Cameltry (Arcade)

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: "Investigate the word flag at beginning." -andlabs

You may be able to manage your character through a maze, but can you manage the maze around your character?! That's Cameltry.

Easter Eggs#

Background Camel#

There's an easter egg in desert-based levels (Trick Trap Track & Whirlwind Break) with a fairly obscure trigger. If the player clears the round immediately before (which would be Trick Trap Track or Whirlwind Break, respectively) with a time of 1.0 seconds or less, a camel will appear in the background.

He simply hops off to the right, wrapping around to the left when he gets off-screen. He's trying, folks.

Goddess Expression#

Normal	Alternate

Yurika usually appears in the Special Course ending with the expression on the left. There are five special expressions that only appear if the player's score's tens and hundreds digits match (e.g. 10,330, 100,770, etc.). The first is for 000 and 110, the second for 220 and 330, the third for 440 and 550, the fourth for 660 and 770, and the last is for 880 and 990.

Stage Select#

This game features the Taito Code:

• While the game boots up, hold the Service Coin button until the "SERVICE SWITCH ERROR" message pops up on the screen.
• Then, press 1P Start (x3), Service Coin, 1P Start. The error message should be replaced with "ROUND SELECT ON !!"
• Start a new game and a stage select menu should appear.

Debug Functions#

A handful of debug functions remain in the game. Put the following code in MAME's cameltry.xml cheat file to replace the default service test with one of the following functions.

  <cheat desc="Change Test Mode Function">
    <parameter>
      <item value="0x0000300E">Edit Mode Menu</item>
      <item value="0x0000481E">Mask Test Mode</item>
      <item value="0x0001D8C2">Object Test Mode</item>
      <item value="0x0001DC6E">Color Test Mode</item>
      <item value="0x00020D3C">Rotation Test</item>
      <item value="0x00020DF0">Kaiten Screen Test</item>
    </parameter>
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.md@009F0A=param</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.md@009F0A=0x00024342</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Unfortunately, the debug routines are expecting a two-button input system with a standard joystick, while the final game uses a one-button input system with a paddle. As such, most of the controls are broken, and they can't really be fixed through patches either.

Edit Mode Menu#

This debug routine would be toggled if 1P Start and 1P Jump were pressed simultaneously during gameplay, but there's no place in the main gameplay loop where this routine is even referenced. The menu is meant to be controlled by 1P and 2P joysticks, so it doesn't do much of anything in the final version.

• G: Gravity.
• OMOSA: Weight.
• KATASA: ???
• SH.POWER: Probably how much the Jump button moves the ball.
• MAX SPEED: Self-explanatory.
• GAME PLAY: Exits the menu.

Mask Test Mode#

Tests the Mask, or character, graphics bank.

Press 1P Button 1 to change the current palette.

Object Test Mode#

Tests the object graphics bank.

• 1P Button 1: Increment palette number.
• 1P Start: Hold to rapidly increment palette number (1 per frame).
• 2P Start: Hold to rapidly decrement palette number (1 per frame).

Color Test Mode#

This would let the user check and alter color values if the controls worked properly.

Press 1P Button 1 to increment the lower "color mode" number. Once the lower number reaches 0010, the upper number will increase and the background will get progressively bluer.

Mask Rotation Test#

This is a simple test of the game's rotation and scaling functions. The 16-character string will quickly rotate clockwise while zooming in and out. The test runs automatically and there's no check for user input anywhere in the routine.

Kaiten Screen Test#

A lot like the rotation test, only this tests the background graphics instead of character graphics and it's controlled manually.

• 1P Button 1: Decrement angle number (Rotate the logo).
• 2P Button 2: Decrement block number (This doesn't seem to do anything).
• 1P Start: Increment the "Color Mod", or current palette.
• 2P Start: Decrement the Color Mod variable.

Unused Graphics#

This smaller Cameltry logo would have fit in well in the difficulty selection screen.

There are several penalty values, down to 1 second and up to 8 seconds, that are unused. It seems plausible that the time penalties would change depending on the difficulty level, but in the final game, the penalties are always 2 and 5 seconds.

Special number graphics are used in the Japanese tutorial screens. They go up to 9, but the final game only uses 1-5. Could be related to the unused penalty graphics, but the 9 throws that into question a little bit.

Unused Sounds#

This jingle is supposed to play when you successfuly match the number in the number match, but in the game, the jingle that you hear when you start up the game, and when a player completes the level in less time in a two-player game, is used instead, leaving this jingle completely unused. This jingle is later used in the SNES port for the same purpose.

Unused Text#

At 0x0D8B is this text:

DESIGNER:

This would pop up at the start of each world along with the world's name. There are even entries in the world name table at 0x1D3D8 that list each world's designer. It's a bit redundant, though, since almost every world was designed by "KAITO", or "PPR KAITO" in the credits. The one exception is "IWAI SPECIAL" designed by "A.IWAI". This is probably Akira Iwai, best known for his design work on Arkanoid.

This is one of Taito's standard location test messages. Put this code in cameltry.xml and enable to display this text after completing the final world in any course:

  <cheat desc="Enable Location Test Message">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@006C36=6C3A</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@006C36=B9B6</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Version Differences#

Two programming revisions of Cameltry exist: One for the Taito F2 Expanded System (which is an enhanced version of the regular Taito F2 System that features zoomimg and rotating effects thanks to the additional chips present on the board), and one for the Taito B System.

In MAME, the version labeled YM2610 is the F2 Expanded System version, which was released in all regions. While the version labeled YM2203 + M6295 is the B System version, which seems to be released only in the west.

Copyright#

Japan	US

The Japanese and US versions displays a standard export copyright notice on boot. The World version doesn't have an equivalent notice and instead goes straight to the Taito logo.

Additionally, the US version displays the (blatantly obligatory) FBI's "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen common of the era, after the copyright notice.

Copyright String#

© TAITO CORPORATION 1989
   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

© 1989 TAITO AMERICA CORPORATION
  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

© 1989 TAITO CORPORATION JAPAN
  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The only difference between versions in the title screen is the different copyright string. That's all.

Tutorial#

Japan	International

In the Japanese version, the tutorial screens are in Japanese and English. This can all fit on screen except in Lesson 5, where the last line of English text is cut off. The relevant line is still in Japanese, though, so it doesn't matter too much.

In the Japanese version, Yurika will bow after giving one of her explanations in Training mode. ぺこり, "Pekori", is the action of quickly bowing one's head. For some reason, this little feature was omitted in the International versions, but later reinserted in all versions of the SNES port.

Audio Quality#

The most notable difference between the F1 System version and B System version is the quality of the audio.

The audio in the F2 Expanded System version is cleaner and audible. While in the B System version the audio is extremely muffled and poor quality.

Hence why most people prefer the original F2 Expanded System version, rather than the B System backport.