Titenic

Titenic
Also known as: Hacker, Heroine, Perils of the Sea Developer: Hummer Team Publisher: ABAB Soft Inc. Platform: Unlicensed NES Released in TW: 2005 This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material.

Titenic follows the romantic tale of Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater as they pummel the crap out of... downscaled enemies from The Mask, strangely enough.

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Title Screen & Cutscenes That title screen you see there can't even be seen in the game through normal means!

Revisions

Titenic is notable for being Hummer Team's last game produced, but it had a...somewhat complicated release history as a result. Contrary to initial belief, Titenic was fully finished and released - unaltered - on a "Super Cool Boy" 3-in-1 multicart by ABAB Soft; however, this cartridge is extremely rare. The cartridge's ID is unknown, and was thought to have been unreleased; however, it was properly documented and dumped online some time in late 2021. Titenic would later be used to create the much more common Harry's Legend game, which had numerous releases on both cartridges and plug & plays.

An alternate build of Titenic, created around 2005, would later be released on the Super New Year Cart 15-in-1 cartridge (titled "Hacker" and "Heroine"), as well as the Z-Dog plug & play (titled "Shipwreck", among other names). This version is missing the title screen and story, and replaces the "My Heart Will Go On" rendition with the generic Harry's Legend music; likely in attempt to hide the Titanic theme of the game entirely.

Debug Functions

Several debug functions have been left in the game that can be used with the second player controller:

• Up or Down: Raises or lowers the water level. In some rooms, the water may be invisible but you can still splash by jumping in and out of it. Note, that Jack's health doesn't decrease when he's underwater unlike Rose since he wasn't programmed to do so.
• Start: Brings up the ending screen.

Disabled/Unused Code

Stage Select

A disabled leftover debug area select may be re-enabled, if you start up the game using the Game Genie codes AETPZP+AEYPLP. You'll get a black screen with one of the unused tracks playing. Pressing A or B will go through an invisible selection and pressing Start will bring you there.

2-Player Leftovers

In the code, there appears to be 2-player mode leftovers, rather very basic and experimental, which was used mostly for debugging purposes at that time. The summoning of the different player is still enabled in the game itself. Use the A button on Controller 2 to summon another player or enemy onto the screen. You may select one of the four characters ("Jack"/"Rose" - the player itself, "Boss" - the final boss, "Any" - green waitress and "Boater" - purple sailor) by pressing Left or Right and either pressing A on Controller 2 again or letting some time pass.

It's possible to go out of the range you're allowed to select in by modifying address 0601 (If you start from 01 and increase, the values will line up with this list, however, the game may freeze or the spawned object may act weird since they'll spawn near the top of the level and have no proper falling state).

In the released version there are no display for these actions. Using the Game Genie codes XTUUTAAV+XVNXXGAV+XVOZXGAV you will re-enable missing display features:

• A message "PRESS A" will be displayed during the idle state.
• When A is pressed, a new message "PLAYER SELECT" will appear, as well as the countdown timer and a selected character's name.
• When the character is summoned additionally its scores will be displayed.

However, due to overall incompleteness of the code, there are numerous issues with this mode:

• The scores for the summoned player does not function at all.
• The message "CONTINUE" can't be displayed when the summoned character dies.
• When a character gets summoned, the screen will attempt to scroll back to where you entered the room and you cannot scroll any farther, even if that character is defeated. This can be fixed by setting address 0186 to 80.
• When summoning yourself (summoning "Jack" as Jack or summoning "Rose" as Rose), the controls appear to be messed up; pressing Left or Right on the first player's controller only makes you turn around and you can't jump very far (unless you also hold Left or Right on the second player's controller). You can only walk by using the second player's controller but unless you hold Left or Right on the first player's controller, you appear to be stuck in the first frame.
• The buttons Up and Down on the second controller are still used for raising or lowering the water level and cannot be used for controlling a second player too.
• "Boss"'s AI seems to depend on which room he is in. In some rooms he can pull out a gun like his other variants or he will be stuck in place, using his stationary attack and will not chase after you.

All this coding can still be found in Harry's Legend, but all handler offsets are removed from the code and can't be re-enabled.

