Blast Chamber (PlayStation)

Blast Chamber is a 3D puzzle action game where up to four players are trapped in a rotatable cube-shaped chamber, fighting each other in order to survive (or just die the least times) using the environment's numerous traps and powerups to their advantage.

You have a timebomb strapped to your chest. The clock is ticking. Your goal is to survive.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Levels#

The AIMAPS, BINARYM2 and BINARYM3 directories contain files for three multiplayer chambers that were axed late into development.

Cover Up#

"Cover Up" (CUBE05M) features, per face, a single pit door and platform that covers the reactor once stepped on. Available power-ups include Mercuries and Crystal Bombs. The A.I. is mostly functional, but is unable to jump on and trigger the platform, and will keep rotating the chamber if the crystal spawns on the "cross" in the back panel.

Use the following GameShark code to restore "Cover Up" (replaces "Hang Time"):

North America	Europe	Japan
`8001158F 3530 30011CE3 0032 80011CE9 3530`	`80013DD3 3530 30011A27 0032 80011A2D 3530`	`80013D9F 3530 30011A0F 0032 80011A15 3530`

Elevators#

"Elevators" (CUBE11M) features a pair of four-spike groups on either the upper or lower corners of each face, along with a platform the player must step on in order to be elevated and reach the reactor. Available power-ups include Hi-Jumps and Time Bombs. The A.I. once again struggles with platforms, as it just runs to the middle of the chamber and repeatedly jumps in a desperate attempt of reaching the goal.

Use the following GameShark code to restore "Elevators" (replaces "Revolution"):

North America	Europe	Japan
`8001154F 3131 30011C93 0032 80011C99 3131`	`80013D93 3131 300119D7 0032 800119DD 3131`	`80013D5F 3131 300119BF 0032 800119C5 3131`

Lava Leap#

"Lava Leap" (CUBE26M) features a pair of spikes on the upper corners of the face, a small lava pit and a trigger-controlled platform above it where the crystal spawns. Available power-ups include Crystal Magnets, Paralyzers and Psy-bombs. The A.I. does not attempt to use the platforms, but may pick up available Crystal Magnets to obtain the crystal, repeatedly rotating the chamber otherwise.

Use the following GameShark code to restore "Lava Leap" (replaces "Wind of Death"):

North America	Europe	Japan
`8001151F 3632 30011C57 0033 80011C5D 3632`	`80013D63 3632 3001199B 0033 800119A1 3632`	`80013D2F 3632 30011983 0033 80011989 3632`

Unpublished Cheat Codes#

Two cheat codes for Blast Chamber have been officially published and made accessible to players: Freeze Timer and Freeze Life Counter, both only applicable to Solo Survivor mode. A total of five cheats is defined in the game's code, however, with the button combinations and effects of the remaining three being as follows:

Square, circle, left, right, up, down, square, left— plays the game's ending FMV instead of the Time Commando trailer when the "Time Commando Demo" item is selected on the Options menu (North American version), or when selecting the "Options" item on the main menu whilst holdingL1andL2''' (European and Japanese versions);
Circle, left, square, down, left, left, down, down — freezes power-up timers during both Solo Survivor and Multiplayer games;
Left, left, circle, circle, square, circle, right, up — enables a Solo Survivor chamber selection menu, accessible by selecting the "Chambers" item on the main menu whilst holding L1 and L2.

(Source: Rings of Saturn (Bo))

Unimplemented Power-up#

This game features 13 functional power-ups that normally spawn in the various chambers. However, 14 are defined in its code, with the eighth of them having no effect whatsoever in either Solo Survivor or Multiplayer, in any of the available builds of the game. It uses the same icon sprites as the Crystal Magnet and stays active for just two seconds.

Unused Menu Text#

Found in TEXT.ENG is a number of text strings that aren't used anywhere in the game's menus:

WELL DONE !
TIME'S UP
PAUSE
 - CONTINUE
RESTART CHAMBER
 LIVES LEFT
PRESS START TO CONTINUE
PICK A COLOUR TO BURN IN
WHO ELSE LIKES IT HOT
READY
WELL?
PRESS  TO JOIN
UNUSED PRESS 
UNUSED PRESS 
DRAW GAME
MOST ROUNDS WON:
LEAST DEATHS, ENTIRE TOURNAMENT
PLAY AGAIN?
AVERYLONGCUBENAMEINDEED

