Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Debug MenuLots of menus! Tutorial Mode"I wonder if we even need this given that help is available online..."

Build Date#

The build date is likely July 7, 1999.

Unused Characters#

Thracia 776 has a good amount of unused characters, many of them being unused bosses, or characters that appear during dialogue cutscenes but not in gameplay.

Gunna#

Gunna (グンナ) appears to be the only one of these unused characters who was intended to be playable. His character ID is located at 2C, in the middle of the other recruitable characters. He uses the portrait of the boss Cohen.

Interesting to note is that Gunna seems to have been intended to be Asbel's father, as evidenced by his class of Bishop and his death and escape quotes.

Julius#

The final boss from the previous Fire Emblem does appear in cutscenes in Thracia, but never in gameplay. Interestingly, Julius has two versions present in the game's code, one which is a Dark Mage and uses Saias's portrait, and the other which uses the unused Dark Prince class and Julia's portrait. The two versions are mostly identical, except for the Julia version not having any growth rates and the Saias version having the skills Adept and Renewal.

Jabal#

Given his stats and Pirate class, Jabal (ジャバル) was likely intended to be a standard boss. He uses the portrait of one of Lifis's minions from Chapter 2x.

Ishtar#

Ishtar is another Seisen no Keifu antagonist that appears in this game in cutscenes, but never in gameplay. She is one of the more complete unused characters, with a full inventory and set of skills. She is a level 12 Sage, her inventory consists of Thoron, Bolting, Mend, and a Vulnerary, and she has the skill Adept. She is the only character programmed to be able to use the unused Mjolnir tome.

Travant#

Yet another Seisen no Keifu villain, Travant normally appears in a cutscene in Chapter 9. He is level 20, has the unused Wyvern Lord class, has a Silver Lance in his inventory, and has the skills Adept, Vantage, and Nihil. Despite having a Silver Lance, Travant would be unable to use it, as he is only programmed to have a C rank in lances.

Arion#

Travant's son from Seisen no Keifu normally only appears in a cutscene in Chapter 14. He is a level 20 Wyvern Lord, has a Silver Lance in his inventory, and has the skills Adept and Nihil.

Spörl#

Spörl (シュペール) uses a recolor of the portrait used by the bosses List and Wolf, and was likely intended to be a boss as well. He is a Baron with the skill Pavise. As with several of the unused boss characters, he has an abnormally high Magic stat growth.

Kant#

Kant (カント) uses a recolor of the portrait used by the boss Oltoph, and was likely intended to be a boss as well. He has the General class.

Mannheim#

Mannheim (マンハイム) uses a recolor of the portrait used by the boss McCloy, and was likely intended to be a boss as well. He has the General class.

Orbis#

Orbis (オービス) reuses the portrait used by the boss Colho, and was likely intended to be a boss as well. As he is a Wyvern Rider, he has stats for being both mounted/dismounted.

Rilke#

Rilke (リルケ) reuses the portrait used by the boss Kempf, and was likely intended to be a boss as well. He has the General class.

Manfroy#

One last Seisen no Keifu villain, Manfroy also appears in cutscenes in Thracia 776, but not in gameplay. He is a Dark Bishop, and uses Machyua's portrait rather than his own.

Unused Graphics#

There are portraits for Arthur, Jeanne, Asaello, and Daisy from Genealogy of the Holy War in the same style as the other portraits in this game. Another unused portrait of a Pegasus Knight who resembles Hermina, also from Genealogy of the Holy War, can be found, although there is no pointer to it.

Unused Classes#

Many classes are left in the data that go ultimately unused, mostly from Genealogy of the Holy War. Several classes also have variants for different genders that never get used.

Junior Lord#

Seliph's personal class from Genealogy of the Holy War. It's possible that Seliph was meant to appear on a map at some point.

Knight Lord#

Seliph and Sigurd's advanced class from Genealogy of the Holy War. Has both mounted and dismounted versions. Interestingly, the class has the new ability to use staves when dismounted in this game. Has the skill Canto when mounted.

Master Knight#

The most advanced cavalry class from Genealogy of the Holy War. Has both mounted and dismounted versions. The class no longer has the ability to use light magic like it did in the previous game, and can only use swords when dismounted. Has the skill Accost, and the skill Canto when mounted.

There also exists a female version of the Master Knight, also with mounted and dismounted versions.

Falcon Knight#

The advanced version of the Pegasus Knight class from Genealogy of the Holy War and most other Fire Emblem games. Has both mounted and dismounted versions. Likely goes unused as Pegasus Knight is already an advanced class in Thracia 776. Has the skill Miracle, and the skill Canto when mounted.

