Shining Force II

Regional DifferencesLots of unused content in the international versions.

Unused Spell#

SPOIT#

Spell 0F, called SPOIT or すいとり (Absorb), isn't used in the game, though it's completely functional. This spell absorbs MP from the target, and would probably be exclusive to monsters.

136

put on
a demon's smile.

137

absorbed
<#> magic points.

Debug Spell Names#

While these spells and effects are used, these names are not. The only reason these names are in the game in the first place was for the developers to keep track of things.

ID	Japanese	English
10	かいふく Healing	HEALIN
11	ファイアーブレス Fire Breath	FLAME
12	ブリザードブレス Blizzard Breath	SNOW
13	デーモンブレス Demon Breath	DEMON
14	ちからのワイン Power Wine (Power Water)	POWER
15	まもりのミルク Protect Milk	GUARD
16	はやてのチキン "Hayate" Chicken (Quick Chicken)	SPEED
17	いだてんピーマン "Idaten" Pepper (Running Pimento)	IDATEN
18	げんきのパン Cheerful Bread	HEALTH
19	バーストロック Burst Rock	B.ROCK
1A	レーザー Laser	LASER
21	ようせいのこな Fairy Powder	POWDER
22	めがみのなみだ Goddess Tear (Fairy Tear)	G.TEAR
23	さとりのミツ "Satori" Honey (Bright Honey)	HANNY
24	ゆうきリンゴ Brave Apple	BRAVE
25	しゃくねつのたま Burning Ball (Fireball)	F.BALL
26	いてつくふぶき Freezing Blizzard (Blizzard)	BREZAD
27	かみのいかづち God's Thunder (Holy Thunder)	THUNDR
28	アクアブレス Aqua Breath	AQUA
29	キワイ Kiwi	KIWI
2A	きぼうのひかり Light of Hope	SHINE
2B	オッドアイ Odd Eye	ODDEYE

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Graphics#

A few of the game's map graphics are unused due to engine limitations.

	The candles in Creed's Mansion were meant to be animated.
	The console in the Nazca Ship should change to this after the Sky Orb is placed inside of it.
	These tiles would appear in the Nazca ship after it crashed. This tile is part of the map, but there's no code to actually place them on the visible part of the ship.
	Triggering the warp panels in the Magic Tunnel should display this graphic...but no.
	This door in the Demon's Head labyrinth leads to Odd Eye's arena. This frame of the door swinging open isn't used -- it goes from closed to open in 0.03 seconds.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Palettes#

Although all the enemy models are used, some of their alternate palettes are not. Monster palettes are stored by monster difficulty in the game ROM; most of these unused palettes seem to be for intermediary monster types.

Enemy Class	Palette ID	Notes
Bat	01
Chaos Warrior	01, 02	This is the only enemy with two unused palettes.
Dwarf	00	This is the only class with an unused default palette.
Goblin	01
Minotaur	01	There's only one enemy of this class in the game.
Orc	01
Worm	01

(GoldS: Original TCRF research)

Unused Text#

Items in are variables.

006F

Do you really think that you
can live forever?

Possibly meant to be said by the priest after Bowie dies and gets sent back to a church.

00BE

Sorry, I don't repair cursed
items.
Let sleeping devils lie.

Thankfully, Blacksmiths will repair cursed items without this back-sass.

Battle Messages

00F5

Splash hit!

These lines would have injected some variation into battle scenes.

00F6

Critical hit!

00F7

Satisfactory hit!

00FA

Muttered terrible words.

This is like the Demon Smile attack, but applies to HP.
It's more puzzling, however, because enemies can't drain health on contact nor is there any spell effect that does so. This is likely just a hold-over from the first Shining Force where enemies can drain HP with a special attack.

00FB

HP drained!

00FC

Said evil words.

This would go with a paralysis on contact effect and enemies can stun, but the stun proc doesn't use these lines.

00FD

Stunned! Can't move!

012B

Everybody recovered
<#> hit points.

Sounds like a line intended for a non-battle scene health recovery effect. No such thing exists in the game.

0139

muttered
a terrible spell.

An alternate version of the unused Demon's Smile attack.

013A

's MP was
drained by <#>.

0150

is surrounded
by a magic curtain.

The casting and wearing-off text for Shield, a defensive buff in the first game which is not present in this one.

0160

expired.
Magic curtain around
has vanished.

Granseal

01F9

I'm busy!
The storm last night
messed up the house.

Meant to be spoken by someone at the very start of the game.

01FA

Don't bother me!
I'm cleaning up the room.

And here's that person saying a second line.

024B

What should I do?
Should I come later?

Galam's errand boy should say this line when King Granseal is possessed, but he's not in the area during that time.

026A

Mmmm....
(Yawn)
Ooh, did I fall asleep?
I love sleeping.

A sleepy soldier in the barracks that should appear after King Granseal is depossessed.

026B

Please don't tell my boss
that I was taking a nap.

0271

My husband rushed out
of here when he saw the
sun rise.
Yeah, maybe he'll make
a good haul today.

This NPC does appear, but she's impossible to talk to normally.
If you're able to access the harbor at the very start of the game, she'll be at the docks with this dialogue.

028C

Then play with me next
time! Promise?!

The rest of the Granseal dialogue is from a small child NPC that would play hide-and-seek with Bowie.

