Burning Rangers

Burning Rangers
Developer: Sonic Team Publishers: Sega (JP/US/EU), Tec Toy (BR) Platform: Sega Saturn Released in JP: February 26, 1998 Released in US: March 15, 1998 Released in EU: June 12, 1998 Released in BR: 1998 This game has hidden bonus content. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page

Burning Rangers was Sonic Team's final Saturn title and is pretty fun. The game itself is pretty rare, especially outside of Japan, due to the game being released near the end of the Saturn's lifespan.

To do: Complete the webpage restoration and find any unused content

Sub-Page

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Notes

Versus Mode

Although multiplayer support was featured in previews for the game and appears in prerelease builds, it was cut for the final release.

The Versus Mode arena can still be accessed by forcing the game to load round 0x04 by changing memory address 0x060FFC15. The second character can be made playable by setting memory address 0x060FFC1F to 0x02. The first player will be stuck underneath the floor and unable to move, but changing the starting coordinate at memory address 0x06028062 to 0x6F will correct this.

The unused VS MODE icon is hidden from the menu, but can be restored by changing the memory address at 0x06079f12 to 0x0009.

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Debug Screens

Setting memory address 0x060FFC15 from 0x02 to 0x22 causes the game to display debug information on the right side of the screen. There are X, Y, and Z coordinates; five "SET" values; and the password for replaying the current variant of the mission. The five "SET" values are components of the generated password.

Setting memory address 0x0601E45D from 0x00 to values between 0x01 and 0x08 will make additional debugging information appear in the bottom left corner of the screen. The values that can be shown are: PL-MOTION, PL-POS, PL-CAMPOS, PL-ROT, CAM-ROT, CAM-POS, CAM-MESH, and CAM-MOD.

Setting memory address 0x060D85B0 (in Mission 1) to 0x02 will cause the game to display camera mode information. Memory address address 0x060D85B2 can then be set to values between 0x01 and 0x06 to control which mode is shown. The modes are: FREE CAMERA, ROOM CAMERA, FIX CAMERA, CHASE FIX CAMERA, CONTROL CAMERA, RECORD CAMERA, and B-RANGER'S EYE. Button X dismisses the message.

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Debug Mode

A special debug mode can be enabled while the game is paused:

• Go to memory address 0x060D872C
• Search for the nearest address with the value 0x0602A288
• Change that address's value to 0x0602A986
• Go to memory address 0x0602A01E
• Change its value to 0x0000

While in debug mode:

• Use the D-pad to position your character horizontally. You can move through ceilings, walls, and locked doors.
• Hold the Y button and then use the D-pad to position your character vertically.
• Hold the B button while using the D-pad to move more quickly.

Pressing X will restore normal control. This mode is available without memory editing in the January 3, 1998 prototype.

Unused Objects

The game contains data for a number of unused objects:

• Object 0x12 is a yellow fuel tank. These tanks appear in some prototype builds.
• Object 0x63 is a sign pointing the way to sector D-101 in Mission 1. This sign appears in the December 1, 1997 prototype.
• Objects 0x84 through 0x87 are red fuel tanks that have been tipped over. Rolling versions of these tanks appear in Mission 2 in some prototype builds.
• Object 0x88 is a floating red fuel tank. These tanks appear in the underwater sections in prototype versions of Mission 2.
• Object 0x96 is a switch that inverts the gravity, causing the player to flip over. This appears in the prototype versions of Mission 3.
• Object 0x97 is a spinning fan that produces an air current the player can ride. This appears in the prototype versions of Mission 3.
• Object 0x9F is a red crystal that's worth 10 instead of 1.

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Unused survivor models

The array that starts at memory address 0x06037AD0 determines which survivors appear in the mission. Mission 1 uses values up to 0x21; Missions 2 and 3 use values up to 0x22. Inserting values beyond these bounds causes unused survivors to appear.

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Split controls

Setting memory address 0x06027BF2 to 0x80 will allow player 1 and player 2 to share control of the game. Player 1's controller can move the camera; player 2 can run, jump, and shoot.

Second player free camera

Setting memory address 0x060D85B0 (in Mission 1) to 0x03 will allow player 2 to control the camera with the D-pad and face buttons. The camera can freely explore the area, moving through walls and doors.

Unused "first person" camera

Setting memory address 0x060D85B0 (in Mission 1) to 0x0A will enable the "eye" camera mode. This gives a first person view. The setting will persist until the game changes the camera mode, e.g. for a cut scene.

Wireframe graphics

Setting memory address 0x060ca028 to 0x01 will enable wireframe graphics.

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"New mail" on the title screen

The unreferenced function at 0x06079110 controls whether a "new mail" icon appears on the title screen. This was moved to the mode select screen at some point during development.

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Hidden Web Pages

Download Hidden HTML Pages and Images File: Burning Rangers - Hidden HTML pages.rar (849 KB) (info)

Present in the EXTRA folder of the US disc are a number of .WAV files. Extracting these from the disc and viewing them in a hex editor reveals dozens of webpages and images stuffed in-between audio samples. Many of these originate from Sega of Japan's BBS, Planet Cafe, and include posts from these threads. However, there is also fan mail with requests to the developers and a couple of internal pages.

The above file also contains restorations of some of the pages, due to the image links being damaged or misdirected in the original files. Furthermore, most of these pages are viewed with Shift-JIS encoding, so Japanese fonts will need to be supported.

(Source: Energy, counterDiving, Eientei95)