This is why: Sega Rally Championship (Europe) (Made in EU).zip Sega Rally Championship (Europe) (Made in USA).zip Sega Rally Championship (Japan).zip Sega Rally Championship (Korea).zip Sega Rally Championship (USA).zip Sega Rally Championship Plus (Japan).zip Sega Rally Championship Plus Netlink Edition (USA).zip (from an archive.org list of dumps) Two PAL revisions(?), a South Korean version and two Plus-es. Many games were lazily ported so you can safely assume the same cheats will work everywhere, but in Sega Rally's case, there were updates between regions, which means seven dumps to check. When faced with the choice between that and a game that only has one dump, you can see why I might favour something less awkward. But hey, we're here now - let's do some investigating~
Mystery 1 Yes, "special mode" does exist on the Saturn (spoilers: I'm going to guess all PC codes do). GameFAQs lists it three times under separate names, but it's exactly(?) like the PC version - select a car by holding X while pressing C. "Hyper Car Mode" "Power up your car" "Adds an additional All-Standard-Special filter to the Records screen under Arcade Championship. Any records set in this mode will appear under Special" I'd like to think one of the Japanese guide books explains this function better - while I've known Sega Rally for 25 years, I've never been a super ultra master of the game. I usually fail on the Mountain course... but with this mode, I didn't! I think it's maybe doing two things: a) it stops your car from slowing down if it hits a wall (unless you're perpendicular to it). Usually if you bash off the sides, you lose a bit of speed, but this mode seems more lenient. b) it feels like it might be ignoring road surfaces. It may be treating everything as tarmac, which means you go faster, but you slide more. It's really hard to tell. It also adds an extra filter on the records screen, as it does on PC. The fact they're not treating it as a joke mode (and that you still have to try to win) suggests it really is an alternative driving model than "you win mode". I'm not convinced it's actually changing the statistics of the car, just how the car reacts to the environment. But the difference is subtle, and there's no indicator that the mode is enabled.
Mystery 2 Yes you can remove the HUD on Saturn. But it's exclusive to the PAL version. GameFAQ's description isn't great: "the final options screen" The way it's actually done is by holding A+X+Y prior to the car selection screen showing, then select a car with C. It works in both the arcade and time trial/2 player modes. Mystery 3 "More challenging ghost car" This is indeed another PAL-exclusive code, and works just as SSM described. Although obviously it's only going to do 52 second laps on the Desert course since they're all different lengths. There are two more things that need investigation: On the PC, there is a means of practising against the Stratos. I don't know how to do this on Saturn, if it's even possible. And when watching replays on Saturn, you can zoom in and out of the "cinematic" camera angle by holding down+Z, then pressing L or R. If the PC version still has this feature, it isn't documented.
I lied. It works in the Japanese version. So I did a bit of digging, and this probably explains it - the ROM header dates: 19951031 (US) 19951115 (KR) 19951128 (JP) 19951218 (EU) The US version was finished a couple of weeks before the Korean version (which also has this code). Usually it's the Japanese version that's rushed out the door (as would be the case with Sega Rally 2), but not this time. The November and December 1995 versions are more feature-rich, the PAL version in particular seems to have generally more scenery (and runs at a higher resolution, albeit at a lower frame rate).
Excellent research as ever, I forgot to check the camera thing on PC, it's probably possible. Although restricting it to my physical collection does limit my PC testing to EU release (+ patches) only. Should probably mark that on the wiki at some point.
As you can probably guess Sega Rally Championship Plus NetLink Edition has all the codes and features because it's built on later versions of the game. So if you're living in a strange world where you can only play NTSC-U versions of Saturn games, this is the one to pick.
Now I do! 1) Unlock Stratos 2) Go to arcade -> practice 3) When prompted to select a course, hold Z, select with C and keep both buttons pressed. When the track loads in, you should be put against the Stratos. Holding the buttons is the key - it's seemingly the only code that forces you to do so. And this works in all versions of the game. And now, a new mystery. This was listed on that Japanese site, and it's... odd: Forest track. Drive backwards until you get to the checkpoint before the hairpin turn, and you'll see this muddy hill. It shakes for a bit, then... ... collapses. Taking that one spectator with it. This bit of geometry doesn't exist in the US version - it's one of the many little additions added to improve the look of the game. I can't tell if this is a bug, or something programmed on purpose - it feels like it's here for a reason, but I don't know how to class it.
Finally(?), replay cameras: Five more camera angles were added after the original NTSC-U release. You can see them all just by pressing the D-pad and X/Y/Z buttons. Camera controls aren't listed in any of the manuals for whatever reason, so yes, this is technically hidden content.
That's so cool, Sarah is such an amazing coder. I doubt there was cheats mind, they would have come out by now?
Just did a quick check on the PC version, and now that we know exactly which buttons are needed, it's basically identical to Saturn except the hide hud cheat. Race the Stratos only needs z+enter, and the falling scenery in Forest is there. I must say it does look deliberate rather than a graphical glitch. Presumably the hud cheat was changed because x+y+z+whatever a is mapped to isn't very practical on a 90s keyboard. You could see if x+c works for hiding the hud in 2 player/time trial mode on Saturn like it does on PC. I didn't have time to finish a race and mess around with the replay yet.
