TMNT: Turtles in Time Free Play Hack

[kuze]

Hey folks,

I threw together a free play hack for Turtles in Time which I thought others may find useful.

Why create this when a 'free play' mode already exists? Well, the built in free play mode puts you directly to the red 'press start' screen and could cause burn-in. Also, everyone loves a good attract mode!

What this does is use P1 and P2 start as credit buttons. If you enter credits anyways via your coin mech they will not register, just hit start instead.

This has been created for the '2 Player USA' version (tmnt22pu) in MAME specifically. Apply the xdeltas to the '063uda02.8e' and '863uda03.8g' files, burn to EPROMs and enjoy! Make sure in test mode -> coin settings you have the game set to regular '1 coin = 1 credit' mode, not free play.

Disclaimer: I haven't yet tested this on a PCB yet, so use at your own risk. I'm not responsible if any PCBs catch fire!
I'll give it a try on real hardware at some point this weekend or in the near future and will confirm here once it's hardware tested.

I'm not posting the game files, this is just the 'xdelta' patches to apply against your own game ROMs.
I recommend using xdelta or xdelta UI as found here: https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598/

One other note, if your ROMs are corrupt the ROM test screen will still report 'OK' - just a heads up.

Cheers!

EDIT: See Posts 5 & 6 for improved versions thanks to @Apocalypse!

 

[ekorz]

Thank you! This is also nice since, if I recall, you need a coin chute for each player. That doesn’t work well with my candy cabs that only have one coin chute.

 

[Apocalypse]

What about:
- leave the attract cycle normally in freeplay mode until you press the start button
- recalculate checksum so it works as it should

That would be neater.

 

[nem]

What about:
- leave the attract cycle normally in freeplay mode until you press the start button
- recalculate checksum so it works as it should

That would be neater.

This would indeed be the best solution.

Games that don't have Attract Mode during Free Play

 

[Apocalypse]

This would indeed be the best solution.

Games that don't have Attract Mode during Free Play

Just made it for you:

http://www.filedropper.com/tmnt2eba

TMNT2 EBA version (Europe 2 player). Let you cycle through attract in freeplay AND in non freeplay even if you have inserted a coin. Checksum works.
It's a one byte modification (plus an other one byte for the checksum).

 

[kuze]

This would indeed be the best solution.

Games that don't have Attract Mode during Free Play

TMNT2 EBA version (Europe 2 player). Let you cycle through attract in freeplay AND in non freeplay even if you have inserted a coin. Checksum works.
It's a one byte modification (plus an other one byte for the checksum).

Nice find on that attract mode branch, Apocalypse. That's even better!

Here is the same thing but for the 'tmnt22pu' (2 Players ver UDA) version. The offset is slightly different, but it took all of five seconds to find after looking at your patch. Thanks for your contribution!

 

[SmokeMonster]

Great work. You guys should start posting these kinds of things at archive.org for posterity.

Now if you could just get rid of that infernal pizza party song. I swear, that probably led to some job walkouts back in the day

 

[ekorz]

Here is the same thing but for the 'tmnt22pu' (2 Players ver UDA) version

Works on my hardware!

(and I'm very grateful to remove the jumper wire from the coin1 to coin2 that was my previous hack...)

 

[twistedsymphony]

very cool. my CRTs thank you all.

any chance this hack works on the 4P version also?

 

[kuze]

very cool. my CRTs thank you all.

any chance this hack works on the 4P version also?

The 4 player versions do not have a free play mode, however this fix will prevent players from coining up and the game sitting at the "press start" screen. Instead the attract mode continues to play after you've coined up until you hit start.

A method like my original patch in the OP could be used for 4 player roms too if there is interest, or someone could potentially add a free play coin setting.

Anyhow here's the 'attract fix' xdeltas for the two "4 player" revisions.

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

hey @kuze , can you do up a set of modifications for free-play for the 4 player roms as well? I'm getting a swing and would love to have freeplay versions of these konami games for 4 players.

also, could this same mod be applied to other 4 player konami games?

 

[kuze]

Check out the post before yours @Lemony Vengeance

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

Check out the post before yours @Lemony Vengeance

yes, I see that with the attract fix, but does that also add freeplay to the 4 player roms?

 

[nem]

No. It just keeps the attract demo running when you coin up.

 

[kuze]

yes, I see that with the attract fix, but does that also add freeplay to the 4 player roms?

It does not unfortunately. I could make a 4P version that coins up when you hit attack and starts the game - would that work for you?

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

It does not unfortunately. I could make a 4P version that coins up when you hit attack and starts the game - would that work for you?

Would it coin up when attack is pressed during gameplay as well, or only during the attract screen?

 

[kuze]

Would it coin up when attack is pressed during gameplay as well, or only during the attract screen?

Only if the player is not already in use

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

Only if the player is not already in use

Excellent I’d dig that hack

 

[kuze]

Excellent I’d dig that hack

Cool I still have my notes from 2p version so shouldn’t be too hard to implement. I’ll take a look over the next few days and update here.

 

[8bitforlife]

would this work for you if you die and have to coin up to continue?