Mega Twins (Arcade)

Mega Twins is a side-scrolling action game by Capcom that has no relation to Mega Man.

Extended Service Menu#

Normally, only the first four options (Dot Test, I.O Test, Dip Test, and Col Test) are available in the service menu. To access the full service menu, set the Game Mode dip switch to "Game", hold 1P Coin and then press the Service Mode button (Default F2 in MAME).

General controls:

• 1P Joystick: Moves cursor.
• 1P Button 1: Selects an option.
• 1P Button 2: Exits selected menu.

Object & Scroll Tests#

Object Test	Scroll 1 Test
Scroll 2 Test	Scroll 3 Test

Graphics viewers for Objects (Sprites), Scroll 1 (Font & HUD), Scroll 2 (Foreground), and Scroll 3 (Background).

DISP 1
Groups tiles together.

• 1P Up/Down: Scroll through tiles.
• 1P Button 1 + 1P Up / Down: Scrolls through tiles at 2x speed.
• 1P Left/Right: Changes color palette.

DISP 2

Splits tiles apart for easier individual viewing.
(Same controls as DISP 1)

STAG No.
Loads stage-specific palettes.

• 1P Up/Right: Increments stage value.
• 1P Down/Left: Decrements stage value.

FLIP
Flips tiles horizontally or vertically.

• 1P Up/Down: Toggles vertical flipping.
• 1P Left/Right: Toggles horizontal flipping.

ETC

Allows users to edit the currently loaded palettes.

• 1P Up/Down: Changes palette OR changes the selected color's LRGB value.
• 1P Left/Right: Moves between colors in a given palette OR moves between L, R, G, or B values for a given color.
• 1P Button 1: Chooses a color to edit.

Scroll Move#

Allows the user to view background and/or foreground layers in any of the game's stages.

MOVE 2 / MOVE 3 / MOVE 23

"MOVE 2" is for the foreground, "MOVE 3" for the background, and "MOVE 23" for both the foreground and background.

• 1P Joystick: Moves camera.
• 1P Button 1 + 1P Joystick: Moves camera at 2x speed.

• 1P Button 1 + 1P Button 2: Selects between free-movement mode, 16x16 movement mode, and 32x32 movement mode.

MOVE OBJ

Largely the same as "MOVE 23", except for the addition of an on-screen cursor. The value at the top-right displays the collision ID of the tile the cursor is on.
(Same controls as MOVE 2 / MOVE 3 / MOVE 23)

STAG no.
Changes the loaded stage.

• 1P Up/Right: Increments stage value.
• 1P Down/Left: Decrements stage value.

ETC
Does nothing on this menu.

Background Color Change#

Changes the service menu's background color.

• 1P Left/Right: Selects between L (Light), R, G, and B.
• 1P Up/Down: Changes currently selected LRGB value.

Object 2 Test#

Seems to be an animation viewer for sprites, but it doesn't seem to work properly here.

DISP A
Identical to the standard Object Test viewer.

• 1P Up/Down: Scroll through tiles.
• 1P Button 1 + 1P Up / Down: Scrolls through tiles at 2x speed.
• 1P Left/Right: Changes color palette.

DISP B
Blanks the tile viewer. Actual purpose unknown.

MOVE

Brings up an "Animation" sub-menu.

• 1P Up/Down: Changes currently selected variable.
• 1P Left/Right: Selects between MODE (Sprite size), TIME (Frame animation delay?), "START" (Starting frame for an animation), and "END" (Ending frame for an animation).

STAG
Loads stage-specific palettes.

• 1P Up/Right: Increments stage value.
• 1P Down/Left: Decrements stage value.

TRNS SEND
Displays the values of the Animation sub-menu. Actual purpose unknown.

Unused Graphics#

	These graphics might have appeared if the player waited around for too long. Since the game is timed anyway, these aren't really necessary.
	A pair of North/South poles (ha) that rotate around asynchronously.
	The biggest point bonus an item can give is 5000 -- from the Yashichi -- so this doesn't get used.
	14 different heads that were most likely intended for the game's credits sequence. There are 17 people listed in the credits, so 3 people got shafted. They're probably the programmers since they're listed last, after the Special Thanks section. The only obvious link from these heads is the game designer "Bully Duck", who has a duck face, the others are unknown.
	Four HUD item graphics that aren't used: Dragon Blue Eyes, Doubler, Fruit, and Yashichi. The first two make sense as equipment, but the other two have immediate effects that don't disappear. They might have had different effects at one point.
	These are either test tile graphics or graphics for a debug overlay for tile types.
	Two different filler tile graphics. The first is used with the large crystal ball tiles that appear in the penultimate stage. The second is mixed in with the Chiki Chiki Boys title graphics.
	Small images of the two women that might have appeared by the Capcom logo at the end of the game.

