The 8th track on the NSF for Heroes of the Lance is a very short, unused piece of music that seems like it was intended for either the "Game Over" music or the "Bad Ending" music, but both scenes are curiously silent. Judging from the way the rest of this game is, I wouldn't be surprised if its misinclusion was accidental instead of intentional.

Thanks go to TheAlmightyGuru for this discovery and the mp3 file.

The Japanese version of Alundra 2 had a different opening song than the American version. I discovered it on my copy of Alundra 2 when I was playing around with a Goldfinger accessory. The Japanese song has a fast beat and, of course, the lyrics are in Japanese. Even though I can't understand the lyrics, I like this song a lot, because the fast and upbeat nature fits the game's theme very well.

Note: An extended version of this song was also released as a single in Japan.

These are two very short, unused songs in Arcana. They can be heard in the game's hidden sound test (Hold L + R + B and press Start on the title screen.) The tracks numbers I assigned them correspond to where they are in the Sound Test. This may have been the first time I ever found out about unused songs in video games. I remember these two tracks bugging me for the longest time because I thought I was missing some secret quest or area in the game and that's why I didn't hear them anywhere.

Banjo-Kazooie has four unused tracks left over from the Beta version of the game. I can't remember where I first heard about "Advent" and "Mumbo's Raindance", but Banjordan's BK Lair has a lot of info on them. Advent was apparently supposed to be used for a cut level of the game, Fungus Forest, which became the Fungi Forest level in Donkey Kong 64. There are also two unused versions of the Click Clock Woods theme and an unused Mumbo Jumbo song (Warning: Mumbo's Raindance is really annoying!)

I don't recognize this track except that it sounds like a version of the Karnath's Lair theme remixed with the boss theme. Since I'd never reached the final boss of this game, I thought maybe it was the final boss theme. But I checked that out via a save state and, no, it's not used there, either, but maybe that's where it was originally intended to be used.

This appears to be a track intended for use in bars. Only one bar exists in the whole game (in the town of Nanai) and all entry is blocked off from it. Since this song is not used anywhere else, you wouldn't be able to hear it during the course of normal gameplay. See Oddities 26 for more details on this one.

Submitted by site reader, Captain Bucky O'Hare: It's a very short but funky tune. At first I was hopeful that this meant there was some sort of not-so-well-known secret to be uncovered, but it turns out that it was supposed to be used for a name entry screen that never wound up in the cartridge game we're all familiar with (in the US). There was a name entry screen for the Japanese version on the Famicom Disk System. This same track was also remixed as "Name Entry 2k2" and used for the GBA game Circle of the Moon.

FO's Note: According to Crawl, this song is also on Konami's official Dracula Best CD soundtrack.

The first one of these songs, the Redbook Audio Track, can be heard by putting the game in a CD player and playing Track #2. It begins with a warning not to play Track #1 and segues into an unused song. The second of these songs is one of only two songs that exist in the game that aren't streamed. The other is the Master Librarian's theme, but this strange lullaby-style song appears to be unused.

Here's one that was submitted by Jon Hornbaker (FlowingMindspin): In Chrono Trigger there is an unreleased song that was part of Ayla's Singing Mountain sidequest that was removed from the game. It's a pretty neat tune, and I thought maybe you would like to add it to the list.

There appears to be a few midis of this song available, too. Here is one of them:

Thanks go to FlowingMindspin for this entry!

Here is another unused Chrono Trigger song. It sounds like some kind of battle theme, and I almost think it's a better song than the actual battle theme that they used:

It turns out this was used for the Frog King cutscene in the Chrono Trigger Prerelease. (Source Chrono Compendium)

The Dark Savior game disk has a single Redbook Audio track that contains five different songs on it. One of the songs is the normal end credits theme and one is the FMV ending theme. The other three are variations of the ending song that aren't used for anything. I'm wondering since the game has five parallels if each was originally intended to have its own ending song, but I don't know that for a fact. Track 2 is especially notable because it's a strange slow saxophone ballad. Seems odd to put so much work into a song only to hide it on the end of a very long single track.

