Johnny Bazookatone has a "Debug Mode" string right next to its list of valid passwords. As far as I can tell, you can't actually activate it via password on the Saturn version (maybe on another of the ports?). If I had to guess, the intention was to use the same password as for cheat mode, but to give the extra feature if you put trailing spaces. It lets you pick your level and shows your position when the game is paused.
OK, here's my favorite cheat code so far: debug mode for Shinobi Legions. 40 buttons! https://32bits.substack.com/p/under-the-microscope-shinobi-legions I tested it in the NTSC-U and PAL versions. I expect it works in the NTSC-J version as well.
Welp I got the code in at least! If others have a better idea for how to present it in a sane way then be my guest. The actual feature set will have to wait for another day. I'm reminded of the Shinobi 3 mega drive codes which also involve setting specific options in the options menu. Shinobi Legions/Hidden content - Sega Retro
OK, the situation with Gungriffon is confusing. Retro has these, which are correct: Code (Text): Invincibility: Left, Right, B, C, C Unlimited ammunition: B, B, B, C Unlimited jumps: Up, Right, Down, Left, Z Unlock all missions: Y, Y, A, Y, Y No enemies on radar: B, B, B, Down, C No targeting "rectangles": Left, Right, C, A View ending: Down, Up, Right, A, Left Change camera height: Down, Left, C, C GameFAQs and ConsoleDB have a few others that are right: Code (Text): Increased difficulty: Down, C, C, A Tackle/ramming attack: Right, Right, B, C, A Double hit points: X, Y, Z, Up, Down Turret lock / no auto centering: B, B, B, Up, C The game also recognizes these - I haven't figured out what they do yet: Code (Text): Unknown 1: Left, Right, Right, B, C Unknown 2: Left, Down, Right, Up, Z Unknown 3: X, Z, Down, Left, A Unknown 4: C, A, Up, X, Z
Yeah I marked it as incomplete because it's difficult to tell at first gance if "increased difficulty" actually increases the difficulty (or I guess more specifically, what it does to increase the difficulty). I don't know the game well enough.
GameFAQs has some passwords for Criticom that don't work on Saturn: as far as I can tell, IIGS; EELJ; FENG; and CSLB don't do anything. The TTAM password is right for viewing endings. The game also recognizes these on the Load/Save screen: GENF JELE IICS POWR But I don't know what they do!
The Internet is right about the "Tantalus bike" cheat code for Manx TT Superbike: https://twitter.com/memory_fallen/status/1775515305181061202 But I think the game meant for the code to be longer. The Japanese version (and presumably the others) is reading from the list of buttons at 0606cd54: Each time you put one in correctly, the counter at 0606cd4c goes up. If you mess up, it resets to 0. You get a sound effect if you make it to 8. However, later when the game goes to see which bike to select, it only checks to see whether 0606cd4c is nonzero!
It's the inverse of the sheep code which would make sense as an additional code. EDIT - alas, doesn't work on the PC version. There doesn't appear to be any way to get the Tantalus bike on PC. The only code I ever got to work was the sheep code, plus I discovered a command line to get the super bikes unlocked.
Here's a new one: Hold A+Start while beginning a race in Gale Racer to change your rearview mirror ornament to Flicky: https://32bits.substack.com/p/bonus-more-sonic-in-gale-racer
Here are 60 (!) cheat codes for Solar Eclipse / Titan Wars: https://32bits.substack.com/p/under-the-microscope-solar-eclipse I tested all the bonus stage ones, and the normal stage ones all seem to work as expected. I couldn't figure out some of the powerup ones, and there seem to be two for the credits?
A lot spell out words relevant to the code, maybe we can use that to make some educated guesses? I'll add it to the 'for studying' list. You're too fast @Bo102010 , I hoped to have figured out what was going on with Deep Fear by now, and added detail to Shinobi. I have done neither of those things, and here's 60 more! :-D EDIT - for the record, here are the words for the non level warps 1. RASCAL 2. RALLY 3. DRACULA 4. BULLY 5. BUSY 6. SALAD 7. BALL (Guide-able weapons) 8. LADY (Tracking weapons) 9. DUD (Detonating weapons) 10. SCUD 11. ALL 12. BUDDY (9 lives) 13. RAZZ And for the two 'videos' ones 25. DUC ALL 26. DUC BAD (is there a bad ending?)
I was vaguely aware of a few others I'd missed the first time around, but that new list's quite the undertaking. This is another one of those "I don't know the game very well" situations where I started to wonder how much was genuinely secret. I got the impression that some of these could be accessed during normal gameplay without codes if you did certain things, but as you say there wasn't a concrete list of levels to look for (also I couldn't be bothered at the time).
Danthrax from Sega Saturn Shiro pointed out a few helpful resources: https://www.absolutcheats.com/sat/solar-eclipse-cheats https://www.retromags.com/files/file/3122-tips-tricks-issue-024-february-1997/ "Rally Mode" for example - I put in the code but couldn't tell what it did (like Black Squirrel, I don't know the game well). But this says "Your ship will have rapid acceleration, and can decelerate until it hovers in place."
Here's one where the code's effect was known, but not the code itself: https://twitter.com/memory_fallen/status/1779136372793548889
A while back I went through Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators. It's a bit of an awkward one, as because not all codes work for all regions, it means three times the testing whenever something is found. I have a feeling there's more than what we've got listed, not just because I have vague recollections of reading about another debug mode, but because they bothered to implement some kind of GUI operating system-esque thing: It's only known to be used in one place - as part of a code that brings up a message and lets you watch some of the FMVs... but this seems like overkill - why not just leave a txt file on root of the disc? Are there other features hidden within? Also there's also an extra "Ver.9.7" release which we currently don't understand - the internet is happy to tell us it exists, but not what makes it different. I was going to look into this once but... didn't... probably because again, the original release differs between regions which means lots of extra work checking all the details. What I also hadn't clocked is that the sequel, Digital Pinball: Necronomicon has no known codes at all. TCRF lists a bunch of debug-looking strings, but until I added some screenshots earlier today, Sega Retro's coverage stopped at "this game exists". Given developers KAZe went so far as to add special Christmas and New Year title screens to Last Gladiators, it seems unlikely that Necronomicon would have nothing at all. They clearly share the same engine - it would be more of a faff to remove the Last Gladiators features.
