Hacking About Super Mario Advance 4's release

[marc_max]

Yes, most definitely. Just unpack the nus download into the extraced (loadiine) format, and use that python script to extract it from the alldata.bin

At worst, it doesn't work, and you'll have to extract it manually from the installed game, like we did here.

NUSDownloader needs a ticket in order to decrypt contents

 

[pedro702]

Preety damn sure the sma4 on pal eshop is the ntsc release so its pointless to dump a thing that has been dumped already.

i Recall on pal eshop on the description saying this is the usa version of the game.

 

[marc_max]

Preety damn sure the sma4 on pal eshop is the ntsc release so its pointless to dump a thing that has been dumped already.

i Recall on pal eshop on the description saying this is the usa version of the game.

Well.. The original SMA4 was multi language, so I was hoping the eShop version was the same too. I know, it's a Mario game, doesn't have much text, but this is just for preservation purposes.

If Nintendo has just released the USA ROM for PAL region then they are lazy. But it makes sense somehow, since the european game was a bit different (and possibly bigger too?) than the USA game and maybe they had trouble adding the extra levels.

Any confirmation on this? The spanish Nintendo site says the game is multilanguage.

 

[pedro702]

Well.. The original SMA4 was multi language, so I was hoping the eShop version was the same too. I know, it's a Mario game, doesn't have much text, but this is just for preservation purposes.

If Nintendo has just released the USA ROM for PAL region then they are lazy. But it makes sense somehow, since the european game was a bit different (and possibly bigger too?) than the USA game and maybe they had trouble adding the extra levels.

Any confirmation on this? The spanish Nintendo site says the game is multilanguage.

well the pal version didnt even had the e reader support, either they just patched the languages into the usa version or had to do alot of hacking.

 

[marc_max]

well the pal version didnt even had the e reader support, either they just patched the languages into the usa version or had to do alot of hacking.

Indeed, it had everything e-reader related still coded in the ROM. It is possible to inject e-reader levels in the savegame, and surprisingly the e-reader menu texts were translated to all languages.

 

[The Frenchman]

Just wish some people would try and make that woth Mario World on SNES which is much better to play!

Good job! I'll put that in my Everdrive for sure!

 

[VinsCool]

Just wish some people would try and make that woth Mario World on SNES which is much better to play!

wat?

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Well considering GBA is possibly a snes portable, GBA games offer more content and not just a port of a game. Super mario advance series is called that for good reason, MORE CONTENT. Yes is still the same game from snes, but for actually having a different boss in smb2 zone 3 being the robot birdo instead of recycle bosses, adding voice samples, save feature, additional game play such as finding yoshi eggs and coins, is just a improved game. Same goes for the other games, adding voice samples and improved gameplay, sma4 having e-reader levels and those unique items like boomerang and cape make it a bit more of a game and not just a lazy port wth problems.

Same can be said with other SNES to GBA ports like Donkey Kong country, Final fantasy 1-6 (Excluding 3) and Breath of fire. But most people just prefer snes cause of having better quality in colors, sounds, music, graphics, tv resolution. (And probably nostalgia enthusiast) whatever reasons one have for playing one over the other, they exist and have their own purpose.

 

[VinsCool]

Well considering GBA is possibly a snes portable, GBA games offer more content and not just a port of a game. Super mario advance series is called that for good reason, MORE CONTENT. Yes is still the same game from snes, but for actually having a different boss in smb2 zone 3 being the robot birdo instead of recycle bosses, adding voice samples, save feature, additional game play such as finding yoshi eggs and coins, is just a improved game. Same goes for the other games, adding voice samples and improved gameplay, sma4 having e-reader levels and those unique items like boomerang and cape make it a bit more of a game and not just a lazy port wth problems.

Same can be said with other SNES to GBA ports like Donkey Kong country, Final fantasy 1-6 (Excluding 3) and Breath of fire. But most people just prefer snes cause of having better quality in colors, sounds, music, graphics, tv resolution. (And probably nostalgia enthusiast) whatever reasons one have for playing one over the other, they exist and have their own purpose.

I don't know how they are upgrades, especially when these are watered down ports. Inferior sound, inferior colours. Extra useless features.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I don't know how they are upgrades, especially when these are watered down ports. Inferior sound, inferior colours. Extra useless features.

What are extra useless features? Super mario advance 4 has extra levels to play for people who wanted more of the game, due to is popularity on nes in the first place, people probably wanted a sequel like it with more levels. Adding the extra levels for the e-reader wasn't probably the best option to have, because of lack of interest with the accessory but is still good that they are now playable, and available from the start. People probably would find it worth having buy this port with the features added. Or are you telling me you rather still play the nes game or super mario allstars game?

This isn't a disagreement since is all opinion based, but it goes without saying that not everyone will agree with this statement.