Submitted by site reader Deltastar,

"If you go into the Music Test (input magic code "JUKEBOX") and listen to 12, you get this strange music which according to the mp3 I've found of it, is dubbed "the secret tune". NOWHERE in the game does this song exist, and it makes me wonder if yet again it was something Rare wasn't bothered to take out. Could there be a multiplayer battle stage or cutscene missing?"

This unused EarthBound song was discovered when the hidden debug menu was found. It appears to be a really scary-sounding version of the game's cave theme.

This is similar to the Lagoon and Mega Man 3 tracks. This is the second Prologue heard at the opening of the game's story. But in the game, it cuts to the third Prologue theme at the 1:34 mark. There is a bit more to the song after that. There is never any time or place in the game where you can hear the whole song.

The same thing happens here. This is the third Prologue of Inindo, but it cuts away to the file select song at the 2:07 mark. You'll never heard the last few seconds of this song in the game at all.

I ripped these from the RAW files on the game CD. These appear to be three unused boss themes. While "CRAB" and "SVEN" remain total mysteries, a boss fight with a character named "Sylvester" was planned and cut. This can be seen by putting the game CD into your PC and opening up the Gamedata file in Notepad. Sylvester is mentioned along with some unused dialogue for a character that does not appear in the game named Waldo. Waldo and Sylvester are probably one and the same as this game has several bosses that were once normal characters until the main villain (Bad Custard) cast a spell on them to turn them into more monstrous forms. Example: Defeat the Rex the Crocodile and he turns back into William the frog. Sven was probably going to be another of these types of bosses, too, but I don't have a clue on "Crab", except that it if was a planned boss, it most likely would've been in the first area of the game, which is a beach.

On a side note, Kingsley's Adventure seems to have been a much more ambitious game than time and budget allowed. There is an interview with one of the developers on the official website, and he mentions that his favorite secret in the game is a fridge with a talking celery and carrot that are "hidden away in the depth of Reggie's Castle Ruins". I have been to the end of Reggie's Castle and seen the bouncing refrigerator with the padlock on it inside one of the jail cells. There is, however, no apparent way to open the jail cell and get to it. Also, an "icebox" was mentioned alongside Sylvester and the text for Waldo in the same area of the Gamedata file (see the image I linked above), but there is no dialogue for the carrot or the celery anywhere.

For even more cut and altered Kingsley weirdness, visit Cheerful Madness, a website owned by the artist who did the character designs for Kingsley's Adventure. As you can see, Kingsley was originally planned to be a rabbit instead of a fox, which probably explains why his "foster" parents are rabbits, the hub world is "Carrot Castle", and you transport between worlds by hopping down rabbit holes (cleverly renamed foxholes). There was also plans for him to have a female rabbit partner named Erica, but she does not exist at all in the finished product. There are also sketches of the unused talking celery.

I noticed this one in the game's sound test that's unlocked after beating the Extra Game with 100%. It's almost a perfect replica of the title theme from the Game Boy Kirby's Dream Land, except it sounds unfinished here (it loses instruments about halfway through). It's not used anywhere in Kirby's Adventure except in the sound test.

This one is similar to the Mega Man 3 issue. This is the first of two ending songs heard in the Super NES game Lagoon after you beat the final boss. But in the game, this song cuts to the second ending theme at the 1:05 mark. There is, in actuality, a bit more to it that you'll never hear in the game itself.

Here's an unused track from the American version of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. It sounds very different from the rest of the game's music and was intended for a cutscene involving a stripper in the original Japanese version of the game that was censored out of the American version.

This YouTube video by Kafei2006 shows how it was implemented in the Japanese version. It's strange that the track was left in the American version when some of the other music heard in that video was removed completely.