Save/Load Function

With Game Genie code PEUUVGAA, pressing Start will bring up a save and load menu. Saving is somewhat functional as it will save the room you are currently in and it can be loaded later in the game. However, the data will be lost when the game is reset or turned off, because the common NES RAM is used for that, which cannot be Battery backed at all. The same code can be found and re-enabled in Harry's Legend, but due to a different CHR bank it is unreadable.

The save slot variable used by this function is the same as position index of the sound effects queue ($700), so it may glitch sometimes and randomly reset to 0 or 1 if used by the sound engine.

Enemy Names on Hit

Game Genie codes XTVUTAAV+XVXLLAAV will display the enemy's names for player 1 and player 2 correspondingly under its names. However, the second player's enemy name seems to be not functional the same way as its scores.

"Load Game" Title Screen Menu Option

There is also an unused Load Game option at the title screen, which can be re-enabled with Game Genie code PEEPLAAA. It will load the last saved position in the game (see above). This feature was probably meant to be enabled after you beat at least the first level, but the control variable $6C8 is always set to 0.

There are some odd dependencies with the same control variable ($6C8) and some odd code branches in the cutscene text display routines. In these routines, the "Load Game" flag is treated as a message library selector. If set to 0, then regular messages are used. If set to 1, it jumps to a different location and reads other messages; since there isn't any code or data in those locations in all versions of this game, the game will crash when showing a cutscene with "Load Game" flag raised. To fix it, use the additional Game Genie codes GAUAZGAX+LAUEGUTE. This same exact code and the odd jumps are in Harry's Legend as well. Most likely, this feature is just a leftover from this game, which was used as a base for that one.

Unused NMI Handlers

Address 004E contains the index of the special NMI handler for various screens such as levels, the ending screen, the game over screen, etc. However, indexes 07 and 09 appear to be unused. 07 appears to be a level handler for a ship stage for Jack and 09 appears to be a level header for a ship stage for Rose. While both characters have levels where you walk on the ship, neither of these handlers are used for them.

Unused Enemies/Objects

NOTE: The Game Genie codes used here will replace the first enemy in the first level for Jack and it will replace the top gate door for Rose.

Enemies

"Rainbow"

• Original: YEGPAA
• Alternate Palette: LUGPAA

Fights similarly to "Big Head" (the first enemy in Level 3, uses a gun) although he shoots slightly higher.

"Bomb Man"

• Original: AEGPAE
• Alternate Palette: GUGPAA

Unique enemy that tosses out dynamite when you're in a certain range. These dynamite usually explode upon hitting the floor (some might disappear or blow up in mid-air). The hitbox for the explosions is rather strange; some of the frames near the end won't hit and sometimes the explosion hitbox appears where the next dynamite will land. Up close, he won't be able to throw dynamite, making him really easy to defeat.

Lizard

• Code: GUGPAE

A rather strange enemy. He begins to walk around in the stage, starts spinning and then bounces all over the room, bouncing off the side of the screen if he reaches it. During this whole time, he's invincible.

Other Palette Variants

• "Big Head": TEGPAA
• "Fat Man": ZEGPAE
• "Cookier": GEGPAE
• "Mary": IEGPAE

Every human enemy in the game also has an alternate palette version. These variants here are never seen in the game. However, there's a few things notable about them:

• If you use a code to display their names, it appears that these versions use the correct name that they're assigned. These might've been made before their variants that appear in the game.
• The green version of Fat Man not only has less health than his purple counterpart but upon defeat, he flashes white and disappears instead of letting you advance onto the next level. This is similar to another enemy in the game known as "Killer" (appears with a purple palette as the first boss but later reappears as an enemy with a green palette) but in his case, both versions show up.

Objects

Floating Objects

NOTE: To see these properly, you'll have to raise the water level.

• Box: YOGPAA
• Chair: AOGPAE
• Lamp: LOGPAE
• Barrel: ZOGPAE
• Flower pot (alternate palette): IOGPAA
• Chair (alternate palette): POGPAE

In Rose's final level, you have to climb up the ship as the water is rising and some of the rooms contain objects floating in the water. However, it appears that there was more objects planned including an alternate palette for the flower pot seen in-game.

• Strangely enough, out of all of the floating objects, the box appears to have a hitbox. On hit, it plays the defeated sound but only travels the other way. It's possible that these objects were meant to be hit at some point or the box could've been broken (given how a broken box is actually seen in the game).

Unused Door Types

NOTE: To enter these properly, it'd be better to use these codes on Rose's first level.

