James Bond 007 (Game Boy)

James Bond 007
Developer: Saffire Publisher: Nintendo Platforms: Game Boy, Super Game Boy Released in US: February 9, 1998 Released in EU: January 29, 1998 This game has unused code. This game has a hidden developer message. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused text.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

To do: Investigate the Nintendo debugging tape. If these bugs don't appear in the final game, create a prerelease page document it there. See if there's any other beta stuff here (graphics, objects, etc). (timestamp 1), (timestamp 2), (timestamp 3), (timestamp 4), (timestamp 5).

Unused Version Screen

The Game Genie codes 0C1-85F-C46+F91-8CF-5DA+701-8DF-B3B will replace the title screen with an unused build date screen, probably used at the development stage. The build date string is "JAMES BOND 11:23:97A".

Unused Items

The Item names list used on the Items screen contains several unused entries. Some of the mentioned items are actually used in the game but as prize-box items and showed only icons on the HUD but never appear on the Items screen. The rest of them are completely unused along with its icons.

GUIDED MISSILES . Item Index $08. Not only do the name and icon exists, but portions of completely unreferenced messages mentioning this weapon. Unfortunately, being mostly functional, the weapon's handler code is exactly the same as the regular grenade launcher.

MOUSE. Item Index $16. Not used anywhere, probably should be a part of the Cat-Mouse quest in Marrakech.

ROPE. Item Index $1F. One of two items you need to complete the "GRAPPLING HOOK" quest. However, it can't be taken during the game, because you always need to get "HOOK" item first, and then you acquire "GRAPPLING HOOK" automatically. It seems this quest should allow taking the "HOOK" or "ROPE" in any order, but then they changed this behaviour for some reason.

FIELD COMM. Item Index $22. This item is mentioned in the official game's manual along with "BULLET PROOF VEST". There is no use of it in the final game.

BANDAGE, GUN AMMO, UZI AMMO, BAZOOKA AMMO. Item Indexes $23-$26 correspondingly. As noticed above, they are regular drop-down prize items which never appear on the Items screen, only on the HUD. Even more so, weapons in this game aren't called "UZI" and "BAZOOKA" anymore so we may presume these items were scrapped early on from development. The only difference in appearance has "GUN AMMO", which seems kind of broken on the Items screen.

GUN SILENCER TIP. Item Index $2E. There are no situations in the game when you need to kill someone silently. This is probably a scrapped item for Fez/Odd Job's key quest which got replaced with "TRANQUILIZER GUN" in the final version.

BRACELET. Item Index $30. There are not any mentions or use of this item in the final game. Meaning is unknown.

Unused text

There are several unused message blocks in various places of the ROM. Some of them are totally unrelated to any code. Some messages can be found among other used text blocks for specific locations. Or it may even have its own caller code which is in its turn left unreferenced. Note, where most of the messages are goes right after its own code, but sometimes, due to lack of space, they put some text in other banks containing free space. So, if we find some separate message blocks way too far from any code, we couldn't even tell for sure, where these messages belong.

At $02:$47D0. Code exists, unreferenced. Should belong to China level.

"DON'T BE IN
 SUCH A HURRY,
 YOUNG MAN."

At $03:$7699. Seems intended for Kurdistan area.

"MR. BOND YOU ARE
 INDEED A VERY
 RARE BREED. SOON
 TO BE EXTINCT."

"WHO ARE YOU?

 BOND, JAMES BOND"

"IF IQBAL FINDS
 YOU HE'LL SEND
 YOU BACK TO
 ENGLAND IN A
 DIPLOMATIC BAG."

At $04:$4040. There is no such weapon in this game. See Unused Items section for details.

"BOND, I CAN
 REFIT YOUR
 ROCKET LAUNCHER
 TO SHOOT GUIDED
 MISSILES. THE
 DRAWBACK IS THAT
 YOU CAN ONLY
 HOLD TEN
 MISSILES AT A
 TIME."

