Jul -- The Cutting Room Floor: Monkey Ball (arcade) Research (and a question!)

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Jul - The Cutting Room Floor - Monkey Ball (arcade) Research (and a question!)

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PatSter21

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Posted on 07-15-12 11:38:51 PM

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I've been interested in the original Monkey Ball for the NAOMI GD-ROM, so I decided to do some research. Here's some of my findings:

Immediately at the start of the ROM, you can see that there are various versions for various regions.

Location: 30 - 110

MONKEY BALL JAPA

N VERSION 

MONKEY BALL USA

VERSION

MONKEY BALL EXPO

RT VERSION

MONKEY BALL KORE

A VERSION

MONKEY BALL AUST

RALIA VERSION

MONKEY BALL



MONKEY BALL







MONKEY BALL

Why is this interesting? Later in the ROM (also displayed in-game) is the following text:
Location: 961B0 - 962D0

n Adv   W  A  R 

 N  I  N  G THIS

 GAME IS TO BE U

SED ONLY IN JAPA

N.  EXPORT,SALES

,DISTRIBUTION AN

D/OR    OPERATIO

N OUTSIDE THIS A

REA MAY CONSTITU

TE A VIOLATION O

F INTERNATIONAL 

LAWS ON COPYRIGH

TS AND/OR INDUST

RIAL    PROPERTY

 RIGHTS AND SUBJ

ECT THE VIOLATIN

G PARTY TO LEGAL

 PROCEEDINGS.   

SEGA CORPORATION

[/CODE]

with correct spacing:

WARNING
THIS GAME IS TO BE USED ONLY IN JAPAN. EXPORT, SALES, DISTRIBUTION AND/OR
OPERATION OUTSIDE THIS AREA MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS ON COPYRIGHT AND/OR INDUSTRIAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS AND SUBJECT THE VIOLATING PARTY TO LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
SEGA CORPORTAION

But most interesting of all is the presence of DIP switches that also exist in the Gamecube port.

Location: 983D0 - 98400

DIP_TRIANGLE    

DIP_STCOLI  DIP_

DISP    DIP_DEBU

G   nlaInitUserB

DIP_DEBUG is the most interesting because the Gamecube port has a model viewer, and this one also most likely has a model/texture viewer. This would allow us to possibly look for unused models and textures.

The code from the debug menu matches up with the options available in the Gamecube version.

Location: 97310 - 973F0

CH  BACKUP CLEAR

    BOOKKEEPING

CALIBRATION BG  

      TEST    REPL

AY  TEST    INPU

T    TEST    TEXT

URE TEST    SOUN

D    TEST    FONT

      TEST    MOTI

ON  TEST    SPRI

TE   TEST    LOD

OBJ TEST    OBJE

CT  TEST    TEST

 MODE   %s  STAG

E NUM: %3d  BACK

GROUND: [%d]%s

Interestingly, the first three lines are lines from the game test menu (accessable), which means that the debug options are there but either disabled or hidden. Would there be any way to enable said resources?

Yoshimaster96

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Posted on 04-19-14 07:31:39 PM (last edited by Yoshimaster96 at 04-19-14 08:10:39 PM)

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I'd like to do some research myself, could you PM me where you got the ROM? (Just the main site rather than the the direct link will do, but I'd prefer a link) (Or email me at Yoshimaster96smwc@gmail.com) I can't seem to find a good one. Also, I'm hacking SMB/SMB2, maybe I could be able to hack this game

, and maybe I could find the debug menu

!

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Yoshimaster96

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Posted on 04-21-14 12:17:46 AM (last edited by Yoshimaster96 at 04-21-14 12:24:14 AM)

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Using a cheat search program, I found that the DIP switches for "game difficulty", "number of monkeys" and "all velocity boost are at 0x0C228088, 0x0C228089, and 0x0C22808A, respectively. So, could the debug DIP be near these addresses?

I use Art Money (the cheat search program), if anyone was interested. Also I'm looking for the address which stores the level number (not the floor number, because then BE 1, AD 1, and EX 1 would be treated as the same, I want to be able to access specific floors).

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Yoshimaster96

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Posted on 04-22-14 11:46:02 PM

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If we found the debug mode, how would we access it? What I'm saying is that we shouldn't just punch in a cheat code and expect a window to magically appear. Even in the gamecube version, you have to press start/pause to make the window show. So what buttons would we press? Do we need a disassembly to find the correct buttons? Perhaps.

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Yoshimaster96

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Posted on 04-27-14 12:14:39 AM (last edited by Yoshimaster96 at 04-27-14 01:30:29 PM)

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Some unused levels:
Stage 21

Stage 26

Stage 48

Stage 56

Stage 61

Stage 62

Stage 66

Stage 67

Stage 69

Stage 71

Stage 72

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gridatttack

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Posted on 04-27-14 03:53:23 AM

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Pretty cool! I wonder the first stage what it does. Stage 56 reminds me of that master extra level from SMB2.

Also, how did you access those stages in an emulator? O.o

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Yoshimaster96

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Posted on 04-27-14 12:20:01 PM (last edited by Yoshimaster96 at 04-27-14 08:41:31 PM)

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Originally posted by gridatttack
Also, how did you access those stages in an emulator? O.o

I finally found the address with the level number I was looking for a few posts back.

EDIT:
Specifically, 0C2237CC, 0C224474, and 0C234260 store the current levels' number, while 0C223624 stores the next levels' number. (Those are emulator addresses) Modifying the current level has no effect, but modifying the next level does have the effect of the level traveled to after reaching the goal. All numbers are between 1 and 130.

Level numbers for reference

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Jul - The Cutting Room Floor - Monkey Ball (arcade) Research (and a question!)

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