Complete list of games disabling Super Game Boy user palette selection

Several years ago when I was writing articles for a website that is dedicated to unused content in videogames, (well, actually it may have been a year or two before that site existed), I was annoyed by the fact that game developers cheapened out on proper Super Game Boy Support in their games (more on that another time because I actually plan on doing a well-written entry conveying every possible detail) and how many disabled palettes in their games where it was in most cases unacceptable.

Here is a complete list of games and Game Genie codes that will enable palette selection, and in some cases actually disable them as it was unused in the game's listing. Believe it or not, a few games actually use a more useless function that swaps the user's palette settings back to the one the game provides whenever it changes in-game. Amazing, right? Even more useless is that games disable the ability to use border screensavers. What was Nintendo thinking when they were designing the Super Game Boy? My best guess is that it was a rushed project because it is a wholly mess of incomplete functions and unused features, including the OBJ_TRN mode, which I will explain in another entry.

NOTE: You will have to physically modify the bottom of the Game Genie in order to fit it into a Super Game Boy. The Codebreaker is a more permanent option but the code format is different (which I cracked. It was relatively easy https://gamehacking.org/vb/forum/video-game-hacking-and-development/hacker-threads/13028-nensondubois-codes) and it supports several more patch codes and RAM based injections simultaneously.

Games that disable both controller and palettes will not be distinguished, but only game and is a sister set "Tokimeki Memorial Pocket" actually does solely disable the user's ability to set the controller selection. The most probable reason is because it is a quiz game and pressing the wrong button would have hindered progress?

Dai-2-ji Super Robot Taisen G (J)
Enable Palettes When Played Using a Super Game Boy (Title Screen; palettes are re-enabled afterwards.)
000-7BB-E6

Retrieve (J)
001-B0B-E6E

Animaniacs
00F-C18-E6E

Enable Screensavers When Played Using a Super Game Boy
00F-D08-6EF

Beatmania GB
002-80A-E6E

Beatmania II
002-80A-E6E

Bomberman Quest (GBC)
000-F1B-E6E

Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren GB: Tsukikagemura no Kaibutsu
008-BEB-E6E

Little Indian Big City
003-54D-E66

Lodoss Wars (J) GBC (Lodoss Tou Senki: Eiyuu Kishiden GB)
001-B0B-E6E
Palettes do not swap to software priority when they change
001-A0B-E6E

Masakari Densetsu - Kintarou RPG Hen ()
003-53A-E6E

Mini 4 Boy II - Final Evolution
00E-FCD-E6E

Rock 'n Monster (J)
004-10C-E6E

Tokimeki Memorial Pocket: Culture-hen: Komorebi no Melody (GBC)
00C-4D9-E62

Tokimeki Memorial Pocket: Sport-hen: Komorebi no Melody (GBC)
00C-5C9-E62

Umi no Nushi Tsuri
001-BFB-E6E

Uno 2: Small World
00E-A88-E6E

Wario Land II
00C-21D-E6E
Enable screensavers
00C-31D-E6E

Wario Land II (GBC)
001-0BC-E6E

Trade & Battle Card Hero
006-469-E6E

Dragon Quest Monsters (J) (GBC)
001-C4B-E6E

Dragon Warrior Monsters (GBC)
001-C4B-E6E

Dragon Warrior Monsters V1.16 (GBC)
001-C4B-E6E

Dragon Quest/Warrior Monsters 2 Ruka's Adventure
001-BFA-E6E

Dragon Quest/Warrior Monsters 2 Iru's Adventure
001-BFA-E6E

FIFA '96
003-59A-E6E

Game Boy Gallery (E)
Palettes do not swap to software priority when they change
00B-F6D-C4D

Pocahontas
00C-82C-E66

The Smurfs
00B-718-E6E

Centipede
00A-85C-E6E

Superman
00E-ECD-E66

Madden 96
005-7D2-E66

Mole Mania
001-CBB-E6E (Unused; listed in the game's internal command packet listing)

Quest for Camelot
00F-DEE-E66

NBA Live 96
002-10E-E66

Donkey Kong Land 2
000-9AB-E6E

Donkey Kong Land 3
000-9AB-E6E

Conker's Pocket Tales
000-9AB-E6E

Dragon Quest 1&2
001-B1B-E6

TinTin in Tibet
009-E38-E6E

Kirby's Dream Land 2
Disable palette software priority swapping when they change
71F-E0A-A2B

Spirou
(Unused; listed in the game's internal command packet listing. Palettes were supposed to have been disabled based on the other Infrogrames titles)
01A-A78-E6A

Doraemon no GameBoy de Asobouyo DX10
Disable controller settings (Unused; listed in the game's internal command packet listing)
6E9-3EA-192


Crayon Shin-chan: Ora no Gokigen Collection
Palette software priority (Unused; listed in the game's internal command packet listing)
13A-E68-E62

Crayon Shin-chan 4: Ora no Itazura Daihenshin
Palette software priority (Unused; listed in the game's internal command packet listing)
646-0EB-F7B

There are a handful of other games that disable palettes and contain unused enable / disable commands in their internal command packet listings, this is the bulk of the games spanning both GB and GBC. I will add the rest once I find them in my notes from several years ago, if not then I will recreate them to complete the listing.

Shades of blue and a hidden, broken pixel that can be fixed in Soukoban Densetsu - Hikari to Yami no Kun

Let's push some boxes... err words around because it's time for another entry!

Soukoban in case you're unfamiliar, is a classic game where you walk behind boxes and shove them around a mostly enclosed area or a maze while avoiding the prospect of being trapped into unsolvable puzzles or situations forcing you to restart the area from the start.

