Pocky & Rocky

Pocky & Rocky
Also known as: KiKi KaiKai: Nazo no Kuro Manto (JP) Developer: Natsume Publisher: Natsume Platform: SNES Released in JP: December 22, 1992 Released in US: June 1993 Released in EU: August 19, 1993 This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

To do: There's an unused Stage 7. Source

Pocky & Rocky is an overhead shooter starring Pocky, a young shrine maiden, and Rocky, her talking raccoon friend. Together, they must find and defeat the mysterious Black Mantle, who has driven Rocky's goblin pals insane. Don't get distracted by the game's overwhelming cuteness, lest you be utterly destroyed by its overwhelming difficulty.

Level Select

At the character select screen, hold X+Y and press A, A, A, A, B, B, B, B, A, B, A, B, A, B, A, B. A sound effect will confirm correct entry. Choose a character, then press Start to go to the level select. Alternatively, the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E016410 will enable the level select without having to enter the above code. NOTE: This code only works in the international versions.

Debug Mode Leftovers

At one point during development, the game contained a fairly extensive debug mode. Although most of the code is missing in the final version, the text for the menu and various debugging screens still exists. To view these screens in an emulator, use the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 00BC5C?? (where ?? is a value between 01 and 0B), enter the options menu, and turn off all but layer 3.

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  Screen 00

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  Screen 01

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  Screen 02

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  Screen 03

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  Screen 04

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  Screen 05

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  Screen 06

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  Screen 07

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  Screen 08

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  Screen 09

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  Screen 0A

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  Screen 0B

Unknown Test

A graphics viewer partially survived, but it's unknown which of the menus shown above it's supposed to match up with. To access it, open the Options screen, then activate the following Pro Action Replay (PAR) codes: 00915B4F + 00915CBA or 7E000411

Turn off layer 1 and 2.

The first two sets of numbers are X and Y coords, and the third is an index (range $00-35).

Instructions:

• D-Pad: Move graphics around the screen.
• A, B: Increase/decrease the index.
• L, R: Crashes the game.
• Start: Exit?

Early HUD Graphics

The options menu loads an alternate set of layer 3 HUD graphics from earlier in development.

Early	Final

• Life bars are used instead of hearts.
• The character icons look rougher.
• A full uppercase English alphabet is present, looking very similar to those used in Natsume's NES titles.

Regional Differences

Intro Screen

The international versions add an extra screen before the Natsume logo with the game's localized title and copyright info.

Natsume Logo

The Japanese release displayed a fancy animated Natsume logo with an Engrish slogan on start-up, while international versions had only a static graphic.

Japan	International

SNES Controller Colors

The key configuration menu is very similar between Japan and Europe, which shared colorful SNES controllers, while the North American version was toned down to match the controller in that region. This also entailed lightening the blue backdrop for the Options menu as a whole, presumably to make the duller NA buttons stand out better.

Europe	North America

Gameplay Differences

• In the Japanese version, the game starts you out with three lives and one bomb on each credit regardless of difficulty. The international versions change this so that Easy gives you five lives and three bombs, and Hard gives you two lives and no bombs.
• The maximum amount of bombs that you can carry is 3 in the Japanese version. This was changed to 4 in the international versions.

Stage 4 Boss

Japan	International

In the Japanese version, the boss of Stage 4 is a giant harpy. For reasons that should be obvious, the international versions change her into a bird knight, or at least give her some armor and a bird mask.

Stage 6

Japan	International

The stained-glass murals on the floor of the final stage were altered to make the faces being depicted on them look less demonic, giving the face some extra anti-aliasing in the process.

Other Differences

Bizarrely, the European version completely removes all story cutscenes from the game, presumably as a hasty way of avoiding having to translate the dialogue several times over for countries that don't speak English.