Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Prerelease Info

Resources#

Unused GraphicsRed Kirby? What are you doing here? Unused AnimationsNo walking allowed! Unused Music & AudioWhy are there so many unused versions of the music? Unused ModelsSome doors and projectiles here.

Data#

Unused Debugging FeaturesDebugging features that closely resemble a smashing HAL project...

Unused Movies#

Watch on YouTubeTrying to load any of these cutscenes in place of one with dialogue will cause the text of the latter to appear onscreen as the former plays.

Prototype_Movie_OP#

This cutscene is almost identical to a part of the game's opening showing Magolor's spaceship, the Lor Starcutter, losing its parts, except there are a few effects missing as it exits the portal and it plays "Limitless Power". It cuts to a black screen as the mast floats away before the music fades out.

The name of this unused cutscene is at the bottom-right of the screen. "OP" might stand for "opening".

To view the movie in-game, select the cutscene "A Visitor from Afar" with this code in the Japanese version.

0476949C 4F70656E
047694A0 696E675F
047694A4 48512E6D

Prototype_Movie_ED#

"Once Cleared, the Fun Begins" plays as the Lor Starcutter, missing several of its parts, floats in the middle of what seems to be a black void with faint white streaks in the background. The Lor's oars, left wing, right wing, emblem, and mast then appear one by one and attach themselves with a lightning effect. The star on the emblem glows and the cutscene fades to white before panning out to the Lor Starcutter resting on the ground and making various exterior shots. It then fades to black with plain white text stating "To Be Continued" before the music fades out as well. Oddly, there's a duplicate file of this movie under the filename "Ending_BitrateFixed.mo"

Much like Prototype_Movie_OP, the name of this cutscene is at the bottom-right corner of the screen. "ED" might stand for "ending".

To view the movie in-game, select the cutscene "Right Wing Restored!" with this code in the Japanese version.

047694B0 456E6469
047694B4 6E675F48
047694B8 512E6D6F
047694BC 00000000

To view the duplicate movie in-game, select the cutscene "Let Me Explain Everything" with this code in the Japanese version.

04769518 456E6469
0476951C 6E675F42
04769520 69747261
04769524 74654669
04769528 7865642E

Unnamed Cutscene#

This cutscene starts with a countdown from 3 to 1 with white numbers on a black screen. It then plays out very similarly to Prototype_Movie_ED, except the black void now has a purple tone, the faint white streaks are much more visible pink and blue streaks, and it fades to black after the star on the emblem glows.

Unlike the other two unused cutscenes, this one has a logo in the top-left corner reading "HAL LABORATORY, INC." in a different font than the other two cutscenes' titles.

To view the movie in-game, select the cutscene "Left Wing Restored!" with this code in the Japanese version.

047694C4 4D6F7669
047694C8 65303830
047694CC 322E6D6F
047694D0 00000000

Unused Objects#

Unused Switch#

Watch on YouTube

An unused but fully functional switch that functions similarly to switches that hang from ceilings.

Unused Enemy#

Watch on YouTube

A fully animated, pink plant enemy named Hearbell. Judging by its animations, it likely would have functioned very similarly to the Pacto enemy. It may have inspired the Pacflower enemy in Kirby: Triple Deluxe seen below.

Unused Abilities#

Super Spark#

The only remnant of this lost ability is its Ability Star texture. Unfortunately, the rest of this ability's remaining data, which is just its HUD icon was completely overwritten with the one for Ultra Sword. The Ultra Sword icon that overwrote Super Spark's icon is exactly the same as the one used for Ultra Sword in the actual game, likely suggesting that the HUD icon for Super Spark was overwritten later in development. Note that unlike the normal Spark ability, which has a cyan color palette, this graphic has a green color palette much like the similar Plasma ability.

Super Cutter#

Several files related to the unused Super Cutter ability remain on the disc: the ability's icon, the HUD hat graphic, and the models for the hat and cutter weapon. It may have been scrapped because of its extreme similarity to the Ultra Sword ability. The HUD graphic also has the black outlines present in the E3 2011 gameplay footage.

Kirby is also completely animated, as he has animations for throwing the Cutter and catching it. He only lacks the "AbilityGet" and "FirstAttack" animations.

Unused Text#

Despite having unused content of literally anything else you can think of, the unused text in this game isn't a lot. However, there are still some things to go over.

Please not that text in parentheses isn't part of the entries. They simply serve as translations for languages that do not use the Latin alphabet.

LvMap.msbt#

The file containing the level names to display on their splash screens and level maps has one piece of unused text in all versions except Japanese and Korean. The entry containing it IS used exclusively in the Japanese and Korean versions of the game, but the international versions still have some text that wasn't wiped from the file.

