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View topic - [VGM Pack] Battlemaniacs (SMS)

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  • Joined: 28 Nov 2014
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[VGM Pack] Battlemaniacs (SMS)
Post Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:20 pm
Last edited by sherpa on Thu Dec 03, 2015 4:24 am; edited 2 times in total
http://www.smspower.org/Music/Battlemaniacs-SMS

This game is a brazil only game. Despite that, music is actually supposed to play back at 50hz. It was originally intended as a European release, but was scrapped and then revived for brazilian release a few years later. There are some interesting historical elements. The game is a bit incomplete, 3 levels have no music and there are some other odd issues. Title music is way overused, and the music for level 6 is used once. Matt Furniss makes a nice appearance, the game has a different developer than the GG version, reminiscent of other franchises like Taz and Home Alone. Same title, different game.

Music function at 6D54.

The title screen and Game Completed music are loaded at 40AD and 3976 respectively.

3338 should load the title track, but doesn't seem to be used in game. Not sure if it hints at a secret. I'm leaning towards an oversight (this game has other errors), but who knows.

33AA loads silence during the credits.

All in level values are loaded starting from $6D31 (1-12)

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
0D 15 00 00 1B 23 01 0D 00 15 1B 01

There are no other explicit calls to the sound function. Memory doesn't serve but I don't recall coming across any matt furniss game with unused tracks. I might be wrong, but I think these five tracks are it.

Verifying the tracks/use took longer than actual trimming. All tracks have perfect loops, typical of tracks using the Hollingworth engine (there are rare exceptions). Overall, a quick, easy job.

This pack comes by request. I learned a few things.
Enjoy.

Now at 1.00
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Post Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:29 pm
Home Alone had unused tracks.
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Post Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:37 pm
Last edited by Wesker on Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
Game Gear Battletoads and Master System Battletoads in Battlemaniacs are not really a case of "same title, different game", but more like "different title and game in the same series", taking into account the particular fact that one of them is available on the Game Gear (original Battletoads, originally released on the NES and also released on the Mega Drive among other platforms) and the other is available on the Master System (Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, originally released on the SNES) and neither of them are available in the other platform despite the fact that the original Battletoads was also stated to be released for the Master System at some point by the same company that released (or "unreleased" actually) the Master System version of Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Virgin Interactive, who tasked the development to Syrox Developments in the UK. The Game Gear version of Battletoads, on the other hand, was developed in Japan by an unknown company/studio tasked by Sega (Mega Drive version also by Sega was tasked to Arc System Works, but it seems they didn't develop the Game Gear version).

Thanks a lot for taking a look into this. I was hoping for some unfinished/unused music tracks to appear due to the unfinished/unpolished nature of this version of the game and also because it has a very limited selection of music tracks ported from the original SNES game which are used very randomly through the whole game. Even if they are not really related, the Game Gear version of Battletoads, whose music selection is quite bigger, actually had two unused music tracks in the game code. Sadly it hasn't been the case with this Battletoads in Battlemaniacs but thanks for giving it a try and of course doing/posting the VGM pack.
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Post Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:41 pm
edit: Maxim
Ba-DUM! You are right. So did predator 2, mortal kombat ii, marble madness, Daffy duck in hollywood...etc...I stand corrected and edified.

Still, they were not unused in the sense of sonic the hedgehog hidden. I tested values up to 0x60 and a few random beyond. But valid song pattern values seem to go from 01 to 2A. Since this game is experimental, it IS possible there are other tracks..I am not really good at following the program as it loads from LUT and locates the song's starting value, etc.

Anyone up for taking a closer look in the music area? I'm open to some tips, but that is a bit above my register.

edit: Yes you are right Wesker. Different title, same franchise...but that wasn't the category I was thinking of, or the one that applies in this case.

It's possible there are hidden tracks. Don't think I would be able to find it without at least a bit of help. I know code just enough to obtain acute information, but not enough to understand program flow very well.
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Post Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 1:29 am
It seems the VGM Pack has already been uploaded to the website: http://www.smspower.org/Music/Battlemaniacs-SMS

But I think it should be retagged similarly to the Battletoads (GG) VGM Pack ( http://www.smspower.org/Music/Battletoads-GG ) as it's a similar case where we have an original composer and a conversion arranger too. The original composer is once again David Wise, while in this case the conversion arranger is the one already mentioned as composer, Matt Furniss.
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Post Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:02 am
Update pack. Added David Wise as composer, renamed the files to accord with their known title and reordered the tracks to coincide a bit more closely with the OST/proper game layout. Mainly I just moved Last Battle, Bonus Stage #1 after Snake Pit. Snake pit is incongruously underused and Last Battle is inserted earlier on in the game where it doesn't belong. I think I originally ordered it according to the game order, but, being an unfinished game, there are fewer songs than there should be and an odd placement of the existing ones.

Thanks to Wesker for his help.

I'll leave this up a bit, maybe a week before uploading to the site, in case there are any other issue.

Now at 1.01
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