Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu

Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu (The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya) is a partially-voiced visual novel/puzzle game released for the DS in May 2009. It was released as part of a pair of games, following Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu (The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya) for the Wii earlier in 2009.

Unused Areas#

Of the 32 areas in the game (including both investigation mode rooms and puzzle mode levels), 18 go unused. Of the unused rooms, a number are alternate or early versions of areas used in the final game while others go completely unused (though do appear by name in the visual novel portion). Some levels have palette-based animation data associated with them. Puzzle Phase maps contain background textures, while other maps use generated gradients; both have been included here.

Area file name	Extracted level tiles	Background	Notes
AKIN0			Nighttime variant of the used AKID0 area (Episode 3 cookout investigation phase scene), with an animated barbeque (used version is a daytime variant of this map)
BUND0			Unused version of the clubroom used in the Episode 4 investigation phase
BUNN0			Nighttime variant of the above with lights off (used version BUNN1 is also nighttime but with the lights on)
K15D0			Classroom, unused.
KYND0			Kyon's room, unused.
ONGN0			Night variant of the used ONGD0 (music classroom)
POOD0			Unused pool area
POON0			Night version of POOD0, with animated pool water
ROKD0			Clubroom building hallway, unused
ROUD0			Classroom building hallway, unused
SL1D1			Unused variant of the Episode 1 puzzle mode level
SL2D1			Unused variant of the Episode 2 puzzle mode level
SL3D1			Unused variant of the Episode 3 puzzle mode level
SL4D1			Unused variant of the Episode 4 puzzle mode level in the pool.
SL5D1			Unused variant of the Computer Research Society clubroom
SLTD0			Empty puzzle room level, presumably for testing
SLTD1			Another unused variant of the Episode 1 puzzle mode level
TAID0			Gymnasium, unused

Unused Characters#

There are two characters defined in the character definitions file (CHRDATA.S) that are not used in any scripts and have no associated sprites.

Character Name	Nameplate Graphic	English Translation	Text Timer Speed	Soundfont	Notes
オバさん		Old Lady/Auntie	6		The soundfont is an unused sound as it is only used for this character.
偽ハルヒ		Fake Haruhi	6		The soundfont here is identical to the real Haruhi, but the text speed is slower (the real Haruhi has a text timer of 5).

Unused Graphics#

Unused Criware splash screen#

There's an unused Criware splash screen that's meant to play when starting the game but isn't enabled in the retail game.

LOGO_MW_CRI.DNX (0x8B7)	In-game

Unused backgrounds#

There are a number of unused backgrounds in the game. Most of these are time-of-day variants of other backgrounds present in the game.

Additionally, there are a number of placeholder graphics that indicate planned time-of-day variants of existing graphics.

Unused BG Name	Used BG Comparisons	Notes
BG_BRGN0		Unused night variant of BG_BRGD0. BRG stands for "bridge".
BG_BUNN0		Unused night variant of BG_BUND0 and BG_BUNN1. Comparing with the clubroom maps seen in the above section, it is likely this was planned to be the clubroom at nighttime with the lights off. BUN stands for 文芸部室 (bungeibushitsu, "literary clubroom").
BG_KAIE0		Unused evening variant of BG_KAID0 and BG_KAIN0. KAI stands for 階段 (kaidan, "stairs").
BG_NAKE0		Unused evening variant of BG_NAKD0 and BG_NAKN0. NAK stands for 中庭 (nakaniwa, "courtyard").
BG_ROKE0		Unused evening variant of BG_ROKD0 and BG_ROKN0. ROK stands for 廊下 (rouka, "hallway").
BG_TGRN0		Unused night variant of BG_TGRD0 and BG_TGRE0. TGR stands for 通学路 (tsuugakuro, "school route").

Unused CGs#

There is one unused CG present in the game, EV352. The used CGs which surround it (in order of appearance, EV353, EV350, and EV351) suggest that EV352 depicts Koizumi just after destroying a mirror with a screwdriver, while the other graphics show him inspecting the mirror, impacting it, and it actively shattering.

Unused CG	Used CGs

Additionally, there is a placeholder CG (EV495) that is used, but only in a deleted scene (EV2_015). A screenshot of the CG in the game can be seen below. The presence of the computer research society member is a scripting bug—his sprite is not removed earlier in the script due to an oversight.

While the actual CG was likely never made, we do have a good idea of what it would have looked like. An auction of some of the game's concept art contained scans of a CG not included in the game and labeled EV2_015. This art depicts Kyon, Kyon's sister, and Haruhi in Genkotsu Square, which is exactly what we would expect from the context surrounding the CG in the scene.

