Elusive Ys IV Debug Mode - Now Accessible with New Mednafen Cheat Code!!!!

[NightWolve]

site.douban.com/120173/widget/notes/14552530/note/298028528/

Other threads of interest:
http://www.bcpark.net/bbs/302698
vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14085

Alright, so apparently there is a full-fledged debug mode in Ys IV and it's been accessed before... Note, this is NOT the known Developer/Staff Room feature that is available after you beat the game once! The problem is nobody knows how it access it at present and in the past there apparently was a patch for Ys IV from a famous Falcom fan site run by Sugimo.

So, does anybody know anything about this ? I'm hoping if some of the more talented programmers around here might be willing to take a look at the Ys IV ROM to see how if there's a way to hack the game to go into the Debug Mode branch which is probably what the alleged patch once offered by Sugimo did.

>> HOW DEBUG MODE WITH SUGIMO'S PATCH ONCE WORKED <<

So after applying the patch, select "Beginning" in the title screen to enter full Debug Mode.


You'll be taken to the Village of Arieda and surrounded by villagers.


Talk with the leftmost woman for a menu of cinemas.


Talk with the rightmost woman for a menu of 3 Ys IV History animation scenes [my guess].

[esteban]

This is neat. Do we know if Sugimo is actually the screen name for Metal Jesus?

[SkyeWelse]

Very cool, I had not heard about this before. I have the Ys IV Dawn of Ys Guidebook and I checked that to see if there was any information in there about this, but doesn't look like it. It does however have some nice chapters about the "Making of the Game" and the intended Ys IV anime though.

-Thomas

[NightWolve]

If you search the Ys IV ROM track for "FLAG" you'll find the text block pertaining to the Debug Menu shown in that screenshot, so this is real and wasn't compiled out, but it appears there's no known button sequence to access it, at least to us US gamers. The Chinese website claims this was accessed via patching, like I said, so maybe that's the only way... Bonknuts said to pester him about it this Friday if I get a chance, he's one of the pros that would have a shot at figuring this out, or ccovell.

Do we know if Sugimo is actually the screen name for Metal Jesus?

Heh. Well, he was this big Japanese Falcom fan once upon a time with a very resourceful fan website according to history - he shut it all down due to health problems and what not, gave a skimpy paragraph about why in the end. He's actually partly responsible for the Ys IV dubbing - he listened to all the voice-acting in-game, transcribed it to textual Japanese in S-JIS encoding for release on his website which B.J.DeuceBag then found, translated to English and produced the voice-acting/speech file in hopes of either subtitling or dubbing.

I really wanna figure this out because I think this Debug Mode might have another unique text block (like the Staff room text) that never got translated. All but one text block was unique, so most of the game's script was dumped very easily when Neill Corlett and I figured things out, but when I beat the game, and did the Staff room trick, it was still in Japanese, so I had to track down its text block (the last one, or so I thought until now!). So, I think it might be true that Debug Mode has another unique text block also. Anyway, yeah, hope someone can get to the bottom of it!

[dshadoff]

Hmm... I looked in a Daigirin, and there's something in there about a "Sound room" which is separate and distinct from "Developer's Room".  Maybe this is what you're looking for.


Sorry, no time to translate right now... and apologies if there are transcription errors; this is from an OCR scan (see last section):


