Meet Luste's Namesake

Hello, everyone!

Sorry for not chiming in on your questions in the comments as quickly as I should.  It's crunch time at Darksquid Media, and that unfortunately means our free time is practically nonexistent.  That, coupled with my browser's inability to stay logged in whenever I try to reply to a comment, forced me to let lingering questions fall by the wayside.

In any event, our first release candidate for Rosenkreuzstilette should be ready before the week is out.  Whether there are any issues left that necessitate a second revision will depend on how big a list of requested fixes we receive from the playtesting crew.  Big publishers believe in waiving "known shippable" bugs, but I don't.  At least, not as far as localization programming bugs are concerned -- if that part of the list isn't zero, that means I haven't been doing my job well enough.  Issues present in the original Japanese version will be considered on a case-by-case basis (i.e.: if we can fix 'em in a timely manner, we will, but if it'd delay the release by a month or two, we'd rather try and address 'em after the fact).

In the meantime, here's a video that Luste fans should be able to appreciate.  Enjoy!

Help Wanted: The Hyper Dragon Chip Challenge

Megaman 7 - Versus Mode
Hold L & R and press Start

Hello, everyone.  Sorry to keep you waiting!

There are still a few things on the ol' To-Do List that need taking care of before I can roll out the next RKS Developer Diary.  Assuming everything goes according to plan in the next few days, the next entry should be ready sometime this weekend.  As I've hinted to before, we'll be taking a closer look at one of the new features that we had to code from scratch, as well as a handful of related homages that no one had the means to appreciate in our original fan translation.  You'll understand what I mean by that once the next post is ready.

In the meantime, I'd like to ask a few of you to lend me a hand with something I've been tinkering with on the side:

As I mentioned in my last post, I enjoy cracking the password schemes of my favorite games both as a mental exercise and as a way of figuring out the intricacies of how the games work.  Sundays at my day job have been rather slow as of late, so I've often found myself whipping out my notes and trying to figure out exactly how the password schemes for all four Megaman titles on the Super Nintendo function -- with fascinating results.  Well, after a few weeks of waiting around for customers to serve, I'm proud to say that I've completely cracked the code schemes for all four games.  I've also written password generators for all four games in Microsoft Excel, so I'm now able to generate passwords for any scenario I could possibly want (provided the relevant variables I want to manipulate are actually stored in the password).

Megaman X - Hadouken
Hold L, R, X & Down and press Start

Interestingly enough, I'm pleased to report that the long-held belief that the "100% completion" bonuses of Megaman X through X3 (the Hadouken, the Shoryuken, and the Hyper Chip - a.k.a the Gold Armor) weren't being saved in your passwords is decidely not true.  Don't believe me?  Boot up Megaman X, enter the password 3673-2177-2487, hold the L, R, X and Down buttons, then press Start to confirm the code.  Enter any stage, then immediately press Down, Down-Forward, Forward, Y to fire a Hadouken without needing to return to the cliff in Armored Armadillo's Stage.  Ah, the convenience!

Suffice to say, I've isolated the exact variables that determine whether or not you resume your game with the completion bonus equipped.  I've also determined that these variables are automatically reset if a specific combination of buttons is not held down when the Start button is pressed to confirm the password entry.  Megaman 7 confirms this theory since its completion bonus, Versus Mode, is unlocked in the exact same manner -- holding down the L and R buttons before confirming the password entry with Start.

Megaman X2 - Shoryuken
Starts at X-Hunter Stage 2
Hold Down, Left, R & B and press Y

As tempting as would be to spend my free time uncovering some brand-new secrets in two of my favorite games, I have more important matters to attend to at the moment that must take priority (namely, finishing the remaining work on RKS).  So, while I'm busy working on RKS, I'd like to release a pair of passwords and ask the RKS community to help figure out the secret in my stead.

