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Unused things
Last revised: 8th October 2008

If you look around a couple of pages on this site (or perhaps elsewhere), you'll see mentions of unused things like weapons or classes.

Why are they in the games?

Most of the time, it's because they were planned to be used but ended up left out for various reasons. Maybe the developers didn't have time to fully implement them (some unused spells in Thracia 776 had unfinished animations) or maybe they thought they disrupted the balance of the game (too many S Rank weapons in Path of Radiance?). Nonetheless, they ended up in the game data.

Why didn't the coders just delete them?

Game coding seems to be a tricky process. Keeping track of every single string of data is probably not an option. That's before you consider whether deleting the data will cause adverse effects. If people aren't ever to see the unused things (normal people anyway, hehe...), why not just leave them in? Usually, there's no worry of the unused data hogging up needed space, especially with game sizes these days.

So just what exactly is unused in all the Fire Emblem games?

Well, I've tried to make a list of everything interesting that I've come across. Most people find these stuff just by using codes or hacking the game, which is what I sometimes do. Also, when compiling data for games, it's not uncommon to bump into unused data.

What is unused?

Below is a compilation of the most notable unused features:

Shadow Dragon

Classes

Fire Dragon, Demon Dragon and Divine Dragon exist as seperate classes, although they don't seem to have a fully working map animation. Their data is actually used when fighting with the Fire/Demon/Divine Dragonstones. There are also male and femaled dismounted Knights, which probably meant dismounting (like in Mystery of the Emblem) was originally planned to feature.

Portraits

There seems to be three unused portraits, of Midia, Minerva and Sheeda, in different (more casual) clothes.

Radiant Dawn

Items

Notable items include Slim Lance, Warp Powder, Wild Stone (probably functions as a Wildheart version of the Laguz Stone or Gem), scroll versions of the Beorcguard, Laguzguard, Knight Ward, Full Guard and Knight Ring from Path of Radiance, and two Dark variants of the final boss's special attacks.

Music

Not counting alternate versions of many existing songs (which only differ very slightly), there are around 25 unused songs. The most notable ones include themes for Mist, Tibarn and Naesala, and a map theme that is a remix of Arum's map theme from Gaiden.

Dialogue

In Part 4 Final-1, there is dialogue suggesting that Hetzel could be spared in that chapter. Also there is an unfinished sypnosis of the story, which has a few details that are slightly different, such as Marado being named Rino and Ludveck being named Charolai.

Path of Radiance

Items

This game has got tons of these, most notably three extra S Rank weapons- Urvan, Rexcalibur and Rexflame. All three work fine, although the two spells don't seem to have a proper map animation. Rexcalibur is apparently shown in a game demo, leaving quite a few people wondering how to get their hands on it.

Credits to Sandokhan for the Greil with Urvan video

Also there are three staves, several Skill books, the Devil Axe and the Bright Bow. It seems that the Bright Bow was meant to be the magic-based weapon for bows, but perhaps they thought the Runesword was enough (since both are infused with Light magic). Interestingly, the Bright Bow can also target enemies adjacent to the user. Looks like a strategically useful weapon, if only you could get it normally.

These include most of the female mounted knights, female Bishops and Black Dragons. The female Bishop is actually used as a dummy class, most notably for Elincia (although Sanaki, Kurthnaga and Gareth use it as well). The Black Dragon class is used for Kurthnaga during an event.

Some of these characters appear in dialogue, but never on the battlefield. The full list can be found here.

Zelgius' data might just be proof of the Black Knight's true identity. That or the coders were really lazy... Melty and Heather don't have portraits of their own. Melty is actually used as the Pegasus Knights summoned by Tanith's Reinforce skill. Heather doesn't appear to ever make a physical appearance. Leanne and Nealuchi both have escape and death quotes, perhaps indicating they were going to be playable characters or, at least, characters on the field.

