Table of Contents for
Gaming Hacks

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2004
  1. Cover
  2. Gaming Hacks
  3. Credits
  4. Contributors
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. How to Use This Book
  9. How This Book Is Organized
  10. Conventions Used in This Book
  11. Using Code Examples
  12. Comments and Questions
  13. Got a Hack?
  14. 1. Playing Classic Games
  15. Legal Emulation
  16. Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64
  17. Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari
  18. Use Atari Paddles with Your PC
  19. Run Homebrew Games on the Atari 2600
  20. Create Your Own Atari 2600 Homebrew Games
  21. Play Classic PC Graphic Adventures
  22. Play Old Games Through DOSBox
  23. Play Reissued All-in-One Joystick Games
  24. Play Arcade Games Without the Arcade
  25. Add and Manipulate a MAME Frontend
  26. Keep Your ROMs Tidy and Organized
  27. Learn Game-Specific MAME Controls
  28. Filter Inappropriate MAME ROMs
  29. Autoboot into MAME Heaven
  30. Play Emulated Arcade Games Online
  31. Play Classic Pinball Without the Table
  32. Emulate the SNES on the Dreamcast
  33. 2. Playing Portably
  34. Play Games on Your iPod
  35. Mod Your Game Boy
  36. Take and Print Photos with Your Game Boy
  37. Compose Music on Your Game Boy
  38. Explore the GP32 Handheld Gaming System
  39. Take Your Console with You
  40. Explore the Bandai WonderSwan
  41. Play Real Games on Your PDA
  42. Install a PlayStation 2 in Your Car
  43. 3. Playing Well with Others
  44. Practice Proper MMORPG Etiquette
  45. Understand MMORPG Lingo
  46. Grind Without Going Crazy
  47. Make a Profit in Vana’diel
  48. Write MMORPG Macros
  49. Build an Effective Group
  50. Catch Half-Life FPS Cheaters Redhanded
  51. 4. Playing with Hardware
  52. Build a Quiet, Killer Gaming Rig
  53. Find and Configure the Best FPS Peripherals
  54. Adapt Old Video Game Controllers to the PC
  55. Choose the Right Audio/Video Receiver
  56. Place Your Speakers Properly
  57. Connect Your Console to Your Home Theater
  58. Tune Console Video Output
  59. Tune Your TV for Console Video
  60. PC Audio Hacking
  61. Optimize PC Video Performance
  62. Build a Dedicated Multimedia PC
  63. Use a Multimedia Projector for Gaming
  64. 5. Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware
  65. Play LAN-Only Console Games Online
  66. Hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System
  67. Play Import Games on American Consoles
  68. Find a Hackable Dreamcast
  69. Play Movies and Music on Your Dreamcast
  70. Hack the Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit
  71. Unblur Your Dreamcast Video
  72. Use Your Dreamcast Online
  73. Host Dreamcast Games Online
  74. Burn Dreamcast-Compatible Discs on Your PC
  75. Burn Dreamcast Homebrew Discs
  76. Buy Your Own Arcade Hardware
  77. Configure Your Arcade Controls, Connectors, and Cartridges
  78. Reorient and Align Your Arcade Monitor
  79. Buy Cart-Based JAMMA Boards
  80. Programming Music for the Nintendo Entertainment System
  81. 6. Playing Around the Game Engine
  82. Explore Machinima
  83. Choose a Machinima Engine
  84. Film Your First Machinima Movie
  85. Improve Your Camera Control
  86. Record Game Footage to Video
  87. Speedrun Your Way Through Metroid Prime
  88. Sequence-Break Quake
  89. Run Classic Game ROM Translations
  90. Change Games with ROM Hacks
  91. Apply ROM Hacks and Patches
  92. Create PS2 Cheat Codes
  93. Hack Xbox Game Saves
  94. Cheat on Other Consoles
  95. Modify PC Game Saves and Settings
  96. Buff Your Saved Characters
  97. Create Console Game Levels
  98. 7. Playing Your Own Games
  99. Adventure Game Studio Editing Tips
  100. Create and Play Pinball Tables
  101. Put Your Face in DOOM
  102. Create a Vehicle Model for Unreal Tournament 2004
  103. Add a Vehicle to Unreal Tournament 2004
  104. Modify the Behavior of a UT2004 Model
  105. Download, Compile, and Create an Inform Adventure
  106. Decorate Your IF Rooms
  107. Add Puzzles to Your IF Games
  108. Add Nonplayer Characters to IF Adventures
  109. Make Your IF NPCs Move
  110. Make Your IF NPCs Talk
  111. Create Your Own Animations
  112. Add Interactivity to Your Animations
  113. Write a Game in an Afternoon
  114. 8. Playing Everything Else
  115. Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory
  116. Beat Any Shoot-Em-Up
  117. Drive a Physics-Crazed Motorcycle
  118. Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese
  119. Back Up, Modify, and Restore PlayStation Saved Games
  120. Access Your Console’s Memory Card Offline
  121. Overclock Your Console
  122. Index
  123. Colophon