Wyvern Lord#

The advanced version of the Wyvern Knight class from Genealogy of the Holy War and most other Fire Emblem games. Has both mounted and dismounted versions. The mounted version technically is used for Travant and Arion's map sprites when they appear in cutscenes, but the class is never seen in battle. Likely goes unused as Wyvern Knight is already an advanced class in Thracia 776. Has the skill Canto when mounted.

There also exists a female version of the class, which goes unused entirely.

Forrest#

A promoted swordfighter class from Genealogy of the Holy War. Not to be confused for the character of the same name from Fire Emblem Fates.

This class also has a female variant.

Emperor#

A recurring class in the Fire Emblem series, usually reserved for major antagonists. Its stats seem to be just a copy/paste of the General class's stats, with the exception of lower Con and Mov. Has the skills Charm and Pavise.

Mage#

While Thracia 776 has mages, they are divided up into elemental specialties (Wind Mage, Thunder Mage, etc). Thus, this normal "all rounder" mage variant goes unused.

This class also has a female variant.

Killer Ballista#

A variant of the standard Ballista class, meant to use the unused Killer Ballista weapon.

Dark Prince#

Julius's personal class from Genealogy of the Holy War. The map sprite is technically used for Julius when he appears in cutscenes, but the class is never seen in battle. Interestingly, the class was given the ability to use Staves since the previous game.

Loptyr Mage (female)#

While the male version of the Loptyr Mage appears numerous times throughout the game, there exists a female version that goes completely unused. Its stats are identical to the female Mage, with the same Weapon Levels as the male Loptyr mage, except for having a higher rank in Fire magic.

Thief (variant)#

A version of the normal Thief class that is noticeably slower and bulkier. Has the skill Steal.

Unused Items#

There's quite a few of them, many of them unused weapons. Some are ported over straight from Seisen no Keifu, including a few Regalia weapons, some of which still have the screen flash that the regalia weapons had in that game. Many of the magic attacks have glitched effects and animations.

Icon	Name (JP)	Name (EN)	Rank	Might	Weight	Hit	Crit	Rng	Uses	Worth	Description text (JP)	Description text (EN)	Notes
	あんこくのやり	Darkness Lance	Lance E	20	9	60	0	1-2	60	200	None; broken text string	- -	Grants the skill Nihil when equipped. Was potentially intended to be a lance counterpart to Mareeta's Shadow Sword.
	ゲイボルグ	Gáe Bolg	Lance B	20	2	100	50	1-2	90	200	でんせつのやり です	It is a legendary spear	Grants +10 Strength and the skills Charm, Vantage, Nihil and Wrath when equipped. Still has the screen flash that regalia weapons had in Seisen no Keifu when used. Was potentially intended to be obtained by Leif or his sister Altena during her brief appearance in the game.
	グングニル	Gungnir	Lance B	20	1	100	70	1-2	90	200	データかいぞうは だめですよ	Data modification is not to be done!	Grants +10 Defense and the skills Paragon, Vantage, Nihil and Wrath when equipped. Still has the screen flash that regalia weapons had in Seisen no Keifu when used. Was potentially intended to be used by Travant or Arion during a boss encounter, given their unused battle statistics. The description seems to be a cheeky comment towards any potential hackers examining the code.
	キラーアーチ	Killer Ballista	Character Locked	12	20	100	20	3-10	10	4200	ひこう系に有効 必殺の弓	Effective on flying types. Critical bow.	When attacking, the targeted enemy cannot counterattack, even if they are wielding a long ranged weapon. Deals bonus damage against flying units. Can only be wielded by the unused Killer Ballista class.
	ボルガノン	Bolganone	Fire Magic A	20	18	90	0	1-2	50	2200	None; broken text string	- -	No special effects.
	ファラフレイム	Valflame	Character Locked	20	15	90	20	1-2	50	Cannot be sold	None; broken text string	- -	Effects are unknown. Is set to be character locked, but no character is assigned.
	トールハンマー	Mjolnir	Character Locked	20	15	90	30	1-2	50	Cannot be sold	イシュタル専用 技＋２０　速さ＋１０	Ishtar only. Skl +20, Spd +10.	Character locked to Ishtar. Has no special effects, despite the description.
	オーラ	Aura	Light Magic A	20	12	100	0	1-2	80	200	None; broken text string	- -	No special effects.
	ロプトウス	Loptous	Character Locked	0	15	60	0	1-2	3	Cannot be sold	あいての攻撃力 はんげん	Halves enemy's attack power.	Effects are unknown. Is set to be character locked, but no character is assigned. Was potentially intended to be used by Julius at some point.
	リターン	Return	Staff A	3	7	80	0	1	3	2000	みかたひとりを りだつさせる	Causes a single ally to withdraw.	Makes targeted ally escape from the map.
	ウォッチ	Watch	Staff C	3	7	80	0	Infinite	4	1800	クローズエリアを みえるじょうにする	Lets you see inside closed areas.	Temporarily shows the contents of areas behind locked doors.
	マスタープルフ	Master Seal	Item	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	8000	None; broken text string	- -	Has the default use effect of a regular Heal staff, but crashes the game upon use. The Master Seal would later be introduced in The Sacred Stones as a universal class promotion item, and would continue to be used in every future Fire Emblem game.
	ねぎりＭ	Bargain M	Item	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	8000	ねぎりの スキルをおしえる 使用アイテム	Teaches the Bargain skill. Usable item.	Teaches the Bargain skill to a single unit.
	いのりＭ	Miracle M	Item	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1	8000	いのりの スキルをおしえる 使用アイテム	Teaches the Miracle skill. Usable item.	Teaches the Miracle skill to a single unit.

