Gameplay Graphics

This is a sub-page of Kirby & the Amazing Mirror/Unused Graphics.

This page documents regular unused graphics not exclusively related to the localization process of the game.

Unused Pause Menu Elements#

In all versions of the game, various graphics for the pause menu based on those from Nightmare in Dream Land can be found. They're translated into every supported language, but unlike the early localization graphics, these don't have used equivalents.

Graphics	Location (JP)	Location (US)	Location (EU)	Description
	00608F78	0062504C	0062ED90	Japanese graphics. The text can be romanized as "Gēmu wo tsuzukeru", and translates to "Continue Game".
	006096F8	006257CC	0062F510	Japanese graphics. The text can be romanized as "Mappu wo miru" and translates to "View the map".
	00609E78	00625F4C	0062FC90	Empty graphics. Most likely used as bases.
	0060A5F8	006266CC	00630410	English graphics. Pretty self explanatory.
	0060B4F8	006275CC	00611310	French graphics. Translates to "Continue game".
	0060AD78	00626E4C	00630B90	German graphics. Translates to "Continue game".
	0060BC78	006284CC	00632210	Italian graphics. Translates to "Continue".
	0060C3F8	00627D4C	00631A90	Spanish graphics. Translates to "Continue playing".

These graphics are actually used in the game's Demo, where it used an earlier iteration of the pause menu that worked similarly to the previous game's, in which the player highlighted the options and then triggered them by pressing the A button. Only the prompt that allowed the player to check the map is unable to be selected because the player isn't allowed to pick up maps.

Unused Ability Icons#

Various unused icons managed to slip into the game's internals. Some of them are leftovers from Nightmare in Dream Land.

WAIT Icon#

At 00309274, 0031AE60, and 0031CD00 in the Japanese, American, and European versions of the game, respectively, the "WAIT" icon that displayed when someone lost a life in a multiplayer session of the previous game can be found. Players respawn shortly after being KO'ed, so this icon goes unused. The palette remains inside the game, located at 003019D4 in the Japanese version, 0031AE40 in the American version, and 0031CCE0 in the European version.

STAR ROD Icons#

At 00309634, also in the Japanese version of the game, there are graphics for the Star Rod from Nightmare in Dream Land in German.

Later, another Star Rod icon can be found in 00310A74, now in Japanese. It can be romanized as "Sutā Roddo".

The icon's palette is not fully unused, however, as the orange found in it was repurposed as the palette for the damage icons in all versions of the game, and the red, yellow, and blue colors of said palette are exclusively used for the elemental damage icons in the Japanese version of the game.

KIRBY Icon#

Finally, in 003099F4, there's a completely unused "Kirby" icon. This icon is used within the Japanese version's data as a placeholder for the damage icons in the different localizations of the game. Due to this, this icon uses the palette for the Star Rod icon, which makes it look... not great. Below is the icon with the Star Rod's palette applied and a mock-up depicting how it could've looked.

Unfinished Area Names#

Starting at 007B1E18, 007DB308, and 007E5770 in the Japanese, American, and European versions, respectively, various unfinished and early area names for the World Maps can be found.

Early Graphics	Final Japanese Graphics

It's worth noting that these graphics can also be found in the Demo's data in place of the finalized ones.

Early and Unused Map Text#

There are early graphics for the Japanese text that shows up when viewing the World Map and Area Maps starting at 007B07D8, 007D8ECC, and 007E3330 in the Japanese, American, and European versions, respectively. These can be seen in pre-release material. Most of these were refined and made bigger for the final Japanese release.

Early Graphics	Final Graphics	Transcription/Romaji	Notes
		マップ/Mappu	Translates to "Map". The early graphic is very similar to the finalized graphic. The only differences are that the "マ/ma" has a hollow spot in the middle and that the "プ/pu" is closer to the sokuon in the early version.
		もどる/Modoru	Translates to "Return". The kana were made bigger and given a few gray pixels to give off an anti-aliasing effect.
		ズーム/Zūmu	Translates to "Zoom". The kana were made bigger and given a few gray pixels to give off an anti-aliasing effect.
		全体/Zentai	Translates to "Whole". Paired in-game with "マップ/Mappu" to make "全体マップ" (lit. "Whole Map"). The early graphic is very similar to the finalized version, as the only differences are that the early graphic has the kanji closer together and the "全" kanji has an empty pixel at the top and its bottom adjusted.