イースⅣ The Dawn of
Ys
7.800円(別)/八ドソン/SCD/'93
12.22/RPG アクション
パソコン版の1～ 3作を制作した日本
フアルコムの基本設定をもとに、オリジ
ナルとして制作。ストーリーは2作日か
らの続きとなつている。ノンプレイヤー
キャラや魔法のタメ打ちといつた新要素
も盛り込まれた。
(grading system didn't OCR correctly)
ウル技
Ys4開発室 ゲームをクリアしたあと
に、もう一度ゲームを始めてコンテイ
ニューを選ぶ。そしてロ―ド選択画面
でIIを押すと、ウインドウが開いて
「Ys4開発室」という項目が出現する。
これを選ぶと、開発者のコメントを聞
くことができたり、ビジュアルシーン
だけを見ることができる。
6ポタンパット使用法 6ボタンパッド
を接続してゲームを始めると、下の表
のような働きでそれぞれのボタンを使
用できる。
クイックセープ セープファイル表示画
面で、IIを押すとクイックセープがで
きる。ただし、この場合のセープデー
タはリセットするとクリアされる。
「愛の劇場」 旧システムカードでこのゲ
ームを起動させると、「イースIV 愛の
劇場」という人形劇を見られる。
サウンドテスト イースIV開発室にある
「サウンドルーム」へ行く。そして、ビ
アノの右横の壁の1歩手前にアドルを
移動させ、壁に向かってプラックポー
ションを使う。爆風がおさまったあと
に、黒こげの人が出てくるので、その
人に話しかければ、サウンドテストが
できる。

[ParanoiaDragon]

Hmm, I'm kinda wondering about the ADPCM settings?  It looks like you can change the sample rate of sampled sound effects & speech??  That seems....odd.

[SamIAm]

サウンドテスト イースIV開発室にある
「サウンドルーム」へ行く。そして、ビ
アノの右横の壁の1歩手前にアドルを
移動させ、壁に向かってプラックポー
ションを使う。爆風がおさまったあと
に、黒こげの人が出てくるので、その
人に話しかければ、サウンドテストが
できる。

I have never seen this "Developer's Room" and I don't really know much other info, but here's what this says:

Sound Test: Go to the Sound Room that is in the Developers Room. Move Adol one step from the wall to the right of the piano. Then, facing the wall, use a Black Potion. When the explosion settles, a burnt up guy will appear, and if you talk to him, you can use the Sound Test.

[esteban]

サウンドテスト イースIV開発室にある
「サウンドルーム」へ行く。そして、ビ
アノの右横の壁の1歩手前にアドルを
移動させ、壁に向かってプラックポー
ションを使う。爆風がおさまったあと
に、黒こげの人が出てくるので、その
人に話しかければ、サウンドテストが
できる。

I have never seen this "Developer's Room" and I don't really know much other info, but here's what this says:

Sound Test: Go to the Sound Room that is in the Developers Room. Move Adol one step from the wall to the right of the piano. Then, facing the wall, use a Black Potion. When the explosion settles, a burnt up guy will appear, and if you talk to him, you can use the Sound Test.

We need confirmation of this STAT!

[Mednafen]

Make a file named "pce.cht" under the "cheats" subdirectory of Mednafen(0.9.38.3)'s base directory, with the following text contents:

Code Select Expand

[6350e1c06f4d5be0a27eb0ae31c604fb] Ys IV - The Dawn of Ys {HCD3051-4-1108-R1F} (SCD)(JPN)
C A 8 B 0 00D6EB8 A95B855DA992855E A90B855DA98F855E Debug menu instead of normal menu


[37e37a56eaae6eaa5f3550d995b6168a] Ys IV - The Dawn of Ys {HCD3051-5-1116-R1P} (SCD)(JPN)
C A 8 B 0 00D6EB8 A95B855DA992855E A90B855DA98F855E Debug menu instead of normal menu

Edit: Modified it so it's not permanent, and can be toggled on/off with ALT+T, and added another entry for the other version of Ys 4.

[NightWolve]

Wow, that was fast, how did you do that ? Had you already done this cheat before seeing this thread ??

Well, it works! Great job! I guess until the button sequence is discovered, you can't play with this on real NEC hardware though, that is unless there is no way by design...

I have never seen this "Developer's Room" and I don't really know much other info, but here's what this says:

Sound Test: Go to the Sound Room that is in the Developers Room. Move Adol one step from the wall to the right of the piano. Then, facing the wall, use a Black Potion. When the explosion settles, a burnt up guy will appear, and if you talk to him, you can use the Sound Test.

Awesome, and now we know the Easter egg to make the Music Supervisor appear in the Sound Room!!!!!! Yay! More if not all Ys IV cheats/eggs are now known! That's the only way to play PSG audio looks like cause the Debug Mode menu only deals in ADPCM and CDDA.

