The internet lies: cheat code edition

It's one of those pedantic things I struggle with when I contribute to these things. A hard coded cheat password is a genuine cheat, a random password that happens to work and is one of many possible variants doesn't count! What I'd like to see instead for passwords is a list of all the attributes that can be modified, then a link to a password generator (or even better if someone here is clever enough to write their own).

My compromise for Bubble Bobble was to provide passwords for single player with all levels and items unlocked + two player with all levels and items unlocked. And of course, a link to the smspower password generator.

 

Have fun with the Game Gear version of Putt & Putter, then.

 

Excellent reverse engineering job there @nineko! Unusual that the SMS and GG maps are completely different. The interesting thing about reverse engineering password algorithms is that even without hard coded cheats, the passwords often have limits that are greater than what you get in game. A good example is Castlevania Bloodlines, where the algorithm allows for passwords further along than level 6-1, but you never receive these in game. Consider Putt & Putter on the list.

Castlevania Bloodlines Password Secrets Unlocked - SpritesMind.Net

 

Right, Crazy Taxi PC (the 2001 port, not the sad Steam port of a port of a port). I never made it this far in my Sega PC thread (I gave up after Sega GT) but I do have notes on it and fired it up again to cheat compare. The cheats are identical to Dreamcast although as it's a proper PC port, the codes have all been modified to CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+Function key. Can confirm that 'no destination markers' does indeed retain the floor outline in this version. The Port C camera/speedo stuff is in there too, again mapped to keyboard shortcuts.


The Steam version, being a port of the X-Box 360 version, shifts these codes back to the triggers and also disables the Port C codes. You can re-enable them with a mod (the excellent Silent Patch Dreamcast Restoration 2.0 & SilentPatch for Crazy Taxi | Silent’s Blog (cookieplmonster.github.io)). Ironically, with the mods to re-add analogue controls and all the cut content, the Steam version jumps from worst version to best version IMO!

 

Nice one @Black Squirrel , I'll check if Deluxe has any of the CE exclusive stuff in it as well. The direct 3d patch added in the time of day weather effects (as an option in the menu bar rather than a hidden code) which up until 5 minutes ago I thought were PC exclusive, but maybe they added that floating car too? The 90s PC master race cannot miss out on floating cars, this will not stand!

 

Yay! We have lift off. So Deluxe is indeed built on CE and not CCE. Activating the weather effects also works using the CE method even in the unpatched version. The D3D version adding those to the menu was in fact a convenience thing rather than a new feature. Excellent.

 

Gamefaqs has split the games. Can you tell me which cheats work for both versions and which only works for the Japanese version?

 

Thanks.

@Black Squirrel I don't know if you're the one adding the cheats to segaretro, but there's something missing in the Daytona USA Circuit Edition page.

In the "Race against developer ghost cars" entry, you have to press the C button after holding X+Y+Z. If you press any other button to start the race, the ghost car will not appear.

 

Was there ever any cheats for Soulstar? That game is so good, but so bloody hard

 

Plenty of game genie codes / hacks out there, but nothing 'official'. Core Design like their 'pause the game' button codes, so maybe there is something buried in there.

 

Disappointingly, it doesn't appear to be possible to activate the ghost car feature or the cpu record runs in Deluxe, as whilst X, Y, Z, L and R have been sneakily mapped to the gamepad, the C button hasn't. And as pointed out above, you have to use C to get these to work. Still, at least I got my hover car!

 

Speaking of racing games, here's the wiki page for Sega Rally's cheats:

https://segaretro.org/Sega_Rally_Championship/Hidden_content

The Saturn section could do with a few updates - can anyone confirm the following?


1) Special mode (alternative car handling model)

The wiki currently only lists this under the PC version, but I'm certain that cheat was also present in the PAL Saturn version too (X+C on the car select screen). At least, I remember unlocking the extra category for it on the records screen; I'm not sure if it actually had any effect on car behaviour, because I never noticed any differences.

(Of course, I might have been looking for changes in the wrong place: the issue of Sega Saturn Magazine where I saw it (this page: https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:SSM_UK_37.pdf&page=78 ) calls it "Hyper Cars" and says it "gives your cars a power boost and also allows a better grip on the road" - I've also seen that "Hyper Cars" name used online. That's misleading because it made me look for an increase in speed - Sega Retro's wiki page is actually the first time I've learned that it primarily affects the handling!)

Also, that SSM page says "you can also access this cheat in the arcades, too". That needs to be confirmed and added to the wiki too!


2) Full-screen mode:
The wiki currently lists this cheat for the PC version (as "Remove dashboard display/hud"), but not the Saturn version.

Instructions from that SSM page:

3) More challenging ghost car
Another one that the wiki mentions under the PC version, but should be checked and added for the Saturn too. From SSM:

Again, can anyone confirm that cheat - as well as that detail about it not working on the US version?

 

That's because as part of this thread https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/another-sega-pc-thread.40544/ I attempted to document all known codes (including discovering a few myself) for my collection of Sega PC games. The Saturn is obviously a much bigger job even if you stick to 1st party releases. No one has gone through the Saturn version in that level of detail yet, so there will be things missing.

 

I had the USA version at launch and remember the lack of replay angles and ghost cars, but felt for sure the AM#2 Time attack car is there like in the Pal and Jp versions. The cheat is there in the Jp version, here's me racing the CS/AM#3 team badly.

 

A bit more on Special mode here
https://www.speedrun.com/sega_rally_championship_1995/thread/qlhpe
I thought it was a fake when I first read it (because like you say, the cheat sites go on about massive speed boosts). It's subtle as well, I only really started noticing once I'd ran the same course a bunch of times and started memorising the turns.

 

Sarah jane avory is active in a discord server im apart of. I just reached out and asked if they hid any cheats, when she gets back ill let you know.