is none other than Kirby, specifically a slightly earlier version of his front-facing sprite from Kirby's Dream Course (which was released in Japan just a month after Mother 2). A comparison with its final counterpart can be seen here.

Controls#

The different controls for various parts of the debug menu are:

• A - Turns the screen black for a second. The Ness image is placed wherever you moved the invisible sprite.
• B - Brings up the Talk menu, etc., as it would in the standard game. Do whatever you want, but if you don't exit the starting area first, as soon as you leave the menu the game will freeze regardless of actions taken.
• Y - This is the most interesting part of the "View Map" option. It pulls up a special menu, which is described in great detail below.
• Start + Select - Re-enter the Boot-Up Debug Menu.

While many of the drawbacks related to freezes can be remedied, it appears nothing can be done about the constantly shifting foreground graphical layer in the overworld modes.

Options#

Game#

Exits the debug menu and starts the game like normal.

View Map#

When you initially select this (or any other field debug option), you'll start in Tenda Village next to the trading shop guy (this location being very close to the 0,0 coordinates). Immediately move to the small cave where you wake up after using the Inn; you'll notice the Tenda Village music start to play. During the time you travel to the cave, do not open the normal menu or in-game debug menu, otherwise the game will freeze. Only after you've entered the cave can the menus be operated safely. If you leave for another area via the debug menu before entering the cave, all buttons will be locked and the game will freeze if you try to enter another area.

PAGE #1

• Flag - Controls what event flags are turned on and off.
• Goods - Gives you any items you want. Consult PK Hack, or check the item-giving list in the Battle Debug Menu for a list.
• Save - Saves your game and whatever you've done here. Does nothing if you've accessed this menu through the Boot-Up Debug Menu (thankfully).
• Apple - Brings up the other debug menu.
• Banana - Unknown. Displays a message and then exits.
• tx6 - Takes you to the next page of the menu.

PAGE #2

• TV - Displays two choices. The first enables monsters and the second disables them. If accessed through the boot-up menu, this is only noticeable in the VIEW CHARACTER mode.
• Event - Unknown. Shakes the ground and then roots your character in its place. Re-entering the Boot-Up Debug Menu (press Start + Select) should fix this.
• Warp - Warps you to the Happy Happy headquarters building in Peaceful Rest Valley.
• Tea - Lets you watch the first tea scene.
• 6?K - Leads back to Page #1.

PAGE #3

• +?u456789:;<=>?*ABCEDFGHIJKu|| || || || | !". - Leads back to Page #1.
• GUIDE )**,-./012345 - Shows the town maps. Press Up/Down to cycle through them. Palette can be slightly glitchy here. Will black out the screen when you exit, but can be fixed by re-entering the boot-up debug menu (press Start + Select).

PAGE #4

• CAST - Shows a subwindow with an area or circumstance-dependent number and no other options; cannot confirm, can only cancel out. Strange.
• STONE - Shows the cast of characters. No music. Dumps you in Dr. Saturn's house when done.
• STAFF - Displays the Sound Stone screen.
• "ue' ()**,-./0123456789:;<=> – Rolls the staff credits. Again, dumps you in Dr. Saturn's house when done.

PAGE #5

• REPLAY - A debugging function that can record segments of overworld gameplay to be replayed later. It requires extra SRAM (checked in the function at $C08391), otherwise it does nothing.
• TEST 1 - Displays the "player praying for Paula" text from the Giygas fight.
• TEST 2 - This teleports you to Ness' house at the very end of the game (the Picky letter event).

View Character#

All NPCs and objects are disabled.

Although, oddly, this is the only event where enemies will appear. After battle, a Lardna sprite will appear in the corner and indicate monster movement(?). This sort of makes sense, considering Lardna is more or less the Bag Lady from the first game. When a battle is started, more numbers appear below the normal ones to indicate something, but it's not certain what.

• The Lardna sprite can be hidden and revealed with L and Y on Controller 2.
• The Lardna sprite will sometimes change to a garbled doctor/nurse sprite in enemy-only areas.
• The sprite will rapidly change into many other sprites in the Twoson Dept. Store. (For some reason, riding the escalator causes this; it works in the Fourside store as well.)
• Pressing B on Controller 2 will spawn a Mach Pizza or Escargo Express script.
• Pressing X on Controller 2 will reload the screen.
• Pressing L on Controller 2 will make the Lardna sprite disappear.
• Pressing Y on Controller 2 will make the Lardna sprite appear.

