DKC Atlas Forum

[Mattrizzle]

Here are many of the unused sprites/palettes/etc. I've found(unless otherwise noted) after lots of time spelunking through the DKC games. Enjoy!

**EDIT (08 Sep 11): Renamed the topic, as it now includes more than just unused sprites.

Sprites
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong
Diddy Kong
Cranky Kong
Early Necky
Miscellaneous
Golden Letters F, H, J, L, Q, V, and Z (found and ripped by Simion32)
Early Slippa defeated animation (found and ripped by Simion32)
Unused Croctopus defeated sprite, background lightning bolt (found and ripped by Simion32)

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Diddy Kong
Dixie Kong

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
Kracka (found by The Kirby, ripped by me)
Kopter (found by Krow111, ripped by me)

Palettes
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Zinger
Flitter
Flotsam
Ship Mast background palette (found by Markster)

Updates
17 Jan 23: Fixed all links in this post...again, added links to others' findings in this topic
11 Mar 17: Fixed all links in this post
18 Feb 12: Sprites: DKC2: Diddy (Riding on Rattly)
03 Feb 12: Sprites: DKC: Silver Sparkle (Miscellaneous), Early Necky
08 Sep 11: Palettes: DKC2: Zinger, Flitter, Flotsam
26 May 11: Sprites: DKC: Red Arrow without sign, "EXIT" without sign (Miscellaneous)
26 Jun 10: Sprites: DKC: Donkey (Arm Swing/Kick Attack)
23 Jun 10: Sprites: DKC: Cranky
26 Jan 09: Sprites: DKC2: Dixie
22 Jan 09: Sprites: DKC2: Diddy
20 Jan 09: Sprites: DKC3: TNT Knocka (Discovered by The Kirby)
19 Jan 09: Sprites: DKC3: Kopter (Discovered by Krow111)
10 Aug 08: Sprites: DKC: Broken Phonograph Horn, Shadow? (Misc.); Diddy (D.K. Island Map; Jumping)
09 Aug 08: Sprites: DKC: Alternate Extra Life Balloon (Miscellaneous)

The contents of this post are ever-changing. Be sure to check back for updates.

[Simion32]

Wow, I never knew there was that much unused stuff in DKC!

Thanks to you, Mattrizzle, I can finally work with the sprite data. I was planning on researching it myself but you beat me to it!

[BlueTronic]

Unused sprites! So Puftup was actually a scrapped DKC idea? Come to think of it Puftup did seem a little closer to DKC's style. Those clownfish are actually used as detail in the GBA version. Just like with that unused forest plant. Rare must have looked through DKC for some unused data to get ideas for the GBA. If Rare was so hellbent on saving space, why'd they leave all those unused sprites behihnd? And an unused Kremling? I wonder what it would've done.

[Cyclone]

Vey cool!

In one of the promotional rareware renders, the one with Donkey Kong riding Enguarde in an underwater scene I noticed a clown fish in the render. I always wonderd why if they modeled it why they didn't included it in the game. Pufftup in DKC1 cool!

Maybe we can add this unused stuff in some rom hacks.

Thanks for sharing the spritesheet.

[Simion32]

That unused kremling looks as if it was going to be used as a death animation for the Rockcroc...

More Mini Dumb-Drums and Mini OIL Barrels! Yay!

[Mattrizzle]

Here are some of my random theories based on my observations of these sprites.

From what I can deduce, it appears that Donkey Kong originally had two idle animations: the first of which is the squealing, chest-beating one that is used, and a second which would have been D.K. sitting down to scratch his head. Apparently, they later decided to use part of it in the defeated animation(or they deemed it too similar to Diddy's idle animation), so it was scrapped. What would Diddy's second idle animation have been? Hmm... Come to think of it, I find it odd that Dixie has two idle animations in DKC2(drinking from a cup and chewing gum), while Diddy only has one(juggling balls). Why didn't they use the animation from the first game as well?

That jungle plant sprite has to be one of the most peculiar things I found. It looks like it would have connected to something, but what? It also looks like it could have been an alternate kind of hidden bonus entrance, but Donkey/Diddy don't have sprites where they're walking toward the background.

The collapsing barrel graphics seem to have been derived from an earlier version of the barrel model. The iron hoops--I mean hoop--is strangely on the inside of barrel. Also, it would have used an earlier version of the barrel palette, with more browns and less grays. What would it have been used for?

Those white-walled tires were most likely scrapped when the designers decided to make pushable tires. The reason? It isn't easy to tell if something is rolling if it looks the same in all 360 degrees.

