Arcade PCB Practice Mods - Gradius IV, Dodonpachi, Outzone, Tatsujin-Oh, XEXEX

[Mrhide]

ok .. system16 says Hang Pilot is Hornet but mame says it's gticlub. So gticlub it is and no go for Gradius IV.

Thanks for the nice trainer anyway

 

[alamone]

While I'm at it, I decided to make a spreadsheet with links to PCB ROM hacks. I know there's romhacking.net but they seem to be more focused on consoles.
Let me know if I'm missing anything.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...pKGbvosnHDynEryOIQMaWKnfc/edit#gid=1741601133

 

[alamone]

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool. Now it has a feature to display the rank, option hunter timer (H), and blue capsule counter (B).
http://alamone.net/g4tool/

 

[alamone]

New feature for Gradius 4 Mod Tool: Edit mode (replace any type with any combination of missile/double/laser)

 

[kuze]

Cool mods/trainers! Keep up the nice work.

 

[JohnRambo'sKnife]

Sorry to bother you @alamone, but do you recall what rom type is needed for Gradius IV? I can't read marking per photos and really don't want to pull it out and take all 24 screws off to go back inside.

 

[alamone]

You need 1x 27C160 and a programmer that can handle 16 bit 42 pin EPROMs. You could also use a 27C322 if you double the data.

 

[JohnRambo'sKnife]

Thank you Alamone!

 

[alamone]

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool.

New Features:
- Numeric Lives
- RTC Error Skip (if your RTC battery is dead, will skip setting the date/time and go straight to the Test Menu with cursor on "Game Mode")

If you don't care about bookkeeping or changing the game settings from default, this will let you quickly start the game even with a dead battery.
Thus, you don't have to keep replacing the RTC timekeeper or drill the package to make a replaceable battery.

 

[alamone]

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool to v5.00.

New Features:
- Stage and Loop select is now a menu based GUI

 

[alamone]

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool to v5.40.

New Features:
- Return to normal shot (equip double or laser a second time)
- Speed down (speed up at max speed)
- Choose full powerup: double (BC) / laser (AB) / normal (AC) during pause
- Invincible (for debugging)
- Fix typos ("holoscope" -> "horoscope")

Obviously some features may give you advantages over a stock rom so it's more for fun / practice if you choose to enable it.
Each feature is individually switchable in the patcher interface.

 

[plasticfactory]

Gradius 3 and 4 are among my most favorite arcade games. Thanks for this work, I'll absolutely be implementing this!

 

[alamone]

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool to v5.42 - fixed some bugs with the location of options spawning when using full powerup in pause.

Also, I found some debug code including a sound test, there's a lot of unused voices in the game, some rather hilarious (like "shut them all up").

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBGATLgru9k

 

[alamone]

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool to v5.49 - New feature: Rank adjustment

 

[rtw]

You are on fire @alamone ,I guess you have seen the Konami announcement.

https://www.konami.com/games/gradius/eu/en/

Now the question is, why no Gradius IV or V ?

 

[alamone]

Yeah, I have it preordered already. I'm guessing that with the current state of Hornet emulation, they decided to kick the can for Gradius IV.

Updated the Gradius IV Mod Tool to v5.50 - New feature: Sound Test.

 

[-Ace-]

Now the question is, why no Gradius IV or V ?

Exactly what I was thinking- but Salamander 3 though

 

[rtw]

Where did you preorder @alamone ?

 

[plasticfactory]

You are on fire @alamone ,I guess you have seen the Konami announcement.

https://www.konami.com/games/gradius/eu/en/

Now the question is, why no Gradius IV or V ?

My God, a new Salamander game?!

I'm gonna have to jammaize a little steam box for this collection.

 

[Mrhide]

I thought it was only on the switch but it's on all the platforms

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2897590/GRADIUS_ORIGINS/