Supports

A whole slew of supports were cut from the game:

Stefan/Tauroneo, Sothe/Volke, Astrid/Tanith, Tanith/Volke, Ranulf/Tauroneo, Lucia/Titania, Marcia/Mia, Mist/Tormod, Mist/Volke, Muarim/Stefan, Nephenee/Mia, Oscar/Astrid, Reyson/Ulki, Kieran/Lethe, Gatrie/Bastian, Geoffrey/Kieran, Geoffrey/Bastian, Haar/Sothe, Haar/Ulki, Ike/Zihark, Janaff/Reyson, Janaff/Sothe, Shinon/Mist, Devdan/Makalov, Elincia/Jill, Elincia/Lucia, Elincia/Muarim, Elincia/Nephenee, Elincia/Tauroneo, Boyd/Devdan, Calill/Shinon, Brom/Geoffrey, Brom/Makalov

No conversations exist for these supports, although Zihark has an unused alternate dialogue in the Epilogue, which seems to be a remnant of his support with Ike.

These include some generic Thieves, Renning and a hooded Soren. The Renning portrait is often used as evidence that Bertram, of the Four Riders, is in fact Renning.

The same person?

Just two- an alternate Game Over theme (which is used in Radiant Dawn) and a Comical theme.

The Sacred Stones

Alacalibur (also known as Aircalibur) mysteriously features in this game despite not featuring since Sword of Seals. The spell animation works fine, but the music cuts dramatically whenever it's used. Also, it has a Killer Ballista icon

Not too hard to fix the icon~

Other unused items include a dummied Mani Katti, Forblaze, Luce, Earth Seal, Mine and all of Ninian's dancer Rings from Blazing Sword. The Earth Seal works normally (probably has the same effect as the Master Seal), as do the dancer Rings and the Mine. Forblaze and Luce don't have spell animations, while the Mani Katti cannot be used by anybody (normally). All of the dummied weapons have the name "Dummy" (in the English version).

Blazing Sword

Characters

Bramimond, Leila, Uther, Elbert and Eleanora feature. Bramimond has the class "Bramimond", some great stats (and growth rates) and S Ranks in all four areas of magic. Leila is a Thief with S Rank in sword. Uther is a General, with very good stats as well. Eleanora is a Bishop that can also use Anima magic (as well as Light and Staves). Elbert is a Peer and can use both swords and lances. Elbert and Eleanora have generic growth rates, whilst the former three do not. Perhaps it was planned that you could use them?

Not his true stats

Items

These only have names and, include: Tiina staff (same as in Sword of Seals), Battle robe and Battle call.

Sword of Seals

Classes

The Divine Dragon class is basically Fa's transformed state. However it has a glitchy map sprite and no battle animations. There are also female Mercenaries, Social Knights and Paladins programmed. The "female" Mercenary has an alternative map sprite (which looks a bit like a Myrmidon), but no battle animations. The latter two have very glitchy map sprites and, again, no battle animations.

Roy the "female" Mercenary

Items

Sword of Seals features the infamous Watch staff. It's supposed to reveal rooms hidden by roofs (like the ones in Chapter 6), but it doesn't do anything in this game. The Demon Dragonstone functions identically to Idoun's Dark Breath. However it gives stat bonuses so maybe it was intended for a Mamkute version of Idoun. The Demon Dragonstone is listed under one of the official guidebooks, but it's definitely unused. Also there is the Bridge Key, which doesn't seem to do anything since there are no drawbridges.

Thracia 776

Characters

Manfroy and Yurius have data for this game, despite making very brief appearances in the dialogue. They both have the wrong portraits though- Manfroy has Machua's, while Yurius has Yuria's. Also there is an unused Bishop character (Gunna) who is stored amongst the playable characters' data. He has the same portrait as Coen (Ida's father). Gunna is speculated to be Asvel's father or grandfather, due to his class and death quote.