Explore the Bandai WonderSwan

How to recognize, buy, create, and emulate the best handheld you’ve never heard of.

Other hacks cover notable and obvious handhelds, such as Nintendo’s Game Boy and Game Boy Advance ( [Hack #20] ), as well as the marvelously versatile Korean GP32 handheld ( [Hack #23] ). There are other, more obscure fish in the sea worth exploring; primary among these is Bandai’s WonderSwan, released only in Japan and Asia. It includes both unofficial and official homebrew game-creation options.

Many Hardware Models, Much Confusion

It’s vital to note that several different types of the WonderSwan exist. All are pretty inexpensive. You can find even the most extravagant version, the WonderSwan Crystal, for $40 or less on eBay at the time of writing, though you may have to pay for shipping from Japan or Hong Kong. With the small differential in price, make sure you buy the latest and best variant!

WonderSwan (a.k.a. WonderSwan B&W)

The original, monochrome WonderSwan came out in early 1999 and fared pretty well. This thin, Game Boy-style handheld console has a 2.1-inch diagonal, 224 114 pixel screen and 512 KB of RAM. One unique feature is that you can play games either horizontally or vertically, thanks to two sets of direction pads. The horizontal mode is very similar to GB or GBA, with a direction pad and two buttons. You can often find this version for under $20 on eBay (though shipping may cost you more than that!), but there’s no point in buying one when a WonderSwan Color or SwanCrystal costs just a few dollars more.

WonderSwan Color

This variant shows up on auction sites more often than any other. It launched in December 2000 and sold right through to the Crystal’s launch. The main upgrade for this version is a color screen, with up to 241 out of 4,096 colors available onscreen at any time. It has particularly good battery life, playing for up to 20 hours from one AA battery, and is backward-compatible with all black-and-white WonderSwan games. At the time of writing, the average eBay price was $30 plus shipping.

SwanCrystal

The final iteration of the WonderSwan hardware launched in July 2002 in Japan. It featured a much higher-quality TFT LCD, which fixed a lot of the ghosting[7] troubles of the WonderSwan Color and WonderSwan B&W. The better-quality screen is the only major change, but it significantly improves the games. Settling for the WonderSwan Color is also acceptable. It’s often tricky to find a SwanCrystal, of course. Expect to pay $30 to $40 on eBay, only slightly more than the previous iteration.

The WonderWitch Homebrew Development System

One of the absolutely coolest things about the WonderSwan is that Bandai actively supports homebrew development. Their special WonderWitch construction kit (http://wonderwitch.qute.co.jp/) included a 4-Mb flashROM cartridge with 2 MB of SRAM, as well as a special cable to connect the PC to the WonderSwan and a host of C-based PC development tools. You can still find this kit through Lik Sang or similar companies.

The bad news is that there’s no opportunity to use any of this in English. Not only do you need to be a reasonably serious coder to use the system, you need good Japanese skills and a J-Windows install to consider using it. This is a serious shame, but if you have the technical and language-based skills, by all means go for it.

