Driving you into cyber dive

In a previous article I posted a link to a script that can patch Burning Rangers Taikenban (the trial version of BR) to enable additional levels. That was just a warmup! This post includes step-by-step instructions for doing the following tricks:

My hope is that you'll try these tricks yourself tell me about new ones you find! But if you just want to look at the pictures and watch the videos, that's cool too.

Gallery

Let's not bury the lede: these techniques reveal that Versus mode was present in the released versions of Burning Rangers. We had it all along!

The main Versus arena isn't much better than the version in the January 3 prototype. Actually, it's worse — Player 1 is stuck under the floor and can't get out (some hacking can fix this). And there's only one room instead of three. It looks cool, though! Videos: Shou & Tillis, Big & Lead.

Two player co-op can also be enabled in the released versions of BR. Player 2 can tag along and collect crystals. Having another Ranger can lead to some goofy results, like Lead meeting himself in Mission 4.

Versus arena in the U.S. release

Multiplayer enabled in Mission 4

One Shou and two Leads in Mission 4

Level select allows you to explore inaccessible parts of various discs:

Combining level select with character select allows you to put characters into places they normally can't go:

Things get more interesting when you add in "Auto Demo control."

So If you don't want to drop $500 on Ebay for Burning Rangers, try Sega Flash Vol. 7 for $15!

Iria fighting the Mission 4 mid-boss

Iria and Big in Mission 4

Who is in the hypersleep unit?

Lead with the Dolphin after Mission 2

Big in training

Big meets himself in Mission 3

Editing object data lets you do lots of cool stuff, like replacing all locked doors with crystals.

There are some cool items in the December 1 build that are missing from the final game. Check out these capsules with cards inside them — doesn't the purple one look like an Ideya? They reduce the limit by 5 points when you collect them.

The dolphin didn't seem to be very happy about this

The different cards all have the same effect

The cards disappear after a few seconds

Some interesting debug screens can be turned on. One showing the players coordinates relative to objects in the level is enabled by default in the January 3 build, but it's got extra information about the current level's password in the final version.

Another set of debug screens has information about the player's position and rotation, and another set gives details about the camera.

The coordinates helped me get player 1 out from under the floor.

The SET values make up the password. For the original map they're all 0.

There are 9 screens with different position, rotation, and camera details.

Pro Action Replay codes

Most of the tricks can be done with Pro Action Replay codes. If you don't want to mess around with memory editing yourself, try this instead. The code list includes:

Thanks to some hard work by privateye, these codes are included in Pseudo Saturn Kai. They've been tested on real Saturn hardware!

Tools and terminology

I used the Mednafen emulator; it can play all of the BR discs without issue on my machine. You can use the Mednafee frontend to get a GUI.

You'll need to supply your on BIOS files (see the Mednafen docs) and disc image backups. I trust you to obtain these in an appropriate manner.

Once you're able to load a game to play it, you'll want to familiarize yourself with these keyboard shortcuts:

Step by step guide

Most of the exercise below will follow this template:

Level select

Try this with one of the final versions of the game (Japan, US, or Europe) to get the hang of it. The same trick also works for all of the prereleases.

Start up the game and select Story mode. Choose Tillis as your character. Once you're at the Mission select screen, take a save state.

Pull up the CPU debugger. Press Start on the controller to select a mission. As the screen starts fading, pause the emulation before the loading screen comes up. If you miss your chance, load your save state and try again.

Open to the memory editor and switch to the High Work Area tab. Go to the address FFC15. Its current value will depend on which Mission you selected. Enable editing and change it to one of the following values:

Each mission is composed of multiple "rounds." The last one is always the boss. 0E is the cutscene that follows Mission 2; you can't really play it. 0D is missing for unknown reasons. The Training space, Versus arena, and boss round of Mission 4 are missing in some of the prereleases.

If you want to change characters, see the next section before you resume the emulation. Your chosen round will load upon resumption.

Character select

Follow the same steps above for level select. Before you resume the emulation, go to the address FFC19. Its current value will be 01 if you chose Tillis. Change it to one of the following values:

The Dec 1 prototype only has Shou and Tillis implemented. Flash Sega Saturn Vol. 25 and the Jan 3 prototype won't load Chris or Iria because they're missing loading screens, but you can switch to them if you start a Mission with a different character and change in between rounds.

Multiplayer

Follow the same steps above for level and character select. Before you resume the emulation:

When you resume the emulation, you'll have Angels With Burning Hearts playing and a second player can control player 2. This only works on the Jan 3 prototype and the final releases.

If you select round 04, you'll have the Versus Mode arena to play in. The final release version has player 1 stuck under the floor, however, so it's not very fun. You can fix this by changing memory address 28062 to 6F.

If you choose a different round, you can have something like a broken Sonic & Tails co-op experience.

Controlling auto demos

We'll start with Flash Sega Saturn Vol. 25. Start up the demo disc and select the Burning Rangers item from the menu. Once you get to the BR title screen, take a save state.

Pull up the CPU debugger and wait for the screen to fade to black. Once it starts fading, pause the emulation. If you miss your chance, load your save state and try again.

Open to the memory editor and switch to the High Work Area tab. Go to the address FEF54. It should be set to the value FF (auto demo). Change it to 00 (normal control). Then pull up the CPU debugger and start the emulation again.

That's it! Japanese gamers could have played Burning Rangers early and for free if they'd had the right Pro Action Replay code. Character and mission selection works as described above, so you can explore all of the missions.

Sega Flash Vol. 7 is a UK demo disc that works the same way, except the address to edit is FEF58. This one is slightly less exciting because it was built after the Japanese release version. It's missing the files for voice navigation, alas.

Editing objects

This information comes via Andreas Scholl, the patron saint of Burning Rangers.

Start mission 1 and let it load for a moment. Just before the loading screen disappears, take a save state. Pause the emulation and then open the memory editor. Go to address B1390. You'll see these values: 18 04 0B 9D 00 00 00 00.

The first three bytes are coordinates. The fourth byte is an object type: 9D is a red crystal. The next four bytes are object-specific parameters, which are all 00 for crystals.

Change 9D to 9E and resume your emulation. You'll notice that the two crystals at the start of the mission have changed: one of them is now green. Indeed, 9E is a green crystal.

That's the essence of the trick! Here are some object codes to play with:

Many objects cause crashes or prevent the stage from fully loading, so be prepared to spend a lot of time resetting your state. Some objects only load in a particular mission, e.g. 7E is a dolphin in Mission 2.

The limit-reducing capsules referenced above are 0x21 through 0x2B in the December 1 build of the game; they're gone in other builds.

We don't know quite what all the parameters do, so if you discover something interesting, do let me know! A good round to play with things in is 0x11, the part of Mission 4 with all the platforming: it's relatively empty, and there are six crystals (9D) easily find-able in the memory.

Other tricks

Address FFC30 is normally set to 02 in the final release, but it seems to have flags that can be combined:

The other flags are the IMM GOUR, CRYSTAL ALL, CRYSTAL 20, and LIGHT ONCE items from the December 1 build's debug menu (they are at FFC2C in that build). I have no idea what they do. Tell me if you figure it out! 

Address FFC31 also has flags that seem to be combine-able. They match with the December 1 build's debug menu:

In the December 1 build these are at FFC2D.

Screens with player and camera position data can be enabled by setting 1E45D to values between 01 and 08:

Address FFC1F can be set to 04 to enable "BGM mode." That is, Angels With Burning Hearts will be playing during missions.

Let me know if you find other things!

Open questions

Here are things I'd like to figure out:

Also, if you happen to have, say, the Tokyo Game Shown '97 Autumn build of the game, please get in touch...