There are also unused graphics for text that doesn't have variants that are used in the final version.

Unused Graphics	Transcription/Romaji	Notes
	つぎの/Tsugi no	Translates to "Next". Was paired with "エリア/Eria" in pre-release builds to make "つぎのエリア" (lit. "Next Area).
	へ/He/E	Translates to "To". Was paired with "エリア (Area)" and "マップ (Map)" in pre-release builds to make "エリアマップへ" (lit. "To Area Map").
	–	A simple dash character. Used in pre-release builds to separate the word "エリア (Area)" from an area's number.

All of these graphics also have leftover animation data.

Unused Kirby Sprites#

Burning Kirby#

Burning Kirby has hat graphics that were used in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land when he exited a hub door. No door in this game can trigger this animation, so they go unused. They can be found at 00540518 in the Japanese version, 0055C5EC in the American version, and 005665B0 in the European version.

Cupid Kirby#

Cupid Kirby has full-body sprites for the animation that played when exiting a hub door in the previous game at 0059C678 in the Japanese version, 005B874C in the American version, and 005C2610 in the European version. This is odd, as Cupid Kirby isn't from Nightmare in Dream Land, so there should be no reason for these sprites to exist. The 2003 Demo also has these kind of sprites for Mini and Missile, but they were removed from the final game.

Fire Kirby#

Fire Kirby also has graphics for the exiting animations from the previous game, but like Burning, it's only for the hats. They're located at 004DA8F8 in the Japanese version, 004F69CC in the American version, and 00500990 in the European version.

Master Kirby#

Master Kirby has graphics for a hat. They only remain for the "Upwards Stab" attack. These are leftovers from an earlier point in development where Master Kirby reused Sword's hat, as evidenced by the 2003 Demo. They're located at 005DC0F8 in the Japanese version, 005F81CC in the American version, and 00602190 in the European version.

Notably, there are more frames than what the final animation uses, hinting that the animation's length was shortened sometime after these graphics were created and then scrapped. A mockup of the final animation with matching frames is shown below.

Missile Kirby#

This is the starting sprite that shows up for three frames in Missile's transforming animation. However, it's covered by many effects and can never be fully seen under normal circumstances. If the player initiates the move while inside an air current, only some pixels will peek, but the rest of the graphic is never shown. The location of this sprite inside the game's data is at 005AD558 in the Japanese version, 005C962C in the American version, and 005D35F0 in the European version.

Parasol Kirby#

Like Cupid, Parasol also has full-body sprites for the hub door animation from the previous game. They can be found at 00503218 in the Japanese version, 0051F2EC in the American version, and 005292B0 in the European version.

Throw Kirby#

Another ability to have sprites of this type is Throw, whose graphics can be located at 00549D78 in the Japanese version, 00565E4C in the American version, and 0056FE10 in the European version.

Sword Kirby#

Lastly, Sword Kirby has these kinds of graphics too. Kirby himself is located at 004EA658 in the Japanese version, 0050672C in the American version, and 005106F0 in the European version. His hat is at 004E9598 in the Japanese version, 0050566C in the American version, and 0050F630 in the European version.

All of these graphics have leftover animation data.

Kirby Wave Ride#

Kirby's damage sprites from Kirby Air Grind in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land can be found at 0073F758 in the Japanese version, 0075B82C in the American version, and 00765570 in the European version. No other graphics from Air Grind can be found, which may suggest that Kirby Wave Ride originally had damage mechanics, but were scrapped. Additionally, the last unused sprite, which is not from Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, can be located at 00740358, 0075C42C, and 00766170 in the Japanese, American, and European versions, respectively.

Also, the Japanese version of the game contains the Spanish sprite sheet for Wave Ride at 00397688. Said sprite sheet also has the unused damage graphics, but two sprites were partially overwritten by the "EXCELLENT!" graphic that pops up when boosting.

