[mrdomino]

What the hell, why does this share menu code with a pirate multicart.

[B00daW]

Dug through the code and found some weird things upon comparing both known Action 52 dumps:

1) At offset $15FCBA (including header) there is "code" information.
For which game? I'm unsure at the moment. There are no password inputs.

(null): ND REGULATIONS..YOUR PERSONAL CODE: .7A3H9J0P2R4A2C7S

(Alt): ND REGULATIONS..YOUR CODE IS: .7E1KS8P34ACPL
Those characters are not assembly code.

2.) Also, "Copyright 1991 ACTIVE ENTERPRISES All RightsReserved by Author Driver Version 2.09x". This is found at ~$80030. The "x" means that they are lazy, or may not have updated the game driver. Any or all revisions are probably bug corrections. Kinda weird how the author's name isn't even mentioned.

In summary, does anybody know what those personal codes would be for and... lolbump.

[Boco]

There was a contest that any person who could beat Ooze level 5 would be entered in a drawing to win $104,000. I imagine that's what the codes were for. Unfortunately the game crashes in level 3, so.

[B00daW]

In fact, I can't beat the first level without it crashing into a black screen of "can't go nowhere dammit."

*hax0rs*

[B00daW]

I didn't do this, but apparently NEStopia's error correction techniques allow you to go through all six levels without crashing.



Thanks to itsblah for withstanding the task.

--

Now the real questions are: Does it crash on hardware? Was there an actual winning code? And how many unique non-winning codes are there? (Aside from the cart price itself, burning all of those custom numbers just seems like a total waste and pointless.)

[Smeg]

So how many undumped code variants of this are there? Or of Vectorman, for that matter?

[B00daW]

Tootai just dumped his version of Action 52. It is an exact match of the GoodNES (U) [!] version / standard No-Intro version.

There may just be one non-winning code, but I'm not certain what the other code for the GoodNES (E) / No-Intro (Rev A) version means.

Also, I've played through the (E) / (Rev A) version a few times on NEStopia. It consistently freezes at the same point at level 2.

Boco must have been talking about this version. (It may be a bad dump... But who's to say it is, isn't, or we'll be able to come across another like it...)

It's a pity that NEStopia doesn't have a debugger and FCEUXDSP doesn't emulate Action 52 correctly.

[bootgod]

I've dumped the original version and Rev. A version. There is a version of the cart that says Rev. B, but I have yet to come across it myself. Could just be PCB related though.

[B00daW]

[B00daW]

WOOT!

I was able to create a SUPER Game Genie code which gives you unlimited lives and invulnerability after the first death for Ooze.

Unfortunately you will die when the bit flips back around to $00, but that won't be for another 254 hits from your foes.

GLNUKZAL

If anybody wants to use this to determine if the game crashes on hardware after at stage two, this would lessen the agony.

Edit: This code DOES indeed work on both versions of the cart. Again, I'm leaning toward FCE Ultra's emulation being poor of this game. I apologize for such sporadic updates on this trivial information -- but I think things are now in order.

Also, a note in the revisions: Rev A makes you start off with 3 lives whereas the "standard" version allows you 8 lives.

[neomerge]

Is the Genesis version of Ooze playable all the way through?

[B00daW]

http://cheetahmen.silius.net/contest.html

I dunno if TRM is right, but he doesn't mention the Genesis version here for the contest. Also, everything says 5 levels, but there are 6 to beat before that screen pops up.

Basically, the whole point I'm trying to make is... Even though these dumps probably aren't the winning cartridges -- but the losing cartridges -- would people have been able to complete the game to take a picture at the end to send in?

That's what I want to know.

[Boco]

[ProgrammingAce]

Action 52 was made with a eeprom/eprom right? They didn't burn mask roms for this, did they?

[BMF54123]

They appear to be mask ROMs, judging by the pictures on the site B00daW linked, though they are pretty small and blurry.

[adaml]

From my game endings guide:

5)OOZE
-This game can only be beaten using an emulator where you can change the
values of certain addresses. You play up to Level 6. Ordinarily when you
beat Level 6 you go on to Level 7, which is a blank screen. Using NESten's
cheat mode I found the value that controls the level selection and bypassed
the blank Level 7 to get to Level 8. Level 8 is the final level. When you
beat it you are treated to another blank screen, but it is definitely the
last level.

I will have to play through this game again, since it has been a looong time since I wrote that. I must not have come across that password screen because I would have written it down in the ending description. Perhaps the different values I entered for the password address (1- weren't technically levels (like value 7 could have been the password screen and value 8 could have been some inaccessible level after the password screen). Will have to look into this one again.

I do recall that every single game on the cart used the same hex address for level selection. Will find that address when I am less lazy.

[B00daW]

Shit... I'm wondering if emulation as a whole is broken for the damn game.

That'd be swell, adaml, but that code I posted will allow anyone to whiz through that game without effort -- aside from jumping.

So far, I know that Nestopia allows you to beat the standard version without freezing, but hardware would be the true test on this one.

By looking at bootgod's database of the carts he has dumped, he's dumped both versions of Action 52 and a Game Genie. If he still has said carts and could withstand some torture, this would be the deciding factor.

After determining what it does on hardware, we would then know what's truly up with both known versions and be able to report this to emulator authors as well.

[anonymoose]

I have a Action 52 cart with a Rev A board. It crashes after level 2 of Ooze. This is proper emulator behavior for that rom.

[B00daW]

Way to go, Active. Not only do all of your games disassociate from the denotation of 'fun.' But on your highest shoveled cart to the masses, you broke the single game that coincides with the most grandiose of your marketing ploys in a follow-up revision.

Another nail in the coffin making rich kids and their parents not purchase more overpriced carts to instill high risk investing at an earlier age. Tsk tsk...

[Gil-Galad]

I just ripped the title screen NSF for Action 52, the ROM version that has been around for along time in the Goodnes set. Will release next month.