Tear Ring Saga

Prototype Info Prerelease Info

Unused Graphics#

To do: Lots of graphics to rip. Distinguish exactly which portraits are unused. Check for unused battle animations.

Promotional Title Screen#

Used	Unused

A promotional screen showing the game's release date and its original title: Emblem Saga, which was hastily changed late in development to avoid a lawsuit.

Nintendo sued anyway.

Unused Portraits#

Over half the character portraits (roughly 30!) go unused, also due to the name change.

Early Runan#

Runan's hair color was changed very last-minute to avoid the incoming lawsuit, though this proved ineffective. Runan's original blue-haired portraits remain in the game in both promoted and unpromoted form. The unused portraits have slightly different posture and clothing as well.

Used	Unused

Unused Portrait Animations#

It seems at some point all characters may have been planned to have blinking and talking animations. A good handful of character portraits in the game have unused graphics for blinking animations, though only Miradona blinks in the final game. Julius, interestingly, has frames for mouth movement as well.

In the final game, no one moves their mouth when talking during cutscenes aside from Miradona.

Battle Map Sprites#

A very, very unrefined map sprite of a human with a sword and cape. It technically seems to have animations, but all the frames are the same, so it doesn't look like it's moving.

World Map Location Icons#

Some of the location icons seen in prerelease images for the game still exist unused in the final game. The final game's world map is entirely brown, like a paper map, and is not in color like these icons and the prerelease world map.

Prerelease World Map	Final World Map	Unused Icons

Runan Artwork#

Artwork of an earlier design of Runan, the main protagonist of the game, with blue hair. In the final game, his hair is brown. For whatever reason this art is just hanging around with the skill icons and map sprites. The image labels him as "Ryunan".

Unused Characters#

Two unused characters named Boyce (ポイス) and Teppster (テップスター).
Judging by their recruitment conversations, they would've been among the soldiers available to recruit from Count Marlon's troops between Chapters 1 and 2.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;" |- ! Speaker ! Dialogue (JP) ! Dialogue (EN) |- | Runan | 君は… | You are.. |- | Teppster | スピアナイトのテップスターと申します
槍での攻撃と守りの技には
多少の自信がございます
きっとお役に立ってご覧にいれますよ | I am Teppster, a Spear Knight.
I have confidence in my offense and defense
arts with the spear.
I shall prove myself useful to you. |- | Runan | そうだな…… | I see... |- | Eugen | リュナン様
槍は総じて命中率が高
ここぞという時に安心して
攻撃を任せることができます
また彼は前衛での守りを
任せられるだけの体力と
相応の技術も持っておるようですな
同行させれば
あらゆる局面に対応できる
頼もしい存在となってくれましょう | Lord Runan.
The spear has high accuracy in general,
entrusting attacking to it
will never let you down.
Further, his body build
allows him to handle the front line's defenses.
It also appears he possesses apt technique.
If we bring him along,
we acquire a reliable soldier
useful in any situation. |}

Of the two, only Teppster has surviving unit data left in the code:

Unused Items#

Books#

A type of item that teaches a particular skill to a unit once. In the final game, the only books available are Guilty Heart (teaching the Mug skill) and Move Again Book (teaching the Move Again skill), but many more unused books exist, listed below. (Note that the skills themselves are all used in-game.)

Emblems#

These were removed for obvious reasons. According to their description and various pre-release interviews, the army having these would be recognized as an official squadron of their kingdom, allowing for an increase in income each turn. However, all of their functionality was left out in the final.
There is a generic "Emblem" and four other emblems for each one of the royal families: Canaan, Reeve, Salia, and Leda.

Unused Text#

Old Opening#

To do: Original Japanese text and maybe more details on where this is located, exactly?

What appears to be a version of the opening monologue from much earlier in development. Some names appear to have been swapped around or changed, and some major events occurring in the final go unmentioned.