I'm not sure if this one is an unused track or not, but I don't recognize it. It could be something I missed when I played this game (and I've beaten Maniac Mansion with all possible combinations of characters and seen all the secrets that have been posted on various websites.) But another thing is that the game lists the song titles in the end credits, and for each song listed, I know of one that corresponds to it in the game. So, if this is in the game somewhere, it's unnamed in the credits.

There are no true unused songs in this game's nsf, but here is something interesting. You hear this song (Proto Man's Theme) in the game's ending when you're being shown the book of robots that Dr. Light had created. But here's the weird thing...the game cuts this song short and goes into the end credits before it's completely looped once! There is a LOT more to it that you don't hear in the actual game! (NOTE: The quality of that mp3 is a known site issue. The whistle sounds really bad on the intro. Eventually, I'll try to get that replaced with a better MP3.)

The Skull Castle Map theme has a similar anomaly - you only hear the very first part of it in the game. There's a bit more to it in actuality.

Submitted by site reader, Captain Bucky O'Hare: This is much like the track mentioned from Mega Man 3. It isn't unused, but the menu music normally gets cut short due to the game refreshing back to the intro too soon. You can hear the whole thing, which is about another 6 seconds longer than what you get to hear from the game.

FO's Note: I somehow missed that when going through this game's NSF. Good catch.

Wow! Here was one hiding in the soundtrack of my favorite RPG. Track 10 is not used in any place in the game that I know of. It sounds like something that might have been planned for a dungeon. I have to wonder if it was intended for the Astral Prison, which I believe just reuses the Astral Plane's theme. Another possiblity is that it could have been a boss battle theme. I sort of wish it could've been used for that purpose because although the normal battle theme is good, it would be nice to hear something different once in awhile. Note: The official arranged soundtrack for this game calls this song, "Sheltem's Theme", so I'm guessing it was planned for a cut encounter with that character.

This one has become rather well-known. This song does not appear anywhere in the actual game, and what's even stranger is that it cannot even be found in the game's hidden sound test! I have heard that it was supposed to be the final boss music, but for some reason, was not used. Here is a midi of it from www.vgmusic.com:

Submitted by site reader, Captain Bucky O'Hare: I found 5 unused songs in the game River City Ransom for NES. In the NSF the songs are #13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. The #13 appears to be an "ending" or "staff roll" theme, and I think that is better that the ending song that the game uses (the game uses the "status screen" song as an ending theme). The #14, 15 and 16 are fanfares. #14 is some sort of "prepare to play" fanfare. #15 is a "gameover" like fanfare, but I think it was unused since you don't get gameovers in the game (when you lose, you appear in the last shop that you have passed with less money). I don't know what was supposed to be the #16 song, it's a fanfare that I don't know how to apply it in a certain scene. The #17 is a really catchy tune, but I think that the reason because it was unused was that this tune doesn't fit with any scene of the game. Well, one or two unused songs are very common, but five...

FO's Note: I'm agreeing with #13 sounding like ending music. I'm willing to assume a better ending complete with a cinema, credits, and music was planned for this game, but got cut for whatever reasons.

I have heard that the PC version of Shadowgate included a room with goblins in it. This room was removed from the NES version. I don't really know for sure, but I wonder if this piece of music was intended for the goblin room? If not, I can't imagine what it would be for. Maybe someone thought it was too annoying. It also sounds like a possible alternate Torch dying warning or another timer mechanism of some kind.

The reason this one is unused is because it's from a planned area of the game that got cut. It is available in the game's sound test, but nowhere else is it used in the finished product. To learn more about the mysterious Hidden Palace Zone, vist the Sonic 2 Beta Website (External Link).

Unlike Ninja Gaiden 2, you CAN hear this song in Zanac's hidden sound test. To get the sound test to appear, start the game and intentionally lose all of your lives. Hold A and B as the screen says, "Game Over". The screen will go blank. Let go of A and B and the Sound Test will appear. The hidden track is #33 on the Sound Test. I heard that it was possible that this was the music for the hidden AREA 0, but I used a Game Genie code to get into AREA 0 and it just had the same music as the final level. Case closed.