the cutting room mirror

Debug Menu

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This is a sub-page of Super Monkey Ball 2.

Main debug screen, which allows access to debugging elements.

Just like the first game, Super Monkey Ball 2 features a debug mode. The debug mode includes a stage selector, full-fledged model viewer, effects testing, sound player, bitmap reader, and more. The debug menu can be accessed via the following Action Replay codes:

(Source: Ralf (EU Code), PatSter21 (JP Code))

Images#

Test mode, where the interesting stuff is.
Test mode, where the interesting stuff is.
Extremely early options menu, possibly a leftover from the Japanese Super Monkey Ball. The text is in Romaji with large spacing - which ends up causing problems. What's also interesting is that whenever you access the menu, it will play the Monkey Race 2 Expert Track music.
Extremely early options menu, possibly a leftover from the Japanese Super Monkey Ball. The text is in Romaji with large spacing - which ends up causing problems. What's also interesting is that whenever you access the menu, it will play the Monkey Race 2 Expert Track music.
Author Mode, which allows you to access Story Mode cutscenes.
Author Mode, which allows you to access Story Mode cutscenes.
The Game Data screen when debug mode is enabled. References 'debug data', of which the purpose is currently unknown.
The Game Data screen when debug mode is enabled. References 'debug data', of which the purpose is currently unknown.
The success rate display on the North American version of the game. The data is only stored in memory, and is not actually saved to the save file on the North American version.
The success rate display on the North American version of the game. The data is only stored in memory, and is not actually saved to the save file on the North American version.

Test Mode#

Images#

Main screen of the Test Menu.
Main screen of the Test Menu.
AV MODEL - This is a model viewer for viewing the various models found within the game.
AV MODEL - This is a model viewer for viewing the various models found within the game.
NAOMI MODEL - This model viewer seems to only be able to view older resources that were leftover from Super Monkey Ball and even the arcade Monkey Ball.
NAOMI MODEL - This model viewer seems to only be able to view older resources that were leftover from Super Monkey Ball and even the arcade Monkey Ball.
PATTERN CHANGE - Appears to be a texture viewer. The options crash the game immediately.
PATTERN CHANGE - Appears to be a texture viewer. The options crash the game immediately.
BLUR - Motion blur testing.
BLUR - Motion blur testing.
SHADOW - Shadow testing.
SHADOW - Shadow testing.
FOCUS - Depth of Field effect testing. This has an option which allows the intensity and distance of the blur to be modified.
FOCUS - Depth of Field effect testing. This has an option which allows the intensity and distance of the blur to be modified.
INDIRECT - Overlay testing. There is only one overlay viewable - the water effect from underwater levels.
INDIRECT - Overlay testing. There is only one overlay viewable - the water effect from underwater levels.
DIP SWITCH - Allows for modification of DIP switches.
DIP SWITCH - Allows for modification of DIP switches.
BITMAP - A basic bitmap viewer.
BITMAP - A basic bitmap viewer.
FONT - Views font sheets.
FONT - Views font sheets.
ROMFONT - Doesn't appear to do anything at all.
ROMFONT - Doesn't appear to do anything at all.
PREREND - This tests the prerendering of level images in Practice Mode.
PREREND - This tests the prerendering of level images in Practice Mode.
INPUT - Tests controller input.
INPUT - Tests controller input.
SOUND - Plays normal sound files.
SOUND - Plays normal sound files.
ADX - This is a ADX sound player. Interestingly, all the ADX files included are used nowhere in the game.
ADX - This is a ADX sound player. Interestingly, all the ADX files included are used nowhere in the game.
REPLAY - Plays back replays made using the other debugging tools.
REPLAY - Plays back replays made using the other debugging tools.
REPLAY SIZE CHECKER - Checks the average size of a replay file by testing it on each of the levels.
REPLAY SIZE CHECKER - Checks the average size of a replay file by testing it on each of the levels.
DIFFICULTY - A win/loss ratio chart - a carryover from both Super Monkey Ball and Monkey Ball. The percentage is displayed in the Japanese and European versions, but not in other versions of the game.
DIFFICULTY - A win/loss ratio chart - a carryover from both Super Monkey Ball and Monkey Ball. The percentage is displayed in the Japanese and European versions, but not in other versions of the game.

Early Options Menu#

A very early version of the options menu is accessible through the main debug menu. It appears to be the version from Super Monkey Ball. The text is in Romaji (Japanese in Roman letters). However, since the SMB options menu was designed for English/Kanji, the Romaji breaks the layout and falls off the box or clutters up with other text. The options menu performs all the functions of the normal Super Monkey Ball options menu, except it doesn't load the old Replay manager because it was scrapped.

