Pulseman

Before there was Pokémon, there was Pulseman, an eccentric action-platformer with a circuit-crossing hero.

Though available through the Sega Channel service, overseas players had to wait until 2009 to see a proper release, for international waters CAN DESTROY PULSEMAN‼

Originally developed under the working names Superman Spark (超人スパーク) and Spark (スパーク).

Level Select#

When the Sega logo appears, press A, B, C, C, B, A on controller 2. The level selector can be found in the options menu under "Map".

Unused Graphics#

Early Graphics#

NOTE: The palettes for the early graphics here are best guesses based on the palettes used in the final game. The old palettes may not be in the game anymore.

GFX Offset	Early Graphic	Final Graphics	Notes
0x03CBBC			Remnants for an older title screen, back when it was called *Spark*. The name might have been changed for trademark purposes. Included with the early game logo are company logos for Sega and Game Freak. These are represented through text on the final title.
0x0A1C5E			A more realistically drawn design for the VR guy in Stage 1. He's more conservatively dressed, and his VR gear is a helmet, not glasses.
0x0A3232			More leftovers from the game's "Spark" days. Note that this is a separate element from the news picture. The final text is part of the pic.
0x0F3666			The older drill platform's top is not animated, and the drill itself is less complicated compared to the final graphic's corkscrew design.

Object Graphics#

GFX Offset	Graphics	Comments
0x096BCE		Two alternate explosion graphics: One for real areas, and one for CG areas. The final game reuses the explosion graphics from Magical Taruruuto-kun, Game Freak's previous Sega game.
0x0EA98A		These garbage cans are left over from Magical Taruruuto-kun, and were most likely used as test graphics.
0x0F5C42		The Polygon Waruyama tileset has graphics for this cannon object. It's not part of the final battle in any capacity.

Level Graphics#

Stage / Area	Graphics	Comments
Unknown		Odd BG tiles featuring the Earth from space. There's no place in the game set in outer space besides the Galaxy Gunner game. The graphics are stored at 0x03D9B8. The exact palette is unknown; This is just a guess based on the content of the picture.
Stage 1 CG Area		A large chip graphic platform. The circuit walls are never thick enough to warrant this graphic's use.
Stage 1 VR Machine Area		The entire machine seen in the right side of the area. The last half of the machine is cut off by the screen borders.
Stage 2 Starting CG Area		Smaller 16x16 versions of the blocks that make up the bulk of the area. 32x32 and 48x48 blocks are used instead.
Stage 2 Tree CG Area		Various spikes that never appear in the stage proper. Get used to unused spike tiles, by the way. They're all over the place.
Stage 3 Desert Area		The desert boss fight in Stage 3 has unused slope tiles. The final stage is flat and scrolls infinitely on a loop. There are also platform edge tiles for some reason. This fight looks like it was supposed to be considerably more complex...
Stage 3 VR Desert Area		These look similar to the purple spikes used in the final game, only these spikes are surrounded by what look like green berries. The base of the spikes is actually a different design than the final spikes, which use a symmetrical design. Only the base of this spike variant is left in the tileset, the other tiles having been overwritten with newer graphics.
Stage 3 Boss Area		Two signs that would be featured in the already graphically busy neon-lit boss background. The "Plaza" sign is actually used in the background, but it's always covered by Pulseman's health indicator. Oops. The giant GOLD sign, on the other hand, is unused by design, as all unused tiles should be.
Stage 4 Waterfall Area		There are two different "layers" of waterfalls in this area which scroll at different speeds. The top waterfall layer only makes contact with the bottom waterfall layer, and the bottom layer has no ground tiles. Despite these awkwardly-worded facts, tiles do exist for waterfalls crashing onto rocks. They're to the left. Right there.
Stage 4 Waterfall Area		A Galaxy Gang platform that appears in many other areas besides this one. This particular design's unique to this stage.
Stage 4 Ruins Area		Two unused blocks: A red, breakable block (only destructible blocks use Pulseman's palette) and an alternate stone design. Oh, and ceiling spikes. There are no ceiling spikes in the ruins, as the ancient peoples weren't that cruel.
Stage 4 Ruins Area		These background blocks are remarkably intact given what's happened to the rest of the ruins.
Stage 4 Gear Area		Two unused 16x16 blocks. There is nothing interesting that can be said about them. Look at them.
Stage 4 VR Area		New for 1994: The unused Spike XL! Now in palette-cycling two-tone pink!
Stage 5 Mountain Area		What kind of weirdos would put spikes in a mountain-climbing section? Not Game Freak, that's for sure.
Stage 5 VR Ice Area		Did you know that "Spikes" is the mascot of the Rochester Red Wings, a Minor League Triple-A baseball team?
Stage 5 Maze Area		Other famous spikes include Tom & Jerry's alliance-shifting adversary, Tommy Pickles' dog, and Snoopy's older brother.
Stage 6 Sea Base Area		Finally, something else! The structures in the sea base aren't as block-based as other stages, so these tiles are not used.
Stage 7 Arcade Area		Confusingly, even though this area is only used for a cutscene, a Galaxy Gang platform is part of the tileset. Perhaps, at one point, an actual level was planned to take place in the arcade?
Stage 7 Arcade Area		These floor tiles are part of the background, but they're always obscured by foreground tiles.
Stage 7 Galaxy Gunner 1		An actual galaxy in Galaxy Gunner's tileset! This was discarded in favor of a scrolling parallax starfield.
Stage 7 Galaxy Gunner 3		There are flames in the background and foreground at the bottom of the screen in Galaxy Gunner 3. There are equivalent tiles for fire at the top of the screen, but then there'd be less space for the parallax starfield.
Stage 7 Ko-Waruyama Area		Hard-to-see spikes set against a static background. In a boss area. Easy to see why these weren't used!
Credits		Pulseman appears on several monitors in the ending credits. This is the only shot that's never seen.

