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Early Mega Drive software research

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by Chimes, Jun 24, 2022.

  1. Chimes

    Chimes

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    Note for my butt so that I can test other games:
    Osomatsu sound id change
    Get Blastem latest revision - Press U to access debugger - Type z80 set [$1D03 ] 0xE0 - Enter and type c and enter
    E0 appears to be the fade out command which is used when the game returns from the demo to the Sega logo.
    Juoki/Altered Beast doesn't seem to use it.

    New Osomatsu fact of the day:
    If you play sound ID DA, the game farts at you.
    Music to my ears.

    Also I just discovered three days ago someone managed to find a new mention of a Osomatsu staff member and added it to the page?
    Said member is Naoki Aoki.

    Sound ID 84 is a strange one. It's a faster version of Totoko's theme... but it's missing literally everything because it's Channel 1's data of Totoko's theme duplicated across all of the channels.
    For reference Totoko's theme is Sound ID 85.
    Anyone find this before?

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2024
  2. BinBowie

    BinBowie

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    Given the source material, I'm not surprised...

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Chimes

    Chimes

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    Sound Test 91 is a sped up version of the title screen song but with the same characteristics as Sound Test 84. What the hell's inside this game?
    EDIT: Sound Test 92 is just another channel. What the hell...?
    ANOTHER EDIT: Same thing with Sound Test 93! What the fuck am I finding???
    YET ANOTHER EDIT: Sound Test 94 is another repeat. What...? Did any of you guys find this before?
    Sound Test 95 is the title screen theme in its entirety. So there's numerous duplicates of instrument data assigned as music entries??? This needs some investigation.

    Uhhhhh, can someone verify if this is just a emulator bug that went unnoticed for over 16 years??? I just checked and Sound Test 8D is what's used as the game over theme. The VGM pack claims 8B is the one that's used but surprisingly no.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 14, 2024
  4. Overlord

    Overlord

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    PLEASE stop making multiple posts within minutes of each other.
     
  5. Chimes

    Chimes

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    Nah

    Decided to retitle the name of this thread. Originally, it was "1988 Nega Drive software trainspotting". I was originally taught that the last word meant "anyone who's interested at a menial subject", but looking it up I can't find that definition anywhere. Inashke!
    Now this thread will focus on early Mega Drive software in general: my general cutoff for "early" is after the XE1-AP was introduced and the Mega Modem hardware was released. Which to be specific is Winter/Q4 1990. 1988 is too small of a area to look at, especially when only 4 games actually came out that year.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2025
  6. LockOnRommy11

    LockOnRommy11

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    I’d be intrigued to find out if there are any secrets in Space Harrier II, that’s one of the earliest games worked on, and is also one of my favourites :shobon:
     
  7. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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  8. Chimes

    Chimes

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    We got some buried news daddy

    From what I've observed prodding the game's RAM all those years ago, this finally makes sense. What a horrifically inefficient way of handling sound, though; I assume it took until next year for the "have to time streaming data to the OPN2 at the same time with gameplay and also the Z80 has to stop because it's 'on the same bus' or something i don't know electronics it's probably buried in some forum post in 2004" timing kinks to be worked out? I have to assume some second-guessing occurred; the manual says this

    Genesis Sound Software Manual - 21- 02 - 1992

    upload_2025-1-20_11-3-45.png

    Couldn't find a similar passage in the Japanese manual that I have right now but I have to assume some mild reluctance was present!