I really don't understand why over half of Rambi's horn attack sprites aren't used. The animation looks so choppy with just the two. Interestingly, DKC2 still only used five of the eight frames--the first two and last one lie unused in its ROMs as well.

At second glance, that unused Kremling looks kind of...mechanical. See the the large, clunky feet and the antenna poking out of its back? Remote-controlled Kremlings would be a great fit for a factory level! In fact, Rare reused the idea later in DK64. The unused enemy could have walked similarly to the Frantic Factory Kritter-bots--meaning that the two frames may not be a death animation.

There are unused, fully functional objects in the game's code which use the 2-unit Fuel Drum and upside-down Mini-Dumb Drum sprites, but the 4-unit Fuel Drum and horizontal Mini-Drum are entirely unused:
C5A3 Mini-Dumb Drum: Slippas(upside-down)
C5AD Mini-Dumb Drum: Armies(upside-down)
C5B7 Mini-Dumb Drum: Armies(upside-down; very long delays)
E055 Fuel Drum(2 units)

[Cosmicman]

Mattrizzle, those are really interesting sprites, amazing work, is so exciting reading all this new discovered information so many years after the game was introduced. Can't wait to see what else you find... And I want to thank you for speeding up the dkclb project.

[Stone]

That's just wonderfull! And I'm looking forward seeing and using the missing stuff in DKCLB

The collapsing barrel graphics seem to have been derived from an earlier version of the barrel model. The iron hoops--I mean hoop--is strangely on the inside of barrel. Also, it would have used an earlier version of the barrel palette, with more browns and less grays. What would it have been used for?

I could imagine using it as a price container in bonuslevels. For example after finishing spelling "D-O-N-K-E-Y", the barrel appears, collapses and giving you life balloon, etc.

Maybe I'll try doing some animated gifs with those new sprites when I'm back at home. (if nobody has done that already until then, of course )

[CM August]

Mattrizzle, that's amazing! I can't believe there is so much unused stuff left in the game, along with missing frames of animation. Some of this stuff, like the fish, was put back in for the Game Boy Advance port.

Could you check out the sprite data for K. Rool at some point? I wonder if it actually contains the missing frames of animation that the GBA port restored.

[Stone]

I'm not if I got the positions right, but let's have a look:


Edit: Oh, the "sure" is missing

[DKCplayer]

I love the unused poses!
Great find!

[Kiddy14]

So there exists Donkey turning while swimming sprites eh? Seems Rare eventually decided to not use them maybe because of the way DKC's swimming physics are. And when DKC2 included water while on land, they were able of include Diddy's.

Oh, and Rambi's extra sprites and the clownfishes and generic fishes (like what Kong-Fu said =P) were used in the GBA version. Makes me wonder why they didn't use the turning while swimming sprites :S

And what the heck was trying Rare to do with that Donkey "pushing walls"? Turning him in a Jedi?

Many of the animations used in game have missing frames.

So maybe, Diddy's victory pose has some missing frames? Like the ones used in the GBA?

[gamer_boy997]

I'm not if I got the positions right, but let's have a look:

Nice find Stone! I wonder what they were going to use them for, maybe the first image was going to be what DK does when you get 100 bananas. I don't know what the second image was for, maybe they were playing to make it where DK could break open the bonus levels that were hidden in walls.

[Kiddy14]

...maybe the first image was going to be what DK does when you get 100 bananas.

Of course, this is just Mattrizzle's theory, but if the "winning with this sprites" code is still there, then it most likely is.

[Qyzbud]

@ Kiddy14: These unused sprites aren't a part of any animation data stored in the ROM, so there won't be any code for that winning animation to play.

As for the pushing sprites, many games(i.e. Sonic the Hedgehog) have the character push a wall if you make them walk into it. D.K. has to be pushing something immobile (like a wall), as very little movement can be seen in his legs.

So maybe, Diddy's victory pose has some missing frames? Like the ones used in the GBA?

I just checked. Those extra frames aren't in the ROM. Most of them are frames missing from the beginning or end of animations. I guess "many" was a bit of an overstatement.

And the name is Mattrizzle, with two Ts.

@ CM August: As with the extra sprites in Diddy's GBA victory animation, those frames for K. Rool don't exist in the SNES version.


Here's an animated gif I created using Puftup's sprites:

[Simion32]

After all of this, I wonder if there are any more unused things in the DKC Trilogy excluding unused sprites. I still think that there are unused remnants of Pacifica and the Knockaboom enemy in DKC3.

I'd try to help with the uncovering of all this great info, but I'm busy with part of DELTA at the moment. Keep on going, this is proving to be very interesting and useful!

[gamer_boy997]

@ gamer_boy997: what "nice finding" of Stone's are you referring to? Stone only animated the sprites that I found.

