Deadly Towers

Deadly Towers
Also known as: Mashou (JP) Developers: Tamtex, Lenar Publishers: Irem (JP), Brøderbund (US) Platform: NES Released in JP: December 15, 1986 Released in US: September 1987 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a Data Crystal page

Fatal high-rises. Ominous obelisks. Deadly Towers.

Debug Screens

Several debugging tools can be activated via the Family BASIC keyboard. Hold A + B on Controller 1 along with one of the following keys, then reset the console:

M - Monitor adjust

C - Color adjust

L - CRC test

T - Timer

S - Sound check

@ - CHR RAM test

ESC - Reset

Press Start or Select during any of the tests to proceed to the password screen, or any direction on the D-Pad to reset to the title screen.

Monitor Adjust

Color Adjust

CRC Test

Calculates some checksums, then displays "NO ERROR COMPLETED".

Timer

Displays a simple timer. Press A to start the timer, A again to reset it to zero, or B to stop it.

Sound Check

You might think there's a sound test here, but sadly that isn't the case: the code simply writes the string "SOUND CHECK" to the screen and goes into an infinite loop.

CHR RAM Test

Tests the game's CHR RAM by filling it with a single value and reading it back, and then displays either a green (pass) or red (fail) screen. For some reason, the test was originally intended to alternate between writing $5A and $A5, but it seems to have been altered to only write $00.

Reset

Continually resets the game (via an indirect JMP to the RESET vector at $FFFC) until you release the buttons. May have had another function at some point in time.

(Source: CaH4e3, ReyVGM, BMF54123)

Unused Text

Programmer Message

At 0x1E01F (US) or 0x1E1C3 (Japan), there's a secret message from the developers. For whatever reason, the Japanese version ends with two extra exclamation marks and has an extra space before "GOOD BYE".

DISASSEMBLE? HELLO ! THIS IS DISASSEMBLE MESSAGE FOR YOU.
THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE IN JAPAN TOKYO 10 NOV 1986 COPY RIGHT BY
IREM CORP.PROGRAMMED AND LICENSED BY LENAR SPLENDOR
TEAM GOOD BYE !

Unknown

An odd bit of text is at 0x1E1B0 in the Japanese version, after the line "PEACE WILL PROSPER IN FUTURE". Its location suggests it was supposed to appear somewhere in the ending.

      HOW WAS IT ?

Regional Differences

The list of room names was cleaned up for the American release.

Japan	US
COLD KILLERS ROOM GRAT BURNS ROOM BEAT PLANTS ROOM WHEELERS ROOM CENTIPEDES ROOM GRAT WINGS ROOM DEATH BEARS ROOM	COLD KILLER'S ROOM GREAT BURN'S ROOM BEAT PLANT'S ROOM WHEELER'S ROOM CENTIPEDE'S ROOM GREAT WINGS'S ROOM DEATH BEAR'S ROOM

The ending message was changed slightly in the US version to correct a grammatical error.

Japan	US
HE SUCCEEDED TO THE THRONE AND PEACE WILL PROSPER IN FUTURE	HE SUCCEEDED TO THE THRONE AND PEACE WILL PROSPER IN THE FUTURE