This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5411: ruadath's NES RoboWarrior in 01:21.58

Ok it' a great run, but is it a cheat code you used for skip directly to final level or not? For me it's an quickly method for access to the debug mode in this game! I don't vote for instant, i wait your answer for that.

It's not a cheat code, it is a glitch that allows you to access the debug menu. The following must occur for this to be the case - be at full health - have exactly 62 bombs in your inventory - last enemy killed is the grey type (toughest regular enemy) - facing downward - background track has completed once Then when you try to use an energy tank, you unlock the debug menu, which allows you to access the level select screen.

It's not a cheat code, it is a glitch that allows you to access the debug menu. The following must occur for this to be the case - be at full health - have exactly 62 bombs in your inventory - last enemy killed is the grey type (toughest regular enemy) - facing downward - background track has completed once Then when you try to use an energy tank, you unlock the debug menu, which allows you to access the level select screen.

Ok it's very good for a "game & glitch" categorie :) When you have submit, I think you have forgotten to explain this major glitch for understand your run. It's short but entertaining...Yes vote

This trick is well known because it is in a strategy guide of the game, which was published only a month after the release of the game. I highly doubt that this trick is a glitch.

Hmm... The glitch was in Nintendo Power as well: So, the question is, is it admissible? If a glitch is identified on official channels, does it now become a cheat code? Or does it stay a glitch?

Do we know if it's a glitch or an intentional way to access the debug menu? (Analysis of the code may be required at this point.)

According to some analysis on nesdev it might be intentional, but it's still a rather bizarre way of completing the game.

>07:C6B0:AD 28 05  LDA $0528
 07:C6B3:C9 05     CMP #$05
 07:C6B5:D0 2A     BNE $C6E1
 07:C6B7:AD B9 01  LDA $01B9
 07:C6BA:F0 25     BEQ $C6E1
 07:C6BC:A5 0F     LDA $000F
 07:C6BE:C9 0A     CMP #$0A
 07:C6C0:D0 1F     BNE $C6E1
 07:C6C2:AD C6 01  LDA $01C6
 07:C6C5:C9 FF     CMP #$FF
 07:C6C7:D0 18     BNE $C6E1
 07:C6C9:AD C7 01  LDA $01C7
 07:C6CC:C9 0F     CMP #$0F
 07:C6CE:D0 11     BNE $C6E1
 07:C6D0:A5 78     LDA $0078
 07:C6D2:C9 02     CMP #$02
 07:C6D4:D0 0B     BNE $C6E1
 07:C6D6:A5 4C     LDA $004C    ; get bombs amount
 07:C6D8:C9 3E     CMP #$3E     ; are there 62 bombs?
 07:C6DA:D0 05     BNE $C6E1    ; gtfo if not
 07:C6DC:A9 01     LDA #$01
 07:C6DE:8D ED 01  STA $01ED
 07:C6E1:60        RTS

Looks pretty explicit to me. Someone who knows the game better could look at the other RAM addresses that are checked (everything after an LDA) and see if they match the requirements for the "code." Also, poke $1ED to 1 and see if that alone enables the debug features, or whatever it is. Edit: fixed a couple things I had inadvertently altered. And I should've spared myself that minor hassle and read ruadath's post and found koitsu's much more useful analysis here: https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?p=179769&sid=cc28826b29a5d02bd6cd87e575b2c408#p179769

And I should've spare myself that minor hassle if I'd read ruadath's oost and found Koitsu's much more useful analysis here: https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?p=179769&sid=cc28826b29a5d02bd6cd87e575b2c408#p179769

From that same post, I note that the game has an extremely obscure good ending. It would be interesting to see a run of that. But yeah, this 62-bombs deal does appear to be a deliberate cheat code. I can totally imagine a first-time programmer putting in something like that, and it's clearly not a boundary condition or buffer overflow or other typical kinds of glitch.

From that same post, I note that the game has an extremely obscure good ending. It would be interesting to see a run of that.

That's a different game (the Berlin Wall) Also, to those claiming that this is a "cheat code," I would argue that even if this an intentional method of accessing the debug menu by the developers, it is quite difficult to pull off such a feat in ~1.25 minutes of gameplay time, since actually getting up to 62 bombs from your starting amount of 20 (after the first screen) requires quite a bit of RNG manipulation, and even the movement required to progress through the level quickly enough to get to the pool is rather difficult to perform on console so quickly. This distinguishes the game very clearly from one in which you simply enter a menu and type in a password to unlock the final stage of the game by quite a bit.

I was wondering if this game would ever be TASed. Initially, I was going to say no to this due to the use of the Debug Code. However, I did remember that DKC2 had something similar to it. A code to get 75 Kremcoins at the start of the game by performing specific actions. The current 102% run on the site uses this code. In fact, to quote the run summary of it.

This movie improves on its predecessor by 45.28 seconds, primarily by using a debug code to get 75 Kremkoins early, allowing for a faster route through the game.

So to really judge solely based on the use of that debug mode would be wrong, and saying no because of it makes me think we'd need to reevaluate the DKC2 102% run, and possibly others as well.. Overall, I only found the final boss part interesting, cause I didn't think that was a thing for this game, even though I know it was a thing for games back in the SNES era. The lead up to the boss isn't too interesting, but it is optimized as best as it can due to the restrictions to access the debug menu. I'll give it a yes, but I see it as more Vault material than anything else. Now a full game run not using the debug code? I'd like to see that.

I'm voting 'Yes' if the run is acceptable. I'll leave it to the judges to determine the rest.

For me this is clearly cheating - so i voted "No". Though decisive word is work for a judge of course.

At this point we probably need someone to disassemble the game and check if the debug menu was intended to be possible to unlock or it is really a glitch. Edit: I mean, Scumtron already comfirmed about the 62 bombs, but what about the other requirements?

The other requirements all appear intentional too if you look at the code: it first check the last enemy killed, then bg music loop, then health, then facing downward, and finally bombs, before enabling debug mode.

As someone who does non-TAS runs of this game, is that method of beating the boss (by seemingly quickly pausing and unpausing during a bomb explosion, I think?) viable for non-TAS runs? If so, that would dramatically change my route for the game. EDIT: Never mind, it looks like it actually just blasts the final boss with infinite megaton bombs.

After reading all of comments on this run I think it's a cheat code, it's just made for helping the programors to check the game, but the gamers have find this and now it's become a cheat code.I'm sure the game genie have those modifications of ram addresses for obtain this result.

om, nom, nom... blech!