Sorry, I obviously miss understood...

[Qyzbud]

Sorry, I obviously misunderstood...

It's okay. I made that post pretty late, and I was kind of grouchy then. After all, it doesn't really matter who found the data.

[Cyclone]

@ Kiddy14: These unused sprites aren't a part of any animation data stored in the ROM, so there won't be any code for that winning animation to play.

Mattrizzle, couldn’t you replace the original frames with the unused ones for the Victory Pose? They do this with many Super Mario World hacks for custom graphics. Or does DKC compress the graphics in a way that would make it hard to replace the graphics in the rom? Maybe someone could make an ASM(?) hack to custom code some of these objects… SMW has custom blocks and sprites, so shouldn’t this also be possible with DKC?

That puftup sprite looks cool animated but why does it have a blue tail? And if you zoom in you can see bits of blue around the edges of the sprite. Hmm maybe those areas are corrupt or missing from the rom, since it’s an unused sprite.

[Mattrizzle]

Mattrizzle, couldn’t you replace the original frames with the unused ones for the Victory Pose? They do this with many Super Mario World hacks for custom graphics.

Adding animations for these unused sprites is as simple as adding the frames to the tilemap pointer table and creating a sequence which uses them. However, expanding the animation pointer table to allow for more of them is another story...

That puftup sprite looks cool animated but why does it have a blue tail? And if you zoom in you can see bits of blue around the edges of the sprite.

The Puftup has a blue tail because it was made that way. It appears that the tail on the model was semitransparent, and the model was placed in front of a blue backdrop. Because of this, those blue artifacts appear around the sprite. This wouldn't matter in the underwater stages as they normally have a blue background.

[Cosmicman]

After observing Dk wall pushing sprite it seems that they wanted to make that sprite active when Dk got close to a wall and you kept walking towards it, instead of just running in the same spot it would appear he is colliding with it making it look like he is pushing it, hopefully simion32 can make that a reality just for Dk at least as well as the extra swimming animation, it would make the game even more perfected.

[Simion32]

Actually, I suspect that Diddy Kong has a wall pushing sprite as well. I found this in one of Goe's DKC glitch videos:

PossibleDiddyPushSprite.png (126.17 KiB) Viewed 307175 times

[BlueTronic]

So they can be used in the game?

[Mattrizzle]

Actually, I suspect that Diddy Kong has a wall pushing sprite as well. I found this in one of Goe's DKC glitch videos...

That frame is used here:


If a sprite isn't linked to animation data, it cannot be seen during gameplay, even through glitches. It's likely that if any Diddy wall-pushing sprites are found, they will be discovered by viewing the ROM in a graphics editor. All of the sprites on my sheet without a blue or purple background were found this way.

The sprites with the blue background were found with these nifty PAR codes:
BE85744C Replaces D.K.'s standing animation with sprite XXxx from tilemap table
BE8575EF
BEEF4C01
BEEF4Dxx
BEEF4EXX

Here's an incomplete list of values:

Spoiler!