"HERE YOU GO 007,
 USE YOUR AMMO
 WISELY."

"GOOD LUCK 007."

At $06:$49E2. Code is present, but unreferenced. Should be some kind of joke, when you need to see in the darkness in Marrakech too and maybe think it should be the same lamp as in Kurdistan. You have night vision goggles there instead.

"LAMP???
 WHAT LAMP?"

At $06:$77EA. "QUE" probably refers to "Q" with an odd manner. Also, there are no situations where "Q" isn't available.

" SORRY, QUE IS
  N'T AVAILABLE
      TODAY!"

At $07:$5363. Another unreferenced code of a simple message handler for one of the casino guests left unused for some reason. There are a lot of unreferenced message handlers there, see below.

"IF I WERE 20
 YEARS YOUNGER..."

At $07:$5485. One more unreferenced handler with two more unused messages displayed depending on if "PRESIDENTAL KEY" is in your possession.

"UNIVERSAL
 IMPORTS HAS
 ESTABLISHED A
 CREDIT LINE FOR
 YOU."

"IT SEEMS, MR.
 BOND, THAT YOU
 ARE GOOD AT
 EVERYTHING
 YOU DO."

At $07:$57B1. One more unused handler with unused message. A lot of them.

"WELCOME TO OUR
 CASINO.  I HOPE
 YOUR STAY IS
 PLEASANT."

At $07:$57F5. Even more. This message is not even unused with its handler, but the last line of it goes unused since the message resource uses only the first 5 lines.

"WHAT IS YOUR
 GAME SIR?
 'BOND'
 ...BACCARAT.
 STRAIGHT AHEAD
 SIR."

At $08:$4781. This and the following blocks are for the Market place of Marrakech. Most of them has its handlers unused.

"YOU CANNOT ENTER
 THE CATACOMBS.
 IT IS TOO DARK!"

At $08:$4896.

"I CANNOT HELP."

At $08:$48B5. Next two unused messages refers to the street dancers. No wonder they got scrapped.

"WOW!!! SHE MAKES
 MY FEZ SPIN!"

At $08:$48E1.

"I HEAR SHE HAS
 A SISTER IN THE
 CITY."

At $08:$4A8F. A lot of talk about fish. There is no such item like "RED FISH" in the game. The only mention about it is the message of one of two men at location 6,5 (using the Satellite Map, entry from location 1,4), about that he will help you if you give him a small "red fish" (probably overlooked while removing). This seems odd from the point of the game, but if you know the rest of the messages, this is obvious leftover from a completely scrapped quest.

"HAVE YOU MET THE
 MAN WHO SELLS
 FISH?  WE HAVE
 NEVER SEEN HIM."

At $08:$4ADE.

"I USED TOO SELL
 FISH.  BUT THE
 MARKET SEEMS
 DEAD NOW."

At $08:$4CB9.

"YOU MUST BE
 SEEKING THE
 SMALL RED FISH."

At $08:$4CF0.

"YOU ARE NOT YET
 WORTHY OF
 HAVING THE
 SMALL RED FISH."

At $09:$47EA. This is the most interesting thing. There is an active hidden object in the rightmost room of Tibet Temple (very beginning of the Tibet level). If accessed with a "SATTELITE MAP" in right hand, and with "M.A.R.B.L.E" (secret optional item found in England) in a left hand, it will display this message and remove the hidden object and seems to do nothing more. Unfortunately, the particular room is filled with candles, so you couldn't access the object normally. It seems like some kind of unfinished secret handler. In the final game, the "M.A.R.B.L.E" item is used only for extra ending scenes.

"AH, A SECRET
 DOOR."

At $09:$569E. The scenario for Mustafa has different branches for cases when you talk to him with Sadam and Khatar both killed or not. When you first talk to him with all his enemies already defeated, he will reveal the General's base location instantly, but Bond doesn't ask him how would he know the General's location as against the other branches. But unused dialog for this is still sitting in the ROM.