Debug Messages#

Messages presumed to be displayed on a debug console can be found scattered at the beginning of the main executable (specifically, at 0x800):

Starting Main Loop
%d
Freed Active list 
%d
Freed DataStart list 
%d
No Memory For PauseTGA
1:%d
InitPlayer 1:%d
InitPlayer 2:%d
InitPlayer 3:%d
Players Inited:%d
Crystal Created and Inited:%d
Crystal Shadow Created and Inited:%d
Crystal Setup Complete:%d
PowerUps Inited:%d
Timers Created and Inited:%d
Timers Positioned:%d
Mobiles Unpacked:%d
Platforms initialised:%d
Switches initialised:%d
Fire Trails initialised:%d
Fire Lengths calculated:%d
Crumblies inited:%d
Fans inited:%d
Cages inited:%d
Object Size:%d
Free Memory:%d
Players Unlinked:%d
Restarting CD track:%d
Invalid Path, references point:%d
  Oops
No such Button, num:%d
More than 8 stood on:%d
Not Enough Crumbly space
Adding Crumbly:%d
More than 8 stood on:%d
LoopCount:%d
To Many Front Walls
%d 
Frags:%d 
Too Many Sidewalls
UnFiddled:%d,
Fiddled:%d,
Error Score:%d
Error Cube:%d
Error Lives:%d
Invalid CheckSum:%d
Invalid LastBits:%d
To high a level, error in password:%d
To high a Score, error in password:%d
Invalid Level Number:%d
SetViewFrame failed
RHS=%d
x=%d
minentry=%d
topentry=%d
Rentry=%d
Lentry=%d
fentry=%d
bentry=%d
ªª
Generating Stair Lookup Table:%d
Invalid parent number
Not Enough Cage slots
Too Many Cage Components
Added Cage:%d
To many Powerups
PowerUp without Type
Stopped Getting Powerup Cos Dead:%d
No Such Powerup:default
To Many Transmitters for Swap Function
NumAlive:%d,   player:%d
Time:%d
opts.winner:%d
Wid:%d Dep:%d
Quit calc3dzaptar ABNORMALLY
No Points Used
Controller Removed!%d
LangFileName:%s
filename = %s
close failed:%d
open failed, fd = %d
file creation failed:%d
Open failed, filename = %s
read failed, %d
checksum failed, %d
Memory For DataBlock:%d
*
Unformatted card on OverwriteBCBlock:%d
File Saved Successfully:%d
Unformatted card on readMCdata:%d
No Memory for ReadMCData malloc
Error Reading:%d
Error in data i:%d  MCData:%d  PSXData:%d
Error Reading for load config:%d
Error Reading for Save config%:d
Error Writing for save config:%d
Error Reading for high score merge:%d
Error Writing for merge hiscores:%d
Error Reading for Stat merge:%d
Error Writing for merge stats%:d
Error Reading for loadpslevel:%d
No Data There:%d
SAVED GAME %d
Error Reading for saveSPlevel:%d
Error Writing for splevel:%d
Error Reading for deleteSPlevel:%d
Red :%d  Green :%d  Blue :%d
Size of Bmp Header:%d
bad ASCII code 0x%x
Called MoveToKickPlate!%d
AIHeader Malloc Failed!
AIPaths Malloc Failed!
%03hd: 
Called Sensible in MoveToSurface%d
#%3d : (%3d, %3d)-
(%3d, %3d), %3d: 
obj : %p
AIHeader at %p
AIPaths at %p
Green  Zone : %d
Blue    Zone : %d
Red  Zone : %d
Yellow Zone : %d
Maximum Surfaces = %d
      Clockwise %2d : 
(%3d, %3d, %3d)
Anti-Clockwise %2d : 
     One-Eighty %2d : 
     Switch %2d : 
 %3d
p[%3d]=%3d : 
%s
f[%3d]=%3d : 
Done...
%5d:%14s: 
%d:%02d
%7d
Winner Green:%d
Winner Blue:%d
Winner Red:%d
Winner Yellow:%d
%2d

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

In Japan, Blast Chamber was marketed under the title Kyuu Bakku: Ningen Bakudan Sports, with the title screen following suit:

North America & Europe	Japan

Options Menu#

The North American version of the game includes a trailer for Time Commando on the Options menu. Since that game wasn't published by Activision in Europe and Japan, this is absent from those versions.

North America	Europe & Japan