Zombieville (1997)

Prerelease Info Bugs Unused TextWhy do I always get the bit with the boot in it? Unused AudioNo, I don't want to drink that glass of water! OdditiesThe drunkard is dead! Rachel is after me! Debug Text"Crow bar wrapped around the cranium"

Unused Characters#

There are currently four known unused/unseen characters:

• Joe Yamatsu, who may have been intended to show up in the Graveyard, based on one of his unused voice lines ("That's... we were playing five-card poker, here in the graveyard, aces high and low."). Joe is also the only unused character mentioned anywhere in the released game--Cylde mentions him as part of the "Forests are Fading" dialogue, seen here at the two minute mark.
• Keiko is Joe Yamatsu's love interest, and would have been in the Diner.
• James Ford is a traveling salesman, also intended for the Diner.
• Mellor is a military dog handler, and is believed to have originally blocked the gated entrance to the 2nd floor stairs in Bedlam Base.

Whether or not these NPCs were removed or if they fail to appear because of scripting issues is unknown. Voice lines for all four are still present in the game.

Unused Graphics#

BHUMWB.SPR and BHUMEB.SPR#

There are two unused .spr files, BHUMWB.SPR and BHUMEB.SPR, both containing the same doodle graphic.

These .spr files may have originally contained graphics for another Humvee cutscene that was later cut, as these were found in the CUT_SCN folder.

NOTEPAD.RAW#

There is an unused notepad graphic that is stored in ZOMB\DATA\NOTEPAD.RAW.

According to background artist Mike Haigh, "it was originally intended for the player to hand write notes." This functionality may have been replaced by the tape reporder/dictaphone before release.

INV.LBM#

This seems to be a background for an inventory system--something the game lacks--stored in INV.LBM. It seems to have been designed to only fill part of the screen, with room for text descriptions to the left or right.

(The game technically has an in-game inventory menu, accessed by pressing F1 and right clicking on Matt Black. However, it serves as more of a status screen, showing Matt's face, health bar, and his supply of antidotes and medkits. The only way to tell what items you have or to use them is from conversations with NPCs.)

Cut/Incomplete Interactions#

Unused Items#

Not only does Zombieville not have any way to know what items you're carrying, but a significant number of things you can pick up serve no purpose in the final release.

Location	Item	Notes
	Credit Card
	Batteries
	Porno Literature, Dollar, and Quarters	The Quarters may have intended for use in the jukebox to play some unused music tracks; in the retail release, the jukebox is broken--while it has a hotspot and reacts, nothing happens.
	Sunglasses
	Humvee Key	This may have been intended as a way to get your Humvee back after Buckmaster impounds it, but Buckmaster disappears from the game after the first conversation and you simply get the Humvee back later, regardless of having the second key or not.
	Lighter	This may have been intended for use in tandem with the (also removed) Jerry Can to blow up the Gas Station; the final release requires the Missile Launcher instead.
	Diary & Doll	There are unused conversation strings for the Diary.
	Grenades	This may have been ammunition for the unused M16 w/ Grenade Launcher (see below).
	Razor	This item only drops if you kill Mr. Derby, which both turns Pearl hostile and spawns a number of zombies that, if defeated, cause the game to crash due to a missing situation handler.
	Empty Shotgun Shells	These may have been intended to trick Ms. Agnes into giving you some Antitude without losing any shotgun shells. The final release specifically checks for actual Shotgun Shells.
	Winkey Bar	Ruthie mentions that she wants some candy, so this may have been intended for her. There's no way to give it to her, however.
	Chainsaw
Watch on YouTube	Mug and Glass	These items are unreachable without manipulating Matt's x position, as they're too far back on the table. They may have played a part in a second, removed conversation with Buckmaster, where he slips Matt a glass of contaminated water.

Missing Weapons#

The game manual shows that there's a total of 12 weapons to be encountered in Zombieville.

However, three weapons are nowhere to be found. These are:

• Colt (presumably the M1911 Colt Pistol)
• Double-Barreled Shotgun
• M16 With Grenade Launcher

Buckmaster may have been intended to carry the Colt Pistol, but he doesn't in the final release. Killing him also causes the game to crash (it requires him to be present for a second conversation, even though that was removed). Perhaps he offered it as part of the unused second conversation?

Joe Yamatsu may carry the M16 w/ Grenade Launcher, but he was completely removed from the game.

Ms. Agnes may have been intended to carry the Double-Barreled Shotgun, but carries the Conventional Shotgun instead.

Inspecting ZOMB.EXE with a hex editor shows a few additional strings that appear to be unused weapons and ammo:

• 0x00097E54 Revolver
• 0x00097EB8 Cleaver
• 0x00098064 Phosphorous Grenades
• 0x000980EC Smoke Grenades
• 0x000980FC Shovel
• 0x0009A894 Colt Pistol Ammo
• 0x00097EE0 Desert Eagle Ammo

The Cleaver, Shovel, and Chainsaw seem to imply there was going to be melee combat that was entirely removed. The final version has plenty of ammunition and firearms are exceptionally powerful, which may have been a change made after melee was dropped for whatever reason. It's also possible that the Shovel would have been tied to Joe Yamatsu in the Graveyard.

The Phosphorous and Smoke Grenades, along with the (useless) Grenades that remain in the game, could have been either throwable weaponry or ammunition for the equally unused Grenade Launcher.

Further, the ZOMB.PRF file shows that while the M60, Heckler & Koch MP5, Desert Eagle Pistol, and Military Shotgun can be picked up, ammo drops for them will never appear from zombies. Margie will drop two MP5 clips when she dies (along with the gun itself, which can be picked up no other way. (Despite Margie saying the MP5 uses pistol ammunition, it does not.) The Military Shotgun can also use regular shotgun ammunition.

Other Unused Weapons Notes#

According to a gaming magazine showcasing a pre-release version, Zombieville was originally intended to include gore, which may have been tied to the melee weapons, particularly the Chainsaw. None of this is present in the released game.

For unknown reasons, the M60 has a mere five round capacity.

Regional Differences#

When Zombieville was released to the USA markets in 1998, there were minute changes made to the game's content, such as the intro video using a Diamond Star logo rather than one for Psygnosis.

European	USA

Despite that, even though the Diamond Star logo was slapped onto the USA game box, possibly in attempt to 'hide' Pysgnosis' involvement, their name is still printed onto the US box and CD.

However, the most significant change was that the game was released in the US on a single red disc, as opposed the European version, which released on two green discs, as shown here. The problem with this is that the files the game still requires files that were present on the second disc that were not moved to the first. As such, when you reach the town after speaking with Buckmaster, Zombieville will prompt you for a second disc that doesn't exist. This can be bypassed by using the European release's second disc when prompted, or by creating an ISO image that combines both discs together.