Rings of Saturn
If you're following me on X / Twitter (@memory_fallen) for my posts about reverse engineering retro games, check out RINGS OF SATURN, my Substack blog. Each week I take apart a different game and report my findings.
This week's main article is about a patch for Elevator Action Returns. I found that the Saturn port has a hidden set of debug features, and the patch enables them.
Interestingly, the debug code looks nearly identical to the debug code in two other Vingo / Taito games: Galactic Attack and Metal Black. The controls are the same and the pause menu items are the same.
The writeup describes the patch and some extra features in the game.
The holiday season bonus article is about Skeleton Warriors for Saturn and PlayStation.
This game has several known cheat codes, but I found some new ones. Doing some involved a preimage attack on the game's custom hashing function, which required some help from a cryptographer.
I also got notes and commentary from the game's main programmer (now a celebrated skeptic) Mick West!
Check out the writeup here.
There are lots more reverse engineering articles in the archive. What games should I be looking at? Tell me, and I might add them to my list.