The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy

The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy
Developer: Data East Publisher: Data East Platform: Arcade (Data East Edward Randy hardware) Released in JP: January 1991 Released in US: November 1990 Released in EU: January 1991 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy is an action game inspired by the Indiana Jones series that's notable for its impressive graphics and cinematic presentation.

Unused Graphics

HUD

This character set, the only one containing lowercase characters, was added to later revisions of the World set but never used in-game.

Used	Alt

Alternate versions of the players' life meter.

Yet another number set, this one resembling a digital clock. Might have been used for an early version of the continue timer.

Complete 8x8 sized katakana and hiragana character sets. Never used; all of the Japanese text in the game uses a larger 16x16 set.

The players' heart meters have unused beating animations...

...and it seems that originally the half-heart graphic was instead just a smaller heart.

Icons of the players' heads with different-colored crosses, hinting that the game might have had a lives system at some point.

Two different sets of miniature heads with varying expressions. No idea where this would be used.

Graphic for an unused player and/or boss energy meter. That's not how you spell demege!

BG/FG

Early	Final

Tilemap Offset: 0x98E94
A graphic that includes an earlier title can be found in the second graphics ROM. The graphic with the final title is in the third graphics ROM.

Tilemap Offset: 0xA2C66
Odd solid-color Data East logo backed with a checkerboard pattern, stored in the third graphics ROM.

Tilemap Offset: 0xA2E66
Graphics for a standard "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen. This game was never released in the US, though the existence of both a graphic and a tilemap suggests that a release might have been planned at some point.

Tilemap Offset: 0xA3066
An elaborate stone disc which seems to feature the prism that this game's plot revolves around. Maybe an early title screen backdrop?

No tilemap found
A nice background graphic that wasn't nice enough to be used, apparently. Löwen-Apotheke is the name of several very old pharmacies in Europe.

...But what does it mean? This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!

イェーィ チョキィ かずみん

"Yay! Scissors" -Kazumin

The first of many pictures and doodles that take up the blank spaces in the graphics ROMs. The game only uses a single one of these pictures at the end of the credits.

This large 256x256 portrait hidden in the second graphics ROM, featuring a character that doesn't seem to appear in the game (unless this is supposed to be one of the women at the end of the second plane stage). Kazumin is Kazumi Minagawa (皆川一巳), one of the game's ten graphic designers.

Two more 128x128 pictures found directly after the previous portrait. Lungfish is listed as "Game Planner" in the credits. There's some text on the second picture (which seems to be of Jennifer) but it's hard to make out.

No tilemaps found
This certainly is a nice...mouse? Cow? Whatever it is, it's at the end of the third graphics ROM, and it has two buttholes.

For some reason, there's an incomplete second copy of this thing in outline form earlier in the graphics ROM.

Sprites

Photograph	Zoomed-in (Early)	Zoomed-in (Final)

One of the pictures used in the game's intro is a zoomed-in version of the photograph featuring Charlotte, her father, and the prism. The earliest version of this picture is just a section of that photograph that's been quadrupled in size; the final version, which is stored much later in the object graphics ROM, is a properly drawn close-up of the prism.

Tilemap Offsets: 0x95986 (Edward), 0x86D28 (Helmeted soldier), 0x86D32 (Woman with ponytail)
Tiny sprites of the game's characters, including that woman seen in Kazumin's hidden picture.

Tilemap Offsets: 0x8C44C (Frame 1), 0x8C3F2 (Frame 2)
Sprites of Charlotte with a shocked expression. This animation probably should have been used on the boating stage when she's being kidnapped by Dark Ogre.

Tilemap Offsets: 0xE2826 (Frame 1), 0xE299C (Frame 2), 0xE2A0C (Frame 3)
Three unused talking heads for Dark Ogre. The first one was probably legitimately used at one point, while the other two were probably just joke sprites.

Used	Alt

Tilemap Offsets: 0x86EA4, 0x86EE0, 0x86EF4, 086F44 (Edward), 0x86F76, 0x8FA8 (Dark Ogre)
The cutscene at the end of Stage 6 has a number of alternate expressions for Randy and Dark Ogre. Randy's in a bad way, while Dark Ogre is more of a Smug Ogre.

Tilemap Offsets: 0x86D3C (Edward), 0x86D6E (Charlotte)
The hidden pictures just keep coming! 64x64 pictures of Edward and Charlotte are at the very end of the object graphics ROM.

Tilemap Offset: 0x95828
This fish is confused. Buddy, you're not the only one.

Tilemap Offsets: 0xE2A7C, 0xE2AE8, 0xE2B18, 0xE2B66, 0xE32A0, 0xE32EE, 0xE333C, 0xE338A, 0xE33D8, 0xE38AA, 0xE399E
A big ol' head of a popeyed tomato man that takes up an unusual amount of tilemap offsets.

Tilemap Offsets: 0xE38F8 (Frame 1), 0xE3946 (Frame 2)
This soldier's on active duty. Thank you.

Developer Text

Labels for the game's music and instrument samples can be found in the audio CPU.

