This article has a talk page!This page contains notes for the game Whirlo.
Map List#
7E003F Area (Save)
7E0060 Area (Current)
7E085E Invincible (00)
7E0470 Lives (09)
Room List
00 0-? Test Map (Unused)
01 1-1 Sandros
02 1-2 Haunted Forest, Lake
03 1-3 Haunted Forest, Ashes
04 1-5 Haunted Forest, Chasm
05 1-6 Valley of Sizus
06 2-1 Mt. Alsandra, Cage
07 2-2 Mt. Alsandra, Quarkman Village
08 2-3 Mt. Alsandra, Volcano
09 2-4 Mt. Alsandra, Crescent King
0A 3-1 Cauldra Castle, Flooded City
0B 3-4 Gramps Dock, Ascent
0C 3-5 The Princess
0D 3-6 Catacomb (Event)
0E 3-7 Catacomb
0F 3-9 Catacomb, Flood Escape
10 3-8 Catacomb, Nick Clan
11 4-1 Dragon Forest
12 4-2 Toadstool Cave, Area 1
13 4-3 Toadstool Cave, Area 2
14 4-4 Toadstool Cave, Ascent
15 4-5 Toadstool Cave, Area 4
16 4-6 Toadstool Cave, Nick
17 4-7 The Anconda
18 5-1 Sea of Sirrah
19 5-3 Pirate Ship, Whale
1A 5-4 Pirate Ship (Event)
1B 5-6 Pirate Ship, Area 1
1C 5-7 Pirate Ship, Area 2
1D 5-8 Pirate Ship, Grady & Andy
1E 5-9 Pirate Ship, Area 4
1F 5-10 Pirate Ship, Area 5
20 5-11 Pirate Ship, Rest Room
21 5-12 Pirate Ship, Boss
22 6-9 Sea of Sirrah, Peppy Route
23 6-10 Pirate Ship, Finding Buck, Peppy Route
24 6-14 Tree Island, Light Crystal 6
25 6-4 Tree Island, Underground 1
26 6-6 Tree Island, Underground 2
27 7-? Store (Unused)
28 7-2 Neverland, Ferry
29 7-5 Neverland, Decision
2A 7-6 Neverland, Auto-scroll
2B 7-7 The Monument
2C 7-8 Goblin Valley, Light Crystal 7
2D 8-1 Endless Desert
2E 8-2 Endless Desert
2F 8-3 Endless Desert
30 8-5 The Tower, Trial 1: Knowledge
31 8-6 The Tower, Trial 2: Heart
32 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V0)
33 Cutscene (1-4 Elders House)
34 Cutscene (3-3 Gramps Dock)
35 Cutscene (3-8 Nicks rooms)
36 Cutscene (4-1 Pixies House)
37 Cutscene (6-2 Tree House)
38 Cutscene (7-1 Neverland, Walter)
39 Cutscene (6-12 Store)
3A Cutscene (3-10 Catacombs, Thief Bad Ending)
3B Cutscene (5-5 Pirate Ship, Helping Buck)
3C
3D 5-7 Duplicate
3E 5-8 Duplicate
3F 5-8 Duplicate
40 Cutscene (6-10 The Princess, Bringing Nick to Nubs)
41 Cutscene (6-10 Catacomb, Bringing Nick to Nubs)
42 6-1 Tree Island
43 Cutscene (6-3 Tree Island)
44 Cutscene (6-5 Tree Island)
45 6-7 Tree Island
46 6-8 Tree Island, Decision
47 6-11 Tree Island, Decision
48 6-11 Tree Island, Decision
49
4A 7-4 Neverland, Conclusion
4B 7-3 Neverland, Conclusion
4C Cutscene (5-2 Sea of Sirrah)
4D Cutscene (3-2 Cauldra Castle)
4E 4-1 Duplicate
4F 8-9 The Tower, Final Boss
50 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V1)
51 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V2)
52 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V3)
53 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V4)
54 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V5)
55 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V6)
56 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V7)
57 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V8)
58 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V9)
59 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V10)
5A 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V11)
5B 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V12)
5C 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V13)
5D 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V14)
5E 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V15)
5F 8-7 The Tower, Trial 3: Courage (V16)
60 UI/Demo (Chapter 1)
61 UI/Demo (Chapter 1)
62 UI/Demo (Chapter 1)
63 UI/Demo (Chapter 2)
64 UI/Demo (Chapter 3)
65 UI/Demo (Chapter 3)
66 UI/Demo (Chapter 3)
67 UI/Demo (Chapter 4)
68 UI/Demo (Chapter 5)
69 UI/Demo (Chapter 5)
6A UI/Demo (Chapter 5)
6B UI/Demo (Chapter 6)
6C UI/Demo (Chapter 6)
6D UI/Demo (Chapter 7)
6E UI/Demo (Chapter 7)
6F
70 UI/Demo (Chapter 8)
71 UI/Demo (Chapter 8)
72 UI/Demo (Chapter 8)
73 UI/Demo (Chapter 8)
74 UI/Demo (Chapter 8)
75 UI/Demo (Chapter 8)
76 UI/Demo (Credits)
77 UI/Demo (Credits)
78 UI/Demo (Credits)
79 UI/Demo (Credits)
7A UI/Demo (Credits)
7B UI/Demo (Credits)
7C UI/Demo (Credits)
7D UI/Demo (Credits)
7E UI/Demo (Credits)
7F
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87 UI/Demo (Chapter 8, Sun Cure)
88 UI/Demo (Password Input)
89 UI/Demo (Password, Game Over)
8A UI/Demo (Password, Round Clear)
8B UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Game Over)
