ROM Hack Interesting stuff in Contra 4...

[Tanks]

So I decided to look through the Contra 4 rom to see if there was anything of interest and it appears there was.

I ended up finding the Contra.nes and SuperC.nes roms inside. They play like any other rom in an emulator. The strange thing is that there are small differences between the roms and the good NES dumps we have. I have a few pictures of them.

The files not labeled with the "good set" labeling ((u) [!]) are the ones I ripped from the Contra 4 rom.

Contra.nes differnces

SuperC.nes differences

It appears there's quite a bit of padding added to the Contra .nes rom I got from Contra 4. and the difference I found in SuperC.nes is that the "A" was changed to a "@."

I haven't tested any other NES roms yet but it's possible that other will play in Contra 4's emulator. It's entirely possible that the built in emulator only supports Contra's mappers. I cannot test any other NES roms yet because I haven't unlocked any of the extra games.

I've also found what I think is a file for a test stage and I've read through the interview in a hex editor. I also think I might have stumbled upon the levels themselves.

I'll do a little more research into this once I get a better save file or beat the game myself.

 

[Jax]

I found "PocketNES" somewhere in the credits. That must be the emulator!

 

[Deleted User]

I found "PocketNES" somewhere in the credits. That must be the emulator!

serious_sean said the emulator is proprietary and the developers just thanked the authors of PocketNES in the release thread of Contra 4 (i just read through all the pages).

as far as pocketNES goes, it isn't used in the game; the emulation is proprietary. i believe it was a special thanks, just because pocketNES is a good example of emulation on the GBA and DS.

I think bender bending rodriguez is also thanked, but he didn't have much to do with the game.Â

 

[Tanks]

PocketNES in credits pic

Hmm... this is strange then =/

 

[Nero]

Wow! Nice find dude...

Can't believe they just edited the NES rom and stuck it in Contra 4. I hope you find out more soon.

~Nero

 

[zerosystem]

I replaced contra and superc with different nes roms. They all run pretty well with only a few sound issues. Zelda works on it but does not save (I was not expecting it to save). Replacing contra and superc with roms that are bigger than the original have worked so far. So you could use Contra 4 as a nes emulator, but you can only have two games on it at one time.

 

[Nero]

I replaced contra and superc with different nes roms. They all run pretty well with only a few sound issues. Zelda works on it but does not save (I was not expecting it to save). Replacing contra and superc with roms that are bigger than the original have worked so far. So you could use Contra 4 as a nes emulator, but you can only have two games on it at one time.

Sweet dude! Can I request you try Chrono Trigger?

Sorry, but I haven't beaten Contra4 yet.

~Nero

 

[zerosystem]

I replaced contra and superc with different nes roms. They all run pretty well with only a few sound issues. Zelda works on it but does not save (I was not expecting it to save). Replacing contra and superc with roms that are bigger than the original have worked so far. So you could use Contra 4 as a nes emulator, but you can only have two games on it at one time.


Sweet dude! Can I request you try Chrono Trigger?

Sorry, but I haven't beaten Contra4 yet.

~Nero

Chrono Trigger is a Snes game so I'm sure it would not work on the nes emulator.

 

[Nero]

SORRY! Laughing my A.. Off.

I forgot that CT was a SNES game.

Now I feel stupid.

~Nero

 

[GameDragon]

Thats pretty amazing... using a commercial game as an emulator. Would TMNT II work on it? Its one of the few games I remember that does not work on nesDS.

 

[Tanks]

I replaced contra and superc with different nes roms. They all run pretty well with only a few sound issues. Zelda works on it but does not save (I was not expecting it to save). Replacing contra and superc with roms that are bigger than the original have worked so far. So you could use Contra 4 as a nes emulator, but you can only have two games on it at one time.

Sound problems is to be expected and I figured not saving would be an obvious "no-no." I just got challenge mode... currently trying to beat it to unlock Contra NES.

I also think I'll try to hack in Sheena and Probotector without having to deal with unlocking them. (So long Bulldog and Scorpion)

EDIT:

Well I finally got through challenge mode enough to unlock Contra NES. I re-inserted Double Dragon II, a game currently not working with nesDS. I've created an IPS patch and have included the save file for automatic testing.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/f0ee6e/

Now to look into the Sheena and Probotector thing...

 

[Deleted User]

Wow, amazing work Tanks!

It's really strange that he said the emulation is proprietary when it obviously based on the PocketNES core.

 

[pasc]

Perhaps you mean property ?

Anyway, thanks for this save ^^ Good to play the old one again.

BTW: It SUCKS that they didn't include Singlecardplay

. I used to play the old Contra with my friend (Gba Pocketnes hehe) for hours, but with this "Multicardshit" how are we supposed to play it ? BuYiNG ? What a awful thought... Anyway, back to Singleplayer...

 

[Yugge]

Perhaps you mean property ?

Anyway, thanks for this save ^^ Good to play the old one again.

BTW: It SUCKS that they didn't include Singlecardplay

. I used to play the old Contra with my friend (Gba Pocketnes hehe) for hours, but with this "Multicardshit" how are we supposed to play it ? BuYiNG ? What a awful thought... Anyway, back to Singleplayer...

How about not having your friend leech of you for once?

 

[chuckstudios]

Perhaps you mean property ?

Anyway, thanks for this save ^^ Good to play the old one again.

BTW: It SUCKS that they didn't include Singlecardplay

. I used to play the old Contra with my friend (Gba Pocketnes hehe) for hours, but with this "Multicardshit" how are we supposed to play it ? BuYiNG ? What a awful thought... Anyway, back to Singleplayer...

No, he means proprietary.

Also, "singlecardplay" is called Download Play.

 

[pasc]

he means proprietary, ok.

the latter is clear, but I do not always think about anything 150 times, though thanks for mentioning.

 

[Heran Bago]

^^^ You should only have to think about what something's called once.

Is the emulator actually based on PocketNES? That's a really bold claim, and pocket NES hasn't been the only emulator out there. I'd think they would just get help from Nintendo. It's an interesting theory Mr. Wright, but where's your evidence?

 

[Tanks]

Moving on from the NES emu discovery...

I've found that the 2D Contra 4 graphics can be edited via Tile Molester.

As you can see with the picture linked below, you can view the .ANM files. All you need to do is set the codec to 4bpp linear, reverse order.

Contra 4 graphics hacking.

Now the palette files are somewhere in the rom. I have a hunch I might know just what they are. If I'm right, I'll ask a friend of mine to help me with a little TM hack that will force it to load the palette file.

 

[Deleted User]

Moving on from the NES emu discovery...

I've found that the 2D Contra 4 graphics can be edited via Tile Molester.

As you can see with the picture linked below, you can view the .ANM files. All you need to do is set the codec to 4bpp linear, reverse order.

Contra 4 graphics hacking.

Now the palette files are somewhere in the rom. I have a hunch I might know just what they are. If I'm right, I'll ask a friend of mine to help me with a little TM hack that will force it to load the palette file.

isn't a little converter from animated gif to anm would be a lot better ?

 

[cubin']

This game is just too hard for me. what have modern games turned me into?