The entry originally contained "The last battle in another dimension" in Japanese and Korean, used for Another Dimension's subtitle in its splash screen. Subtitles aren't used in international versions of the game, so it's obvious why this was unused. What is not so obvious is why this was left-in and translated.

Name.msbt#

This file contains ability and boss names. Four entries in it are unused in all versions of the game.

AbilityLandia was supposed to be used as Landia's name in the HUD when playable in Another Dimension. However, the final game pulls from their boss name instead. AbilitySuperCutter is empty in all versions, but it was meant to be used as the name in the HUD for the cut Super Cutter Super Ability. By far, the most interesting entries are CharaGrandLowperGuard and CharaGrandLowperHeal. Based on the original Japanese text and the entries' names, it's likely that these boss names would've been used when fighting Grand Doomer when in its protected form and charging state respectively. Seems like most languages outside of English misinterpret "Charge" as an attacking state rather than a literal energy charge state.

Pause.msbt#

The file containing pause screen text has some unused text.

The entry AblMetaDash is for the name of Meta Knight's run, performed by double tapping any sideways direction. It's unknown why Meta Knight specifically has text for this, since none of the other characters save for Kirby have them. It's likely that every character was supposed to have their basic controls laid out, or that Meta Knight had a unique dash, as Copy Abilities that have unique dash moves, such as Water, list them in the pause menu. There's no corresponding input entry for this move.

Ship.msbt#

There are three entries in the file for Magolor's dialogue while in the Lor that go unused.

These entries are part of a group related to Magolor's dialogue when Kirby gets the final Lor Starcutter piece and restores it back to its old self. These come right after Magolor's last line of dialogue in that cutscene. The fact that they exist imply that said cutscene wasn't originally planned to load the "Halcandra: A New Enemy" movie, and Magolor could be talked to again after he finished speaking.

Unused Scripting#

Kirby's Return to Dream Land introduces a new scripting language called Mint, which is used in this and later Kirby games to describe large parts of the game's behavior. All the functions in Mint bytecode files have full names and type signatures. There are also leftover functions clearly from the development of Mint tooling, which overlapped with the game itself.

There exists a class User.Tsuruoka.MintTest with content

• (static field) intVal of type int
• (function) void func1()
• (function) void func2()
• (function) void Hello()
• (function) int StaticReturnTest()

The bytecode for the Hello function performs two function calls: Mint.Debug.puts("Hello, World!!"); App.Alert.Print("こんにちわ、世界");

Removed Maps#

The file fdg/Archive.dat contains, among other things, the paths to all of the game's map files, plus a whole 335 test and other maps which were completely removed before release:

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japanese	South Korea	North America	Europe

Save Banner#

Japanese	South Korea	North America	Europe

Main Menu#

Japanese	South Korea	North America	Europe

1-Ups#

Like with the games Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby: Planet Robobot and Kirby Star Allies, the models for the 1-Ups for the Main and Extra modes change depending on what language the player set the Wii to.

Japanese, English, Italian, and Korean	French	Spanish

Japanese, English, Italian, and Korean	French	Spanish

Completed Action#

Asia	International

In the Japanese and Korean versions of the game, during the tutorial, a red circle will appear whenever an action is properly completed. In the American and European versions, a green check mark will appear instead. This is likely because tests in Japanese schools have circles represent correct answers while check marks represent wrong answers, whereas it is the opposite in international schools.

This change is also in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby Battle Royale, Kirby Star Allies, and the challenge stages included in Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition.

Other#

Each location's name differs from Japanese into other languages. The Japanese and Korean versions in particular have English text underneath the respective Japanese/Korean writing in-game. The Korean version re-uses the English translations from the Japanese version, even if the actual Korean writing is different.

The first letter of levels 1 to 7 are also used to form a word in some languages, linked to the end of the game.

Three of the five Super Abilities' names were also changed.

Almost all of the boss names had further alterations from Japanese into other languages. The only exception is HR-D3, whose name is the same in all regional versions. In most cases, the English translations of the Japanese names are provided by their filenames, though they don't always fully match the Japanese reading.

"Mr. Dooter" is parsed "Mr Dooter" in the English version of Kirby's Adventure Wii, which appears to be the only major text difference between the two English versions.

The harder bosses found in Extra Mode and The True Arena are given the "EX" suffix in the Japanese, English, French, Latin American Spanish and Korean localizations, the "X" suffix in the German and Italian versions and the "+" suffix in the European Spanish localizations.