This was fixed in the European version of the game, but it didn't really matter since the graphics went unused anyway.

One last thing to note is that the regular damage graphics are always loaded into memory when playing Wave Ride and that they have leftover animation data.

Unused Enemy Sprites#

Gordo#

Gordo has unused duplicates for their sprites in the Kirby Wave Ride sprite sheet at 00742158, 0075E22C, and 00767F70 in the Japanese, American, and European versions of the game, respectively. The palettes differ slightly from regular Gordo's due to using a Wave Ride palette. They even have leftover animation data that is not used by the regular version of Gordo. This reinforces the idea of damage mechanics being considered for Kirby Wave Ride.

Droppy#

Droppy has sprites with goggles, but only animations for walking and swimming, suggesting underwater Droppys were planned but cancelled during development. These sprites can be found at 00647598 in the Japanese version, 006636A8 in the American version, and 0066B3D0 in the European version. The game stores unused animation data for these graphics, being used for 3 animations.

Minny#

Minny has three sprites for what seems to be jumping, aerial time, and falling. In the final game, Minny only runs back and forth rapidly. These are located at 0066AB68, 0068678C, and 006904D0 in the Japanese, European, and American versions of the game, respectively. The game also has leftover animation data stored for these graphics, and each sprite is an animation.

Unused Boss Sprites#

Gobbler#

Gobbler has an unused sprite of him grimacing. What it was supposed to be used for is unknown, but it comes right after the graphics of him dashing underwater. The game has animation data for it consisting of one frame. It's found at 00690E78 in the Japanese version, 006B6C90 in the European version, and 006ACF4C in the American version.

Dark Meta Knight#

Dark Meta Knight has graphics for a slide attack that was previously used by Meta Knight in Nightmare in Dream Land only in Meta Knightmare, his playable debut. There's no attack in both of his fights that make use of these graphics, so they go unused. The game also stores animation data for the first three graphics. The last frame, however, is briefly seen in the cutscene where Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight fight, albeit in a completely different color palette. Dark Meta Knight himself can be found at 007BF218, 007F62F0, and 007EBE8C in the Japanese, European, and American versions of the game, respectively, while the sword is at 007CD3D8, 008044B0, and 007FA04C in the same order.

Unused Enemy Health Bar Names#

Stoppy#

There's a single unused health bar name for an unused enemy. It says "ストッピー (Stoppy)" and is located at 002F0B34, 002EFBA0, and 002F1A40 in the Japanese, American, and European versions of the game, respectively. Stoppy is a (mostly) dummied-out enemy present in the final game.

Placeholder Names#

This graphic, found at 002F1F34, 002F0FA0, and 002F2E40 in the Japanese, American, and European versions of the game, respectively, is repeated 5 times between a space separating the names of bosses and mid-bosses. It's used as a placeholder for entities that don't have a defined name yet and by the unused bytes of data for bosses and mid-bosses.

An alternate version of this graphic is present just below it in the data at 002F2034, 002F10A0, and 002F2F40 in the Japanese, American, and European versions, respectively. It's nearly identical to the previous one, but with the bottom pixel on each triangle deleted.

Unused Arrow#

There's an unused graphic of a red arrow at 005F5C38 in the Japanese version, 00611D0C in the American version, and 0061BCD0 in the European version of the game. Previously used in Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land to indicate which Kirby you were playing as upon entering a stage in multiplayer, it ended up unused here due to not being as useful in the open-world setting of Amazing Mirror.

Unused Corner#

What this graphic, located between Roly-Poly and Foley at 0066B598, 0068766C, and 006913B0 in the Japanese, American, and European versions, is supposed to be is completely unknown. It's recognized as a CHARACTER by the prototype's Debug Menu and has one animation consisting of this very still frame.

The palette this graphic uses is used by many other graphics, such as Magic's roulette, the bouncing Master Sword, UFO's shots, Crash's explosion and particle effects, Ice's ice cubes, the Mirror Doors, food items, the levers used to unlock the air passages, and many other dust and smoke effects.

