Ristar (Genesis)

Ristar is an action-platformer starring (*ahem*) a star creature with grabby arms who headbutts his adversaries. Apparently, just straight-out punching them wasn't an option.

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Regional DifferencesWesternized Ristar is more hardcore than Westernized Kirby!

Debugging Functions#

Free Movement Mode#

Use the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code FFE50B:78 to enable a free movement mode. Hold A, B, or C to move faster.

To exit this mode, turn the code off and press Start.

Old Stage Select#

An older, text-based stage select is still in the game. Use the following Game Genie codes and press Start to access this menu.

NOTE: The font used on this stage select was removed from the international versions. The stage select still works, but no text is displayed.

• JP: BZ6A-AAHG, AP6A-AZ9J
• INT: BZ6A-AAH8, AP6A-AZ2A

Press A and C to navigate left and right respectively.

Slow Motion#

The Pro Action Replay (PAR) code FFFE05:08 will enable a slow motion feature. With this code on, gameplay will move at half-speed.

Please be aware that upon completing a stage, the game will freeze. It's likely that when this was actually used for debugging, it could be flipped on/off through a button press to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Unused Room#

Room 20 is unused in the final game, and would have been used somewhere in Round 6-2. It would have featured an interesting gimmick that appears nowhere in the final game: Gravity flipping! Note the reversed tiles at the top of the screen, and the upside-down gem chamber.

Those pipes, which only appear in this room, are using incorrect color values. That color space was reclaimed by the stage's red and yellow background layer after this room was scrapped.

Placeholder Screens#

Four placeholder screens remain in the game. They all consist of a simple descriptive message on a black background.

Like the early stage select, these use a font only found in the Japanese version.

Screen	Hex Offset	Use	Screen	Hex Offset	Use
	0x00DEE6 (JP) 0x00E48C (INT)	Game Intro		0x00E0AA (JP) 0x00E640 (INT)	Game Over Screen
	0x00E446 (JP) 0x00E9EE (INT)	Round Title Card		0x00E53C (JP) 0x00EAD4 (INT)	Ending

Unused Graphics#

General
Round 1
Round 5
Round 6

The following content may induce seizures and has been hidden by default. Click to reveal:
Round Early Final Round Early Final Round Early Final Round Early Final Round 1-1 Round 1-2 Round 2-1 Round 2-2 Round 3-1 Round 3-2 Round 4-1 Round 4-2

Early graphics for every treasure from Round 1 to Round 4 are still in the game's graphics. The early graphics are mixed in with round-specific graphics, while the final treasures are sequestered later in the ROM.
The early treasure graphics also use palettes specific to the round they're found in, while the final treasures share the same two-palette set.
The password screen at the end of the game shows every treasure the player has collected. It would be impossible to load the correct palette for every treasure if the early graphics were used. This might be what necessitated the change.

Early	Final

An early version of the Golden Screw is also in the game. The only round that loads the correct palette for the early sprite is Round 6-2, but the final treasure is found in Round 6-1.

Unused Sounds#

Unused Text#

FOCUS VER.
0123456789

PLAYER 1
PLAYER 3
PLAYER 5
PLAYER 7

Oddities#

Round 7#

Round 7 has a title screen and stage name, but the actual game goes straight to the gameplay. Unlike every other Round in the game, the background in Round 7-1 uses both background layers. One of the background layers is taken up by the title border, which is probably why this title card was cut. The Game Genie code AMTT-AA20(JP)/AMXA-AA72(INT) can be used to re-enable this title card.

The "Next Round" screen also has graphics for Round 7, where it's called "Castle of Greedy" rather than "Castle Greedy". It's similarly unused, since there's no Star Handle or height bonus at the end of the stage.

Sound Off#

According to a table in the Sound Theater, the "SOUND OFF" option is supposed to knock the brown bird off its perch. However, since the sound code it's looking up (C0) is the same one triggered by the B Button, this doesn't work as it should. Use the Game Genie code DMXA-LHTK(JP)/DM6A-LH1F (INT) to fix this bug.

Player 2 Controller Sound Playback#

In the international release only, the 2nd player controller can be used to play two sound effects. The A button on the player 2 controller plays the 1up sound effect. The B button on the player 2 controller causes a low-pitch droning sound to play indefinitely. While this droning sound is playing, several other sound effects will not play such as the sounds for jumping, extending your arms, or defeating an enemy. The drone stops upon certain conditions such as dying, completing the current stage, or grabbing onto a Star Handle.

Revisional Differences#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Actually find out what's different.

Two different versions of the US/Europe ROM exist: one made in August, the other made in September. An easy way to tell which version you have is to look at the checksum at $18E: the August version has a checksum of $7554, while the September version has a checksum of $7F4D.

Nintendo Switch Online#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Also find out what's different.

The versions of the game included on the Sega Genesis Mini 2 (and presumably Nintendo Switch Online) are newer revisions.

NSW VER.20210806
MEGADRIVE

NSW VER.20210824
GENESIS

These strings were written to the end of the Japanese and English ROMs. The revised English ROM is based on the August build, not the September build.