Homebrew The MD5 Tags for Virtual Console Titles

[CommanderCool]

I've been noticing that the MD5 tags for a series of virtual console titles (Aria of Sorrow, Metroid: Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, FFTA) are different from the versions which were originally released on the GBA. What differences exist in the virtual console versions that are different from the original cartridge versions?

 

[godreborn]

afaik, there are three save files for vc games: one is for save state, one is regular save, and one is when you exit out of the game to the home menu it makes a temp sleep mode type save. I think the vc game is tweaked to allow those, possibly. I've never really looked into it.

 

[CommanderCool]

afaik, there are three save files for vc games: one is for save state, one is regular save, and one is when you exit out of the game to the home menu it makes a temp sleep mode type save. I think the vc game is tweaked to allow those, possibly. I've never really looked into it.

I'd like to say that this is true, but I did a check of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and it shares an ID with its GBA counterpart. I would assume that there's something else in there which is worth checking out, anyways. It's made me rather curious, admittedly!

Though, admittedly, I'm not the most tech-savvy individual. I wonder where I could begin learning how to explore the innards of these games...

 

[godreborn]

the games come in rom.zip, so they're zipped by default. I've never really looked at what's inside.

 

[godreborn]

I looked in the rom.zip. here's what it looks like inside (one file for dawn of sorrow):

 

[VinsCool]

Some games have specific patches to make them work properly, or disable features like sleep mode.

A good example is Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3.
All the e-Reader levels are hardcoded into the ROM, which is pretty nice.

Games like Mega Man Battle Network also have some changes in the ROM itself, like missing or new equipment pieces put in place, or some minor stuff to make the ROM run properly.