008C-00B0 D.K.(getting into standing position)
00B4-00DC D.K.(standing)
00E0-012C D.K.(walking)
0130-017C D.K.(jumping)
0180-0184 D.K.(turning)
0188-01FC D.K.(hand slap)
0200-025C D.K.(beating chest)
0260-0278 D.K.(sitting down to scratch head; unused)
027C-0288 D.K.(scratching head)
028C-02A4 D.K.(picking up object)
02A8 D.K.(turning while holding object)
02AC-02B8 D.K.(beginning to walk while carrying object; unused)
02BC-02E0 D.K.(carrying object)
02E4-032C D.K.(throwing object)
0330-037C D.K.(running)
0380-038C D.K.(entering crawling pose)
0390-03DC D.K.(crawling)
03E0-0434 D.K.(teetering on ledge)
0438-0468 D.K.(losing a life)
046C D.K.(hurt)
0470-0474 D.K.(curling into ball from jumping position)
0478-04B4 D.K.(rolling in midair)
04B8-04EC D.K.(roll attack; 04BC, 04E4 and 04E8 unused)
04F0-0528 D.K.(swimming)
052C-0534 D.K.(riding?; unused)
0538-0558 D.K.(riding; animal buddy standing; 0558 unused)
055C-0588 D.K.(running on steel keg)
058C-05A4 D.K.(riding; animal buddy jumping/attacking; 0598-05A4 unused)
05A8-05B0 D.K.(riding; animal buddy walking)
05B4-0608 D.K.(crouching)
060C-0638 D.K.(flexing & thumbs up; unused)
063C-06B4 D.K.(swinging on rope)
06B8-06C0 D.K.(holding object)
06C4-0710 D.K.(riding in mine cart)
0714-0720 D.K.(hanging on rope)
0724-0728 D.K.(turning on rope)
072C-0740 D.K.(climbing rope)
0744 D.K.(riding; Expresso flapping wings)
0748-076C D.K.(tagging Diddy; behind)
0770-0780 D.K.(tagging Diddy; in front)
0784-07A0 Lives Icon
07A4-07D4 D.K.(losing a bonus game)
07D8-0854 D.K.(winning a bonus game)
0858-087C D.K.(map; walking)
0880-08A8 D.K.(map; level beaten)
08AC-0950
0954-09A8 Diddy(standing)
09AC-09E8 Diddy(walking)
09EC-0A1C Diddy(running)
0A20-0A6C Diddy(jumping)
0A70-0ABC Diddy(cartwheel)
0AC0-0AFC Diddy(losing a life)
0B00 Diddy(hurt)
0B04-0B48 Diddy(teetering on ledge)
0B4C-0B50 Diddy(curling into ball)
0B58-0B90 Diddy(rolling in midair)
0B94-0BC4 Diddy(winning a bonus game; 0BC0-0BC4 unused)
0BC8-0BD4 Diddy's hat
0BD8-0C34 Diddy(losing a bonus game; 0BDC, 0BE4, 0BEC, 0BF4, 0C08, 0C10 and 0C18 unused)
0C38-0C70 Diddy(swimming)
0C74-0C84 Diddy(picking up object)
0C88-0CA8 Diddy(carrying object)
0CAC-0CF8 Diddy(throwing object)
0CFC Diddy(riding; Expresso flapping wings)
0D00-0D10 Diddy(riding; animal buddy standing; 0D14-0D24 unused)
0D28-0D34 Diddy(riding; animal buddy walking)
0D38-0D68 Diddy(crouching)
0D6C-0D98 Diddy(crawling)
0D9C-0DA8 Diddy(entering crawling pose)
0DAC-0DBC Diddy(riding; animal buddy jumping/attacking)
0DC0-0DCC Diddy(hanging on rope)
0DD0-0DD4 Diddy(turning on rope)
0DD8-0E04 Diddy(climbing rope)
0E08-0E34 Diddy(running on steel keg)
0E38-0EB0 Diddy(swinging on rope)
0EB4-0F00 Diddy(riding in mine cart)
0F04-0F34 Diddy(tagging D.K.; behind)
0F38-0F58 Diddy(tagging D.K.; in front)
0F5C-0F9C Diddy(taking off hat, scratching head)
0FA0-1170
1174-1190 Cranky's phonograph(piece)
1194-12A8 D.K.(intro)
12AC-12CC D.K.(D.K. Island map/inactive player on map)
12D0-12EC Diddy(D.K. Island map/inactive player on map)
12F0-130C Cranky's phonograph(horn; unused)
1310-133C Cranky's phonograph
1340-1358 Boom Box
135C-13B0 D.K.(shocked at TNT Barrel explosion)
13B4-13D4 Cranky's walking stick
13D8-1404 Cranky(turning phonograph)
1408-141C Cranky(climbing tree)
1420-1454 Cranky(throwing TNT Barrel, laughing)
1458-1470 Cranky(stomped on by D.K.)
1474-14D0 Cranky(shocked at destroyed phonograph)
14D4-151C Cranky(sitting in rocking chair; swinging stick)
1520-156C Cranky(rocking in chair; talking)
1570-15BC Army
15C0-15D4 DK Barrel
15D8-15F4 Extra Life Balloon
15F8-16A4 King K. Rool
16A8-16D4 K. Rool's crown
16D8 Kong's Banana Hoard sign
16DC Cannonball
16E0 Giant Rambi Token
16E4 Giant Expresso Token
16E8 Giant Winky Token