Used BG	Full BG

There are more tiles for the damaged arcade building than are seen in the actual game. The image on the left is as far as it gets before the game fades to white.

Unused Animations#

Graphics	Comments
	This object only appears in one area, before the final boss, and there's only one of them in the actual area! This object reflects Pulseman's Spark Shot to a different direction. The one reflector in the normal game is diagonally-oriented, reflecting Pulseman's shot upwards. The vertical and horizontally-oriented versions are not used. Furthermore, the reflector in the game is not animated at all, it just floats in place.
	The VR Guy's hands were supposed to be more lively in the VR Hand boss fight. The first two frames of the first fist animation were used, but none of the others are. It's likely that the animations were supposed to match the VR Hand's actions. Makes sense, right?
	An animation of Waruyama with a shocked expression is part of his Stage 3 boss graphics. Could have been used after taking damage or after being defeated.
	These water spouts appear in the first area of Stage 4. They shoot downwards, though, not left or right.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Oddities#

Music Oddity#

Like Game Freak's previous Sega title, Magical Taruruuto-kun, every song in the soundtrack is internally programmed two semitones higher than what they're played as in-game.

Internal pitch	In-game

Version Differences#

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

To do:
List more differences, demo desync that causes the SMPS driver to malfunction and be unable to play new sounds upon defeat

Pulseman was never released on cartridges outside of Japan, but it was "broadcasted" in the US via the Sega Channel service in 1995. The ROM used here was dated April 1994, about two months before the game's Japanese release. It was also used for the limited Sega Channel broadcasts for Europe in 1996 and Latin America in 1997.

Contrary to popular belief, the game was never officially translated into English, and the Sega Channel version was in Japanese. Despite this, it's very import friendly, as the only Japanese text, having to do with the story, is relatively minimal, and much of the voice acting and in-game help text was already in English.

The Japanese version was re-released worldwide on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, though the game's flashing light patterns were addressed by the emulator setting the screen brightness to 68%, rather than altering the ROM to remove the patterns. The Nintendo Classics release in 2023 made more extensive modifications to the timings of the flashing patterns.

Sega Channel (US)	Mega Drive (JP)
`SEGA MEGA DRIVE (C)SEGA 1994.APR PULSEMAN GM G-4068`	`SEGA MEGA DRIVE (C)SEGA 1994.MAY PULSEMAN PULSEMAN GM G-4098`

The US version is dated April 1994 while the Japanese version is dated May 1994. The US version also lacks an international title, and uses the same serial number and checksum as Magical Taruruuto-kun.

Region Error#

Attempting to play the Japanese version of Pulseman in a different region Mega Drive or Genesis console it was not designed for will result in this message appearing when the game is powered on. The US version does not feature any region lockout and can be played on any console regardless of region.

Other#

Sega Channel (US)	Mega Drive (JP)
Pulseman_Attract_Demo_Sega_Channel_US.mp4	Pulseman_Attract_Demo_Mega_Drive_JP.mp4

The attract demo is slightly longer in the US Sega Channel version.

Sega Channel (US)	Mega Drive (JP)

The unpause animation of Beatrice is cut short in the US Sega Channel version.