I would like to submit graphical oddities for Appleseed, a SFC game by Visit, that relate to peeling away the background. I'll start with Level 1:

I removed the sprites first. Here's the first screenshot of the first part of Level 1.

When I peel away BG0 (main background) and BG2, I get this. Intresting background choice to hide behind the acutal gameplay... looks like a futuristic city of some sort.

If you look at BG2 only, it doesn't scroll, but it is what I call "glitchy". BG2 doesn't change throughout the entire level.

When you get to the boss for Level 1, you get this if you peel away BG0. Same picture, lower altitude. You finally get to see it, though, in actual gameplay instead of peeling the background. This goes with the player's movement.

FO's Comment: I noticed awhile ago that if you peel away the backgrounds on The Ninja Warriors for the SNES, you also get to see a weird hidden background.

Here's the normal background...

Peel it away with an emulator, and you get... that. It's several rows of fluctuating colors that constantly move "downward". There is no time this can be seen during normal gameplay, so I have no idea why it was hidden there. This along with Furby's submissions and Andy Thorley's Chrono Trigger article make me wonder how many more games have weird things hidden behind the backgrounds...

This here is a hole in the back of the "START" formation in "Spaceport Alpha". I expect a key would've been here to unlock something for Future Fun Land. I found it odd that it was the only area in the game that didn't have a battle stage, yet still had a trophy race. I also found it strange that even when you have fully completed the game (ie. Adventure One AND Adventure Two, and even beat all the times that appeared at the end), it STILL says "TO BE CONTINUED". I don't know if Diddy Kong Racing DS can be considered a sequel, as it's more like a remake to me. I haven't played it yet, so I don't really know first hand what the ending is like. Got any ideas?

FO's Comment: None at all. But it definitely looks like a good place to have at least hidden a coin or banana or other item.

This glitch is very much like the scrolling error you mentioned in your Secret of Mana Oddities article.

The area is the Path to the Heavens, when you're on your way to Rolante. There's a pretty forest and sky background for this area, which usually behaves normally in the sense of its scrolling, but I discovered a section where everything is thrown out of whack.

The first screenshot shows what happens when you enter this screen from the south. The background looks nice here, with the trees at the bottom, since you're not really all that high up the mountain. It is probably how Squaresoft intended the area's background to appear.

The second screenshot shows what happens when you enter the screen from the east. Suddenly the background is positioned MUCH lower than it was before, showing mostly just sky. Since the east path leads higher up the mountain, it's probably that the background was repositioned for the higher areas of the mountain (as they would, logically, be showing more sky) when you go east from this screen, but somebody forgot to code the background to revert back to its correct position when you reenter this area from the east.

There's another area one screen east and one screen north that has the same scrolling problem. I think this one was meant to show the 'higher' part of the background instead, but I'm not sure. (Interestingly, both areas that have this scrolling issue are almost identical in their topography.)

This one's weird, and so subliminal I barely noticed it for a while. There are times when an NPC's "basic" sprite (usually standing) is replaced by a new sprite (such as lying on the ground) due to an event, and the NPC is supposed to stay as this new sprite even if you change screens and come back. For the most part, they do, but occasionally there's a bit of a quirk when you first load a screen with an NPC in such a condition. As the screen is fading in, the NPC will be back in its "basic" sprite, for just a split second, before it goes back to its new sprite like it's supposed to. It's barely noticeable and very quick.

One excellent example of this is in the Wind Kingdom Rolante, when you first enter it after putting the guards inside to sleep. These guards had a basic sprite of standing like any normal NPC, but now they're coded to be lying on the ground, obviously knocked out from the sleep flowers. Enter a screen where such a guard is visible from the entrance, and sometimes, you'll see them standing up for the briefest of a moment while the screen fades in. I have taken three such pictures involving a guard in the throne room of Rolante.

The first screenshot shows the glitch in effect. Note that it's very early on in the fade in of the room, so it's kind of hard to see.

The second screenshot is the same shot as the first, only I brightened it up for better viewing.

The last shot shows what the guard quickly reverts to - its proper sprite.

It's hard to figure out what makes this glitch occur in each place I've seen it. For example, in the throne room, I can see the guard standing for a split second whenever I enter the room from the northwest, northeast, and southwest entrances, but from the southeast entrance I don't see it occur. It will happen 100% of the time I use one of the "correct" entrances, though. Also, each entrance seems to give you a different length in time where this glitch is visible. Other occurrences of this glitch outside of Rolante (and there are definitely more) may have other "requirements", such as the time of day.

It's probably just a simple glitch in the loading of each area, where the latest data isn't immediately shown on-screen due to it just not being "added in" yet.

FO's Comment: That sounds similar to certain scenes in Final Fantasy 4 where you can see the characters moving into position before the screen fades completely in.

Battles usually occur in places where you can't interact with anything that would open a text box, but sometimes this rule is broken. One good example? Once again, in Rolante, after putting the guards to sleep.

From outside the castle, go through the northeastern-most entrance. Head a little bit to the east and you'll see a fallen Amazon warrior and a Ninja enemy hiding in the ground.

Talk to the Amazon Warrior after the Ninja has popped out of the ground, and leave the text box open.

Your teammates will usually fight the ninja while you stand static, even if the ninja hits you.

When anyone's health is lowered to 0, it will seemingly restore back to 1. Wait until everyone has been lowered to 1 health, and then close the text box.

Yeah, everybody just dies suddenly. Basically, having the text box open prevents any death animations from running until it's closed. If the ninja sustained enough damage, he will also die when the text box is closed.

I'm pretty sure this glitch will occur anywhere you have the ability to open a text box after getting into a fight. Sort of weird!

Once you get 120 stars and gain the ability to cannon yourself up to the castle roof to meet Yoshi, approach him and grab all the lives. This isn't exactly necessary, but it's hard to avoid him, so you may as well.

Once he's gone, start trying everything you can to jump up to the middle tower of the castle. I usually used back flips to accomplish this, and usually from the viewer's right side of the castle (when you're looking at it).

Once you get up onto the bit of roofing there, run toward the center. You can usually get in from the sides, but most of the time it's easiest from the front. You will start to fall down through the roof of the castle and end up landing (usually hurting yourself pretty badly) on the other side of the castle's entrance. Walk through the door, and when it loads, you'll find yourself behind the door to the castle. If you walk through the door again, you'll be behind the door still.

The only way to get out of this is to walk to the left side of the door inside the castle (when you enter and you can see the Toads, just walk past the door and walk through the wall instead), and you'll be running around in the castle normally.

FO's Comment: I have yet to try this, but I know about it because I read about it on David Wonn's Unique Glitches site a long time ago. I'd also seen it mentioned on message boards, too. It's not even entirely necessary to get all 120 stars to do this, either, as some clever blokes also discovered ways of reaching the castle roof without the cannon.