8C UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Game Over)
8D UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Coward)
8E UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Coward)
8F UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Coward)
90 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Coward)
91 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Thief)
92 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Thief)
93 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Thief)
94 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Harem)
95 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Harem)
96 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Harem)
97 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Harem)
98 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Harem)
99 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Pirate)
9A UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Pirate)
9B UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Pirate)
9C UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Nubs)
9D UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Nubs)
9E UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Nubs)
9F
A0
A1
A2
A3
A4 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 1)
A5 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 1)
A6 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 1)
A7 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 1)
A8 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 1)
A9 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 2)
AA UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 2)
AB UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 2)
AC UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 3)
AD UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 3)
AE UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 3)
AF UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 3)
B0
B1
B2 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
B3 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
B4 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
B5
B6 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
B7 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
B8 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
B9 UI/Demo (Good Ending)
BA UI/Demo (Good Ending)
BB UI/Demo (Good Ending)
BC UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Game Over)
BD UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Coward)
BE UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Thief)
BF UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Harem)
C0 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Pirate)
C1 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Nubs)
C2
C3 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 1)
C4 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 2)
C5 UI/Demo (Bad Ending, Zona Pact 3)
C6 UI/Demo (Good Ending)Password System#
Some of this research is based on prior work on this wiki who graciously took the time to collect passwords from either versions. The following applies to the European version, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
The password is a 6-byte long sequence (so 48 bits) stored to RAM at 7E0038-7E003D. It's initialized to zeroes, represented by the square icons.
Each icon is a 3 bit value.
01 0000 0001
08 0000 1000
40 0100 0000
...
00 square (8th)
01 orb (1st)
02 drop (3rd)
03 snake (4th)
04 skull (5th)
05 heart (6th)
06 leaf (7th)
07 crescent (2nd)The password follows the following pattern (European version):
0038 Password Checksum (Adds 39-3D)
0039 Level ID
003A Number of Game Overs (0-255)
003B Event flagsThe checksum calculation is handled by the following instruction:
00FCCB F0 1C BEQ $00FCE9
By changing F0 to 80 at ROM address 7CCB in the European ROM (or 7C9A in the Japanese ROM), the checksum will be ignored, for ease of testing of various invalid passwords and flag combinations. You can either convert the data on your own, or type the password as a hexadecimal value in fields 39-3C (38 will be ignored) and the icon display will be updated in real time to reflect your changes. Use at your own risk. Do note that the default password (all squares) is technically a valid password that starts the player from a new game with 0 Game Overs, but the game is coded to reject it nevertheless.
