the cutting room mirror

Galerians

Galerians is a survival horror game whose claim to fame is giving players the ability to explode the heads of foes. Its storytelling and atmosphere gained it a bit of a cult following - at least among those willing to tolerate its gameplay.

It's also noted for the way it wears its film influences on its sleeve - Akira and Scanners are inspirations cited by the developers.

To do:
Examine the pre-release.

'...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: All the columns below labeled "Machine translation" could be improved by a human translation

Placeholder Graphics#

The ITEMTIM.CDB file contains stills for Rion's "scan" ability, and some planned stills were apparently not implemented.

004

162

Billiard table without balls

Clinic office desk closeup

165

175

Manager's office (A1301) old computer

Combat gear stored in Armory

To do:
Examine the other placeholder graphics as well as leftovers in the international releases.

Debug Text#

Some error.
Yameta.
K_Yameta.
Reenter?
T01B debug only.

The Japanese version contains additional debug text in the first file in the MES.CDB archive. Spaces in the Japanese text indicate points where the game waits for a button press to continue.

Original text

Machine translation

イベントチェック
待って ていしちゅう キーおせよ 
つづきがでた? 
かってページクリアするです。 
じぶんでページクリアする? 
できた? 
おしまい 

つぎのチェックです
まずはウエイト 
とまってた? 
とまってるみたいだね
 つぎはかってにかいぎょうするかどうか?ながいよ 
してた?
 してるみたいだね 
じぶんでページクリアするです。 
かんじでる? 
料両むりょう 
変更する。 
像液。 実験。 
ちなみにこれは、みばえよう 
スライムがあらわれた!
どうする?
⯈ 
眼を変更しました。 
おしまい 
event check
Wait for me, put the key in
Was there a continuation?
It's time to clear the page.
Do you want to clear the page by yourself?
did it? 
end

next check
Weight first
did you stop?
It looks like it's stuck
  Next time, whether or not you will be embarrassed?
were you doing
  looks like you're doing
I will clear the page by myself.
do you feel
Both charges
change.
image liquid. experiment.
By the way, let's see this
A slime has appeared!
what will you do?
⯈
I changed my eyes.
end

GE.CDB in the US version also contains Japanese debug strings which aren't present in the Japanese version.

Original text

Machine translation

部屋のラインを設定します。

移動禁止エリアの設定をします。

カメラの設定と変更エリアの設定をします。

イベントエリアの設定をします。

始点を決定してください。

やり直しです。
始点を決定してください。

終点を決定してください。

左右キーで残りの1点を決定してください。

視点を決定してください。

注視点を決定してください。

視点のY座標(PY)を入力してください。

注視点のY座標(IY)を入力してください。

これでよろしいですか?。

2点を目決定してください。

このエリアに淮入した時に
変更するカメラ番号を入力してください。

このエリアに淮入した時に
発生するイベント番号を入力してください。

やり直しです。
注視点を決定してください。

3点目を決定してください。

ZOOMを設定してください。

RADIUSを設定してください。

MOVE-Xを設定してください。

MOVE-Yを設定してください。
Set the line of the room.

Set the no movement area.

Configure camera settings and change area settings.

Set up the event area.

Decide on a starting point.

I'm starting over.
Decide on a starting point.

Decide on an end point.

Please decide the remaining one point with the left and right keys.

Determine your point of view.

Determine your gaze point.

Enter the Y coordinate (PY) of the viewpoint.

Enter the Y coordinate (IY) of the point of interest.

Are you sure about this?

Decide two points.

When entering this area
Enter the camera number to change.

When entering this area
Please enter the event number that occurred.

I'm starting over.
Determine your gaze point.

Decide on the third point.

Please set ZOOM.

Please configure RADIUS.

Please set MOVE-X.

Set MOVE-Y.

Unused Rooms#

In the Japanese version, MENU.CDB and MAIN_TEX.CDB contain early versions of the maps for disc 1. While the files have no timestamps, the maps in MAIN_TEX.CDB are more similar in layout and art style to the final maps, so it seems that the maps from MENU.CDB represent an earlier stage of development. These early maps only cover stage A, whereas the later maps include both stages A and B. All of the cut rooms visible in the unused maps still exist in the game files in varying levels of completeness. The rooms are documented below using their internal identifiers, which consist of the stage letter, followed by 2 digits for the floor, followed by 2 characters identifying the room (for example, the first room in the game is A1501).