"'BOND'
 HOW WOULD YOU
 KNOW THE
 GENERAL'S
 LOCATION?

 'MUSTAFA'
 SPIES, MR. BOND.
 ONE OF THE
 GREATEST WEAPONS
 IN WAR. IN
 SPYING ON
 KHATAR, I WAS
 ABLE TO TRACE
 HIS WEAPON
 SUPPLIES BACK TO
 THE GENERAL.
 THE GUARD BELOW
  WILL NOW LET YOU
 PASS. FOLLOW THE
 PATH TO THE EAST
 TO EXIT OUR
 VILLAGE, THEN
 TRAVEL NORTH
 TOWARDS RUSSIA.
 I WILL HAVE MY
 GUIDE DIRECT YOU
 TO THE GENERAL'S
 HIDDEN BASE."

At $0A:$45D0. You can go directly to Khatar and kill him, you don't need to find or recognize him in the final game.

"IT'S KHATAR YOU
 WANT!"

At $0E:$4C8A. Again, the messages for the Kurdistan level. The second one is an unused line for a prisoner. In the final version, he just says"GOOD DAY" instead.

"IQBAL THE ARMS
 MERCHANT IS
 HIDING OUT FROM
 THE AUTHORITIES."

"YOU HAVE THE
 PASS, I HAVE
 NOTHING ELSE TO
 OFFER."

At $0F:$4E26.

"THAT SHOULD
 DO IT."

At $11:$4560. While seeking Khatar and Sadam in Kurdistan, there are grenadeers firing each other from all three sides. The only message they say is about they don't know why they are firing, this is just an order for them. But In the message handler there are two branches controlled with an unused and unreferenced variable which is always 0 obviously. So we couldn't see this second optional message.

"AS LONG AS THE
 ENEMY FIRES ON
 US, WE WILL
 FIGHT BACK."

At $11:$4CCB. An external message for an unreferenced handler in Marrakech Market. And yes, they are. Swallowing and spitting all the time. Don't ask.

"THERE IS A MAN
 SWALLOWING FIRE
 IN THE MARKET."

At $11:$4E85. The "BULLET PROOF VEST" item described in the official manual for this game (along with some other items that doesn't exist in the final version). Also, "JEWELED EGG" is an optional item. You can trade it for "SECRET PASS" without mention of "eggs", just "values" in Marrakech.

"I'LL TRADE A
 BULLET PROOF
 VEST FOR AN ITEM
 OF VALUE."

"OHH, A JEWELED
 EGG! THAT IS
 VALUABLE.  THE
 VEST IS YOURS."

At $14:$40C8. No such event.

"THE PATHWAY IS
 BLOCKED."

At $15:$5731. There is the code for calling this message, but no one referenced it. Actually, there is another nephew out there in town.

"MY UNCLE SELLS
 ELECTRONICS.
 HE COULD HELP
 YOU FIND YOUR
 WAY AROUND."

At $18:$4B7B. One more unused Marrakech message.

"YOU'RE A BRAVE
 MAN TO TRAVEL
 THIS FAR INTO
 THE MARKET."

At $18:$4DEC. One more used message with an additional unused line. This time, this is not a result of a bug, but an easter egg. Whoever the Sarah is in "GRAMMAR BY SARAH" is unknown. The only "Sara" (without "h") credited in the game is in the Special Thanks section.

"SORRY,
 COMMANDER, I
 DIDN'T RECOGNIZE
 YOU. MI6 HAS
 TRACKED ODD JOB
 AND THE ARMS
 SUPPLIES HERE TO
 TIBET. THERE'S A
 MAZE OF PATHS
 AND CAVES IN
 THESE MOUNTAINS,
 BUT THEY'RE
 HEAVILY GUARDED.
 GOOD LUCK, 007.
 GRAMMAR BY SARAH"