What are this passwords' meaning in Splatter House 3

Example:

I reached the 6th level (The Mask) with Jennifer (mother) dead and David (son) alive. The game gave me this password: TETUYA. However, this cheat page tells this password corresponds to "The Mask 2" level, like... not specifying death or alive status of anyone, while password for "you reached level 6 with Jennifer dead and David alive" is DEPITN.

In some other pages, passwords which do not have a status for family members are referred as "Level Passwords" while password with family members' statuses are referred as "Stage Passwords".

By playing again, twice, I got two different passwords: URUURU (both dead), and PHENIX (both alive). In contrast to the first time, what I got fit in the "Stage Passwords" category.

My question is: What is the difference between both? What happens with the storyline status when I enter a Level Password instead of a Stage Password?

sega-genesis splatterhouse-3

Best Answer

I found more guides about this over at GameFAQs. The multiple passwords per stage or level (these are synonymous, it's just a bit of internet ambiguity) are used as a rudimentary save-game feature.

There are 6 game states for stage 5, 6, and X. Jennifer is alive, a mindless beast, or dead. David is alive or dead. This gives 18 passwords. Stage 3 and 4 have 3 states for another 6 passwords, while stage 2 has 2 states for another 2.

+----------+--------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
| jennifer | alive  |        | mindless |        | dead   |        |
| david    | alive  | dead   | alive    | dead   | alive  | dead   |
+----------+--------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+
| 2        | REISOR | ------ | ------   | ------ | OWDRAT | ------ |
| 3        | ETLBUD | ------ | NAMEPA   | ------ | NAIGEP | ------ |
| 4        | TEKROH | ------ | TABRAE   | ------ | DABHSN | ------ |
| 5        | RUATNC | ELPOEB | HTRACM   | REYALS | NOILCK | TSAEBD |
| 6        | PHENIX | VELGAE | IRTACK   | LILITH | DEPITN | URUURU |
| X        | HARUON | ***    | XASABR   | SECOLQ | SARDNA | LEZAJM |
+----------+--------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+

***: This is a special case: the guide lists 5 possible passwords:

GOFMTS    HCTERG    NILVED    SORABV    ETIRPS

Some testing would be needed as to what the purpose of this is, if there is any. It seems to me these passwords store which stage you came from (this may be any of 1,2,3,4, or 5) so that the game knows where to send you after completing stage X. (So there are really multiple of these bonus levels, one per level but the last.)

That hypothesis would mean stage X should really feature even more passwords: while only HARUON was listed in the FAQ, there should be at least 5 passwords for that case. At least 4 for XASABR, at least 5 or SARDNA, etc.

Perhaps the normal stages also track something about stage X, and that's why there are more possible password states?