Panda World

This needs some investigation.
Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.
Specifically: The long running "Which is the first" question.

Panda World is a bootleg Tarepanda game that was reskinned to make the Pokémon bootleg Pocket Monster. A seemingly lesser known and earlier version exists as Super Popo's Adventure.

Unused Audio#

This page or section needs more audio.
There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough audio. Please fix this.
Specifically:

Unused sounds. 1
The link above redirects to a 404, but it's just an NSF file. Either remake it or just go ahead and extract the sound effects from Pocket Monster.

Pocket Monster#

This song is used in some of Super PoPo's Adventure's levels and on the title screen in Panda World.

This song is used in some of Super PoPo's Adventure and Panda World's levels.

Unused Graphics#

A hexadecimal font, unused in all versions of the game.

Super PoPo's Adventure#

Super_PoPo's_Adventure-teletubbies.png
A Teletubbies logo, stored with the title screen graphics. It was likely removed to avoid legal trouble from the BBC.

Super_PoPo's_Adventure-push.png
Text reading "PUSH". This is stored next to the "START" text displayed on the title screen, and was likely intended to display alongside it. This can be seen in the mockup to the right.

An unused sprite of Po's mouth.

Bizarrely, Super PoPo's Adventure contains leftover graphics from Tengen's NES version of Tetris! These appear at the very end of the CHR data, at 038010 and 039010 respectively. This is likely a remnant of a pirate multicart, since the font from this game was often used for multicart menus.

Pocket Monster#

In-Game	Fixed

Due to a programming oversight, one of the frames of Pikachu dancing on the ending screen never displays one of the tiles on his arm.

Used	Unused

An unused duplicate of the word "OVER" from the game over screen. It is positioned differently and takes up 8x3 tiles instead of 8x2.

Used	Unused

An unused duplicate of the bottom of the two graphics from the continue screen with a few erroneous pixels on the bottom.

Unused Objects#

Pocket_Monster_(NES)-tablelandplatforms.png

A couple of unused platforms, stored with the graphics for the Tableland levels in Pocket Monster. If added into a level layout with a tile editor, they will behave as ordinary platforms.

Leftover Palette#

XX 1B	XX 0E	XX 20	XX 00

The palette used for the Tarepandas on Panda World's title screen can be found at 0x2DB34 in Pocket Monster, which proves that Pocket Monster is a revision of Panda World.

Leftover Multicart Code#

Pocket_Monster_(NES)-menu.png Pocket_Monster_(NES)-menu1.png
The Pocket Monster ROM contains complete and working code and graphics for the menu from the multicart where it was ripped from. It can be re-enabled with Game Genie codes PENNKYAK ENNNSYNN.

The menu is coded to work with a special multicart memory mapper, number 45 in iNES format. So, if you run this menu with the regular mapper 4 (MMC3), you'll see the wrong CHR data. To correct the mapper, use Game Genie codes AXSLXLAA ZXSLULZA GXSLKLGA as well. This still will not fix the font in the menu itself, which needs additional hacking.

The best way to see it fully working is to set the ROM's mapper to number 45 (both pictures above are taken from a ROM with mapper 45).

Pocket_Monster_(NES)-menu2.png
The menu is coded to support 2 different numbers of games: 300 in 1 and 800 in 1. It checks for some data in the ROM and then sets the corresponding game number. To switch to 800 in 1, freeze memory location $0024 to 01 when switching from the controller menu to the game menu.

Unused Text#

Part of an automated program disassembly can be found near the end of PRG bank #8 in the Pocket Monster ROM, from 0x1FA10-0x20009.