So, while investigating the Ys IV Debug Mode, I looked at the Ys IV Staff/Dev Room text block and I found these lines from the Music Supervisor:
http://vgmdb.net/forums/showpost.php?p=67252&postcount=5

[06100506]
[12]You surprised<\n>
me! How cruel!
<\0><\0>

[04130506]
[12]I'm Takimoto, the<\n>
music supervisor.
<\0><\0>

[04140506]
[12]Wanna listen to my<\n>
wonderful sounds?
<\0><\0>

[080C030A]
[0C]<arrow>PSG MUSIC<\n>
<arrow>CD AUDIO<\n>
<arrow>EFFECT 1<\n>
<arrow>EFFECT 2
<\0><eos>

So I used an old save file I kept around to get me to the Ys IV Staff Room, went to the Sound Room, but Takimoto was nowhere to be found! I started to suspect there might be a trick to find him, just like you have to use the transform magic to talk to that goat to be warped to the start of the game with the special exp/gold doubling items. I tried the Mask in the room, but got nothing. After all, you could always talk to one of the staff that lets you view all portraits, cut scenes, etc. but nothing for sound, yet this text shows a menu for PSG, CD and sound effects, etc. so there had to be a way to find Takimoto - looks like David found it!

Update:


OK, I'm able to do it (he's in black'n'white after appearing), but not consistently and you don't have to explode the Black Potion. I haven't figured out exactly what causes his appearance, sometimes it takes quite a while to make him unhide. I'm still working on what exactly is the trick here.

Thanks everyone, awesome stuff! And Sam, you should do the Staff Room trick, it's one of the things that makes Ys IV and Hudson so special. You basically get to talk to all the developers via Ys characters, they tell your their job, some jokes, etc. It was a rare touch you don't see much in games! I can't recall if I ever saw another game that had this, unless you count separate bonus discs or something that deal with behind-the-scenes.

FYI: Ys IV Staff/Developers Room Code:
( https://www.ysutopia.net/special/nec-cheats.html )

Code Select Expand

After you have finished the game, restart the program and
select Continue, then press II and the third option in the
menu will be the Ys IV Staff/Developers Room.
So you gotta beat the game at least once.

[Mednafen]

It was trivial to find, since the menu was near the normal menu in RAM and had a similar structure, took about 20 minutes to figure out what to do, and a little longer than that trying to remember how Mednafen's cheat system works. >_>


Just now I was playing around with the walk-through-walls "STAT" bit near the beginning of the game:

Code Select Expand

[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0001.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0002.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0003.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0004.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0005.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0006.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0007.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0008.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0009.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0010.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0011.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0012.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0013.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0014.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0015.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0016.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0017.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0018.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0019.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0020.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0021.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0022.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0023.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0024.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0025.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0026.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0027.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0028.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0029.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0030.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0031.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0032.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0033.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0034.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0035.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0036.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0037.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0038.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0039.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0040.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0041.png[/img]
[img]http://sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/Ys%20IV%20-%20The%20Dawn%20of%20Ys%20%7BHCD3051-4-1108-R1F%7D%20%28SCD%29%28JPN%29-0042.png[/img]

[NightWolve]

NICE! But how did you go from Minea Town to Arieda being surrounded by the villagers ? This is what I was not able to do, and I thought that you hadn't quite fully matched it to Sugimo's patch. I also matched up that menu text and in fact the text block was translated, so my English patch should make it English. I've never gotten to test it out in-game however, this will be a first.

[Mednafen]

I went through the entrance that was blocked, by approaching it from "above" via the walk-through-walls bit, as illustrated in the first couple of screenshots(hopefully).

[NightWolve]

You're one HELL of a programmer, I'll give you that! I will give you that!!!

[esteban]

This is truly a glorious day for PCE Ys fans.

GODDAMN!

 

[MotherGunner]

Nightwolve, you can include the debug mode in that super-translated Ys IV you are getting pressed!

