the cutting room mirror

Mort the Chicken

This needs some investigation.
Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.
Specifically: STAGE6, more European differences, the other cheat codes

To do:
Prerelease content, notes page. ICARUS is just WIN30.STR. Make the screenshots conform to the guidelines.

Remember that chicken from that one level in Pizza Tower? Bet ya didn't know he had his own game before that.

Mort the Chicken is a game where you navigate several levels, rescuing chicks and then depositing them at the start. When you deposit all the chicks in a level, you win and go on to the next one. So, it's basically a revamped Sonic 3D Blast.

Debug Mode#

To do:
Document.

In the Options Menu, select Cheat Screen and enter the code "DBGON" (or "DON" in the EU version). Then, during gameplay, pause the game and press Select. A debug menu will appear. You can scroll through numerous options and change their values, like gravity, powerup length, and invulnerability. There is also a sound test: changing the value of "PLAY SOUND" will cause a sound effect to play.

Unused Languages#

In the /LANGUAGES folder, there are four .txt files: DEUTCH.TXT, ENGLISH.TXT, ESPANOL.TXT, and FRANCE.TXT. However, the only file that actually has any content is ENGLISH.TXT, which contains the game's script, and there is no language selection in either version of the game, rendering the three other files pointless.

Unused Text#

/OVERLAY/MOVIE.BIN has several error messages:

ERROR: MOVIE -- Could not find stream file '%s'
ERROR: MOVIE -- Couldn't start the CD!!
ERROR: MOVIE -- Couldn't get first frame!!
ERROR: MOVIE -- Couldn't get frame from ring buffer!!
FrameCount %d
MOVIE: w = %d, h = %d, sectors = %d
ERROR: MOVIE -- Found sector frame count over > end frame (%d > %d)
ERROR: MOVIE -- Found sector frame count < internal frame count. (%d < %d)
ERROR: MOVIE -- Found bad sized frame (%d x %d) is not (%d x %d)
ERROR: MOVIE -- No frame to VLC decode!!
ERROR: MOVIE -- MDEC decode timeout!!
ERROR: MOVIE -- Not enough memory, can't allocate %d bytes!
free %x, end %x, base %x fullend %x
Allocated %d bytes. Free memory = %d bytes

Regional Differences#

To do:
Check Europe demo differences

USA

Europe

The legal disclaimer in the EU version adds the URL to the game's website below AndNow's and a statement saying no chickens were harmed in the production of the game.

Cheat codes#

To do:
Put the cheat codes here.

The debug cheat codes have been renamed to DON and DOFF and there is an addition of several new cheat codes, ranging from playing the game's music to playing the cutscenes.

Loading screens#

Positioning of the loading text and progress bars were changed in the EU version to account for the increased vertical resolution and some stages got new/different loading screens.

Comparison of all loading screens

Level 1 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 2 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 3 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 4 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 5 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 6 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 7 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 8 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 9 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 10 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 11 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 12 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 13 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 14 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 15 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 16 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 17 loading screen#

USA

Europe

Level 18 loading screen#

USA

Europe

UI#

USA

Europe

The culling on the coin was fixed.

Language file#

Despite the game being brought over to Europe, all language files other than the English one remain unchanged.

USA

Europe

The Memory card in memory card slot 1 is unformatted. Do you want to format?
No saved games found in memory card slot 1.
Load Failed. File not found.
Load Failed. File open error.
Load Failed. File read error.
Save Failed. File write error.
The memory card in memory card slot 1 is unformatted. Do you want to format?
No saved games found\on the memory card in memory card slot 1.
Error. File not found.
Load failed.
Load failed.
Save Failed.
Save failed.
Saving data. Do not remove the memory card.
Loading data. Do not remove the memory card.
Formatting memory card. Do not remove the memory card.
Load complete.
Format complete.
Format failed.
Memory card is full. Please insert a different memory card\in order to make a save.
The memory card in memory card slot 1 is unformatted.

Redundant changes to the wording of some saving-related text and addition of more of them.

USA

Europe

[LEGALINFO]
Mort the Chicken

Copyright 2000 AndNow LLC. All rights reserved.
Mort the Chicken is a 
trademark of Andnow LLC.

Published and distributed by Crave Entertainment,
Inc. under license from
Andnow LLC

www.andnow.net
[LEGALINFO]
Mort the Chicken

Copyright 2000 AndNow LLC. All rights reserved.
Mort the Chicken is a 
trademark of Andnow LLC.

Published and distributed by Crave Entertainment,
Inc. under license from
Andnow LLC

www.andnow.net
www.mortthechicken.com

No Chickens were harmed in the production 
of this game.

The change to the legal disclaimer screen as seen earlier.