 00                   BRK
  C5E0: 00                   BRK
  C5E1: 00                   BRK
  C5E2: 00                   BRK
  C5E3: 00                   BRK
  C5E4: 00                   BRK
  C5E5: 00                   BRK
  C5E6: 00                   BRK
  C5E7: 00                   BRK
  C5E8: 00                   BRK
  C5E9: 00                   BRK
  C5EA: 00                   BRK
  C5EB: 96 00                STX  $00,Y
  C5ED: 00                   BRK
  C5EE: 95 00                STA  $00,X
  C5F0: 00                   BRK
  C5F1: 00                   BRK
  C5F2: 00                   BRK
  C5F3: 00                   BRK
  C5F4: 00                   BRK
  C5F5: 00                   BRK
  C5F6: 00                   BRK
  C5F7: 00                   BRK
  C5F8: 00                   BRK
  C5F9: 00                   BRK
  C5FA: 00                   BRK
  C5FB: 00                   BRK
  C5FC: 00                   BRK
  C5FD: 00                   BRK
  C5FE: 00                   BRK
  C5FF: 00                   BRK
  C600: 00                   BRK
  C601: 00                   BRK
  C602: 00                   BRK
  C603: 00                   BRK
  C604: 00                   BRK
  C605: 00                   BRK
  C606: 00                   BRK
  C607: 00                   BRK
  C608: 00                   BRK
  C609: 00                   BRK
  C60A: 00                   BRK
  C60B: 96 00                STX  $00,Y
  C60D: 00                   BRK
  C60E: 95 00                STA  $00,X
  C610: 00                   BRK
  C611: 00                   BRK
  C61

Debug Mode#

A debug mode is automatically enabled in Pocket Monster when pausing the game. Select skips a level, and the D-Pad lets you move anywhere.

The debug mode is partially accessible in other versions. Pause and press Select, Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Left, Right, Right, A, A, B, B (for Panda World) or Select, A, B, A, A, B, B, A, A, A, B, B, B (for Super PoPo's Adventure) to skip to the next level. It's unknown if the free movement mode can be triggered in Panda World.

(Source: CaH4e3)

Version Differences#

General#

Each version of the game has completely different levels and completely different graphics.
Super PoPo's Adventure is the only version that has any swimming levels.
Super PoPo's Adventure is the only version that has a unique gameplay mechanic: one of the Teletubbies will ask you to find them an item, and in order to complete the level, you need to collect 1-6 puzzle pieces which are part of a six-piece picture of that item.
Pocket Monster removes the projectile attack found in Super PoPo's Adventure and Panda World and replaces it with an electric shock attack that kills all the enemies currently on-screen. It also moves the attack meter from the upper-right corner to the bottom-right corner.
Pocket Monster reduces the amount of health at the start of the game from 4 to 3.
Super PoPo's Adventure waits 5 seconds before the demo starts, Panda World waits for 16 seconds, and Pocket Monster removes the demo altogether.
The debug mode is disabled by default in all versions except Pocket Monster. The level skip can be activated with a cheat code in Panda World.
In Super Pocket Monster, an undumped edit of Pocket Monster, the collision detection is broken and Pikachu falls through the ground at the start of the first level, making the game completely unplayable.

Title Screen#

Super PoPo's Adventure	Panda World	Pocket Monster
I'm pretty sure it's just Po.		I wouldn't really call Pikachu a monster.

The title screens are very different between each version. Both Pocket Monster and Super PoPo's Adventure use the same song, with Panda World using a different one.

New World Screen#

Super PoPo's Adventure	Panda World	Pocket Monster
Laa-Laa doesn't know how to properly use the second-person.		I'm pretty sure that's not English.

The new world screen is also completely different in each game. Again, Panda World uses a different song. Pocket Monster gives its worlds names instead of numbers.

Ending#

Super PoPo's Adventure	Panda World	Pocket Monster
What's so funny?		I'm pretty sure Pikachu isn't supposed to be that dark.

As expected, the ending screens are different in each game. Super PoPo's Adventure requires you to press a button to return to the title screen, unlike both of its reskins, which automatically go to the title screen after a while. This is also the only place in Super PoPo's Adventure where the Teletubbies name is used.