[SkyeWelse]

Looks great, can't wait to mess around with this. : )

I have an end game save via emulator on my Xbox using MednafenX, I'll have to check this out. I've actually never been to the Developer's room before, only heard about it.

-Thomas

[esteban]

Looks great, can't wait to mess around with this. : )

I have an end game save via emulator on my Xbox using MednafenX, I'll have to check this out. I've actually never been to the Developer's room before, only heard about it.

-Thomas

Same here, I have never actually tried the Developer's Room.

I reckon there are a lot of people who don't even know about it.

We might have to create a PSA just to get the word out...

[dshadoff]

That Daigirin book really has a lot of easter eggs and whatnot.

Need to check any other games ?

[pulstar]

Thanks everyone, awesome stuff! And Sam, you should do the Staff Room trick, it's one of the things that makes Ys IV and Hudson so special. You basically get to talk to all the developers via Ys characters, they tell your their job, some jokes, etc. It was a rare touch you don't see much in games! I can't recall if I ever saw another game that had this, unless you count separate bonus discs or something that deal with behind-the-scenes.

Didn't Chrono Trigger have a similar (yet from the looks of it, more simplified thing) if you beat Lavos with Marle and Crono at the beginning of the game through New Game+?

It's amazing how all of these little things keep coming out about games that are decades old. Awesome

[esteban]

...

It's amazing how all of these little things keep coming out about games that are decades old. Awesome

Yes, it really is awesome that new life has been pulsating through these old games.

Even when I am late to the party, it doesn't detract from the fact that these things are "new to me" and therefore exhilarating.

Like, the hidden shootemup in Somer Assault...I think I tried it when I first got the game, but I don't actually remember what it was like.

[esteban]

サウンドテスト イースIV開発室にある
「サウンドルーム」へ行く。そして、ビ
アノの右横の壁の1歩手前にアドルを
移動させ、壁に向かってプラックポー
ションを使う。爆風がおさまったあと
に、黒こげの人が出てくるので、その
人に話しかければ、サウンドテストが
できる。

I have never seen this "Developer's Room" and I don't really know much other info, but here's what this says:

Sound Test: Go to the Sound Room that is in the Developers Room. Move Adol one step from the wall to the right of the piano. Then, facing the wall, use a Black Potion. When the explosion settles, a burnt up guy will appear, and if you talk to him, you can use the Sound Test.

A redundant post, but just in case some folks read this thread but ignore the other one (about Rondo of Blood):

This is an ABRIDGED version of the daigirin...dshadoff collected all of the PC-FX and PCE info into an OCR'ed .pdf:

https://www.tg-16.com/contributors/dshadoff/Daigirin/Daigirin_1997_06_NEC_Extract.pdf

[Mednafen]

I don't want to create a new topic for this because I'm not sure if it's already known, but the debug password for the USA version of "Ys Book I&II" is:

Code Select Expand

AAllffaaSSyySStteemm##

aaand a few other codes that do...something?

Code Select Expand

HASEGAWA


Code Select Expand

1WASAK1


[LostFlunky]

I don't want to create a new topic for this because I'm not sure if it's already known, but the debug password for the USA version of "Ys Book I&II" is:

Code Select Expand

AAllffaaSSyySStteemm##

aaand a few other codes that do...something?

Code Select Expand

HASEGAWA


Code Select Expand

1WASAK1


Seems like this would be worth a new topic!

AlfaSystem

[Mednafen]

I took the time to look into Ys 4's code some more, and came up with this better, simpler cheat code to enable the game's own proper debug mode(though some debugging stuff still isn't enabled, as it requires a special ROM/RAM mapped at bank $FC).

To get into the debug menu, hold I while pressing II.

