Hi all,
As a result of some discussions with Zeograd (and perhaps some mild
psychedelics), I had a strange idea about a "new release" CDROM that could
be developed for the TurboGraphx/PC-Engine.
What's better is, after I (or Zeograd) write a short program for the
PC-Engine, anybody can help out.
How many people out there would buy (or at least enjoy) an English-language
strategy guide for some of the TurboGrafx/PC-Engine RPG games ? I for one
would, but unfortunately we never had any such books published in English.
The idea is this:
What if such a guide were written as a companion disc to a game - a
PC-Engine Super CDROM, with "save-state" backup RAM positions at various
locations, so that you could load them in ?
I got really close to the end of Cosmic Fantasy 2 (English) once, but I
lost the save state, and I don't know if I could spend that much time
getting there again. Such a save-state archive would help me personally.
It would be even cooler if this CDROM guide could take a peek at your
current save-state and give you some hints about what to do next - without
spoiling the game - wouldn't it ?
Zeograd and I are discussing a universal save-state editor which may help
this kind of thing. Here's how it would work:
(1) we write a program to display the contents of backup memory
(2) <somebody> plays a game, displaying and writing down backup RAM
information for the game at various points in the game, with some
information about context. This is typed in to the PC and sent in email,
or even posted on a web page. But this needs to be done methodically, and
with good organization. It would be best if it was not the first time this
person had played the game.
(3) Optional - <somebody> does some detective work to determine which
bytes/bits in the save-state affect what aspects of the character for gold,
hit points, items, etc., and together with the knowledge about the sequence
of events in the game, a script could also be written for "next step hints"
(4) A 'restore' function is written and a user interface, so that these
save-states can be indexed nicely.
(4) A CDROM (or even a ROM) is produced for people to use.
The CDROM would just be the most convenient way to restore to the PC
Engine; we would also have a universal program to "type" the save-state
information into a machine, but this could become tedious with large
save-states.
However, the universal editor would allow:
(1) Transferring save-states between a real machine and a PC emulator.
(2) It would safeguard against the loss of data on a failing Ten No Koe bank.
(3) It would allow using one machine to use a wide variety of games without
losing save states (when you delete them to free up memory).
(3) Finally, it might allow "cheats" and "power ups" that people have never
seen before.
Please discuss this on the list, and let me know if you like the idea.
If you like it, I'm interested in which game(s) you feel are the most
worthy of this treatment first, and if anybody wants to volunteer for
collecting data, that would be awesome.
I don't think the "display BRAM" program will take very long for me (or
Zeo) to write - but the input portion may take a little longer.
My top picks (in order) are:
Cosmic Fantasy 2 (English) <- selfish choice to restore that save state
Ys 4
Emerald Dragon
Legend of Xanadu 1
Legend of Xanadu 2
Seiya Monogatari
Cosmic Fantasy 3
Cosmic Fantasy 4a/4b
- Dave