The game stores the password bytes to the following active gameplay session variables (in RAM Bank $7Exxxx)
0039 0060 1 Level ID
003A 0474 1 Game Overs
zero 047E 1 L6: Peppy marries Carpenter Grady (01) or Buck (00)
zero 047C 1 L6: Nubs is a viola player (00) or a cucumber farmer (01)
003B 0472 1 Light Orbs
zero 047A 1 L6: Look for Buck (01) or Nick (00)
zero 0476 1 L3: Princess is loved (00) or hated (01)
003C 0084 2 ?
0086 2 ?
0480 2 ?
0482 2 ?
042C 2 ?
0852 2 ?
0854 2 ?
0856 2 ?
0858 2 ?Note: Normally, the Peppy and Nubs choices are mutually exclusive. They're initialized to 00 (Buck, viola player).
There is a possibly unused RAM value among the events at 0478, in between the flags for the third and sixth levels. The password routine seems to completely discard any bits associated with it, and never actually writes anything there. The password parser writes to a bunch of other unknown RAM values - those values might be tied to something meant to be unlockable by the passwords.
Here's a dump of the password parser for the password display, executed every single frame. This is from the European version, the Japanese version is stored at CPU address FB69 instead.
--------sub start--------
00FB9A A2 08 00 LDX #$0008
00FB9D A5 38 LDA $38
00FB9F 29 07 00 AND #$0007
00FBA2 20 88 FC JSR $FC88
(Tilemap construction)
--------sub start--------
00FC88 0A ASL
00FC89 A8 TAY
00FC8A B9 28 F6 LDA $F628,Y
00FC8D 85 00 STA $00
00FC8F A0 00 00 LDY #$0000
00FC92 B1 00 LDA ($00),Y
00FC94 9F 00 5E 7E STA $7E5E00,X
00FC98 C8 INY
00FC99 C8 INY
00FC9A B1 00 LDA ($00),Y
00FC9C 9F 02 5E 7E STA $7E5E02,X
00FCA0 C8 INY
00FCA1 C8 INY
00FCA2 B1 00 LDA ($00),Y
00FCA4 9F 40 5E 7E STA $7E5E40,X
00FCA8 C8 INY
00FCA9 C8 INY
00FCAA B1 00 LDA ($00),Y
00FCAC 9F 42 5E 7E STA $7E5E42,X
00FCB0 60 RTS
----------------
The tilemap addresses:
$38
7E5E08, 7E5E0A, 7E5E48, 7E5E4A
7E5E0E, 7E5E10, 7E5E4E, 7E5E50
7E5E14, 7E5E16, 7E5E54, 7E5E56
$39
7E5E1A, 7E5E1C, 7E5E5A, 7E5E5C
7E5E20, 7E5E22, 7E5E60, 7E5E62
7E5E26, 7E5E28, 7E5E66, 7E5E68
$3A
7E5E2C, 7E5E2E, 7E5E6C, 7E5E6E
7E5E32, 7E5E34, 7E5E72, 7E5E74
$3B
7E5EC8, 7E5ECA, 7E5F08, 7E5F0A
7E5ECE, 7E5ED0, 7E5F0E, 7E5F10
7E5ED4, 7E5ED6, 7E5F14, 7E5F16
$3C
7E5EDA, 7E5EDC, 7E5F1A, 7E5F1C
7E5EE0, 7E5EE2, 7E5F20, 7E5F22
7E5EE6, 7E5EE8, 7E5F26, 7E5F28
7E5EEC, 7E5EEE, 7E5F2C, 7E5F2E
$3D
7E5EF2, 7E5EF4, 7E5F32, 7E5F34When confirming the password, this is the checksum routine. It also checks whether it is the default password among other things, but it wasn't investigated in depth. This is from the European version, the Japanese version is stored at CPU address FC9A instead.