16EC Giant Enguarde Token
16F0 Jumbo Barrel
16F4 Jumbo Barrel(map)
16F8-173C Funky Kong
1740-1774 Funky Kong's surfboard
1778-178C Candy Kong's kiss heart
1790-17FC Candy Kong
1800 D.K. Island
1804-1818 Gangplank Galleon(map)
181C-1828 Kritter Icon
182C Extra Life Balloon
1830-1838 Dumb Drum
183C-1854 Lives Icon(popping)
1858 GO Barrel
185C STOP Barrel
1860 ON Barrel
1864 OFF Barrel
1868-1878 Gnawty(defeated)
187C-1880 Gnawty(turning)
1884-18A0 Gnawty(walking)
18A4-1920 Oil Drum Flame
1924 Oil Drum
1928-1944 Banana
1948 Giant Banana
194C Lightning
1950 Golden Letter K
1954 Golden Letter O
1958 Golden Letter N
195C Golden Letter G
1960-19C4 Golden Alphabet
19C8-19DC Butterfly
19E0-19F4 Banana Bunch
19F8-1A54 Gnawty Bosses
1A58-1ABC Necky Bosses
1AC0-1AD0 Necky Boss' Coconut
1AD4-1B24 Queen B.
1B28-1B64 Barrel Cannon
1B68-1BA4 Auto Barrel Cannon
1BA8-1BC4 Continue/Save Barrel
1BC8 Continue Barrel (broken; unused)
1BCC-1BD0 Weird Jungle flower(unused)
1BD4 Normal Barrel
1BD8-1BF4 Collapsing Barrel(unused)
1BF8-1C24 Normal Barrel
1C28-1C38 Fragile Barrel
1C3C-1C40 Mini Oil Drum(unused)
1C44 Mini Dumb Drum
1C48 Mini Dumb Drum(destroyed)
1C4C Mini Dumb Drum(upside-down, unused)
1C50-1C6C Mini Oil Drum Flame(unused)
1C70-1C80 TNT Barrel
1C84-1CEC Mine Cart
1CF0-1D3C Krash
1D40 Wrecked Mine Cart
1D44-1D60 Clownfish(unused)
1D64-1D80 Smoke
1D84-1DAC Clambo
1DB0 Item Cache(mines?)
1DB4-1DBC Coconut 1
1DC0-1DC8 Coconut 2
1DCC Winky Crate
1DD0 Expresso Crate
1DD4 Rambi Crate
1DD8-1DDC Smashed Crate
1DE0 Enguarde Crate
1DE4 Squawks Crate
1DE8-1E54 Kritter
1E58-1E84 Explosion
1E88-1EC8 Klump
1ECC-1EF4 Winky(standing)
1EF8-1F0C Necky feather(unused)
1F10-1F48 Continue Barrel Sparkles
1F4C-1FBC Winky
1FC0-1FEC Starburst
1FF0 Fuel Drum(5 units)
1FF4 Fuel Drum(4 units, unused)
1FF8 Fuel Drum(3 units)
1FFC Fuel Drum(2 units, unused)
2000 Fuel Drum(1 unit)
2004-201C Diddy's hat
2020-2040 Squidge
2044 Item Cache(Jungle)
2048 Revealed Item Cache(?)
204C Item Cache(Factory)
2050 Item Cache(Temple)
2054 Item Cache(Forest)
2058 Item Cache(Ice Cave)
205C Hidden Entrance(Jungle; left wall)
2060 Hidden Entrance(Jungle; right wall)
2064 Hidden Entrance(?; left wall)
2068 Hidden Entrance(Factory)
206C Hidden Entrance(Temple)
2070 Hidden Entrance(Forest)
2074 Hidden Entrance(Ice Cave)
2078 Revealed Entrance(Mines, Cave)
207C Hidden Entrance(?; left wall)
2080 Hidden Entrance(?; left wall)
2084-2118 D.K.(looking at air, foot getting stomped on, pounding Diddy, wiping hands)
211C-2148 Steel Keg
214C-2164 DK Barrel Emblem
2168-2174 Chomps Jr.(defeated)
2178-2180 Klaptrap
2184-2198 Tank Platform
219C Arrow Platform(down)
21A0 Arrow Platform(right)
21A4 Arrow Platform(up)
21A8-21B0 Track platform
21B4-2218 Krusha
221C-2240 Timer numbers
2244-22E8 Croctopus
22EC-23E0 Expresso
23E4-2454 Manky Kong
2458-2498 Squawks
249C Clambo's pearl
24A0-24BC Blue Fish(unused)
24C0-2510 Bitesize
2514-2550 Barrel Piece
2554-2564 Slippa
2568 Platform(Cave)
256C Platform(Mine)
2570 Platform(Factory)
2574 Platform(Temple)
2578-25CC Rambi
25D0-25EC Rock Chunk
25F0-260C Rock Chunk 2
2610-266C Rockkroc
2670-26AC Swinging Rope
26B0-26C8 Hanging Lamp
26CC-274C Rambi
2750-27C8 Chomps
27CC-282C Chomps Jr.
2830 Arrow Sign
2834 Exit Sign
2838-2864
2868-28B4 Slippa
28B8-28EC Klaptrap
28F0-290C Enguarde
2910-2944 Mine Cart Sparks
2948-295C Slippa
2960-2968 Circle of Stars
296C Rope Fragment
2970-299C Enguarde
29A0-29B4 Tire
29B8-29D0 Tire(in ground)
29D4-29F0 Tire(rolling)
29F4-2A10 Mincer
2A14 Winky Token
2A18 Expresso Token
2A1C Rambi Token
2A20 Enguarde Token
2A24-2A48 Necky(perched)
2A4C Necky(defeated)
2A50-2A7C Mini-Necky
2A80 Mini-Necky(defeated)
2A84-2AA0 Mini-Necky(spitting)
2AA4-2ACC Necky
2AD0-2ADC Zinger
2AE0-2AF0 Zinger(defeated)