However, we can still live vicariously through some of the successful graduates of the system. In 2004, amateur games have now seen official releases. Highlights include the great-looking shmup Judgement Silversword (Rebirth Edition) (http://wwgp.qute.co.jp/products/jss_rebirth/) and the marvellous RPG Dicing Knight (http://wwgp.qute.co.jp/products/dk_period/), both of which placed highly in the yearly WWGP programming contests. You can buy cartridges of these and play them in your WonderSwan normally.

You can freely download all other fan-developed WonderWitch games, including competition entries. See the 2002 competition (http://wwgp.qute.co.jp/2002/) for some examples. However, you can play these games only if you have a WonderWitch and a WonderSwan, or possibly a WonderWitch emulator. Many console homebrew coders have similar problems. As with the PlayStation Net.Yaroze (a semiofficial homebrew device), there’s no easy way to distribute the finished product in a form playable on handhelds.

WonderWitch Alternatives

There’s a hackier alternative to the official WonderWitch way, of course. There always is. You can program a game on your PC, checking out things in an emulator as necessary, and then transfer it to your WonderSwan itself via the Wonder Magic flash linker and a special WonderSwan flashrom cart.

Unfortunately, these Wonder Magic flashrom devices are rarer than hen’s teeth. If you look carefully enough online, you can find some from Asian sources. Don’t forget that you’ll need both the linker and the cartridge. The carts top out at 32 Mb (4 MB), which is plenty to play a smartly coded game. You can also use them to play backups of commercial WonderSwan software—perhaps another reason they’re difficult to find, as are the Game Boy Advance flash linkers—but if you use them only for good, all is good.

Another alternative is emulation. Zophar’s well-informed emulation site has a WonderSwan page that links to multiple emulators (http://www.zophar.net/ws.html). WSCAmp is best-known, but all of them work and are worth testing. Additionally, the page lists a WonderWitch emulator called MiracleMage, which claims to be able to emulate the environment under which you can run the official homebrew titles. This utility isn’t well-tested, but it does have an English translation patch that could come in handy.

If you’d like to see some WonderSwan source, the PDRoms WonderSwan demos page (at http://www.pdroms.de/roms.php?system=Wonderswan%20/%20Color&typ=Demos&first=0) has ASM source for some graphic demos that can get you started, with the obvious caveat that assembly language is scary and difficult.

As for further examples of homebrew titles, the ever excellent PDRoms site (http://www.pdroms.de/typ.php?system=Wonderswan+%2F+Color) has several good homebrew games and demos available. The only significant standalone public-domain game is WonderSnake (Figure 2-4), a good-looking effort in which you must not run over your own tail or into walls.

WonderSnake for the WonderSwan Color

Figure 2-4. WonderSnake for the WonderSwan Color

Bored of Hacking? Try Playing!

I can’t leave this subject before highlighting the best WonderSwan games worth buying if you can find them. Bandai negotiated a few rather smart exclusives due to its marketing clout in Japan, but due to the handheld’s obscurity in the West, hardly anyone outside Japan has played them.

Rhyme Rider Kerorican

Nana OnSha, the developer that brought us the amazing PlayStation titles Parappa The Rapper and Vib Ribbon, produced Rhyme Rider, a Vib Ribbon-style game that asks you to press the right buttons in the right rhythmic order to destroy enemies onscreen and make music at the same time. This is fiendishly addictive and fairly forgiving to boot.

Final Fantasy I and II

For a long time, these rejigged versions of the original FF titles were the sole reason to own a WonderSwan. However, the remakes are, naturally, very heavy on Japanese text, so they’re rather incomprehensible to English-only speakers. Fortunately, you can now buy versions for the GBA in English. Though FF IV also had a WonderSwan remake, only I and II were big smashes.

Klonoa: Moonlight Museum

This wonderful black-and-white 2D action platformer in Namco’s Klonoa series, a WonderSwan exclusive, was soundly ignored and buried at the time. It cleverly switches screen resolution at times. It’s fairly rare even for WonderSwan games, yet worth staking out.


[7] Seeing trails after moving sprites, for example.