Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman Zero

Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman Zero is the fourth and final game in the Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman series of goofy henshin-inspired platformers. This one plays like Mega Man with beat-'em-up elements (or a beat-'em-up with Mega Man elements, if you like). It's also one of the few Satellaview games to later get a physical release.

Unused Graphics#

Faces#

These two face graphics are stored after all of the other character portraits, but are not referenced at all by the game's event data. The left side has "代理" (substitute) written above a portrait that looks similar to Doraemon, while the right side has Hebe/Bop-Louie from the Hebereke series.

Japanese Font#

The Japanese original uses romaji (Japanese words written using Latin characters) when displaying the names of the items you collect. However, there's unused Japanese glyphs in the same 8x8 pixel font that would have allowed the developers to spell these names properly using hiragana and katakana characters. These glyphs are functional, and are appropriately loaded to memory. The only issue is that they occasionally get overwritten by the "START" popup graphic when starting a stage, but that would have been an easy fix had the game been more polished before its initial 1994 physical release cancellation.

Copyright Message#

A message from the developers is located at offset 0x00FF00:

Schbibin Man - COPYRIGHT(C)1994 NCS This softwere was producted by Nippon Computer Systems Corp. in 1994

Flag Editor#

The game contains a flag editor similar to the "soft dip" settings seen in many arcade games. To enable it, pause the game and (on either controller) press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, X, X, B, B, Y, A, Y, A.

The flags are divided into two groups (one byte each). Use the D-Pad to navigate, press Y to set or clear the selected flag, and press Start to exit.

SW1 Flags#

Left to right:

• bit 7: Enables stage select (see below).
• bit 6: Enables "easy mode", which begins the game with 9 credits instead of 3. The correct way to enable this is to hold L + R on either controller when starting a new game; enabling it here doesn't really do anything.
• bit 5: Causes damage dealt to enemies to be cut in half.
• bits 4-1: Unknown.
• bit 0: Allows player 1 to control the movements of the first boss using L, R, Y, B, and Down on the D-Pad. This was probably used to test the first boss' relatively complex animation.

SW2 Flags#

Left to right:

• bit 7: Unknown (on by default).
• bit 6: Enables double jumping.
• bit 5: Enables free play (unlimited credits).
• bit 4: Disables cutscenes.
• bit 3: Allows player 1 to use the Super Schbibin attack by pressing A, which normally requires both players to charge their weapons in tandem. This flag doesn't do anything for player 2.
• bit 2: Allows both players to perform their special moves (on by default).
• bit 1: Unknown (on by default).
• bit 0: Causes the player to freeze in place for a few frames every time they land a hit on an enemy. This is useful for attacking enemies in midair, as the player stays in the air for much longer when attacking.

Debug Menu#

Pause the game, hold B + X, and press R to open the sound test menu. Just like before, use the D-Pad to navigate and press Y to make your selection.

Setting bit 7 of SW1 adds the "next area" and "stage select" options to the menu.

Version Differences#

Original Release#

The game was originally planned for a Super Famicom physical release in Japan around 1994, but this release was cancelled, although prototype versions eventually made it to private collectors and were used as the basis for Columbus Circle's 2017 physical Super Nintendo aftermarket release in Japan.

Similarly to other games in the same situation, the game got a new lease on life with a Satellaview broadcast release in 1997 that was the basis for the most commonly available ROM dump online, and by extension, its fan-translation projects.

Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero (Ratalaika Games, Shinyuden)#

As part of an emulated rerelease compilation of all four games in the series, the game received an all-new English localization. Besides the localization, some of the content was changed, such as "Super Nintendo" which was changed to "Game Console", albeit the graphics were not changed. The Masaya logo was also updated.

Shockman Zero (Retro-Bit)#

Retro-Bit released the game for physical Super Nintendo cartridges for the aftermarket in 2024, also with an English localization. However, the Retro-Bit cartridge features a different title screen, translated text and localized graphics from the Ratalaika/Shinyuden digital release, but shares the same updated Masaya logo as Ratalaika's version. This release was controversial to say the least, thanks to rather credible accusations that the translator for this release, Rod Merida, plagiarized the script and programming of Svambo's fan translation patch, which was released a year earlier.