• Gate door, going into another room: POGPAA
• Blue door, going into another room: LXGPAA
• Green door, going into another room: TXGPAA
• Yellow door, going down: YXGPAA
• Yellow door, going up: AXGPAE

Every door in the game has a version that's programmed to move up, move down, or makes you enter the next room. However, a few of these are never used in the game.

Unknown Floating/Flying Object

• Code: ZOGPAA

Moves slowly to the right, it can't do anything to you nor can you do anything with it. If it spawns on the ground and it reaches to part of a floor with higher elevation, it'll stop. The graphics for this object seem to have been removed as it appears glitched.

Unknown Water Object

NOTE: To see this properly, you'll have to raise the water level.

• Code: TEGPAE

Appears to be a glitched object of some sort that floats in the water. This object will stay on the same position on the screen, has a hitbox and it'll constantly switch sides when it gets hit. It can be "defeated" but it stays on the screen and can still be hit. It also appears that it's not invincible when hit, causing some attacks to hit more than once.

Alternate Falling Chandelier?

NOTE: To see this properly, you'll have to force this to use an animation first.

• Code: IKGPAA

Appears to be a falling chandelier but with a different palette. Oddly enough, it doesn't use its animation right away when spawned (unless you use cheats).

Unknown 1

NOTE: Has no graphics.

• Code: IXGPAE

If you get near where the object is supposed to spawn, the object itself will change the current level header to the level header used for when Jack is outside on the ship.

Unknown 2

NOTE: Although object data exists, nothing will show up in-game.

• Code: TOGPAE

Although something does get loaded into the RAM, nothing shows up in the game and there's no animations for it. However, it does have palette data associated with it. (Game Genie code: NSILNP, it changes Jack's palette to this object's palette)

(Source: Pirated Games Central Forum)

Unused Animations/States

NOTE: When using these codes, make sure there's only one of that enemy in the room (some of these may require to be spawned by cheats/debug). Using these cheats on other enemies may cause the game to glitch or crash. These codes will work on the first enemy in the first level. Using EKPPAA will force the enemy onto the ground instead of letting them go into a fall state, making them use any of these animations right away.

Idle Animation

The majority of the human enemies (with the exception of "Any" and "Boater") contain animations where they remain completely still and will not attack unless they're hit. To see these, use IZTPAA.

"Boss" (Original)

• ALTPAA - "Boss" stands completely still with his hat on. He has no hitbox at all.
• TATPAA - Performs his stationary attack but Jack/Rose will go into their block stance as if he was entering the room.
• ZPTPAA - "Boss" jumps but Jack/Rose will go into their block stance as if he was entering the room.
• AZTPAA: Does his stationary attack but in the middle of it, he'll dash forward.

"Cookier" (Original)

• IANEYPZA: Animation of "Mary" on the ground, laying on her back and flailing her feet. (same animation used when she fires her gun and flies backwards)
• GANEYPZE: Same as above but when the animation is finished, she vanishes.

"Rainbow" (Alternate Palette)

• POLEYP: Fade-in animation. (same kind of fade-in that's used when an enemy enters the room)

Jack

• AATPAE: Falling animation but has Jack returning into his standing animation after some time.
• PPTPAA: Has a frame of Jack getting knocked back, landing while blocking and then going back into his standing animation.

Unused Graphics

There are leftover CHR data for a multi-game cart menu with a main theme for Titenic (with its serial number being SDN3545), got bundled with Robocop and Captain America and the Avengers. A mockup of this menu can be seen on ABABsoft's now-defunct website, but it features New Ghostbuster 2 instead of Avengers.

The font that's used for cutscenes. Interesting enough, some of the letters that don't get used look different compared to the rest of the font. Harry's Legend edits the remaining letters.

These are found in the graphics bank with the "Game start" and "Load game" tiles. It's unknown how this would've looked in-game. There appears to be an arrow pointing downwards in some of the tiles.

The rest of the HUD font. Interestingly enough, there's a half-heart graphic within the graphic bank.

The font used for the player select text. However, there's even more letters here!

Number font of some sort. Could've been used for a timer? (Either the one in Rose's final level or a whole different timer)

A small "TITENIC" logo found near the HUD graphics. In the full ABAB Soft version, it appears on the HUD similar to the "Harry Potter" graphic in Harry's Legend.