The name of the Scope Shot sub-game and its exclusive enemies were changed as well.

Oddities#

• Some brstm files are headed with "KbyW", "Kby" or "ST_KBYW/ST_KbyW" while others are headed with "IUK" combined with the presence of a "KbyF" prefix in some of Kirby's Epic Yarn's music may hint at "KbyW" being the third cancelled prototype game.
• "Beyond the Hill"'s filename, ST_IUK_KBYW_CANYON1.brstm, implies it was meant to be used in Raisin Ruins rather than Cookie Country.
• IUK_FISH1.brstm is used as the Hub theme for Raisin Ruins, the desert world rather than Onion Ocean, the ocean/beach world.
• "Perfect Sledding Weather", the theme for the fourth stage of White Wafers, is called ST_KBYW_CACTUS1.brstm internally. This, along with its upbeat Western theme, implies that it was also intended for Raisin Ruins.
• ST_KbyW_COLD1.brstm is a wintry-sounding song that would fit right into White Wafers, but is instead used as the hub stage theme for Nutty Noon, the sky world.
• "Pressure Panic"'s internal filename is KbyW_BOSS_TYU2.brstm, implying that at one point it was a mid-boss theme. ("tyu" is an alternate Romanization of "chuu", referring to 中ボス chuu-boss, a Japanese term for mid-bosses.)
• "Guardian Angel Landia" is referred to as a stage theme in its filename, ST_IUK_KAZAN1.brstm. It might have been an early stage theme for Dangerous Dinner, as "Kazan" is Japanese for Volcano.
• st_halberd.brstm is "Fly, Kirby!", the theme of Another Dimension. The famous Halberd is nowhere in the final game, but a pre-release trailer for the GameCube Kirby game showed that the Halberd was intended to appear in said game, likely indicating the song name as a leftover. (This also serves to explain why the "Triumphant Return" riff from Kirby Super Star is in the song.)
• b_dedede01.brstm is "Blazing! Boss Battle", the normal boss theme. b_dedede02.brstm is "Crash! Mid-Boss Tower", the cover of Dedede's theme used in Nutty Noon Stage 5. It seems these might be more leftovers from the GameCube Kirby game, in which Dedede appeared to have a more antagonistic role.
• The above-mentioned unused duplicate of "Challenging the True Arena" is called gunshooting01.brstm, which suggests that it was originally planned for use in something related to guns (Scope Shot, most likely).
• The files for the Armor Halcandle Dee enemy include a bunch of random extra textures, such as the unused versions of the Challenge Stage icons, the HUD icon for Energy Spheres, and a few textures from inside the Lor Starcutter.
• The folder for King Doo is named beholdoo, which is not its final name. This is duplicated in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition.
• Blue Kirby's HUD icons are called "KirbyRFace." Since the HUD icons for the other Kirby colors are called "KirbyGFace" and "KirbyYFace", KirbyRFace most likely means Blue Kirby was originally going to red, like in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.
• The rock texture for the hand model for the Stone Uppercut attack for the Stone ability is named KbStoneSupreHat00. "Supre" can be interpreted as a misspelling of "Super", which combined with how the texture's filename suggests it was used for a hat, which is not where the texture is used in the final game, as well as having a similar filename format to some of the filenames of the hat textures used for the Super Abilities, likely suggests there was plans for a Super Stone ability that ended up getting cut from the game, also note that no Copy Ability star texture for it, nor any folders for said ability are present in the files.

Anti-Piracy#

To do: Figure out how the "USB loader check" works, and if there's more than one; it's probably checking for unexpected IOS behaviour that a cIOS or something would have, similar to Smurfs.

This game uses the MetaFortress copy protection method - a completely different version from the one previously used in The Smurfs Dance Party. In addition to a USB loader check, the game's executable was run through a tool that placed a bunch of (nearly 1400!) integrity checks placed around the code, presumably to make it extremely difficult to remove the main anti-piracy check. The code for these checks is very non-standard in a lot of ways that break code analysis tools, like dropping invalid instructions in the middle of valid ones to use as values for calculations. Also, because these were added after compilation, the game's included symbol map does not label any related functions. All of this amounts to the DRM being incredibly time-consuming to crack.

If this protection is tripped, the game will intentionally crash while booting, randomly during the title screen or main menu, or upon trying to load any of the game modes on the main menu, depending on what triggered it.

Internal Project Name#

According to the game's sound archive and many other miscellaneous files, the project's internal name is "IUK". Some unused files are headed with "GCK" and "KbyW", which suggest earlier project names (respectively "GameCube Kirby" and "Kirby Wii").

References#