Unused Text#

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: Add the actual dialogue instead of describing it.

There's several unused battle conversations. In Chapter 19 there are also conversations that suggest Ishtar was supposed to make an appearance in battle (Backed up by the fact that both she and her Mjölnir spell have data). In the Final Chapter there are lines written in katakana, suggesting a nonhuman or monstrous character. These were possibly intended for the Deadlords, who are reanimated undead who are lacking in dialogue in the final game. There's also a timeline, similar to the one seen in Genealogy of the Holy War, which also states the full names of major characters Seliph and Leif- Seliph Baldos Chalphy and Leif Faris Claus respectively.

Unused Intro Timeline#

'...But what does it mean?' This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation! Notes: A translation for this intro timeline would be nice.

Watch on YouTube

Just like FE4, FE5 was supposed to show various events that happened prior to starting the game, this time with more of a focus on Leif, like the Aed Massacre and the Tragedy of Belhalla, the fall of castle Leonster, the eventual exile of Leif and the start of the liberation war in Fianna.

This can be viewed ingame by setting memory addressses $0A331C from $82 to $94 and $0A3320 from $BBA1 to $F5B6 and starting a new game.

Notably, the game seemingly has some trouble displaying background graphics, as there are only a few sparse stripes left. In the game's files, the crest graphic that usually makes up the background is twice as big as it needs to be, with the second half of the graphic being empty tiles. Turns out that the intro timeline mainly tries to pull its graphics from this empty region, making a majority of the displayed background empty.

Anti-Piracy#

This game implements the same anti-piracy screens and checks from its predecessor. If any of the below checks fail, the game will boot up to the anti-piracy error screen after it fades in, then lock up.

Boot State Test#

Almost immediately after booting, the Emulation Flag and Direct Page register are examined. The console already being in Native Mode and/or the Direct Page register containing a non-zero value fails the test, as these are evidence that another program (e.g., a backup unit menu) was running before the game had a chance to boot.

Stack Test#

If the Reset Vector was at the top of the stack, the test fails. Explained in more detail in the next section.

RAM Tests#

The beginning of RAM (range $7F0000) is searched for two types of fingerprints left behind by the unauthorized devices. The two jump tests, along with the stack test mentioned in the previous section, are looking for the various methods that attached hardware can use to switch from its programming to that of the game cartridge. If they were found, this check fails. Due to RAM being random on boot, the irregularity error screen is shown on the first time this check fails, and then the anti-piracy error screen if this check fails again on console restart.

Jump $4C#

Checks for operation $4C????, where ???? is the Reset Vector.

Indirect Jump $6C#

Checks for operation $6CFCFF, an indirect jump.

Revisional Differences#

There are two known builds of Thracia 776: the original Nintendo Power service release (commonly called the "NP" version), and the version that received a proper cartridge in the next year (commonly called the "ROM" version).

• The title screen's copyright notice was altered, which is the easiest way to tell the two versions apart.

The NP version's copyright notice reads:

©1996,1999 Nintendo, ©1999 INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS

The ROM version's copyright notice reads:

©1996,1999,2000 Nintendo/INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS

• Rankings were expanded with a series of higher grades implemented, raising the maximum achievable rank from AAA to SSS. Requirements to meet the pre-existing ranks were unchanged, and the new ranks have even more demanding requirements.
• In the NP version only the male variant of Mage Knights are weak against Rapier, Blessed Sword, Ridersbane, and Poleax. In the ROM version both the male and female variants of Mage Knights are weak against Rapier, Blessed Sword, Ridersbane, and Poleax.
• In the first version of the game, there was a stat leveling bug where characters continue to gain in a stat they've already maxed out (though the stats' values are immediately corrected back down to their respective caps), which was fixed in the later version.
• The credits of each version contain one image not found in the other.

Nintendo Power Version	Cartridge Version

References#