Download Galaxian Enhanced ROM Hack

/********************
* Galaxian Enhanced *
* ReadMe.txt v 1.1  *
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/*

In this archive, you will find three IPS files. Each updates the title screen to look more
professional, and more arcade-like, instead of a big ugly block.

They also affect the rate of fire (speed of firing shots) as follows:

Galaxian (J) [SuperFireMod] [TitleMod] [Final]
Approximately 3x faster, and far more enjoyable, but still challenging. 

Galaxian (J) [TurboFireMod] [TitleMod] [Final]
Many times faster, and makes the game easier, but not too easy.

Galaxian (J) [HyperFireMod] [TitleMod] [Final]
The fastest 'safe' setting. Ultra-fast firing. The game is very easy until at least
wave 10. 

*/

/*********** 
* Patching *
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Patch to the cartridge version of Galaxian: 
File: Galaxian (J).nes [GoodNES v 3.10]

No-Intro:
Size: 	16384
CRC32: 	084F61CD
MD5: 	01C1F123F436943527F50EB585025B99
SHA-1: 	44BC6C4E8B3F6C635281B4C05382E8F316D8269E
Galaxian (Japan).nes.md5
Galaxian (Japan).nes.sfv 

DopeROMs MD5 Checksum: e12b4ce0e81c1e98b276c3fa212d4f67

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If people wish an FDS patch, I may make one in the future. See 'FDS Values' velow, for more information.

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* Galaxian Hacking Notes *
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The rate of fire is controlled by two values...

Hex Offset 2640 @ 05: This is the speed of the bullets. The standard value is 04. 
Values from 01 to 08 work. 01 slowest, 08 turbo hell fast.
00 refuses to fire bullets, but makes the sound.
10 doesn't hit the middle row of aliens
Highest value that works is 0C, if not also setting { 25B0 @ 0E }

FDS: This is at offset 1D40 @ 0E

25B0 @ 0E : Original value 04. 
Changing this, in conjunction with values in 2640@05 also affects speed.
It seems to multiply the value, and also affect the *offset* of bullets, as they can hit certain rows. 
Setting this to 06 with 2640@05 set to 0C, causes the GUN NEVER TO FIRE!
A value of 05 and 0C crashes the game.

FDS: Seems to be at Offset 820 @ 0A

0C and 0A make hyper-turbo

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* FDS Values *
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For the FDS DIsk version, the memory space is quite different, both in the PRG and CHR ROM segments...

The CHR pages are in a different order, and the tiles are not spaced in a way that makes them easy to edit. 
This is the main reason that I have no provided an FDS patch, as changing the values for bullet speed is 
rather easy (the values are below), but improving the title screen is a huge pain. I made a partial conversion
and was unable to locate a few tile blocks that simply made it look ugly.

It was my intent to give that one a more special treatment, to make ti closer to the arcade version, especially
given the FDS capabilities, but I may never get around to doing that, and I'm really not doing much ASm these days.

For those who want a quick reference on the values for bullet speed:

ROM Version		FDS Version
2640@05			1D40@0E
25B0@0E			0820@0A

The value ranges for these is identical to the cartridge version.

*/

/*************
* Text Notes *
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When editing the ASCII values in the game, note that some of the in-game text uses char to display.

Notably, : and ? are numbers, while @ is a space. 
Other numbers are generated with symbols, as seen by the '1979' date (all chars on the next line are '1979': 
:?=? 

Likewise, all chars on the next line are '1984'
:?><

Thus, numerals:

Number	Symbol
1	:
4	<
7	=
8	>
9	?

I have not tested against a comprehensive list of these, and elected to be lazy, and enter raw ASCII values.

Entering raw numerals causes them to appear in blue text, as visible for what, I did for the date of the patch.


The following symbols tested to do things:
 ( and ) are part of the galaxian logo, as are / and " and ' - Flipping CHR space. 
 
 ] is the copyright symbol for use in text display.

Some Notes:

I made this for personal use in 2011. Recently, I found myself privately sharing it, and decided to publish it.
It's nothing fantastic, or absurdly cool, but it does pump new life into an old classic. 

*/