Sketch	Concept Art	Line Art

Unused opening monologue variant#

A variant of the second half of the opening monologue can be found in the game's files. While the fonts and formatting differ, the text itself is mostly identical, with the exception of the second to last line to appear. The unused variant reads そして彼女が持ち去った、あの白い帽子… (soshite kanojo ga mochisatta, ano shiroi boushi..., "And that white hat she took away...") while the retail version reads そして彼女の、あの白い帽子… (soshite kanojo no, ano shiroi boushi..., "And that white hat of hers...").

Unused tutorial graphics#

The game contains unused tutorial graphics for explaining how to mop up singularity points, which also show an early user interface.

Unused title screen graphics#

The game files contain early versions of the art used on the title screen.

Unused title graphics	Final

Possibly incorrectly-cropped sprite#

The sprite for the "Accident Occurred" event during the puzzle phase is cropped in a strange way. Specifically, there are eight pixels at the top of the starburst portion of the sprite that are unused. By modifying the layout, we can reproduce what the sprite would have looked like had the full sprite been used.

In-game cropping of the starburst	Modified cropping of the starburst

Preview of the rendered layout (in-game)	Preview of the rendered layout (uncropped)

Screenshot of original starburst in-game	Screenshot of uncropped starburst in-game

Unused "Items"#

The game contains a file defining "items" (ITEM.S) as well as a scripting command for displaying these "items" in the visual novel portions of the game. Neither the item images nor the scripting command are used in the game. The first set of items seems to be related to the "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" story in the light novel The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya and the episode of the same name in the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Items#

Usage#

The game's ITEM_DISPIMG command (name invented by researcher; see reverse-engineering documentation) displays items to the screen given a transition (fade or slide) and location (left, right, center, or exit). Below is a video of a hacked ROM demonstrating what this command would have looked like had it been used in the game.

Unused Puzzle#

The game contains a single unused puzzle definition (SLG11.S in dat.bin). SLG11 appears to be a nearly identical copy of the used SLG10 (which is the first episode's puzzle phase) except that it uses the unused variant of the episode 1 puzzle map described in the unused areas section. Below is a screenshot of a modded version of the game with this puzzle loaded in.

Unused Scripts#

The game has 33 unused scripts. Of those, six are deleted scenes from the main game, 26 are unused topic scenes that would have played during the puzzle phase, and one is a test file.

BGTEST#

This file is a test script designed to test the game's background display commands. At the beginning of the script, Haruhi asks どっちにするの？ which means "Which would you like?" The player is then prompted with three possible responses: いつものやつ, れいのやつ, or れいのあれ. Each of these roughly translates to "the usual". Selecting the first option will cycle between 29 backgrounds displayed using the BG_DISP and with fades in and out punctuating them before Asahina appears to say おわりです or "It's over". The second option treats the player to those same 29 backgrounds and same fades but using the BG_DISP2 command, which in the final game is identical to BG_DISP; at the end of this route, Nagato says 終了した or "Completed". The final choice triggers the same 29 backgrounds except using the BG_FADE command and cross-fading between them rather than fading the screen in and out. At the end of this section, Koizumi appears and says 終わりですね meaning "It has ended".

Episode 2 Deleted Scenes#

In episode two's group selection, there are three tasks that you have to assign the brigade members to: keep watch in front of the music room, do research based on materials brought from the library, and go to the staff room to borrow the key to the music room. In the final game, Haruhi will always do research and you must assign at least one brigade member to keep watch and at least one to get the key. In the group selection, there are five routes entitled 存在しない場所 ("A place that doesn't exist"): one in the "keep watch" activity, three in the "research" activity, and one in the "obtain key" activity. The first and last have all brigade members present except Haruhi, implying that at some point in development, one of these two was not going to be required (from dialogue, it seems that the key activity was still going to be required, so keeping watch was the optional activity). The three routes in the "research" activity have three combinations of two brigade members and Haruhi: Haruhi/Asahina/Nagato, Haruhi/Asahina/Koizumi, and Haruhi/Nagato/Koizumi. All three of these are impossible in the final game as only one character can be placed with Haruhi and Kyon while still allocating one character each to the other activities.

The scripts for these three scenes are reproduced below.

EV2_014#

EV2_015#

EV2_016#

Unused Sounds#

Unused Heiretsu voiced lines#

There are two voiced lines in the vce/ directory that are not even referenced in the game's internal audio record itself: namely, S3ED_24_MNL.bin and S3ED_25_MNL.bin. As it turns out, these files are voiced lines from Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu that seem to have been accidentally converted to this game's format and placed here. They appear to be very poorly mastered compared to the surrounding audio. The reason for their presence is ultimately unknown.

Unused sound effects#

There are 46 unused sound effects in the game's snd.bin (which is a standard Nintendo DS SDAT archive); however, 24 of them are duplicate "clicking" sounds. Several of them indicate that there might have been other planned locations for the game.