Code Select Expand

[6350e1c06f4d5be0a27eb0ae31c604fb] Ys IV - The Dawn of Ys {HCD3051-4-1108-R1F} (SCD)(JPN)
R A 1 L 0 000d1cba 01 Debug mode enable

[37e37a56eaae6eaa5f3550d995b6168a] Ys IV - The Dawn of Ys {HCD3051-5-1116-R1P} (SCD)(JPN)
R A 1 L 0 000d1cba 01 Debug mode enable



[shawnji]

Thanks everyone, awesome stuff! And Sam, you should do the Staff Room trick, it's one of the things that makes Ys IV and Hudson so special. You basically get to talk to all the developers via Ys characters, they tell your their job, some jokes, etc. It was a rare touch you don't see much in games! I can't recall if I ever saw another game that had this, unless you count separate bonus discs or something that deal with behind-the-scenes.

Didn't Chrono Trigger have a similar (yet from the looks of it, more simplified thing) if you beat Lavos with Marle and Crono at the beginning of the game through New Game+?

It's amazing how all of these little things keep coming out about games that are decades old. Awesome

Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Xenogears are all the ones I know of that have debug / dev rooms.  For most of them you had to have a Gameshark.

Funny thing is that Tetsuya Takahashi worked on all those games in some capacity, but he was actually employed at Nihon Falcom before he moved to Square.  Maybe there's some kind of a connection there?

[NightWolve]

That Daigirin book really has a lot of easter eggs and whatnot.

Need to check any other games ?

Sure! Check out Xak III - lots of Debug Mode menus were translated but I never knew how to access it. Also check for Emerald Dragon, see what you find. A Debug Mode would help with the project in progress.

I take it since there was nothing about a button sequence for Ys 4, it was compiled out ? They have a mystery boss fight so it can't be something only possible if you have Mednafen's emulator author on your side to hack the code... Maybe the cheat code was never published ?

[Mednafen]

The only method I know to activate the debug mode without hacking the game(or its RAM) requires that you have expansion ROM/RAM with specific values at bank $FC, and that you hold I+RUN during startup until you get this screen:

sarsie.fobby.net/junk/ys4/ys4-datething.png

Here's a cheat code that very-partially simulates the presence of this (presumed) development device, if you're curious:

Code Select Expand

[6350e1c06f4d5be0a27eb0ae31c604fb] Ys IV - The Dawn of Ys {HCD3051-4-1108-R1F} (SCD)(JPN)
S A 8 L 0 001F9200 e7366d6f72204244 Simulate ROM necessary to allow for debug mode.

...though doing it this way seems to prevent you from accessing the dev/staff room from the menu under "Continue" like you can with the updated simple cheat code; if you try to select it, you'll be sent to the NPC debug village instead.

...but of course I can't ever rule out the possibility of there being a more player-friendly way to activate the debug mode, as I've only examined a tiny fraction of Ys 4's code.

[LostFlunky]

I don't want to create a new topic for this because I'm not sure if it's already known, but the debug password for the USA version of "Ys Book I&II" is:

Code Select Expand

AAllffaaSSyySStteemm##

aaand a few other codes that do...something?

Code Select Expand

HASEGAWA


Code Select Expand

1WASAK1


Tried the AlfaSystem code last night.  Pretty damned cool!

I never saw this one before.  Enter the code at the password screen and press "end".

You will get an error stating that it is an invalid code.  Choose not to continue entering the password and at the selection screen choose start game.

During the game, press I and "select" to activate the debug menu.

[NightWolve]

https://tcrf.net/Ys_IV:_The_Dawn_of_Ys

Looks like somebody added an Ys IV page to "The Cutting Room Floor" for the Ys IV Debug Menu findings. I just randomly came across it a moment ago. It reminded me of this old thread and I thought I should include it given all the details are presented well...

It's a nice page created on March 30, 2015, just after this thread finished off. Given the technical details, I suspect it was the Medanfen author herself - definitely somebody from this thread. So, you've got clear info on how to patch track 2 to burn a CD-R of Ys IV if you wanna try Debug Mode on real NEC hardware and what not.

To use the debug mode on a real system, or an emulator without cheat functionality, patch track 2 and track 32 at offset $218AB (assuming 2048-bytes-per-sector rip), replacing $9C with $8D.

Debug Area

[shawnji]

Whoa!  I need to check this out!  Awesome that we've finally got an easy way to get access to it!