the cutting room mirror

Debug Menu

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This is a sub-page of Kero Blaster.

To do:

  • Expand on what each feature does
  • Add images
  • Info about the debug patches?
  • Info about it not working on older versions

Back in 2020, a member of the Cave Story modding community, Rain, discovered that *every* port of Kero Blaster contains a debug menu, easily accessible in-game with the use of an input code.

PC/console:

  1. Open the pause menu.
  2. Press and release: Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, Right
  3. Hold down Left, then press and release Up, then Down.

iOS/Android:

  1. Open the pause menu.
  2. Trace this pattern:

Once input, the screen will immediately switch to the debug menu. It is advised to back up or do this in a new save slot first.

For convenience, these patches replace the Manual option in the main menu with the debug menu. Included as well is a Cheat Engine table to access the debug menu in the oldest version of Kero Blaster.

Functional Features#

Holding the fire button will allow the cursor to move faster.

god#

Allows the player to be able to fly in any direction by holding the direction they want to go, makes them invincible, and gives the player the otherwise unused Kamui in the second weapon slot. Additionally, the player no longer obeys the laws of gravity, always floating in the air even when no direction is being pressed. This perpetual airborne state leads to a few oddities:

  • Because the player is in the air even on ground level, in order to trigger objects that require the player to stand on the ground, the player must be moving downward.
  • The player floats in all in-game cutscenes, and some story ones, like the scene where Mizutani asks the player if they enjoyed the game.
    • For some reason, after beating Ooshima-san, the player will slowly drift downward until the cutscene of the furniture falling ends.
    • After beating Phase 2 of Kurono's fight, the game checks to see which platform the player is standing on, to make them lift Kaeru to the next phase. However, because the player is standing on nothing, no platform will carry the player, and all of them will disappear. Fortunately, because the player is floating in the air, they can't fall to their death, giving the cutscene time to warp the player as it normally would.
  • Rarely, the player gains the ability to go through semi-solid platforms. (needs investigation)

invlnrble#

Invulnerability to everything except instant-kill hazards.

Field Jump#

Enables several blinking debug arrows on various maps. When touched, these will take you to the next debug arrow in sequence. Purple arrows represent a warp to the next stage, while the green arrows usually take you to a specific spot in the same stage.

show info#

Activates a variety of helpful debug displays.

  • Shows the current amount of "scenes stack" in the top-left corner. It will be incremented each time you enter a sub-menu.
  • Shows the current number of entities.
  • Entities that are meant for debug purposes will have a visual display.
  • Displays the attached flag number next to entities.
  • Displays the FPS count in the bottom-right along with a few swiveling lines.

show tch#

Shows the areas where touching the screen will trigger something. When activated on a non-mobile version, the only place where it shows the touchscreen triggers is the debug menu itself.

Params#

Allows the player to modify which weapons they have, whether or not they have a Heart Jar, Jetpack, or Jacket, how many lives they have left (including negative lives!) up to a maximum of 99, and how much maximum health and health they have left. If the player wants less health for some reason, they can press the damage button. The placeholder icon for when no weapon is in a slot is the starting "weapon" from Gero Blaster, the flowers from the intro.

UserFlags#

Allows you to toggle flags related to the current save file such as what bosses are defeated, opened chests, etc.

GameFlags#

Allows you to toggle universal flags pertaining to in-game events such as achievements, Zangyou mode being unlocked, etc.

Save#

Self-explanatory - saves the game no matter where you are.

Money#

Adjust how much cash money you have, up to the maximum of 14511 coins.

Time#

Adjust the playtime counter. This reuses the Money menu.

Stage#

Warp to any stage in the game, including Zangyou and Omake, though some things will be broken with the latter two. This menu is repurposed from Gero Blaster's stage select, known as Island.

Unused/Broken Features#

bgm#

Maybe something to do with testing the music?

u-button#

Unknown.

Scene Skip#

-todo-

Older Debug Menu#

Kero Blaster v1.0.6.3 contains an older debug menu. You can access it via the Cheat Engine table by enabling the script "Replace Manual with Debug Menu", and setting the value of "Use Desktop Interface" to 0. The menu is only usable with touch controls. It seems that none of the options work except for Island! and kill bgm, which prevents song changes from occurring.

Island!#

The stage select matches the look of the ship and layout from Gero Blaster's stage select.

Params#

This menu isn't accessible from the main debug menu. You can change eight weapon slots, compared to five from the latest version, and the Missile and Death Beam weapons are also available. You can change which stages there are on the Island screen with the numbers at the bottom.

Map#

This menu isn't accessible from the main debug menu. The map screen is a leftover from Gero Blaster, and its predecessor Rockfish. It only displays map layouts on the title screen, and Hinterland Fort.