OK, I'll admit straight off the bat this was largely for my 17,000th post (which this is, w00) but whatever. Here's a little thread for random ROM hacking/researching you've done that's not otherwise worth a dedicated thread. I've been looking into text locations in Shinobi 2 on the Game Gear recently (and in the process discovered a Sound Test I never knew existed, which is neat!) My notes: Code (Text): ALPHABET 1 ---------- 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F © A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] x _ 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F e s t a b u o n © 1992 S E G A (40-47 are dark blue, and disappear on a level being selected. 48-4B are grey, 49-4B being partial chars needing to be together, 4C-4F are the SEGA logo. Note nothing past 3F works except on the map screen.) ALPHABET 2 ---------- 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F © A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] x _ Alphabet 1 addresses ==================== Map screen ---------- 0xFEEA building 12 bytes 0xFEF7 factory 12 bytes 0xFF04 canyon 12 bytes 0xFF11 castle 12 bytes 0xFF1E enemy's base 12 bytes 0xFF2B ? ? ? 12 bytes 0xFF38 round select 12 bytes Level with a crystal remaining, selected from map screen -------------------------------------------------------- 0xFF44 the crystal 12 bytes Crystal colour inserted between bytes 4 and 5 0xFF52 is hidden here. 15 bytes Try again/Game Over/Round clear? screen --------------------------------------- 0xFE0D clear bonus 11 bytes Round Clear screen 0xFE18 life bonus 10 bytes Round Clear screen 0xFE22 secret bonus 14 bytes Round Clear screen 0xFE3E score 5 bytes Shared between try, game over & round clear 0xFE43 top score 9 bytes Shared between try, game over & round clear 0xFE4C password 8 bytes Shared between try and & game over Continue? screen ---------------- 0xFE5E continue? 9 bytes 0xFE67 password 10 bytes Boss-area texts --------------- (On beating a boss after collecting the crystal) 0x15769 don't stop until 16 bytes 0x1577B you get all 5 13 bytes 0x1578A crystals. 9 bytes (On beating the a boss without the crystal being collected) 0x15794 where's the 12 bytes There are spaces after this but they're overwritten by crystal colours. 0x157A8 crystal? 8 bytes 0x157B2 it must be here 15 bytes 0x157C3 somewhere. 10 bytes On reaching a boss room after collecting all crystals & ninjas) 0x157CE the red crystal 15 bytes 0x157DF is hidden in the 16 bytes 0x157F1 enemy's base. 13 bytes Colour names used on map screen and boss-area texts --------------------------------------------------- 0x157FF yellow 6 bytes 0x15805 green 5 bytes 1 space after, usable on boss-area text only 0x1580B blue 4 bytes 2 spaces after, usable on boss-area text only 0x15811 pink 4 bytes 2 spaces after, usable on boss-area text only Alphabet 2 addresses ==================== Sound Test ---------- 0x7F70 sound test 10 bytes 0x7F7D music 5 bytes 0x7f85 effect 6 bytes Other ----- 0x7FF0 tmr sega 8 bytes Game Gear ROM header The stuff before this I've personally tested and know the limits of. After this is presumably from the credits, but try as I might I cannot beat the final endgame bosses to reach the bloody things to check, even with savestates. Code (Text): (end-game, mostly, presumably) ------------------------------ 0x27DCC planning 0x27DD7 k.o.b. 0x27DE1 program 0x27DEB e_da 0x27DF2 yuichim 0x27DFD artwork 0x27E07 kudor yo 0x27E12 y.nozaki 0x27E1E sound 0x27E26 yuzo koshiro 0x27E35 motohiro 0x27E40 kawashima 0x27E4D special thanks 0x27E5E the hase 0x27E69 lunarian sg 0x27E77 ray 0x27E7E presented by sega 0x27E93 the five ninja's 0x27EA6 recover the last and 0x27EBD final crystal. 0x27ECF they escape only 0x27EE2 seconds before 0x27EF3 blasting the enemy's 0x27F0A base to bits. So yeah, have at you with little titbits of knowledge you may or may not know.