The portrait is real, everything else I made up

Portraits

There are portraits for Arthur, Janne, Asaello and Daisy from Genealogy of Holy War, in the same style as the other portraits in this game. Another unused portrait- what looks like a Pegasus Knight, and who some believe is Femina- can be found, although there is no pointer to it.

Classes

Several classes from Genealogy of the Holy War appear, most notably: Lord Knight, Master Knight, Falcon Knight, Dragon Master, Junior Lord, Emperor, Dark Prince and Forrest. There are also unused map icons for the Princess, Queen and female Loputo Mage classes.

Items

Almost too many to name. Most of these are from Genealogy of the Holy War as well: Gayborg, Gunguneel, Faraflame, Torhammer, Aura, Loputousu, Bolganone, Darkness Spear, Master Proof and... the Watch Staff. Just highlighting some of the spells freezes the game because their descriptions are incorrect. Otherwise they all work, albeit with very glitchy animations. Gayborg and Gunguneel are interesting in that have about ten different Skills attached to them.

Hacked Ishtar, legendary weapons and more

The Master Proof finally made a proper appearance in The Sacred Stones (known as a Master Seal in the English version). The Watch Staff causes the screen to glow when used (like when you conquer the throne in the Final Chapter), but doesn't seem to do anything else.

Dialogue

Several unused conversations feature. In Chapter 19 there are conversations that suggest Ishtar was supposed to make an appearance in battle (backed up by the fact that she and her Torhammer spell has data). In the Final Chapter it seems there was going to be another (final?) boss- perhaps a monster since its lines are in Katakana (like Mediuth and Loputousu). Also there is some kind of timeline, similar in style to the one seen in Genealogy of the Holy War, which also states the full names of major characters Celice and Leaf- Celice Baldos Chalphy and Leaf Faris Claus respectively.

Genealogy of the Holy War

Classes

Lots of soldiers, or more precisely: Soldier, Sword Soldier, Spear Soldier, Axe Soldier and Archer. They are all Soldiers with different weapons (like the Armours in this game). The Spear Soldier seems to be a stronger lance-using Soldier. Perhaps they were axed in favour of the Sword/Axe/Lance/Bow Armours.

Items

The Charm staff seems to be a status affecting staff like Sleep, Silence and Berserk. It doesn't do anything (it freezes the game when used), but maybe the description has a clue... The Thief staff only works with map animations (it freezes the game otherwise) and steals gold from enemies, which might have come in handy. The Thief staff reappears in Thracia 776, where it is one of Tina's personal staves.

The Charm staff (don't ask why Sigurd is a High Priest)

Skills

A couple of skills never appear as personal or class skills, although they have icons. These include: Return (same effect as the Return Ring), Recover (same effect as the Recover Ring), Re-Move (same effect as the Knight Ring), Holy Sword and Darkness Sword. More details on them can be found in the Skills list for Genealogy of the Holy War.

Mystery of the Emblem

Characters

The characters from the original who didn't return, like Riff and Daros, have data but no portraits.

Classes

The Guardian looks very similar to a General, but I don't believe it is programmed to use any weapons. The Dark Knight is basically like a Social Knight or Paladins (it has a Social Knight battle sprite). Perhaps it was meant to be a custom class for Camus. Finally we have the Sea Dragon, which has the ability to move freely on water just like Pirates. It uses a Fire Dragon battle sprite, which is disappointing. All three classes have a glitchy inactive map sprite.

The Sea Dragon (AKA Marth)

Items

Includes Silver Key, Dark Dragonstone and Ohm Fragment. The Ohm Fragment was supposed to resurrect its user after death, before vanishing, but doesn't actually do anything.

Gaiden

Unknown

Dark Dragon and Sword of Light

Names

A couple of unused names feature, most notably: Gaia, Wyvern, Neptune and Shenron. Some of these names can be found near names like Narga, Salamander and Basilisk, so they might be names of other dragon tribes.

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