Unused Mirror Frames#

Three unused mirror frames for the Central Circle are present in the game. They appear to be earlier versions of existing mirror frames.

Frame	Location (JP)	Location (US)	Location (EU)	Description
	005FF0D8	0061B1AC	00625170	A frame with a space/cloud aesthetic. Could've easily been paired with Candy Constellation.
	005FF5D8	0061B6AC	00625670	An orange stone frame. Its aesthetic fits with the tiles of Radish Ruins.
	006004D8	0061C5AC	00625770	A mossy, cave-like frame that could've belonged to Cabbage Cavern or Rainbow Route.

Unused Cut-Scene Graphics#

A question mark, exclamation mark, and a "shocked" graphic can be located near various other cut-scene graphics inside the various versions of the game. The question mark and shocked graphic are part of early cutscenes still present in the final game, specifically the ones that play when encountering and defeating Dark Meta Knight inside the Dimension Mirror. The question mark would later be used in Kirby: Squeak Squad as a Mix or random ability essence bubble.

Graphic	Location (JP)	Location (US)	Location (EU)
	005F8BD8	00614CAC	0061EC70
	005F8C58	00614D2C	0061ECF0
	005F8CD8	00614DAC	0061ED70

Unused Heave-Ho Blocks#

The small and large Heave-Ho Blocks found all over the Mirror World have a modified duplicate of their graphics that allow them to use unused orange and brown tones in their palette.

Graphic	Location (JP)	Location (US)	Location (EU)
	005F6AF8	00612BCC	0061CB90
	005F6D78	00612E4C	61CE10

Below is an image of the palette's data. Everything after the white color is unused.

Unused Tiles#

Cloudy Tileset#

The "cloudy" tileset that's used in the tutorial area and the Copy Ability room has various unused tiles. The first tile is a blue ladder similar in style to the floating platforms found in those areas.

Next up is an assortment of stars in a diagonal formation. Their purpose is unknown, but their angles are similar to those of slope tiles.

King Golem Tileset#

A short spike tile resides inside the tileset pertaining to King Golem's room.

Mountain Tileset#

The "mountain" tileset that appears in some areas of Mustard Mountain and Rainbow Route has unused tiles of a barrel and various crates. The "forest" tileset uses a similar barrel, but with a different palette.

Volcano Tileset#

The "volcano" tileset has an unused animated tile of a lava bubble popping. A similar animated tile is used in Mustard Mountain, but it's slower and doesn't have a dark background.

Ocean Tileset#

The "ocean" tileset used in the underwater sections of Olive Ocean has an unused ladder tile similar to the ones found in Mustard Mountain. While some ladders are used in the beach section of Olive Ocean, they look nothing like this. Additionally, ladders don't appear in the underwater sections of the game, so it's clear why this one went unused.

Peppermint Palace#

The "palace" and "icy cave" tilesets pertaining to Peppermint Palace have two small unused circles. The first one is found in the icy cave tileset, while the second one is found in the palace tileset. What they could've been used for is unknown.

Miscellaneous Blocks#

Various gray blocks can be found scattered across many tilesets. The most interesting block is the one in the middle, which has a hammer symbol. It's likely that it was once used as a block that could only be destroyed with the Hammer ability.

Unused King Golem Tileset#

King Golem has a whole tileset that goes unused located at 009EE8AC, 00A1E720, and 00A28B84 in the Japanese, American, and European versions of the game. It includes the sprites for his body (which don't have any differences from the used sprites), a blue door similar to the ones from previous games, a huge platform, and some debris. The platform and the debris use a palette that's strikingly similar to the one used in Radish Ruins, and their design appears to come from the aesthetic of that place as well. Additionally, an unused palette for King Golem located 2 palettes away from this tileset's is paired with it, highly suggesting a cut second encounter with King Golem in Radish Ruins or an early version of his room in Moonlight Mansion.

The tileset is identified by the value 16, as is the palette.