View Attribute#

A clone of View Map, the only difference being that the menu is transparent. Plus, you can press Select to display several testing modes:

• 0 (default) - Nothing.
• 1 - Highlights doors/exits and places where you can climb ladders. Signs are also highlighted.
• 2 - Unknown.
• 3 - Unknown.
• 4 - Show collision maps.

Occasionally, a bright overlay will cover the screen and make things nearly unviewable.

Show Battle#

Loads the Battle Debug Menu, used to test the various battle effects.

To avoid all crashes related to uninitialized data for this option, it is recommended to enter VIEW MAP as soon as you enter the boot-up debug menu and then press Start + Select.

• A - Tests all the PSI effects.
• B - Tests screen wipes and fades.
• Y - Simple fade-in of the screen.
• Start - Takes you to the normal battle, then crashes the game, if selected directly from boot-up. Simply going to VIEW MAP and pressing Start + Select to reinitialize the boot-up menu will fix this.
• Select - Changes monster set (see below).
• Up/Down - Increase/decrease level of party by 1.
• Left/Right - Add/remove party members. Order switches from all possible setups, even ones that are impossible such as Paula alone, Jeff/Poo, etc.

Monster Formation Setup:

• Left/Right changes the selected numeral (tens, hundreds, ones). The options are invisible, so remember what you're doing.
• Up/Down changes the chosen numeral higher or lower.
• B or Select cancels out.
• A or L confirms the formation change and goes back to the normal battle debug.

When in the actual battle proper, another debug option can be used: press Select and you can choose any item to add to your party's inventory.

Show Position#

To do: Figure out what the coordinates relate to and document them.

A much more detailed version of View Character.

Sound Mode#

A simple sound test, with what appears to be a build date for the sound engine ("1994/05/12" in all versions).

• BGM - Music.
• SE - Sound effects.
• EFFECT - Various effects that can be applied to the currently playing music.