 

[VinsCool]

What are extra useless features? Super mario advance 4 has extra levels to play for people who wanted more of the game, due to is popularity on nes in the first place, people probably wanted a sequel like it with more levels. Adding the extra levels for the e-reader wasn't probably the best option to have, because of lack of interest with the accessory but is still good that they are now playable, and available from the start. People probably would find it worth having buy this port with the features added. Or are you telling me you rather still play the nes game or super mario allstars game?

This isn't a disagreement since is all opinion based, but it goes without saying that not everyone will agree with this statement.

watered down ports. Inferior sound, inferior colours. Extra useless features.

This, my friend. It's just it, sadly.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

This, my friend. It's just it, sadly.

The purpose of the games are to be able to play it anywhere, not just at home on tv. Stating stuff like inferior sound and color is obvious cause of the system is played on, did you expect it to be better than snes? Is a portable console, and all ports are like that. I still think features are debatable, cause not all game ports are useless features.

 

[Deleted User]

Well considering GBA is possibly a snes portable, GBA games offer more content and not just a port of a game. Super mario advance series is called that for good reason, MORE CONTENT. Yes is still the same game from snes, but for actually having a different boss in smb2 zone 3 being the robot birdo instead of recycle bosses, adding voice samples, save feature, additional game play such as finding yoshi eggs and coins, is just a improved game. Same goes for the other games, adding voice samples and improved gameplay, sma4 having e-reader levels and those unique items like boomerang and cape make it a bit more of a game and not just a lazy port wth problems.

Same can be said with other SNES to GBA ports like Donkey Kong country, Final fantasy 1-6 (Excluding 3) and Breath of fire. But most people just prefer snes cause of having better quality in colors, sounds, music, graphics, tv resolution. (And probably nostalgia enthusiast) whatever reasons one have for playing one over the other, they exist and have their own purpose.

The GBA was not just a portable SNES. Both had different processors, sound cards, screen resolutions, etc. To dismiss the GBA as just a SNES would be to ignore all these technical details.

I don't know how they are upgrades, especially when these are watered down ports. Inferior sound, inferior colours. Extra useless features.

Tying into what I just said, the reason for the inferior sound is likely the fact that the GBA is essentially trying to replicate how another system sounded, even when the SNES had more sound channels than the GBA did. (Quick Google Search revealed the SNES's 8 channels compared to the GBA's 2).

In short, gettung a GBA to play SNES games is like trying to get a different band to play the same song; yes, it might sound similar, but these are two differently-abled bands with different strengths and weaknesses. One band may play a particular song better than the other due to these strengths and weaknesses. And, of course, it's all subjective.

 

[pedro702]

Just wish some people would try and make that woth Mario World on SNES which is much better to play!

Good job! I'll put that in my Everdrive for sure!

what has mario world and ever drive have to do with dumping the gba version of super mario advance 4 that has e reader levels?

Also anyone bashing the gba sma4 is being dumb lol the 32 new levels are so great with colectiles and such not to mention fully portable in gba days, snes is way too overrated.

 

[DarthDub]

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I'm playing this on my 3DS!

 

[Localhorst86]

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I'm playing this on my 3DS!

I told my mum. She says hi.

 

[Localhorst86]

Just FYI, the EUR version of the game is different, they added the 38 levels to the european ROM. So the EU VC Release does contain all languages. I Just dumped the ROM using TCP GEcko

 

[VinsCool]

Just FYI, the EUR version of the game is different, they added the 38 levels to the european ROM. So the EU VC Release does contain all languages. I Just dumped the ROM using TCP GEcko

Sweet! can you post an .ips patch?

 

[gamesquest1]

I forgot about this, I had looked at the EU vc and seen it was based on the Eu rom with all the languages but never got around to actually dumping it, nice to know it's been done

 

[Localhorst86]

https://mega.nz/#!JYMEFA5Y!pll1ILT7oHTv5uJCSddoa4Yl0R3P2GWRRzWtkdlYhVQ
this is the link to the .ips and .xdelta files (whichever you prefer), needs to be applied to the ROM

Super Mario Advance 4 - Super Mario Bros. 3 (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It) (Rev 1)
CRC-32: 8d84acfc
MD4: 32ae0e4fbd649bf1cf118507b4eea77c
MD5: ae8af6b539d509019bdd06565c10804a
SHA-1: 2e5ce11a893464dc0cce0a6b451580ba35a7e5de

EDIT: I do hope I did not underdump the ROM. I assumed the ROM would still be 8Mb in size. I gave the game a quick test on VBA and the normal game and additional levels worked just fine.

My guess is the EU ROM had enough space left without having to be increased to 16Mb (the US release was increased from 4Mb to 8Mb for the VC release to hold the additional levels.

EDIT: here are the hashes for the patched ROM/VC Release:

CRC-32: d4f45b01
MD4: 10406a1dc607ad06858419ab1033a5e8
MD5: 733e976fd06d65e9f5635b836a14a81b
SHA-1: 00667ce3da4bfee3182c4445ac2f5483870be97c