[Qyzbud]

This is an intentional double-post ( ) to allow me to easily split these unused sprites related comments to the new thread, when I make it.

Those unused sprites you've turned up are incredible! Sometime's it's really fortunate that game designers are a bit sloppy, and leave materials like these lying around; you can get some real insight into ideas that they came up with along the way, and of course it's interesting to try working out what certain things would have been used for, and why certain things were left out.

I can't for the life of me work out why the Kongs lost their turning while swimming animations. DK's turning while riding Rambi frames may have been removed to keep development simpler; Rare may have otherwise had to design additional turning animations for DK turning while riding the other animal buddies (if the buddies' body shapes didn't match DK's pose), and for Diddy riding each of them, too. If they didn't, it might have all looked inconsistent. That said, only Rambi and Enguarde have turning animations in DKC, whereas Winky and Expresso turn instantly... and that never bugged me too much.

The 'jungle plant sprite' is quite an interesting feature to ponder... if I had to make a guess, I'd say they would have been used by baddies to make surprise attacks on the Kongs (kind of like those holes the Grille Chompa/Big Clucker baddies have in Banjo-Kazooie), or maybe they were for the Kongs to re-enter the main level area after leaving a bonus? Either way, it looks to me as though something was to come out rather than go in.

Mattrizzle, there's one thing that I'm curious about that you can probably answer... Your sprite sheet notes that the 'clownfish' (among other sprites) has an unknown/missing palette, but the colouring looks spot-on; how did you manage that?

Thanks a bunch for putting this sprite sheet together, by the way. You've done a very nice job of it.

[Qyzbud]

Mattrizzle, there's one thing that I'm curious about that you can probably answer... Your sprite sheet notes that the 'clownfish' (among other sprites) has an unknown/missing palette, but the colouring looks spot-on; how did you manage that?

For all of the sprites with missing palettes except for the mechanical Kremling and generic fish(those use the normal barrel and 3-extra life balloon colors, respectively), I created custom palettes based on which indexes the sprite uses. For example, the clownfish would require a set of colors with a dark to light gradation of 10 oranges, followed by a 5-color one from black to white. To make things easier, I found a sprite which already used a similar palette--Slippa--and tweaked it to have the two lightest shades of orange.

Now that I think of it, the clownfish looks too red...

[Qyzbud]

I finally got around to splitting this topic from the DKC ROM Offsets discussion.

Feel free to continue discussion about the unused sprites of DKC...

[Tiptup Jr.]

Anyone else notice that DK does that exact same motion when his Final Smash expires in Brawl?

Because I did.

[Qyzbud]

...I didn't. Now I positively MUST see for myself!

[Tiptup Jr.]

Video of DK's Final Smash. After actually watching it, it's not exactly the same (In the DKC animation one of his arms is raised slightly), but... still an interesting find.

[CaptainEddie]

Ah, sneaky sneaky Nintendo for putting that in there.

[gamer_boy997]

The collapsing barrel graphics seem to have been derived from an earlier version of the barrel model. What would it have been used for?

Perhaps there were fake barrels, and when you tried to pick them up, an enemy would come out. The rings on the inside instead of the outside probably let you know the barrel was fake, just a theory, but it sounds logical.

EDIT: It could have also been their first way for after throwing a barrel, and it breaks, but that's a wierd way to show a barrel breaking after throwing it.

[Qyzbud]

Perhaps there were fake barrels, and when you tried to pick them up, an enemy would come out.

I like that theory... sounds like a precursor to the Klobber/Kaboom concept.

[Mattrizzle]

Perhaps there were fake barrels, and when you tried to pick them up, an enemy would come out.

So it could have been like a single-enemy version of the Mini Dumb Drums. Oh yeah, and the normal stationary barrel sprite is stored right before the collapsing ones. I think it was originally the first frame in the sequence until they changed the barrel's model.