Music

0x20EE	open.bgm
0x2563	start.bgm
0x26CF	bgm1.bgm
0x33A0	bgm2.bgm
0x3F64	bgm3.bgm
0x4ABA	bgm4.bgm
0x5AEF	clear.bgm
0x5E99	boss1.bgm
0x6570	boss2.bgm
0x6820	over.bgm
0x6B8B	end.bgm
0x842B	reser1.bgm
0x8854	reser2.bgm
0x8C03	reser3.bgm
0x8C03	reser3.bgm

Instruments

Text starts at 0xCA36.

e_piano	e_piano2	pia_5th	pia_at	pia_hi1	pia_hi2	pia_seq	pia_syn	piano_1	piano_2
piano_3	piano_4	piano_5	piano_6	piano_7	piano_8	pia_casio	pia_gt	hiseqx	seque
badbell	belflute	bellsyn	belviola	chaimer	kinkon	toybell	abc	cheap	kira1
kira2	metalsyn	analogue	flution	flution2	gira	hamowire	soundtrack	soundtrac2	synclavi
clav_1	delayer	masked	melody	percle	readcal	spaces	synther	tremolo	tubasyn
wavewire	wire	analogue2	tomita	voice1	voice2	voice3	voice4	voice5	voice6
voice7	voice8	voice9	accordion 3	celest_1	celest_2	e_organ1	e_organ2	e_organ3	e_organ4
hammond_1	hammond_2	impact_org	organ_1	organ_2	organ_3	organ_4	soften	organ_v1	organ_v2
esn_org	ob_organ1	ob_organ2	sx_organ	waveorgan	porgan_1	porgan_2	porgan_at	harpsi	ginginlead
lead	maskedlead	syorgan1	syorgan2	marimba_1	marimba_2	marimba_st	melody_at	mokkin_at	s_xylo
vibra_1	vibra_2	vibra_3	xylo_1	xylo_2	koto	shami_1	shami_2	e_guitar1	e_guitar2
grassharp	guitar_1	guitar_cx	bright_dis	clavsitar	hard_g	hardy_1	hardy_2	hardy_3	hardy_4
hardy_5	low_dist	a_bass	a_bassx	afr_bass	bright_wb	w_bass	analog_b1	analog_b2	analog_b3
analog_b4	syn_b1	syn_b2	syn_b3	syn_b4	syn_b5	syn_b6	syn_b7	syn_b8	syn_b9
syn_b10	thick_b	bassclavi	bright_b1	bright_b2	dx7_b	e_bass1	e_bass2	e_bass3	e_bassx
pick_b1	pick_b2	pick_b3	ricken_b	rr_bass	log_bass	mokugyo_b	casio_cym	ride_symba	hr_snare
meka_dr1	meka_dr2	meka_drm3	metalhit1	metalhit2	noise_sd	noise_sd2	snare	waterclap	bd_tom
bowlhit	smallbowl	b_drum	afr_drm1	afr_drm2	baribari	gamran	steeldrum1	steeldrum2	steeldrum3
steeler	at_clari	fagot	fue	piccolo1	sht_brs	syn_oboe	trp_1	trp_2	trp_3
trp_4	brs_1	brs_2	crystal	hard_brs	5th_brs1	metal_brs	opl_brs1	opl_brs2	opl_brs3
rise_brs	slow_brs	wave_brs	wave_brs2	5th_brs1	5th_brs1	bell_brs	delay_brs	vivi_brs	bassoon
brk_sax	cheap_horn	hard_horn	hi_sax	hornsect	sax_1	sax_2	sax_3	soft_sax	softuba
syn_brs1	syn_brs2	syn_sax	cembalo_1	cembalo_2	solovln_1	solovln_2	solovln_3	violin_1	violin_2
violin_3	violin_4	5th_str	lane	distrings	hi_str	orchstra	strings	syn_str1	syn_str2
syn_str3	pizz_1	pizz_2	vioboe	bass50	bass60	bass70	bass80	bassd80	harpsi5
harpsi	brass1	brass2	brass3	brass3	brbass

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Version Differences

There are four known sets: Japan Set 3, and World Sets 1-3. World Set 1 seems to be based off of Japan Set 3.

Cutscenes & Stage Order

The biggest difference between sets is that World Set 3 removes most of the game's cutscenes, presumably to keep play time down and make the game more profitable. This includes all of the end-of-stage cutscenes except for Stage 7 and the "DATA EAST PRESENTS" screen at the start of the game.

As a result of this change, the stage order had to be changed. In all other sets, the game begins in medias res, with Stages 1 & 2 (The two plane stages) being the antepenultimate and penultimate stages in the game's timeline. The cutscenes after each stage provide a date and time that the player can use to track the game's chronology. Since the cutscenes were removed, the stage order was reworked to put the stage in chronological order, so the plane stages were changed from Stages 1 & 2 to Stages 5 & 6 respectively.

Note that the game's attract mode in World Set 3 still plays the stage demos in the old order.

Intro Screen

The Japanese set has an extra screen of text after the "DATA EAST PRESENTS" screen.

Original	Translation
運の悪い人は安心せよ それ以上の悪運はないのだから... 193X年9月14日13時00分	If you're an unlucky man, rest assured that there won't be any worse luck from here on... September 14, 193X 1:00 PM

Film Strip

Old	New

The Japanese set and World Set 1 misspelled Data East as "Deta East" on the film strip graphic.

Stage Names

JP	INT

All of the stages in the Japanese version are named, while the World sets just give the stage number.

	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6	Stage 7
Original	いきなりクライマックス？	冒険百連発！	俺が切礼！！	激走100マイル	絶対絶命	当たって砕けろ	やっぱりクライマックス？
Translated	Sudden Climax?	Hundreds of Adventures!	I'm the Trump card!!	100 Mile Hard Run	Desperate Situation	Go For Broke	Climax At Last?

Credits

In World Set 3 only, the player can press any action button to skip the game's credits.

(Source: Original TCRF research)