Contra Spirits SA-1 Beta is now available for testing
Hello everyone.
Contra Spirits, the Japanese version of Contra III, with SA-1 support is now available for testing. No more slowdown, much faster loading, and the bombs last a bit longer now (see below for details).
For who remember when Contra III (USA) SA-1 was released, I thought Contra Spirits (or Super Probotector) would require a full disassembly and re-analysis again, which is the cost of creating a new SA-1 game (e.g. SimCity). But as explained here, I found out a way to make a more smart analysis, taking in account the relative code reallocations and was able to separate the graphics change from the game. So just like Super R-Type Japan/USA/Europe SA-1, which is already available for download, I was able to apply the same technique for Contra III too.
The differences
Technically, they're 84% identical, when you make a byte-by-byte analysis. And the 16% changes are exactly what SA-1 Root changes: the code -- which after rearranging the analysis, ended up to the real changes to be less than 2% in the end... The rest was just shifting bytes around. Even that SA-1 Root patch will now have a dedicated remap folder for each region, but the core patch itself is the same; the remap ones only gives the main patch the 'places' to edit.
As for the game itself, the main changes is that the title screen and text are different. The game also doesn't have limit on continues and there's three cheat codes for 30 lives, a secret stage select menu and a sound test. And finally, the final boss is already available on the normal difficulty, while on the USA you had to play on the hard mode. I'm working on a video which shows all differences between the games and it should be published as soon as I finish it.
An additional fix
I already had to previously patch Contra III to delay some of the animations so it doesn't cause desynchronization with sound effects. I also made a change to make the in-game bombs also last a little longer to compensate that they no longer slowdown. Thanks RHZeus for the suggestion. Let me know how the bombs feel in-game and if any additional calibration is needed for them.
They are separate code for platform and top-down views, so there might be some minor difference on them, but overall they now last similarly long as the original game.
How to play
The BPS patch is in the attachments. Please use BPS patchers tool, such as beat or FLIPS against the Japanese ROM. If you want to play the American version, it's available on SA-1 Root.
Your Japanese ROM before patching:
CRC32: B8CFE377
SHA256: 61F42097EF04B8C0605FAD8F994E8ED14A7A6408ABF33A02B9A71B5049EFCA21
After patching:
CRC32: 9293E5BF
SHA256: 2DFFAA250A1A09D3129830EE41325CBC6E52BFECC157D7C4BDDAE6CAFD7D64C5
Same requirements as the American one: 128 kB (1024 Kbit) of BW-RAM, real hardware, MiSTer or Snes9x/bsnes/higan/ares/Mesen. ZSNES is not supported.
Next steps
Let me know how this one plays: what you played it on, how far you went, on which difficulty, and how the bombs feel now. If you know Contra Spirits well, you are exactly who I need here. And if you have a SA-1 cart or a flash cart, real hardware reports are very welcome too. Comment below or e-mail me if you find anything.
Next is Super Probotector, the European version. That one is a real PAL adaptation, Konami changed timers all over the game for 50 Hz, so the patch had to follow them.
Super Metroid and SimCity should have news as well soon. They are working. It's possible to finish them. But they need more polish. I count with your support and patience.
Thank you and happy ROM hacking!