The game was ported to numerous consoles including two Japanese versions for both the Japanese Super Nintendo / Famicom Sega Genesis / MegaDrive, and even made its way into Deadly Premonition (hahaha we will get to this game eventually!) as a sidequest for unlocking higher tier items in the general store.

First, let's start off with exploring a few unused graphical assets in this game for the sake of some box madness (ok, I should probably stop now.)

First is an unused palette for the Super Game Boy that matches the border palette. Normally it is a variation of black and white contrasts but the game's developers programmed a blue-red brownish setting but decided against using it in the game most likely because they felt it didn't show off the user's border palette creation properties as well as it was intended. This is the only game that offers a border that is centered around using system palette 0 allowing the user to set up the border to display a palette of their choosing. I guess they chose a black and white palette for the final because it makes your custom palettes stand out and they wanted focus on that feature? They could have given the option to switch between the two but that was probably more work than the developers wanted to invest, or it just wasn't a consideration at all.

Unfortunately there are a few issues with using the system palette 0 for this feature and the most notable issue is a developer oversight which I will explain and showcase later.

Load unused Super Game Boy palette

111-31B-6EE

001-3BB-6EA

Here's the lost matching border palette. There's also an oddly matching overlay appearing to fit anywhere. There is also a variation which removes the lowermost 8x8 tilemapping.

Overlaying the game screen with black attributes was not an appropriate choice for this game because the game has too varying a set of levels that would require a lot of time to compensate per puzzle and lots of space in the game's read only memory which was a premium at no less than 1mb for Game Boy Color games. Most interesting is the fact that the game's developers left in remnants from the SDK or library they using. I also found this in numerous other games including the mostly poorly ported Game Boy version Tetris Attack (it has some good music) and B-Daman Fighting Phoenix, a crossover of Bomberman and B-Daman. As you can see, the overlay looks as if it were made to show off either a platforming game or an ourside area where it is viewed from a bird's eye angle.

All that is currently known about the understanding of the SDK from my research is that it is totally unclear where the SDK originated; whether it was developed in house by Nintendo or by a different company altogether during the development of the Super Game Boy to showcase it's enhanced features such as but not limited to a library of built-in sound effects, custom music, and the ill-fated unfinished OBJ_TRN mode which would display 'scrollable' SNES objects on the screen in either 8x8 or 16x16 form overriding the static palette limitations. It is a very early SDK most likely developed in tandem with the Super Game Boy at the time, based on the fact that it has the OBJ_TRN command as C1, which in the final build of the Super Game Boy ends in a ret or return to subroutine so it wasn't implemented, but could still be accessed. I will write about the unfinished display mode at another time. 

 There are other hints that it was an official SDK designed to promote the Super Game Boy such as the "Nintendo" Super Game Boy 'SOUND' listing in the table as well as a default setting for the SNES NMI JUMP and DATA_SND definitions to perform various tasks the user could incorporate into their games on the SNES side allowing better graphics, sounds, music and a more robust interactive multiplayer mode.

The SDK appears in several games in varying revisions to suit the developer's project needs over time. It appears in a wide range of third party company developed games to name a few: Konami and Hudson.

Loads unused palette without modifying ATTR_BLK attributes (attributes black), sets a screen area overlay within specified dimensions.
001-3BB-6EA
What were they testing? This obviously looks like it could have been reserved for the title screen, story captions and cutscenes? There is also a variation which removes the lowermost 8x8 tilemapping.

Lastly, a developer oversight caused a single 8x8 pixel of the border to display an incorrect tilemapping. This renders the whole idea of allowing users to design the custom palette of the game's border. What a shame. Well, sure enough I took the liberty of fixing this issue in a matter of minutes. I fail to see how an important miniscule feature was hindered by a nefarious oversight.

Original post:

 https://twitter.com/nensondubois_/status/891869088988975105

Took 4 minutes. To fix the border, modify 0x01086D to 00 from 0C or via Game Genie code 008-6DB-D5A. The first skull is the only one that fully matches with your custom palette. So, maybe the border's ability to adapt with the player's palette was an afterthought? The skulls actually have an attribute to match the user's palette but it was never implemented.

I also made three more videos but they're lesser interesting as an afterthought. People really seem to love afterthoughts.

Unused Super Mario Bros. NES Theme found in WarioWare, Inc. - Mega Microgame$!.gba!

WarioWare, Inc. - Mega Microgame$! GBA Menu Music Modifier Unused Microgame Music 2 0104 Super Mario Bros Theme.

We're on a roll with Super Mario Bros related content, so today is a step in the same direction. I'm sure many people have spent countless hours city surfing through Wario Ware Inc on their often eye-straining Game Boy Advance screens back when people no longer thought break dancing was cool.

One of the lesser-known interesting things is Wario Ware Inc actually has some music that was never used in-game and the best example of this is a rendition of the Super Mario Bros theme done in the theme of a microgame.

I located the internal song ID, known as a music modifier, where the main menu selects to play it's music using a debugger and it took some effort but it wasn't too difficult for my level of skill to figure out. To play this song, open up a hex editor of choice (mine is hex workshop) and go to the following address and change it to (in this case, 0104)

WarioWare, Inc. - Mega Microgame$!.gba Main menu song set 

(083FA4C0) 0x3FA4C0 0B00 to ????.

This is a weird one. A version of the Super Mario Bros. Theme with whispering, a baby crying and weight lifting samples! :S

Hut-hut-hut-Hii-yyaaaaAAAHHHHH!!!