For the emulation enthusiasts among you, what I'm asking should be relatively simple (if time-consuming).  Launch your favorite Super Nintendo emulator (preferably SNES9x, Higan, RetroArch, or ZSNES), boot up either Megaman X2 or X3, and enter the corresponding password pictured in this post.  Before pressing Start to confirm the password and start your game, record a save-state.  Then, hold down a button or two (or three, or four... could be as many as six buttons - I don't know...) and press Start.  The X2 password will start you at Serges' Stage  (X-Hunter Stage 2),  while the X3 code will start you at Doppler Town Stage 1 with Bit, Byte, and Vile alive and Zero's Z-Saber equipped (remember: to get the Z-Saber, you need fight Mosquitus as Zero, which is impossible to do when while Vile is still alive ^_^).  In either case, check to see if the completion bonus is equipped (in X2's case, press Forward, Down, Down-Forward, Y or Back, Down, Forward, Y to execute a Shoryuken; in X3's, whether X's armor is gold instead of blue should be obvious).  If it didn't work, reload your save-state and try again with a different button combination, recording which ones worked and which ones didn't.

Megaman X3 - Hyper Chip
Vile rematch with the Z-Saber
No code available...

I have no way of knowing how little or how much time the process of pinpointing the secret button combination might take since I have no idea how complex the combinations might be.  However, we can safely exclude the B and Y buttons from among the possibilities since they have other functions on the password scheme (Y increases any given digit's value in both games, and B decreases the digit's value in X2 and returns to the Title Screen in X3).  So, that leaves any combination among the four directional buttons (Up, Down, Left, and Right), L, R, X, A, and Select.  If you don't have a gamepad, check if your emulator allows you to map custom commands to a single button (I know for sure that ZSNES supports this feature; I used to map the Hadouken / Shoryuken to my Dual Shock 2's R2 button when playing X / X2).

By my calculations, the odds of any particular button combination being the correct one is 255 to one, so only take part in this task if you have plenty of free time to kill.  That said, thank you to everyone who is interested in helping out.  Here's hoping we're able to find the final piece in this pair of 20+ year old mysteries.

That said, I wish you luck!  See you later!

Update: Justin3009 from Romhacking.net has figured out the codes!  Good work, Justin!

Just For Fun: The Rockbreaker Code

This password works with the original
cartridge and the Virtual Console re-release.

Hello, everyone!  It's been pretty busy at my day job for the past little while, so I figured I'd take a breather today and properly recharge my batteries before I plunge back into my RKS workload tomorrow morning (remember, my weekends are Monday and Tuesday, not the standard Saturday and Sunday).  Since nothing prepares me for working on RKS better than Megaman, I figured I'd dust off my old console and give the black sheep of the original series a go after I-don't-know-how-many years.

Following last week's discussion on password cracking, I noticed that nobody has ever fully deciphered the password scheme for Megaman 7.  Not one to let an interesting challenge slip by, I decided to take a crack at it and see if there was a reason behind the lack of details.  Skip ahead a few hours, and I can confidently say that I've found my answers.  I have to admit, the guys working for Capcom in the mid-90's were brilliant programmers; how the game validates each password would definitely frighten wannabe crackers away.

Mad Grinder, meet the Hyper Rocket Buster.

Of course, it goes without saying that I've completely cracked the code.  After isolating what each individual value does, I've generated some very interesting passwords that significantly change how the game can be played.  I'll be publishing my findings after I've had the chance to properly organize the data, but that won't be for a little while since RKS naturally takes priority.

Still, I've decided to release a single custom password that will allow you to have fun with the game in a way you might not have expected.  I'm tempted to post a bunch of screenshots elaborating on what I mean, but I think it'd be a better idea to preserve the surprise and let you discover the intricacies for yourself.

The above password will start you at the very beginning of the game.  The moment you pause your game, you'll notice that something is a bit different (...well, a lot different, especially on the second page of the Status Subcreen).  Once you finish the first battle with Bass, the game opens up completely.  For better or worse, this password only works with authentic versions of the game (the original cartridge, the Virtual Console re-release, or up-to-speed Super Nintendo emulators); the code will not work on the incomplete port of the game found in the Megaman Anniversary Collection.  Given some of the cuts that were made to that version of the game, it's not really a big loss.

That said, enjoy!