Continental Circus (Arcade)

Continental Circus
Developer: Taito Publishers: Taito (JP/US), Electrocoin (EU) Platform: Arcade (Taito Z System) Released in JP: March 1988[1] Released in US: August 1988[2] Released in EU: June 1988[3] This game has unused code. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

The distinguishing feature of Continental Circus is the implementation of an active shutter 3D system: Players can use a pair of shutter glasses attached to the system to view the game in eye-popping 3-D. It's like the flaming wreckage is coming right at ya!

P.S.: There are no clowns in this game.

Crash Handler

This game has a handler for the standard 68000 exception vectors. It prints the CPU and address the error occurred on, the name of the exception, and the values of the program counter, status register, and instruction opcode.

New Taito Logo

Used
Unused

There's a flag at 0x3FFFF in the main CPU that's set to 00 by default. If it's set to a non-zero value, the usual thick red Taito logo will be replaced by then-yet-to-debut modern gray-and-blue Taito logo! This logo first made its appearance in the graphics banks of Rainbow Islands, but nothing in the game's code referenced those graphics. This would have been the first game to properly make use of this logo, but Taito decided to wait until September 1988 for its debut.

First, put the following code in MAME's contcirc.xml cheat file to bypass the game's checksums:

  <cheat desc="Ignore Checksums">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@00ABA=0x0002</action>
      <action>sub.mw@009B4=0x0002</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@00ABA=0x0174</action>
      <action>sub.mw@009B4=0x0084</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Then, put this code in the contcirc.xml cheat file to set the logo flag to 01:

  <cheat desc="New Taito Logo">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mb@03FFFF=0x01</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mb@03FFFF=0x00</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

The logo will then appear on the copyright screen, title screen, and credits.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Graphics

Unseen

These graphics are technically used, but are either concealed or off-camera.

Used	Full

On the starting screen, banners for the F-1 Grand Prix and the Honda Civik (much kooler than the Civic) are just out of frame.

Used	Full

A good number of the squares in the ending sequence's background are either obscured or out of sight, including parodies of Coca-Cola, Camel, Nescafé, Marlboro, JVC, NGK, and Elf, as well as possibly STP, along with some hidden developer credits.

Referenced Graphics

The following graphics are in the sprite table but are never used in -game.

Sprite ID: 0060

Along with the fire extinguisher and tire alerts, there's an unused alert showing a gas canister. The developers might have planned for the player's car to run low on gas, forcing them to make a pit stop to refuel.

Sprite IDs: 01E0-01E3 (Numbers), 01DF (Last)

Four unused numbers and a "LAST" text. These graphics and an unused kanji in the next section suggests that the player was meant to do multiple laps in a course instead of just one.

Sprite 005B	Sprite 00D3	Sprite 00D4	Sprite 00D9
Marlboro (Man)	Goodyear, Texaco, and Agip	Valvoline Racing Oil	Honda Racing Corporation
Sprite 00D9	Sprite 00DA	Sprite 00DB
NGK Spark Plug	Agip	Pepsi

Seven unused billboards, all of which parody (read: change a few letters to avoid legal disputes) real companies. The "Popsi" billboard doesn't have a proper palette in the actual game; the image above is a mock-up.

Putting this cheat in MAME's contcirc.xml cheat file will replace the pumpkin billboards in the Brazil course with one of the unused billboards:

  <cheat desc="Replace Pumpkin Billboards">
    <parameter>
      <item value="0x5B86">Maldoro</item>
      <item value="0xD384">Texacc</item>
      <item value="0xD484">Valvcline</item>
      <item value="0xD984">Honda HRG</item>
      <item value="0xDA84">Spark NGK</item>
      <item value="0xDB84">Aoips</item>
      <item value="0xDC84">Popsi</item>
    </parameter>
    <script state="run">
      <action>sub.mw@287D1=param</action>
      <action>sub.mw@287EF=param</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>sub.mw@287D1=0xD684</action>
      <action>sub.mw@287EF=0xD864</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Sprites 020B + 020D	Sprites 020C + 0214	Sprites 020E + 020F	Sprites 0210 + 0211
Goodyear tires	Mobil gas	Marlboro cigarettes	Pirelli tires

Four unused double-wide billboards which, again, parody real companies.

Sprite ID: 01E9

An unused sign with the original Taito logo on top! Like the Popsi sign, no proper palette exists for this sign and the image above uses a mockup palette.

Early (Sprites 0093-0098)	Final (Sprites 0113-0118)

An early version of the checkpoint gate. The old version is only one screen wide with thin poles and a small sign, while the new version is 224 pixels wider with thicker poles and a bigger sign.

Early (Sprites 0173-0174)	Final (Sprites 01EB-01EC)

Early Taito platforms. They're taller. That's all.

Unreferenced Graphics

These graphics either aren't in the sprite table or have no associated tilemap.

A completely unused large font can be found in the BG/FG graphics ROM. This font matches the style of the giant time, rank, and qualify digits, with harsh angles and thick lines.

The first kanji is the symbol for yen 円, and the next six are counters for time: Year 年, month 月, day 日, hour 時, minute 分, and second 秒.

Three unused kanji in the game's standard font. 現在 translates as current or present, and 周 is a counter of laps or circuits.

Unused
Final

The Taito logos at the end of each race were originally the modern gray-and-blue version, with patches for the old design crudely pasted on later (note the T and the I, which are missing the serifs that the older logo had, and the dot over the I in the second graphic).

Unused	Final

What was originally an upside-down Shell logo was changed to something completely different, a reference to John Player Special as Team Lotus' sponsor until the 1986 Formula One season.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Text

Mixed in with the English course names at 0x046FA is a list of a course lengths for each stage:

Stage 1: Brazil	Stage 2: America	Stage 3: France	Stage 4: Monaco	Stage 5: Germany	Stage 6: Spain	Stage 7: Mexico	Stage 8: Japan
CIRCUIT 1 : 5.030	CIRCUIT 1 : 5.435	CIRCUIT 1 : 3.800	CIRCUIT 1 : 3.312	CIRCUIT 1 : 6.789	CIRCUIT 1 : 3.404	CIRCUIT 1 : 3.250	CIRCUIT 1 : 6.004

Regional Differences

There are four release of this game:

• contrircj is the original Japanese release of the game. Released in the 1987.
• contrircua known as Set 2 in MAME, is the first and older US release of the game, which has the change to start the game and continue, the player have to press the accelerator pedal instead of press the start button. This is the first version that licensed by the US Navy under US patent no. 4021846.
• contrircu known as Set 1 in MAME, is the second and newer US release of the game. This version plays like the older US version except that this version fixes the game title and game over tagline position to make it centered.
• contrirc is the final release of the game, released for the International/World market. This version is based in the newer US version.

Title Screen

Japan	US (Set 2, older)	US (Set 1, newer)	World

Along the Taito copyright changement between the versions, in the older US version, the game title is a bit moved to the left side of the screen. The newer US version fixed this, make it centered like the other versions.

(Source: Original TCRF research)