It doesn't. But yeah I can see pressing four keys at once might cause problems for cheaper keyboards. Interesting that they thought to care though.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/tg16/588929-columns/cheats Columns for the PC Engine had its 2-player modes restricted to the GT Com Cable on two PC Engine GTs for whatever reason, even stating in its manual that you cannot use a multi-tap on any other PC Engine console. However, this cheat states you can unlock them on any other console, and it works... ...but selecting any menu option, even the single player ones, causes the game to crash: Oh dear. However, this is where it gets messy, as it's specified you need to hold Up on Pad 2 when pressing Run at the title screen. From what I've tested, I get different results with different emulators and it's never consistent what Pad I have to hold Up on to make it happen, and all instances where I can do it result in the aforementioned crash. On BizHawk with both the PCEHawk and TurboNyma cores, holding Up on Pad 1 unlocks the Versus options. On Magic Engine, holding Up on Pad 2 unlocks the Versus options. On Ootake, neither Pad can unlock the Versus options. I can't vouch for this happening on real hardware as I don't have a real PC Engine that isn't a GT to test this with, and that would need me to also get a multi-tap and two Pads, so there isn't much else I can do, but given it happens I have to document it somehow. If anything, it'd need to go on a bug page than a hidden content one, but the uncertainty of this happening on real hardware concerns me. Still, we've documented emulator-specific bugs such as the broken multiplayer states in Sonic Advance on older emulators, sooo...should I still document this?
dew it It's important that something like this gets clarified in the absence of real hardware testing. I've been unable to get into the nitty gritty of the LVD bug, because I don't have a Mega Drive to test with.
I'm pretty sure this is incorrect, all you have to do is hold start and press down at the character select screen to access that last row of bosses. I may be completely wrong though, it's been a while since I've played the JP version. I do remember the dipswitch mode is not found in the JP version. The Sega CD version of Samurai Shodown is just like the cart version, it loses Earthquake but adds Amakusa in versus mode. I had a conversation with Tony H about hacking the ISO to allow him to be selectable in 1p mode (his pic is on the select screen but greyed out). Tony was nice enough to find the values and he works flawlessly in 1p mode. However, in the process of testing him I discovered he isn't selectable in versus mode. I just always assumed he was but had never actually tried versus mode in 30 years, and apparently nobody else on the face of the planet had either. You can find tons of old reviews of this port, all who mention losing Earthquake but having Amakusa selectable.... which he isn't. There's never been a button code found to select him, nor does the game generate a SRAM file that could possibly be an avenue to unlock. He's programmed in perfectly with all his moves and specials just like the other cart versions, even has a portrait on the character select, but no legitimate way of unlocking him has ever been written. On "lost" cheats, apparently the list of unlock conditions for the hidden characters for Eternal Champions CD has been lost to time. I specifically remember reading this on AOL as they were discovered after the games release in '95, never in a print magazine or anything, and now the only thing mentioned online is button press codes. There's one older guide on Gamefaqs that half ass mentions some unlock conditions, but not all, and even those listed are mentioned by the author as just being a hunch. Unless they were in a European magazine, no US mags mentioned any codes or unlock methods of any kind for EC CD.
There are achievements here some of which appear to be unlock criteria for secret characters, no idea if it covers everything though, definitely something to research. Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side (Sega CD) ยท RetroAchievements
Quick one: True Pinball/Hidden content Something I've noticed a few times - when you get a long-ish code of seemingly random button combinations, it usually has a secret meaning. DRUDRLRDD? Not quite. If you use compass directions, (e.g. up is "north"), you get... "SENSELESS", which given you're disabling the tilt sensor, is pretty apt. Not a single mainstream cheat site spotted this. Whether there's any point in this feature is a different story. In real pinball, tilting occurs if you physically move the table too much - nudging the machine is valid play (and genuinely necessary on some tables), as it can influence where the ball might go, but if you're too violent, you'll get warnings, followed by a tilt (and you'll lose any bonuses). It is not, as you might think, to dislodge a stuck ball. There are two solutions for that: - Modern machines have a "ball search" feature, where if they don't register any activity in x seconds, they'll start moving bits of the playfield on their own accord. If the ball is stuck in a mechanism, it'll in theory get un-stuck. - In professional tournaments, someone will physically pick the ball up and move it to the player's flipper of choice, since it's the game at fault, not the player. (I don't know if True Pinball simulates these) In order to tilt the machine in a video game, you have to consciously nudge the table several times in quick succession... which probably isn't going to solve anything, since a simulated nudge is a set force in a set direction. Unlike in real life, it's not something you can do accidentally, and also you hope that because it's a simulation with ultra precise maths, balls typically go where you'd expect.
Strictly speaking it's "SENSEWESS" in compass directions, you have to ignore the fact that L is west to get SENSELESS. I wish I had something else to add to this otherwise senseless post.
There might be a few more buried in there if it follows the pattern of the original PC version. Classic Gaming Network - Cheats: Pinball Illusions (classic-gaming.net) And to up the pedantry one more time, left d-pad is West, left trigger is L? :-P
Speaking of SEGA Rally on the Saturn. The other day by mistake one of my mates loaded up the Pal version of Rally while at the time my Saturn had the memory back cart with the ghost data saved from the Japanese version. When he went to watch a replay of my best time the car was driving all over the place like you were watching a drunk try and drive the car.
