DinoCity

DinoCity
Also known as: Dinowars: Kyouryuu Oukoku e no Daibouken (JP) Developer: Irem Publisher: Irem Platform: SNES Released in JP: July 7, 1992 Released in US: September 1992 Released in EU: 1992 This game has unused graphics. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

DinoCity is a decent platformer that is loosely based on a mediocre made-for-TV movie. After "touching [Timmy's] dad's science device," two friends are sucked into a giant TV and find themselves trapped inside their favorite show. To return home, they must retrieve a stolen fuse from a gang of tiny cavemen, with the help of two sharply-dressed dinosaur pals.

Button Codes

The game contains a number of button codes that can be entered at the title screen. For each button combination (ex. X + UP), while holding the first button, press the second button, then release both. A chime will indicate correct code entry.

Code	Effects
Left, R + Right, A + Right, Y + Left, Select + Down	(bit.02) "Restore HP". Before the new location appears, at "TEAM READY" screen hold Up + Left + X + L + R.
X + Up, Left, A + Left, R + Right, Y + Left, Y + Right, Select + Down	(bit.04) "Double HP". Default HP value set to 6 instead of 3.
B + Right, R + Right, B + Up, X + Up, R + Right, B + Up, X + Left, Select + Down	(bit.08) "Infinite HP". Works only if (bit.04) "Double HP" cheat is activated. Default HP value set to 32737 which is technically an infinite value.
Y + Up, R + Right, Y + Left, R + Right, Up, Select + Left, B + Up, Y + Up, Select + Down	(bit.01) "Stage Select". Enables Stage select screen. See section below for details.
R + Left, A + Left, L + Left, Y + Right, X + Up, Up, R + Right, Y + Left, Y + Left, Select + Down	(bit.10) "Instant Restore HP". If (bit.02) "Restore HP" cheat is activated restores HP instantly without button codes.
R + Down, Up, R + Right, B + Up, L + Right, A + Right, X + Right, Y + Up, A + Left, Select + Left, L + Left, Select + Down	(bits01-10) "All cheats". Enables all cheats above at once.

Level Select

During the game, press Start to pause then hold R + A and press Select. The Select Window will appear, which allows you to choose your player team, and warp to any area in the game.

• PLAYER TEAM: Choose your favorite anachronism.
• STAGE: Choose 1-6. A stage is a collection of areas punctuated by a boss battle.
• AREA: Choose 0-19. Each stage has 20 possible areas (though most are duplicates of each other); the ones you visit during normal gameplay are determined by which doors you enter. Note that you cannot warp directly to boss arenas from this menu!
• POINT: Choose 0 or 1. 0 puts you at the beginning of the chosen area, while 1 puts you at the midway checkpoint.

When finished, press Start again to warp to the selected stage/area, with your selected player team.

Disabled Difficulty Setting

The Japanese release includes a difficulty selection between Normal and Hard. Hard is the default difficulty, while Normal contains two extra hit points and unlimited continues. At some point in development, the international release was going to retain the capacity to select a difficulty.

The final version of the international release still has several RAM variables to control the corresponding settings as well as whole set of corresponding data and code to handle them. The names of both difficulty modes, "NORMAL" and "HARD", are still stored as hidden text. The current player's value of the difficulty is stored at $7E1733 in RAM. The $7E2007 and $7E2021 RAM addresses contains difficulty settings for both players separately. Interestingly, the default value for the difficulty setting is always set to "HARD". To change the difficulty to "NORMAL", either patch the ROM at $22BCD and $22C08 to all $00, or set to $00 the RAM variables mentioned above in an emulator.

The default value of HP in "NORMAL" mode is 5 (with the "Double HP" cheat this will be 10). In addition to unlimited continues and additional HP, this difficulty level has fewer enemies in some stages.

Unused Text

The ROM header at 0x007FF0 contains a developer's name:

R.SHOBU

Leftover text from an old version of the level select, starting at ROM address 0x1B7A1. Note the early misspelled names for Rex and Tops.

STAGE SELECT
STAGE
AREA
CHECK
TEAM
RECKS
TOPPS

Also, at 0x010D68 there is leftover text from the completely disabled difficulty select menu.

NORMAL
HARD

Unused Font

This very plain ASCII font is copied to VRAM at reset, but quickly overwritten with the Irem logo graphics. It is stored in 1bpp format in the ROM.

It also has an associated palette, consisting of some very basic colors.

This font was likely used for debugging at some point, but there doesn't seem to be any code left that would utilize it.

Regional Differences

To do: Get some screenshots/sprite rips.

In addition to the capacity to choose a difficulty level, there are also some sprite differences between the Japanese and international releases.

Japan	US

Cindy, the cavewoman, has a more revealing dress, a curvier build, and a more sinister expression in the Japanese version.

(Source: EvilBabes Wiki)