And about Diddy's alternate defeated animation--I think it's actually supposed to be the end of his defeated animation. Instead of rubbing the side of his face indefinitely, he was only going to do it a few times before putting his hand down. But why does he still have his hat on? That's because the graphics were changed for the final version of the sequence. Diddy would've had his hat on in every frame. The fact that it completely disappears after he gets hit seems to support this theory.

Also, I've updated the sheet, splitting it into three in the process. You can see them in the first post.

[Kiddy14]

Jumping in map? Mmm... perhaps it was going to be used when you enter a level... I find that very weird.

And I just noticed Donkey turning while riding Rambi is used in the GBA version as well. With Rambi the animation looks on-spot, but in Enguarde some spots are missing (because of Rambi's horn).

[Gnawzooka]

I like these sprites, they're rather interesting! Do you think you could do the same for DKC2? That's if you want to, it sounds like it would've been alot of hard work.

[Mattrizzle]

With Rambi the animation looks on-spot, but in Enguarde some spots are missing (because of Rambi's horn).

I didn't know they used it with Enguarde too! If Rare had the assets(as shown by the other animations they tweaked or added), why didn't they create a new animation for this purpose? Shows how sloppily the GBA port was programmed...

Do you think you could do the same for DKC2?

I've already tried looking for unused sprites in the other two games, but very little has popped up.

Since DKC was the game that started the series, basic game play concepts were being thrown around wildly. I wouldn't imagine the same to be true for the sequels.

EDIT: Before anyone asks, sprites of "Mr. X" have not been found in DKC2.

EDIT 2: But, I have found something huge in DKC3! Just enter the PAR codes below to see it.

EDIT 3: Meh... as mentioned by Simion32, that Cranky trophy is used. I didn't know about it because I've never gotten higher than 103% or beaten Cranky's time in DKC3.

F90104 yy Dixie's standing Animation Pointer
F90105 xx
Replace xxyy with:
7B81: "Karate Master" Cranky(stands with arms crossed; rotates)
7B97: "Karate Master" Cranky(shows off his moves, then rotates once)
7BC6: The rotating platform Cranky would stand on

If you want the correct sounds for Cranky's punching and kicking, go to Swanky's Sideshow.

FD3203 yy Dixie's Palette(1)
FD3204 xx
FD3207 yy Dixie's Palette(2)
FD3208 xx
Replace xxyy with:
5411: "Karate Master" Cranky
4765: The rotating platform Cranky would stand on?

All of this means that the Cranky's Dojo concept was thought up for the original DKC3! I wonder what else can be found... absolutely nothing...

And again I'm off topic. Looks like that thread title needs changing once more.

[Simion32]

EDIT 2: But, I have found something huge in DKC3!

Actually, that is a "Trophy" of sorts, and is displayed at the records screen when you finish the game with 105% and beat Cranky's time.

Also, I had no idea you updated your first post. You should have bumped the topic...

That alternate balloon is sort of strange. It looks a little... stretched.

[Kiddy14]

Before anyone asks, sprites of "Mr. X" have not been found in DKC2.

Sorry, I'm a bit of lost in the thread... who is Mr. X?

Qyz says: The answers you seek can be found here...

[Mattrizzle]

Also, I had no idea you updated your first post. You should have bumped the topic...

I didn't bump the topic because I would've had to double-post, which is apparently against the rules here.

Qyz says:

Spoiler!

Double posts are always welcome if they add something worthwhile to a topic. If you want to add something soon after posting, it's best to edit it into your post, but if it has been a day or so, feel free to post again with the fresh info. If you update the first post of a topic with anything substantial, it's always a good idea to post again to mention this. I guess I should clarify all of that in the rules...

That alternate balloon is sort of strange. It looks a little... stretched.

Yeah, it is pretty ugly. The dark area appears to be D.K.'s chin, and the balloon has a neck. In the final version of the sprite, this chin is replaced with an open mouth, while the balloon ends at the bottom of the head. Another peculiarity is that the early version was designed to use Diddy's palette.

[Goe]

If a sprite isn't linked to animation data, it cannot be seen during gameplay, even through glitches. It's likely that if any Diddy wall-pushing sprites are found, they will be discovered by viewing the ROM in a graphics editor. All of the sprites on my sheet without a blue or purple background were found this way.

The sprites with the blue background were found with these nifty PAR codes:
BE85744C Replaces D.K.'s standing animation with sprite XXxx from tilemap table
BE8575EF
BEEF4C01
BEEF4Dxx
BEEF4EXX

Here's an incomplete list of values

I have put the first 2 codes you say and when i added the 1st...DK walked without moving his body, and when i added the second(removing the first) DK turned into a barrel and the level colours glitched. I added both codes at the same time and DK turned in a red rambi in some walking sprites.