Hospital 15F#

Early

Late

Final

The layout of this floor doesn't appear to have changed much during development, but the earliest map is missing a few doors, including the very first door the player goes through in the final game. In fact, it's not clear how the player would have accessed that section of the map at all, as the adjacent hallways also ultimately come to a dead end. The only other difference is that the Special PPEC Office has been widened a bit in the final version and no longer lines up exactly with the hallway above it.

Hospital 14F#

Early

Late

Final

Both of the early maps contain two additional hallways. These rooms still exist in the game files in incomplete form.

A14RC#

This room is the extra hallway visible on the left side of the early maps. In the final game, the large room with the screens where Rion first speaks to Lem (A1402) is connected directly to all the rooms around it. In the early maps, those rooms were instead connected by this hallway. This room is still technically functional, but the player can't see Rion because the cameras aren't placed properly, making it effectively impossible to navigate.

A14RH#

This is the extra hallway visible on the right side of the early maps. In the final game, the room with Rion's Test Data and the Research Lab Key (A1403) is accessed directly from the hall with the two Rabbit enemies (A14RG). Originally, they were connected by this hallway. The cameras in this room are placed too low, so the player can only see Rion's feet, but otherwise the room is still functional.

Hospital 13F#

Early

Late

Final

This floor also had two extra hallways. The long hallway at the top is divided into two sections in the earliest map, but by the later map they had already been combined. The A13RF hallway in the bottom right survived to the second iteration before being cut. We can also see some additional doors - the early map has a door between the Test Lab and Control Room, and the Control Room and Research Lab are both connected to the A13RE hallway with the stairs leading up to the save point and Lem boss fight. In the later map, the door between the Test Lab and Control Room has been removed. Finally, the doors from the Control Room and Research Lab to A13RE were cut as well.

A13RF#

This hallway connected the Test Lab, the A13RE hallway, and the room with the Arabesques (A1307). This room is not scaled properly, making Rion appear giant compared to the backgrounds, and the spawn points for the doors are also not placed correctly. However, if hacks are used to move the player into the playable area, the room can be navigated and all the doors still work.

A13RD#

This is the right side of the long hallway at the top of the early map. After it was cut, the room containing the left side of the hallway was extended to cover the full distance. This room is completely non-functional and has no backgrounds, camera angles, or interactable objects, although code for the two doors still exists. A visualization of the room layout is provided below. The orange area is the playable area where the player can walk while the green regions are solid obstacles like walls or other objects. Note that the layout is rotated 180 degrees relative to its depiction on the map.

Your House 1F#

Late

Final

Galerians-h1f_late.png Galerians-hb_late.png

There are no stage B maps contemporary with the early maps of stage A, but maps from the later phase of development still exist. The entire outside area appears not to exist, and the basement is part of a separate map unlike in the final game. Also, the rounded entrance to the main hall is not present. Otherwise, the interior layout appears the same.

B0102#

Stage B has one unused room. It has no background images, but there is a camera angle defined, as well as a single door that leads to the main hall. As this room isn't visible on any version of the map, it can't be determined conclusively where that door in the main hall may have been. Two visualizations are provided below, the first from an overhead view and the second from the camera angle defined in the game. The orange region is the area where the player can walk, green regions are walls or other solid obstacles, and the blue region is the door.

Galerians-B0102_overhead.png Galerians-B0102_camera.png

Your House 2F#

Late

Final

There are no significant differences between the two versions of this map, but the earlier version is provided for completeness.

Unused Character Models#

There are a number of unused character models which appear to be early or alternate versions of existing characters. They are shown below next to the final versions of those characters for comparison.

Final

Unused

Description

Mech suit enemy. The unused version actually exists as a separate enemy in the game. It's not used anywhere but can be placed with hacks. Its behavior is identical to the final version.

Rainheart summon

Doctor with brown hair

Doctor with blonde hair. For some reason, the unused version of the model is extremely small compared to other character models.

