Mysterium (Game Boy)

Mysterium
Developer: Maxis Publisher: Asmik Platform: Game Boy Released in US: July 1991 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select.

A giant ant encourages you to brave a huge maze, defeat a dragon, and free a fellow Alchemist with the power of Alchemy in this interesting, but very ugly and awkward Game Boy Dungeon Master knockoff by Maxis, of all developers.

Unused Text

There are a lot of unused text in this game. A complete set is present in the US version, so all offsets here are for this version. The Japanese version has some lines removed but the rest is also there and is the same as in the US version albeit untranslated.

Load/Save Screen

Starting at 0x00406E:

     LOAD SCREEN     
     SAVE SCREEN     

There is no way to save the game or otherwise access these options in the final version. Present in the Japanese version.

Status Messages

Among the strings library for display information at the bottom of the screen about current state, actions and effects of using items there are several entries that are never used by the game. Nothing is left in the Japanese version from here:

At 0x004EFD:

  A          DOOR   

This message was intended to be used to identify doors with the "LIZARD" item. However, they used a separate string buffer for this instead with a different text which is loaded/modified/used only via RAM access, so this particular string goes unused.

At 0x0050F1:

   SCALES OF WATER  
   SCALES OF ACID   

The only scales available in the game is "SCALES OF FIRE" and "SCALES OF MERCURY".

At 0x005141:

  TELEPORT FAILED   

Teleporting items never fail.

At 0x0051A5:

MYSTERIUM V1.00AU   

Debug version string, in the released version there is not even the secret code associated with it.

Starting at 0x00530D there are three misc messages in a row:

THE GREAT DRAGON    

This is the last entry of forgeable monsters list, but there is no Great Dragon at all.

INTERNAL ERROR      

Listed after the monster descriptions, possibly for invalid monster values.

  YOU FEEL DIZZY    

Another unused item effect. All items that make you feel bad uses the same " YOU FEEL VERY SICK " line instead.

Misc Scenario Messages

At 0x005444:

YOU HAVE DONE WELL  
AS AN APPRENTICE    
IN ALCHEMY.         
WELCOME TO YOUR     
FINAL TEST. USE THE 
      POOLS OF      
FIRE, WATER, ACID,  
AND MERCURY TO      
TRANSFORM WHAT YOU  
FIND AND CREATE WHAT
YOU WILL NEED TO    
SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF
    THE MYSTERIUM.  

There is no final level in this game after the 10th floor. When you complete the main game course you just return back to the title screen. Also note, the original text has no line breaks but all strings are padded to 20 characters per line. The messages were formatted here for convenience, but the rest of the game always uses line break characters, so this is evidence that this message was dropped at some point at the development stage.

Also next to it at 0x00582B at the end of the stage titles list there is an unused 11th title presumably for the stage mentioned above:

      MERCURIUS     

Just right next to it there are three lines which never get used by any game menu or option:

      HIGH
      MEDIUM
      LOW

At 0x0069B5:

CADMIA HAS NOW
TRANSCENDED THE
MYSTERIUM.

This is one of the messages for the final stage's special events. Cadmia can be only saved from chains, he never "transcended the Mysterium" there.

Starting at 0x006C29 there are plenty of unimplemented messages for some kind of location descriptions which the released version never informs you about. The Japanese version only has the pool descriptions part.

YOU ARE AT A FLAMING
POOL OF FIRE.

YOU ARE AT A
BUBBLING POOL OF
WATER.

YOU ARE AT A GLOWING
RED POOL OF MERCURY.

YOU ARE AT A
CHURNING POOL
OF ACID.

   SCALES OF FIRE   
YOU ARE AT A GIANT
TILTED SCALE.

THE PANS OF
THE SCALE HOLD
EVER BURNING FLAMES.

LET THIS GIVE YOU A
FALSE SENSE OF
SAFETY....

YOU ARE IN A
GLEAMING YELLOW
MAZE. THE SULFUROUS
WALLS ARE ALMOST
OVERPOWERING.

YOU ARE IN A HALLWAY
OF THE MAZE. THE
SMELL OF SALT IS
STRONG IN THE AIR.

YOU ARE IN A SHINING
WHITE HALLWAY. THE
GLOW FROM THE
ANTIMONY WALLS HELPS
LIGHT YOUR WAY.

YOU ARE IN A DULL,
DARK HALLWAY. SOFT
LEAD IS EMBEDDED IN
THE WALLS AND IS
SCATTERED ACROSS THE
FLOOR.

THERE IS A STRANGE
FORCE IN THESE
HALLS. THE SPIRIT
POWER OF MERCURY
GLOWS SILVER AND RED
FROM THE BRICK
WALLS.

SILVER GLEAMS FROM
EVERY CORNER OF THIS
HALLWAY. THE
POLISHED FINISH OF
THE FLOOR HAS BEEN
SCRATCHED BY THE
WANDERINGS OF
MONSTERS.

THESE HALLS ARE
STRANGELY QUIET
EXCEPT FOR THE
DISTANT

The latter message seems cut off.

Debug Material

Debug Items

On the Map screen, press Start + A + B + Left. If successful, your first item will change to the "PASS KEY" (index $AC), a debugging item that allows you to open any locked door.

Alchemizing this key with any of the pools will change it into the "DOWNLEVL" (index $AD), which can be used to go down a dungeon floor. When the last floor is reached this item disappears.

The "DOWNLEVL" can be alchemized into the "UPLEVEL" (index $AE), which lets you go up a dungeon floor.

Finally, the "UPLEVEL" can be alchemized into the "SUPERPOW" (index $AF), which renders you invincible. If you alchemize the "SUPERPOW", it turns into the "PASS KEY" again.

The "Eric" referenced in the item descriptions is Eric Albers, listed in the credits as the game's programmer and designer.

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Regular Items Debug

While on the Map screen, press Up + B + Select. You'll receive:

• Slot 1 filled with Item with the index equals the previous Slot 1 Item index plus 14.
• Slot 2 filled with "GOLDEN W" ("The Golden Wand of Hermes", index $84) Item.
• Slot 3 filled with copy of previous Slot 1 Item.
• Slots 4 to 16 filled with Items with indexes equals the previous Slot 1 Item index plus 1 to 13.

Note, when "PASS KEY" Item found in Slot 1 (index $AC) then Item index for Slot 4 resets to $00 so it goes empty. Then Slots 5 to 16 are filled with sequential set of Items with indexes $01 to $0C and Slot 1 filled with Item with index $0D.

Every time you use this button code the Inventory filled with next sequential portion of items with indexes starting from the current Item index in Slot 1. So you may receive all available Items page by page (including "PASS KEY" only from all debug items).

Floor Skip

While on the Map screen, press Down + B + Select.