I'd like to know how to use the sprites you have told us in that post, because i like to see unused sprites like the clownfish or the DK and Diddy unused sprites...can you tell me how? I have read all the posts but i don't understand how.

Thanks

[Mattrizzle]

I'd like to know how to use the sprites you have told us in that post, because i like to see unused sprites like the clownfish or the DK and Diddy unused sprites...can you tell me how?

No problem.
Say, for instance, you want to view the Unused Mini Oil Drum. In the value list you should see this:

1C3C-1C40 Mini Oil Drum(unused)

In this case, a range of values is listed. 1C3C and 1C40 are two different sprites. We'll use the first one in this example.

BEEF4Dxx is the low byte of the sprite pointer, while BEEF4EXX is the high byte. In this case, 3C is low, while 1C is high, yielding this:

BE85744C
BE8575EF
BEEF4C01
BEEF4D3C
BEEF4E1C

The palette of the sprite will not change, so it will still use D.K.'s. To remedy the problem, use this code:
B88111xx D.K.'s active palette pointer(P1)
B88112XX
B88100xx D.K.'s inactive palette(P1)
B88101XX

These follow the same principle as with the sprite codes, except you'll need to remove 3C from the beginning of the pointer.

For an incomplete list of palette pointers, refer to Giangurgolo's document (scroll down to the object palettes)

Also, the codes have only been tested with Donkey Kong Country (U)(V1.0)[!].smc. Make sure you're using that ROM.

P.S. If you see a range such as 008C-00B0, this means there are more than two sprites. The numbers increment by 4, so the valid pointers would be 008C, 0090, 0094, 0098, 009C, 00A0, 00A4, 00A8, 00AC, and 00B0.

[Goe]

ok...thanks a lot...i whished seeing full sprite animations but isee this is really hard because you must change lot of sprites...but your help was really useful!

[Simion32]

I've made a temporary sprite viewer so that I can make a list of all sprite+palette combos, and I came across something. There are 7 golden letters which were never used in the game; see below:

Shows the unused letters F, H, J, L, Q, V, and Z. Letters A-Z are in sprite digit range $1960-$19C4.

GoldenLetters.PNG (4.09 KiB) Viewed 305730 times

EDIT: Also, when you use the freeze timer code to stop the clock, and it turns into a Croctopus, that's because the Croctopus spites are stored directly after the timer digits.

[Simion32]

Yet another discovery! I found an alternate death animation for Slippa:

Spoiler!

This animated GIF shows an alternate, unused death animation of Slippa.

UnSDA.gif (4.91 KiB) Viewed 305675 times

(Technically I could have edited my previous post and then bumped the topic, but I thought it wouldn't matter whichever way it was done.)

[Mattrizzle]

I knew about some of the golden letters not being unused, but the alternate Hister...erm...Slippa death animation is new to me!

Just how many unused sprites did Rare leave in this game? Sheesh!

[BlueTronic]

Just how many unused sprites did Rare leave in this game? Sheesh!

How is that a bad thing? These unused sprites are awesome.

Can Mattrizzle or Simion or whoever rip the individual unused Slippa sprites to a sprite sheet?

[Simion32]

Well, other than the ones in your image, there is some rotating panel thing ($1174-$1190, presumably was going to be used in the intro) and maybe a few unused frames for the boom-box. Maybe a few unused Zinger sprites also.

For reasons unknown, some large sprites aren't getting rendered correctly so I'm not to sure about the boom-box until I can see an uncorrupted extraction. (This happens a lot on boss sprites; all of dumb-drum's sprites are messed. The graphical tiles are fine, but are in the wrong locations.)

I don't have ALL of the correct sprite palettes, but I've got around 2650+ of them correct. The ones I don't have correct are a little more difficult to identify, so I'll wait until palettes are found to make any final verdict on those currently missing a palette.

Can Mattrizzle or Simion or whoever rip the individual unused Slippa sprites to a sprite sheet?

Done:

SlippaUDASheet.PNG (3.35 KiB) Viewed 305644 times

[Kiddy14]

I see something here...

It appears Rareware wanted things you destroyed/killed to stay on-screen. We have the destroyed Midway Barrel, the weird collapsing barrel, and now this Slippa. Every animation seems to finish on-screen, rather than going away off-screen.

Is that or they were just testing with non-looping animations or the destroying/killing of the things.

[DKCplayer]

These are great discoveries Simion32.

There are 7 golden letters which were never used in the game

Cool, the remaining letters. Since I'm a spriter, I ripped the Golden Letters and made custom letters of the ones not used in the game... well, so much for that. (Maybe I could make custom Golden Numbers and a Golden ! and ?)