Unused Music#

Forgotten Worlds Easter Egg#

Track 1E is used in the game, but the method to do it is obscure and doesn't seem to be documented anywhere. Hit the mini-boss of Round 2 before the cannons in his arena fully rise up to play this track. This is one of the boss themes from Forgotten Worlds, the first CP System game.

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	International

Credit Sound#

In the Japanese version, the "coin inserted" noise is someone saying "がんばって ね" (Which means "Do your best"). In other regions, it's a cheery jingle.

Jumping#

In the Japanese version, if you hold Up and jump with the Boots item, you will jump 16 pixels higher. In other regions of the game, this is the default jump height and it can't be changed. Starting in Round 4-1 in the Japanese version, you no longer have the Boots item at the beginning of stages and must collect them from certain treasure chests. In the international versions, you always have the boots at the start of a stage. All of the Boots chests have been replaced with 100-Coin chests.

Final Key#

There's an item that only appears in the Japanese version: the Final Key. This item is obtained by slashing at Riepotmahn's chair until a chest pops out. The key is inside the chest. This key serves a special purpose. If Riepotmahn's second form is defeated with the key obtained, he will drop a chest with the second Dragon Blue Eyes item inside. Without this item, the player can't get the true ending.

In the international versions, Riepotmahn will always drop the second Dragon Blue Eyes in place of the scroll he normally drops. However, the bad ending can still be seen by letting the Eye stay on-screen until it disappears.

Mystery of the Captive Women#

In the Japanese version, starting in Round 4-1, there are tied-up blue-haired and blonde-haired women that the player can save. Both women use the same design, they're just palette-swapped.

• The blue-haired women give 1000 points, kiss the player, and give them a hint.
• The blond-haired women give 500 points and disappear when they reach the ground.

In the international versions, these women don't appear in-game, but they're still present in the game's code. At the start of the initialization routine for the captive women, the game checks the region ID word at FF101E and if the value is non-zero, the routine is exited and the woman disappears. Place this MAME code in mtwins.xml or chikij.xml to skip this check:

  <cheat desc="Reactivate Captive Women">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F258=4E71</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F25A=4E71</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F258=6600</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F25A=0354</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

  <cheat desc="Reactivate Captive Women">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F27E=4E71</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F280=4E71</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F27E=6600</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@01F280=0354</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

By disabling the check, we can see that not only are the hints translated, but the sprites for the kidnapped women use a completely different design! It seems that at some point, rather than just removing them entirely, the captive women would just use an older-looking design in international versions of the game. Apparently even that was still too risque.

Interestingly, the Japanese flyer for the game features both designs, suggesting that originally the younger-looking blue-haired women would give hints, and the older-looking blonde-haired women would give point bonuses.

Here are all the translated hints:

 Thank you.
If you save us.
I'll give you some hints.

 Beware the monster castle.
It is very dangerous.

 Benrasp Attacks by
jumping on his opponents.
You should study his timing.

 Try to find as many hidden items
as possible.

 When you think excitement,
think CAPCOM.

 A wall may jump in front of you.
It will injure you, so be carefull.

 Also, beware of Scorpio's venom.
It can paralyze you.

 Thank you. I thought I was going to
become an old woman here.

 Up ahead you may meet a monster who is
an excellent swordsman.
It was he who destroyed your kingdom.

 Rumor has it that monsters are actively
searching for the Dragon Blue Eyes.

 Monsters are so unsophisticated.
Utterly boring.

 Curacura is vulnerable when he spreads
his wings.

 I know the dragon blue eyes is
a legendary stone which can make
ALUREA a paradise again.

 The Dragon Blue Eyes!?
Why do you have it?

 Attack Navitank when he stops moving
backwards.

 "When the dragon's eyes turn pole, the
dark shall vanish and time shall stop."
Is there really a connection between
the legend and this stone?

 The great RIEPOTMAHN is believed to
live at the top of the tower,
but I don't now how to get up there.

The following hints are present in the ROM but not used:

When I was caught,
I was scared to death.
But I was disappointed a little bit.

Maybe you can try to build a bridge 
and go up.

Cut the pillars, and you can use them
to make a bridge.

To continue your adventure, 
add one more coin.