Vertical Force

Vertical Force
Developer: Hudson Soft Publishers: Hudson Soft (JP), Nintendo (US) Platform: Virtual Boy Released in JP: August 12, 1995 Released in US: December 1, 1995 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select.

Vertical Force is an interesting top-down vertical shoot-'em-up employing 3D to display two different play depths, which the player can move between at will. It operates much like Hudson's other shooter, Star Soldier, except that it's headache-inducing for different reasons.

Debug Menu and Sound Test

Debug Menu	Sound Test

A debug menu and sound test can be accessed by entering the following 20-button sequence on the Config screen:

• Left D-Pad Left
• Left D-Pad Left
• Right D-Pad Right
• Right D-Pad Right
• Left D-Pad Up
• Right D-Pad Down
• Left D-Pad Up
• Right D-Pad Down
• L
• R
• Right D-Pad Right
• Right D-Pad Right
• Left D-Pad Left
• Left D-Pad Left
• Right D-Pad Up
• Left D-Pad Down
• Right D-Pad Up
• Left D-Pad Down
• R
• L

Download Easier Debug Mode Patch File: Vertical-Force VB Debug-Hack.zip (434 bytes) (info)

Alternatively, the above archive includes patches for both regions which shorten this button sequence down to a single Select press on the Config screen.

(Source: Parasyte, original TCRF research)

Development Text

At 0x1DB7C in the US ROM or 0x1DB58 in the Japanese is the following string:

VSU DRIVER Version 0.19a,Copyright(c) 1994-95 Hudson Soft,Program : LU.Iwabuchi,Driver : ChaCha-TYPE,Note : Prototype

Near the end of the ROM, at 0xFFDD0, right by the internal name and gameID included in all Virtual Boy games, are build dates:

Japan	1995/06/16 12:01
USA	1995/09/22 11:02