A blue box that's found in Jack's tileset for when he's on the ship but it never gets used.

Although these do exist in the game in the first room of the 2nd level, they use a purple background. These come from the 2nd room of the first level's tilemap.

Rose's final level has broken windows but those are at the bottom of the ship and use a different background.

Sprites of Jack and Rose blocking and getting hit while crouching.

Seems to be sprites of the octopus attaching to something.

A "GO" graphic with arrows pointing left and right. A bit weird since these are traditional in beat 'em ups. These were probably never used since the game never forces the scrolling to stop for any particular reason.

A small chandelier that would fall down and spin. Unlike the bigger chandeliers, there's no shattering animation for these. For some reason, they pop back again in Harry's Legend's tiles.

Although a flower pot does appear in this game, it just floats in the water of Rose's final level. This one seems more detailed and looks like it would've fallen onto the ground and shattered.

Appears to be spikes of some sort. These are found in the same graphics bank as the gate door.

Found in the graphics bank for the sliding door. Maybe this was supposed to overlap onto the door or another object? (The black here represents where the sprite is transparent)

Missing Tiles

In-Game	Fixed

When "Cookier" attacks at you, his arm and hand go missing even though tiles exist for it.

Unused Music

There's several unused tracks that can be accessed by changing address 0701's value: 20

This can be heard when using the debug level select. This was meant to be the title screen's music just like how it's used in Harry's Legend.

21

26

In Harry's Legend, the first track is used for Level 3 and the 2nd track is used for cutscenes. In Titenic, the first track was planned for the final cutscene while the 2nd track was planned for the others.

Unused SFX

Several unused sound effects are in the ROM that can be accessed by changing address 0701's value:

05

This was used in Donkey Kong Country 4 when you collected a "KONG" letter, or when the menu had you select between that game and its hack Jungle Book 2.

07

Never heard before in any other Hummer Team game.

08

Also never heard before in any other Hummer Team game.

11

This was a sound effect in Hummer Team's Super Mario World NES port for kicking shells.

14

This would later be used as a death sound effect for Rings.

15

This would later be used on the Samuri 60-in-1 plug-n-play controller.

18

This is actually used for "Bomb Man"'s explosions... except "Bomb Man" himself is unused. This sound is also used for Earthworm Jim 3 when Jim is defeated.

Unused Text

56AA9 in the ROM file contains:

STAGE

Might've been used to display the current stage similar to Harry's Legend's HUD. The same string with additional coding not presented in the Titenic can be found in Harry's Legend as well, but not used there too.

Beginning at 57860, there's a whole list of object names. In-game, they can be seen with the use of cheats:

ROSE
JACK
BOSS
ANY
BOATER
BIG HEAD
RAINBOW
BOMB MAN
PACO HEAD
FAT MAN
KILLER
COOKIER
MARY
SOU JIN
AN MEI
JU KOU
JONU UOU
CHUN ARYUO
RYU FU
CHEN
ZHAO XIONG
HU
XU
MA
FEI FEI
RYU
LEE
AN
ZHANG
YANG
TIGER
SHUE
GEE
GENG
LIN
HUANG
XU
GAN
HUANG
CHUN
HUAN
ZU
SI
HO
WANG
THUN
ANN
SOU SOU
IRON
MU
ZI
XING
HE
WANG
ZHU
YAN
SOU SOU
RI TEN
FISH
LOBSTER
MEAT BUN
PORK
BBQ
DUCK
MEAT BUN
CHICKEN
GOLD
BOOK
GOLD
SCROLL
TREASURE
GONG
AXE
UN
UQ
UQAKIO
SWORD
SAI

However, after "MARY" there's a list of names and objects that seem to have no relation to Titenic at all (despite some enemies that use them all). Judging from this, Titenic could've been built off of an unseen and/or unreleased Hummer Team game and these names were simply left in. This text would also reappear in Harry's Legend and strangely enough, Mortal Kombat 4, a variation of Hummer Team's Mortal Kombat 3 NES port.

Misc.

ZDog title screen

The ZDog release of Titenic automatically skips the title screen and story; however, data for a title screen does exist in the ZDog version, which reads "Perils of the Sea" (well, that's one way to put it...). The graphics can be viewed by copying the tile, CHR, and palette data over to the unhacked Titenic ROM.