--------sub start--------
00FCB1 A9 00 00 LDA #$0000
00FCB4 E2 20 SEP #$20
00FCB6 A5 39 LDA $39
00FCB8 18 CLC
00FCB9 65 3A ADC $3A
00FCBB 18 CLC
00FCBC 65 3B ADC $3B
00FCBE 18 CLC
00FCBF 65 3C ADC $3C
00FCC1 18 CLC
00FCC2 65 3D ADC $3D
00FCC4 AA TAX
00FCC5 BF 57 9E 01 LDA $019E57,X
00FCC9 C5 38 CMP $38
00FCCB F0 1C BEQ $00FCE9This is the parsing routine that loads the password from the 0038-003C password buffer into the gameplay state.
European Version
00FCE9 A5 39 LDA $39
00FCEB 85 60 STA $60
00FCED A5 3A LDA $3A
00FCEF 8D 74 04 STA $0474
00FCF2 9C 7E 04 STZ $047E
00FCF5 9C 7C 04 STZ $047C
00FCF8 A5 3B LDA $3B
00FCFA 4A LSR
00FCFB 4A LSR
00FCFC 4A LSR
00FCFD 4A LSR
00FCFE 2E 7E 04 ROL $047E
00FD01 4A LSR
00FD02 2E 7C 04 ROL $047C
00FD05 8D 72 04 STA $0472
00FD08 C2 20 REP #$20
00FD0A 9C 7A 04 STZ $047A
00FD0D 9C 76 04 STZ $0476
00FD10 A5 3C LDA $3C
00FD12 4A LSR
00FD13 2E 7A 04 ROL $047A
00FD16 4A LSR
00FD17 2E 76 04 ROL $0476
00FD1A 0A ASL
00FD1B 18 CLC
00FD1C 69 00 80 ADC #$8000
00FD1F 85 84 STA $84
00FD21 A9 02 00 LDA #$0002
00FD24 85 86 STA $86
00FD26 A9 00 80 LDA #$8000
00FD29 8D 80 04 STA $0480
00FD2C A9 02 00 LDA #$0002
00FD2F 8D 82 04 STA $0482
00FD32 A9 04 00 LDA #$0004
00FD35 8D 2C 04 STA $042C
00FD38 A9 04 00 LDA #$0004
00FD3B 20 0D 8D JSR $8D0D
00FD3E A9 5E A0 LDA #$A05E
00FD41 8D 52 08 STA $0852
00FD44 A9 01 00 LDA #$0001
00FD47 8D 54 08 STA $0854
00FD4A 9C 56 08 STZ $0856
00FD4D 9C 58 08 STZ $0858
00FD50 18 CLC
00FD51 60 RTS
----------------The Japanese version has a mostly identical parser, outside of a very specific line that uses the value C05E (Japan) instead of A05E (Europe).
00FD0D A9 5E C0 LDA #$C05E
00FD10 8D 52 08 STA $0852
This $0852 RAM offset isn't the game state address used for the level ID or the orb counter, which probably means it's part of the event flags setting up the scene or level. This would mean that the game loaded the player in the correct location all along, but regional differences meant that its scene data was filled with garbage data, usually leading to crashes. This tracks with the fact that the few passwords that are cross-compatible cover the Test Room and the first level up to the Elder's House cutscene, which is where the incompatiblities begin.
You could probably make the game accept the password from the wrong region by changing ROM address 7D0F from C0 to A0 (on a Japanese ROM, to make it accept European passwords) or ROM address 7D40 from A0 to C0 (on an European ROM, to make it accept Japanese passwords) albeit this might require further modifications to make the game generate passwords from game states.
Unkillable Enemies#
The Cualkman enemies from Level 2-1 can't be killed. They're not immune to damage, but their health is automatically set to FF (255) after a few frames. It seems that even with cheats to kill them, they simply continue their animations while no longer harming the player or reacting to any hits,