10/31/2023: Localization News - Dead of the Brain 1!

No, NOT a trick, a Halloween treat! Presenting the Dead of the Brain 1 English patch by David Shadoff for the DEAD last official PC Engine CD game published by NEC before exiting the console biz in 1999! I helped edit/betatest and it's also a game I actually finished in 2023, yaaay! Shubibiman also did a French localization. github.com/dshadoff/DeadoftheBrain
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Cheats/Hacks for several games | Daimakaimura (SGX) Debug Menu.

Started by ccovell, 05/03/2007, 01:26 AM

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ccovell

Sorry if you folks know about these, but I recently found and/or hacked several cheats and debug menus in some of the tougher games out there.  Here are some links to the pages (on the MagicEngine forums):

Gomola Speed Debug Menu & Atomic Robo-Kid Ending:
http://forums.magicengine.com/en/viewtopic.php?t=1821

Legion Debug Menu:
http://forums.magicengine.com/en/viewtopic.php?t=1800



Daimakaimura (SGX) Debug Menu:

Hey folks, it's me again.

This one's really cool.  I'll paste in what I wrote in the text file included with the IPS patch, available below.

A long time ago, I was playing this game on my SGX system, and I was fooling around with the expansion connector in the back by running a screwdriver across the pins.  Of course, that's kind of a foolish thing to do, but one time when I was doing this, the game didn't crash, but a bunch of numbers appeared on-screen instead, and there was a cursor I could move around.  I had found a map editor in Daimakaimura!

I wanted to find this map editor again, so I hacked my way through the game code.  After a long time searching, I finally found some code that enables a debug menu, and some other code that draws this menu.  After a bunch of hard work, I had this menu working in the game once again.  It isn't normally accessible in the original game.

IMG IMG
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A quick explanation:

Move the cursor with U/D.  Press I or RUN to confirm.  Press II to cancel an option.

> GAME START starts the game as normal.
> STAGE SELECT allows you to select your starting stage.
> BG test is the aforementioned map editor.  I don't understand it fully, but it lets you view only the background data for each level.  The Pad moves a cursor around.  Pressing I or II moves the cursor around more quickly.  Holding Select+U/D/L/R alters the window/2nd background layer settings, sometimes masking the background.  Pressing Select+I opens up the gate at the end of the level, but it also makes the gate appear at other points in the level.  RUN exits the BG test.
> Sound is a regular sound test, as far as I can tell.
> SP test loads up a stage, but only shows the sprites in the stage.  For some reason, only the sprites for stage 1 are shown.  You can upgrade your armour (or change into a duck) by pressing RUN, and you can take away your armour by pressing Select, which also changes your current weapon.
> ENDING displays the ending montage (minus the music).
> OPTION takes you to the regular options menu available in the game.

This is just a hack, so it's by no means polished or fully working.  If anyone else wants to improve upon it, be my guest!

And here's the patch in IPS format.  Be sure to read the instructions.
https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/Daimakaimura_Debug.zip



Battle Ace (SGX) Cheat Menu:
http://forums.magicengine.com/en/viewtopic.php?t=1822

Well, Battle Ace does have a cheat menu, but all the options except for # of lives have been removed.  Unfortunately, there's no way to re-enable those options on a regular Battle Ace Hu-Card, so the game has to be hacked.

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Here's an IPS patch that will re-enable the full cheat menu in the game.  Be sure to read the short instructions.

https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/Battle_Ace_Cheat_Menu.zip