Debug Tileset#

The Debug Room has a whole entire tileset that goes unused. They include slopes of differing heights, spikes, water tiles, and icy tiles. Some of the tiles are borrowed from Kirby's Dream Land 3, just like how Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land did it. The text on the first and second tiles means "explosion", the third tile means "fix" or "repair", the fourth one means "hammer", the fifth one means "demo", and the last two mean "magma".

Present only in the debug room's tileset is also this numbered field, which might have been used as a template.

Dark Mind Tileset#

Unlike almost every other room in the game, phase 5 of Dark Mind's room doesn't use a traditional tileset. It instead uses an animated background. However, when inspecting the room's data in a map viewer, the room actually has tiles hidden in-game that form a room identical to the unused Debug Room, sans the alternate palette.

It also comes with its own version of the Debug Tiles.

All of this may mean that this room may have once been a Debug Room during development until it was repurposed as a Boss Room, or that the Debug Room's data was copied to make this room.

Placeholder Tiles#

These tiles are found within many areas of the ROM, used as placeholders to mark where an artist should work or to mark areas that should be left unused in a tileset or graphic batch.

Unused Backgrounds#

Placeholder Background#

A placeholder background representing some mountains. You can see it in-game by replacing the background of the main hub room. To do so, change the byte at offset 0093AEF2 in the US version of the game from 1A to 16.

Unused Credits#

An unused version of the credits' text, classified as background 22 and 23. It's nearly identical to the used version, but it doesn't have shadows behind the letters.

Unused Fonts#

Debug Font#

A fairly small font appears two times in all the regional ROMs. This was used as a debug font earlier in development, and it can still be found in the 2003 demo's Debug Menu. The palettes for it seem to have been removed, so the one you're seeing here is a recreation of how it was in the Demo.

It first appears at 00348660 in the Japanese version, 00363EEC in the American version, and 0036E170 in the European version. It makes its second appearance at 00D49EEC, 00D7EAD4, and DF12EC in the Japanese, American, and European versions, respectively.

Early Credits Fonts#

Two fonts meant for the staff credits, only found in the Japanese version of the game at 00ADEB70 and 00AF2784. Previously shown in the unused backgrounds section, this font is the same as the one from Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. The final font adds shadows behind the characters.

Unused	Used

Unused Characters#

The credits fonts have various characters that don't get used in any version of the game.

Unseen Details#

Map Blocks#

When the player hasn't collected the map for a certain area, they can pause to see a partial map of the rooms they have visited. These partial maps have small colored blocks representing where the actual Area Map is. While these graphics are not unused, they're only seen in their small versions. These graphics are much bigger than what they appear to be, and the game resizes them in real time to be small. Below is a comparison between how they're seen and how they actually look in the game's data.

Seen	Full

Dark Meta Knight Flap#

Dark Meta Knight has a few graphics with hidden details. While these graphics and animation can be seen used by Dark Meta Knight in the introduction cutscene, they're displayed in pitch black. Looking at the sprite in a tile editor reveals that the sprite was fully drawn with the intention of having all of Dark Meta Knight's colors and details. Loading the animation in-game outside of the intro cutscene (Sprite ID 03 9E, Animation ID 00) reveals that the sprite even has an assigned palette outside it, sporting an otherwise unused palette for Dark Meta Knight that has golden colors used in an earlier design for him. These colors turned his eyes and shoulder plate rims golden, and in these graphics, these colors are used for his sword, making it resemble Galaxia.

These graphics can be found at 0082CBF8 in the Japanese version, 0085986C in the American version, and 00863CD0 in the European version. An animated comparison between the true color version and the seen version is below.

Seen	True color

Full Goal Game Backgrounds#

While not completely unused, the backgrounds that appear in Goal Games have a big chunk of unseen sky. The player is unable to see beyond the upper half of the second star, leaving the giant stars and light trails unseen. The sides and bottom are also slightly cut in-game.

Yellow	Violet	Teal	Visible

Full Crackity Hack Beach Background#

Similarly, the beach background seen in Crackity Hack is massive, but most of it is obscured by the actual beach and palm trees, and some of it is cut off by the borders of the screen. A large portion of the sky and most of the ocean goes unseen because of this.

Full	Visible