Play Points screen. The Romaji overlaps the Play Point counter.
Play Points screen. The Romaji overlaps the Play Point counter.
Ranking hub.
Ranking hub.
Interestingly, the ranking menu calls for the SMB2 rank screen even though the ranks are for SMB1 modes.
Interestingly, the ranking menu calls for the SMB2 rank screen even though the ranks are for SMB1 modes.
Sound settings.
Sound settings.
Multiplayer screen settings.
Multiplayer screen settings.
Controller settings.
Controller settings.
This is interesting. This setting saves debug information to a memory card. Unlike the rest of the settings, this is in English. The exact purpose of the Debug Data is unknown.
This is interesting. This setting saves debug information to a memory card. Unlike the rest of the settings, this is in English. The exact purpose of the Debug Data is unknown.

In-Game Commands#

A few cheat commands are also enabled in-game:

  • Pressing D-Pad Up will add 100 seconds to the game's timer, with a maximum time of 360.96.
  • Pressing X + Y will instantly complete the current level.
  • The game can be debug paused with R + Start, which will display "DEBUG MODE" in the top right corner of the screen. Unpause with just Start.
  • Pressing Z while debug paused will advance the game by one frame.
  • Pressing L + Start brings up an in-game debug menu. Pressing L + Y closes it.
  • Pressing X + B while debug paused will display a cursor that allows you click on UI elements with X or A and move them around the screen with the Left Stick.
  • Pressing Y + B while debug paused will unlock the camera. Pressing again will reset it but it won't take affect until the game is unpaused. Unlocking the camera also disables the above cursor.

(Source: PatSter21)

Dip Switches#

This needs some investigation.
Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.
Specifically: Figure out what some of these do if anything.

By selecting DIP SWITCH on the debug menu, you can access another menu containing a number of extra debugging features.

  • DIP_DEBUG - Enables the debug mode.
  • DIP_DISP - Toggles the visibility of in-game debug menus (only seems to toggle whilst in-game).
  • DIP_STCOLI - Displays the level's collision and out of bounds areas.
  • DIP_TRIANGLE - Replaces the level model with a grey triangle.
  • DIP_TAIKEN - Locks all stages as if starting a new save file.
  • DIP_TIME_STOP - Freezes the timer at 60 seconds.
  • DIP_NAMEENTRY - Unknown.
  • DIP_FIX_WORLD - Stops the stage from visually tilting when you move the player monkey.
  • DIP_TEST_CAM - Allows you to control the camera during gameplay.
  • DIP_NO_INTR - While using "DIP_TEST_CAM" there is a multicolored sphere that appears, this switch toggles its visibility. (Whether or not this is the only thing that it does, is unknown.)
  • DIP_CAPTURE - Unknown.
  • DIP_PERF_ALWAYS - Unknown.
  • DIP_PLAY_STG_ALL - Unlocks everything.
  • DIP_PLAY_PNT_x10 - Multiplies the play points you earn by 10.
  • DIP_SARU_0 - Sets the starting number of lives to 0, regardless of what life count is selected when playing Challenge Mode.
  • DIP_SWITCH15 - Unknown.
  • DIP_ONLY24MB - Unknown.
  • DIP_SHADOW_DISP - Displays the shadows of each object as squares.
  • DIP_SPRITE_OFF - Disables most 2D graphics.
  • DIP_SNDREQ_DISP - Unknown.
  • DIP_SE_VOL_RESET - Disables most sound effects.
  • DIP_APE_FACEDIR - Shows which banana your monkey is looking at.
  • DIP_SEL_ALL_CTRL - Allows you to control all four players in multiplayer with one controller.
  • DIP_APE_NUMBER - Displays a number over each character indicating which player they are.
  • DIP_1P_TEST_CAM - Unknown.
  • DIP_PREVIEW_SAVE - Displays a preview at the upper left.
  • DIP_AUTHOR_DEBUG - Displays some debug info during cutscenes.
  • DIP_SWITCH27 - Unknown.
  • DIP_SOA - Unknown.
  • DIP_TEST_TEAM - Unknown.
  • DIP_NO_MINIMAP - Disables the minimap.
  • DIP_NO_STAGE - Makes everything except for backgrounds invisible.

In-Game Debug Menu#

Pressing L + Start will bring up this debug menu. It can be navigated with the D-Pad, moved around the screen with the analogue stick and can be closed by pressing L + Y.

Dip Switch#

Displays the dipswitch menu.

Mode#

The only option in this menu that can be changed is wide which changes the current widescreen setting.

Event#

None of the options here can be changed.

Ball#

Displays info on your current position.

Ape#

Displays info on character animations.

Camera#

Displays camera info.

Sprite#

Allows you to edit some of the HUD graphics.

Item#

Displays object info.

Light Param#

Allows you to edit the lighting on your character.

Light Group#

Allows you to edit the ambient lighting.

Fog#

Allows you to edit fog.

Sound#

Allows you to change the current song and enable a reverb effect.

Bumper Param#

Determines when bumpers switch to lower LOD models (if available) based on distance to the player. Exact meaning of the numbers is unknown, but higher = stricter optimisation, i.e the bumpers switch to lower detail models sooner.