This is dialogue for saying no/yes to a question, but that question isn't in the game's data anymore.

028D

Wow, great!
OK, then...well...ah....
Yes, hide-and-seek!

028E

You are it! Close your
eyes! I'll go and hide.
Ready?

And here's the kid hiding. Interesting stuff. Well, comparatively.

028F

....
...I'm ready!

0290

Oh, you found me!
I thought I was well hidden
here.

And here's the kid after being found. Bowie won't play with him later. Or ever before.

0291

Well, !
Come and play with me
later! Promise?

Galam

034B

Who are you, stranger?
What were you doing in the
basement?

Another missing NPC, one that would actually acknowledge the weirdos coming out of the basement.

0365

We have many people to
send to the jail today.
Why?

A missing soldier NPC wondering why Galam is all screwed up.

New Granseal

041A
041B

I'm looking towards the
north.
The northern half of this
landmass is always cloudy.

The northward-looking sailor was supposed to appear after arriving in New Granseal.
He only appears after the return to New Granseal in the final game.

04A7
04A8

Gee, Parmecia is full
of wonders!
Phoenix, Volcanon...it's
like living a myth!

This should be spoken by a soldier in New Granseal castle after Bowie's return.

Ribble

054B

But, this item doesn't
seem to fit.

A unique message for trying to fit an item in the hollow tree in the middle of town.
The game uses the generic "Nothing happened" item failure message instead.

Polca

0582

Capture and muzzle them!

Directed at the resident beastmen, this would be said by the devils after they invade the town.

05A6

I need more hair and more
courage!
I couldn't move when I
saw the devils....

And extra dialogue for the hair-obsessed beastman after the devil invasion.

Bedoe

061F
0620

Oh, nightmares again.
What did he see in that war?

There should be a nurse attending to the birdman having nightmares, but she's not in the game.

0627

I protect the King!

Generic birdman soldier message. They sure do.

062A
062B

They're neurotics!
Everybody was shocked to
see the greater devil.

There's a birdman in town who scoffs at the greater devils, and this dialogue would put him in his place but good.

0638

Huh?

I don't know.

Desktop Kingdom

06E3

??

I said I didn't know, guy!

06E4
06E5

Hi, stranger!
How are you?
Is it still beautiful outside?
I want to go.

This NPC was removed from the Desktop Kingdom for their own good.

Moun

07E3

picked up
the Arm of Golem.

The Arm of Golem, like the Dynamite item, was supposed to have a unique acquisition message.

07E4

But 's hands
are full.

07E5

Discard what?

07E6

discarded the
and picks up
the Arm of Golem.

These messages suggest that only Bowie could pick up the arm.
In the final game, the arm goes to whoever has the first open inventory slot. Having to create an exception clause is probably another hold-over from the first Shining Force. In that game only Max can pick up items outside of battle.

Devil's Head

0DB8

A statue of a fierce
devil's head. There's a
slit at its mouth.

At one point in development, the devil's head would open up slightly after pulling the Force Sword from the stone.
There's even a hotspot on the half-opened head, but since you can't move while it's opening, it can't be triggered.
After that, presumably, using the Force Sword on the head would open it up fully.

Desert Ruins

0E37
0E38

Good luck.
If you see my brother,
please tell him that I'm OK.

Meant to be spoken by Paseran's brother after the old man decides to accompany the force.

Background Elements

1010

A big statue of a heroic
bird.

This message should be used while examining the walls outside the Volcanon Shrine, but it was never properly linked.

102E

Don't leave the village!
- Devils

Out of the many signposts around Ketto, this one didn't make the cut.

1050

A book...
OCEANS

An unused book description. About oceans.

(Abaxa: Original TCRF research)

Oddities#

Money in Chests#

Chests can be set to have money inside instead of an item. However, due to the way the chests are coded, they can only have 127 Gold max.

019E

found <#> gold
coins.

Unused Item Locations#

What did I just say?!
These tiles, which are in Bedoe, Mitula's Shrine, and Yeel, respectively, should have hidden items, but no items were ever assigned to those spots. So, they just give the standard "Nothing was there." message without having to select the "search" option. So that's something.

(GoldS: Original TCRF research)

References#

Rit's - GDRI :: Game Developer Research Institute ↩︎
ソフトウェア一覧（セガ発売） | メガドライブ｜セガ SEGA ↩︎
Mega Drive Review: Shining Force II - Sega Magazine, Issue 8, August 1994↩︎
Tec Toy: Games em lançamento - Ação Games, Issue 72, December 1994↩︎
Tec Toy também promete novidades "Tec Toy also promises new features" - O Estado de S. Paulo, December 5, 1994↩︎
SEGA Marketing Calendar - Sonic Times, Volume 2, Number 9, October 1994↩︎

v · t · e The Shining series
Genesis	Shining Force • Shining Force II (Prototypes)
Game Gear	Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni he • Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya • Shining Force Gaiden: The Final Conflict
Sega CD	Shining Force CD
Sega Saturn	Shining Wisdom • Shining the Holy Ark • Shining Force III (Prototypes) • Shining Force III Scenario 2 • Shining Force III Scenario 3 • Shining Force III: Premium Disc
Game Boy Advance	Shining Soul • Shining Soul II • Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon
PlayStation 2	Shining Tears