Bald doctor

Rion

Unused Item Models#

When you pick up a key item, the game shows a spinning 3D model of the item, but when you pick up a file, the game just shows the contents of the file. In fact, the files also have models which are never shown.

Model

File(s)

Medical Staff Notes Dr. Lem's Notes

G Project Report

Photo of Parents

Placeholder model for Photo of Parents. The characters are labeled "mother?" (left) and "father" (right).

Rion's test data

New Replicative Computer Theory

Dr. Pascalle's Diary Letter from Lilia

Letter from Elsa Newspaper

Unused/Cut Items#

Unused items#

There are four unused items in the game which appear to be some sort of keycard or computer card. Their names are unknown; when placed in the inventory they reuse labels from other items. Below are the 3D models that would have appeared when you picked them up. The first and last unused items share the same model.

Item IDs 0 and 18

Item ID 7

Item ID 10

Their inventory icons also still exist as seen below. Item 0 = first row, first column; item 7 = first row, last column; item 10 = second row, third column; item 18 = third row, third column.

Lilia's image data#

There also appears to have been a file which was cut that would have been called "Lilia's image data".

This is an unused list of file names. Along with the names of other files which are in the final game, the last line reads "Lilia's image data".

This image is located next to the unused list of file names in MENU.CDB and may have been the file contents or background image.

Placeholder 3D model for the file. The Japanese text reads "Lilia".

Additionally, the inventory icon for the "Photo of Parents" file (fourth row, second-to-last column) looks more like Lilia than like Rion or his parents, and the markings on the left side of the icon appear to match the indentations in the left side of the model. It seems probable that that icon was originally intended for this file.

Altered/Renamed Abilities#

These two slides appear to be from an early version of the Medical Staff Notes file. "Platon" sounds like a combination of the final game's scanning and shorting abilities. "Maggy" appears to be an early name for D-Felon; the description is otherwise the same.

Image

Machine translation

By using Platon, it is possible to scan the thought circuits of the brain and the integrated circuits of computers at high speed. If you keep scanning the circuit at high speed, the circuit that can no longer withstand will be short-circuited.

By using "Maggy", it is possible to create an anti-gravitational field within a certain range around the object. Antigravitational fields create invisible barriers at the boundaries of the field, trapping objects within the field. Isolate and fix. Also, depending on the user's ability, it is possible to simultaneously move objects.

Unused Inventory Images#

There are a few unused images which appear to be early versions of the inventory and HUD.

Image

Description

An item menu.

An ability menu. This is located alongside images of multi-colored drug vials that would have appeared in the vertical green boxes at the top and associated meters that would have appeared in the horizontal boxes below.

Ability labels for the HUD. Note the presence of Platon and Maggy instead of D-Felon.

Unused Cinematic#

There is a story digest video saved among the regular cinematics on Disc 2. This video is also present on Disc 2 of the pre-release and may have been intended as a promotional reel. The English text is slightly awkward, but largely grammatically sound. It also uses clips from the Japanese end credits song, "Wonderful World", as background music.

Watch on YouTube

Regional Differences#

Japanese vs. International#

The Japanese version plays "Wonderful World", a song with Japanese/English bilingual vocals, during the end credits. The international versions replace it with background music from elsewhere in the game.

As acknowledged by Crave's producer in a May 2000 interview, Rion's drug use was "toned down" in the international versions via a name change. All drugs are referred to as PPECs (Psychic Power Enhancement Chemicals).

(Source: We Chat with Galerians Producers)

Rion's age varies by region and source. In the Japanese version, he is consistently 14 years old. In the international versions, he is 16 in-game but is aged 14 in the instruction booklet and the newspaper headline found in Stage-A.

Europe-Specific Differences#

The European releases cut the last 10 seconds of the opening cinematic that show Rion standing in a blood-splattered corridor full of corpses, so that the video fades out before this scene begins.

The European releases also remove the exploding head death animation when Rion shorts out. Further, instead of collapsing in a spray of blood, enemies are thrown backwards, much like how they die when using Nalcon. The instant kill effect remains the same.

(Source: Movie Censorship)

French and German Differences#

The French version slightly alters the opening cinematic, which adds a name change to Rion, as Ryan (though by pronounciation in the German version, not by spelling). Additionally, the game's cutscenes and dialogue were also dubbed in both French and German.