BGM IDsː 
00: NULL
01: The War Against Giygas (Part 1)
02: Your Name, Please
03: Choose Your File
04: NULL
05: You Won!
06: You Gained A Level!
07: A Bad Dream (Game Over)
08: Oncoming Boss
09: Ambush!
0A: Humoresque of a Little Dog (Unused version)
0B: You've Got A New Friend!
0C: A Good Night's Rest
0D: PSI Teleport!
0E: Teleport Fail
0F: Falling Underground!
10: Dr. Andonuts' Lab
11: Zombie Paper
12: Apple Kid's Theme
13: Friendly Neighbors
14: Onett Arcade
15: Porky's House
16: Hospital
17: Home Sweet Home
18: Paula's Theme
19: Dead-End Chaos Theatre
1A: Enjoy Your Stay (Hotel)
1B: Bed And Breakfast (Hotel Morning)
1C: Humoresque of a Little Dog (Shop)
1D: Onett Night 1
1E: Welcome to Your Sanctuary
1F: A Flash of Memory
20: Your Sanctuary (Giant Step)
21: Your Sanctuary (Lilliput Steps)
22: Your Sanctuary (Milky Well)
23: Your Sanctuary (Rainy Circle)
24: Your Sanctuary (Magnet Hill)
25: Your Sanctuary (Pink Cloud)
26: Your Sanctuary (Lumine Hall)
27: Your Sanctuary (Fire Spring)
28: Save The Miners!
29: Alien Invasion 2
2A: Fire Spring
2B: Belch's Base
2C: Threed, Zombie Central
2D: Dangerous Caves
2E: Onett Theme
2F: The Metropolis of Fourside
30: Hi Hi Hi (Saturn Valley)
31: The Monkey's Maze
32: Moonside Swing
33: Super Dry Dance (Dusty Dunes Desert)
34: Peaceful Rest Valley
35: Happy Happy is Blue
36: Winters White
37: Cavern of Winters
38: Summers, Eternal Tourist Trap
39: Boris' Cocktail
3A: Sailing to Scaraba
3B: The Floating Kingdom of Dalaam
3C: Mu Training
3D: Bazaar
3E: Scorpion's Poison (Scaraba Desert)
3F: Pyramid
40: The Jungle Awakes (Deep Darkness)
41: Listen, You (Tenda Cave)
42: Welcome Home (Magicant)
43: Dream Maze (Deeper into Ness' Subconscious)
44: Earth's Love Song (Lost Underworld)
45: The Cliff That Time Forgot (Cave of the Present)
46: The Place (Cave of the Past)
47: Giygas' Lair
48: Giygas Intro
49: Giygas' Intimidation
4A: Giygas is Fatally Wounded!
4B: Giygas Disintegrates!
4C: Runaway Five's Daily Show
4D: Runaway Five on the Move!
4E: Runaway Five's Final Performance!
4F: The Power
50: Venus Live!
51: Submarine
52: Ness' Bike
53: Sky Runner
54: Going Down!
55: Digging
56: Tessie
57: Get on the Bus
58: What A Great Picture!
59: Escargo Express at Your Service!
5A: The Heroes Return (Part 1)
5B: Spacetoneer (Phase Distorter)
5C: You've Come Far, Ness
5D: Because I Love You
5E: Good Friends, Bad Friends
5F: Smiles And Tears
60: Battle Against A Weird Opponent
61: Battle Against A Machine
62: Battle Against A Mobile Opponent
63: Battle Against Belch
64: New Age Retro Hippie
65: Battle Against A Weak Opponent
66: Battle Against An Unsettling Opponent
67: Sanctuary Guardian
68: Kraken of the Sea
69: Cease to Exist (Porky Means Business!)
6A: Inside Dungeon Man
6B: Megaton Walk
6C: Sea of Eden
6D: Unused Sky Runner Crash
6E: Rough Landing
6F: Whoops! (Caught by Zombies)
70: Porky's House (Buzz Buzz)
71: Buzz Buzz is Killed
72: Buzz Buzz 1
73: The Phone's Ringing
74: What An Annoying Knock!
75: Pink Cloud Shrine
76: Buzz Buzz 3
77: Buzz Buzz's Prophecy
78: Heartless Hotel (Threed Hotel)
79: One Fateful Night
7A: Sunrise & Onett Theme
7B: A Good Buddy (Temporary Party Member)
7C: Starman Jr. Teleport
7D: Snowman
7E: Phase Distorter Failed
7F: Phase Distorter Succeeds
80: Boy Meets Girl (Twoson)
81: Threed, Free At Last
82: Runaway Five Left The Building!
83: The Jolly Flying Man
84: Onett Night 2
85: Unused Cave Theme
86: Santuary Guardian's Challenge
87: PSI Teleport End
88: Saturn Valley Caverns
89: Zombie Paper (machine ambience) Unused?
8A: Zombie Paper (machine ambience) Unused?
8B: Zombie Paper (machine ambience) Unused?
8C: Topolla Theatre, Home to the One & Only Venus
8D: Battle Against Belch
8E: The Nightmare Begins
8F: Ness Awakens From The Nightmare
90: The Voyage Continues
91: Stonehenge Base Shuts Down
92: Tessie Has Been Sighted!
93: Unidentified Falling Object
94: Otherworldly Foe
95: Runaway Five to the Rescue!
96: Someone's Knocking at the Door
97: Alien Invasion 1
98: Onett Night 3
99: Porky's Theme
9A: Buzz Buzz 2
9B: Santuary Guardian's Challenge
9C: Rude Awakening
9D: Opening Credits
9E: Now, Let's Go!
9F: Waterfall Ambience
A0: Sound Stone (Giant Step)
A1: Sound Stone (Lilliput Steps)
A2: Sound Stone (Milky Well)
A3: Sound Stone (Rainy Circle)
A4: Sound Stone (Magnet Hill)
A5: Sound Stone (Pink Cloud)
A6: Sound Stone (Lumine Hall)
A7: Sound Stone (Fire Spring)
A8: Sound Stone (Complete)
A9: Eight Melodies
AA: In Dalaam, There is a Warrior
AB: In Winters, There is a Genius
AC: Porky Takes Off
AD: Bad Morning to You (Moonside Hotel Morning)
AE: The War Against Giygas (Part 2)
AF: Title Screen
B0: Incoming Foe
B1: Woah! (Porky intro)
B2: Morning in the Desert
B3: Brain Surgery
B4: Unused Porky Intro
B5: The Heroes Return (Part 2)
B6: Giygas Static
B7: That Was Easy! (insta-win)
B8: Boss Defeated!
B9: Giygas is Wounded!
BA: Giygas Stirs
BB: Prayer for Safety
BC: Bed and Breakfast (no intro)
BD: Sound Stone (no melody)
BE: Giygas Disintegrates! (lower volume)
BF: Giygas is Fatally Wounded! (lower volume)