Chase H.Q. (Arcade)

Chase H.Q.
Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Platform: Arcade (Taito Z System) Released in JP: September 1988 Released in US: November 1988 Released in EU: October 1988 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

Chase (H.Q.) criminals around in your sweet ride, and stop them by demolishing their cars which may or may not be sweet rides.

Notable for being the debut of Taito's modern gray-and-blue logo, though it had previously lurked unused in Rainbow Islands and Continental Circus.

Debug Functions

Stage Select

To access this stage select, hold the Service Coin button until the "SERVICE ERROR" message pops up on the screen. Then, press 1P Start (×3), Service Coin, 1P Start. This is the same method used on games that run on Taito's The NewZealand Story hardware.

(Source: RyogaMasaki)

Developer Flags

There are two ROM locations that the game checks to toggle development features. Put the codes at the start of each section in chasehq.xml or any of the child sets' cheat files to activate these features.

Game Pause

  <cheat desc="Game Pause">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@00084=0x0001</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@00084=0x0000</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

When activated, holding Turbo and 1P Start together will pause the game.

Old Taito Logo

  <cheat desc="Old Taito Logo">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@0008C=0x0000</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@0008C=0xFFFF</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

When set to zero, this flag disables the Taito logo screen and changes the logo on the title screen to the old red version.

(Other debug functions: Original TCRF research)

Early Billboards

Hidden in the game's object graphics ROM are an earlier set of billboards that either reference or directly mention real-life companies. Rather than use those, Taito opted to create a new set of wholly original billboards instead. None of the palettes for these billboards remains in the main game ROMs; these are just best guesses based on the companies parodied.

Early	Final

Sprite IDs: 010E-010F

"Garlton" is a parody (if you can call it that) of Carlton cigarettes. The billboard includes the long-running slogan "Garlton is lowest", referring to the amount of tar content in the cigarettes. This was replaced with a billboard for the fictional cigarette brand "Party Lights".

Early	Final

Sprite IDs: 011F-011E

"8Up" is a rather obvious parody of the soft drink 7Up, though "American Good Taste" doesn't appear to have been a real slogan at any point. In its place is a fake carbonated beverage called "Icy".

Early	Final

Sprite IDs: 0116-0119

Not so much a parody as it is a faithful recreation of a real mid-80s ad for Hormel Chili. Faced with conceiving a new billboard concept, Taito came up with this amazing "Morning Corn" ad.

Chase H.Q.	S.C.I.

This billboard was recycled for the game's sequel, S.C.I.: Special Criminal Investigation, though the detective(?) was redrawn to better match the rest of the game's billboards.

Early	Final

Sprite IDs: 011D-011E

Billboards for SeaWorld San Diego were replaced by signs for a fake steakhouse which probably doesn't use whale meat. Probably. This unused billboard would later turn up in S.C.I., where it's still unused! The Steak House Tony's branding would later appear in S.C.I.: Special Criminal Investigation, where it appears on the back of the trailer truck in that game's Stage 5, implied to be owned by that game's villain, Tony Raymond.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Build Date

A build date string is hidden in the unused part of the game's exception vector table (at 0x000AC):

Sat,23,Jul,1988

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Regional Differences

INT	US

All sets measure speed in kilometers per hour except for the US set, which uses miles per hour.