Bonze Adventure

Bonze'': An antiquated English name for a Buddhist monk, now commonly referred to as a bhikku.
Adventure'': Adventure.

Debug Functions#

Round Select#

Hold the Service Coin button until a "SERVICE SW FAILED" message pops up on the screen, then, press 1P Start (×3), Service Coin, 1P Start. Start a new game and the round select menu should pop up.

This method is identical to the one used on games that run on Taito's Extermination hardware and Cadash.

Screen Editor#

At one point, flipping Dip Switch B8 gave access to a screen editor after starting a new game. This has been disabled in the code by just skipping that check entirely, but putting the following code in MAME's bonzeadv.xml (or any of the derived sets') cheat file and enabling it will fix that.

  <cheat desc="Fix Debug Switch">
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@007572=6034</action>
    </script>
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@007572=4E71</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Unfortunately, even after fixing that check, it's more of a screen viewer than an editor. The "Select Code" variable, which would be used to set block properties (Solid, lava, ice, etc.) is broken, and can no longer be controlled by the player. Plus, at this point, it's no longer possible to actually edit anything. Still, it's something, right?

There's additional text for the screen editor at 0x11A55 that's no longer referenced anywhere in the code:

SELECT EDIT MODE   
SCREEN  :   OBJ   

Title Screen Placeholder#

Placeholder title text with the game's Japanese name (and a last modified date) can be activated through the following bonzeadv.xml cheat code:

  <cheat desc="Draw Temporary Title">
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@008814=00D8</action>
    </script>
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@008814=DC14</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Hidden Developer Text#

There's a hidden hiragana message to the right of the ending screen message. This is outside of the game's viewing area, and can only be seen in MAME's tilemap viewer.

ねむい translates to "I'm sleepy."

Regional Differences#

Copyright#

The Japanese version displays a standard export copyright notice on boot. The other versions don't have an equivalent notice, and instead go straight to the title screen.

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe (World)

Different title logo and copyright string. That's all.

The game is called Jigoku Meguri in Japan, which translated means "Hell Tour", and Bonze Adventure internationally.

Revisional Differences#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Figure if this bug afflicts the old Japanese set (jigkmgria in MAME).

In the old version of Bonze's Adventure (bonzeadvo in MAME), the game doesn't always properly reset the bit that tracks when the player is crouching. Since crouching and pressing Button 1 uses the player's magic, this is a bit of a problem.

This was fixed in later versions by resetting that bit every frame.

References#