Quiz Quest - Hime to Yuusha no Monogatari

Quiz Quest - Hime to Yuusha no Monogatari is a quiz game with an RPG theme, predating Capcom's much more successful Quiz & Dragons by about a year. Defeat hordes of monsters by answering decades-old trivia questions! Apparently all of the monsters are part Sphinx.

Debug Functions#

Round Select#

This game uses the Taito Code:

• While the game boots up, hold the Service Coin button until the "SERVICE SW ERROR" message pops up on the screen.
• Then, press 1P Start (x3), Service Coin, 1P Start. The stage select menu should then appear.

Controls

• 1P Button 1 / 2: Adjusts the round number.
• 1P Start: Starts the game.

Quiz Debug#

There's a quiz debugging function that appears on game boot if ROM address 0x3FF00 is a non-zero number. Put the following code in MAME's qzquest.xml cheat file to enable this feature:

  <cheat desc="Quiz Debug">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@03FF00=0x0001</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@03FF00=0x0000</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

The game has six different categories, separated further into standard four-choice questions, Yes/No questions that are triggered by the Yes/No Slab, and picture-based questions.

Controls

• 1P Button 1 / 2: Changes the quiz selection.
• 1P Start: Starts the game.

The correct answer for each question is highlighted in red. The player's class is determined by the question category, and the game will load a boss round for Yes/No questions and a normal round otherwise. Since the player can't actually answer the questions in this mode, this is purely cosmetic.

There doesn't seem to be a way to get back to the main debug menu without resetting the game.

Controls

• 1P Button 1 / 2: Adjusts current question number by 1.
• 2P Button 1 / 2: Adjusts current question number by 10.

Game Pause#

If ROM address 0x3FF02 is set to a non-zero value, a pause feature is enabled. Put the following code in qzquest.xml to enable it:

  <cheat desc="Game Pause">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@03FF02=0x0001</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@03FF02=0x0000</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Controls

• 1P Start + Service Coin: Pauses the game.
• 2P Start + Service Coin: Unpauses the game.

Unused Items#

Place this code in qzquest.xml and enable it to force the treasure chest mini-game to contain one of the following unused items:

  <cheat desc="Unused Items">
    <parameter>
      <item value="0x0007">Pass Shield</item>
      <item value="0x0018">Dragon Ring</item>
      <item value="0x0019">Chick of Happiness</item>
    </parameter>
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.pw@5073F8=param</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

Pass Shield#

答えなければパスし た事になります。

If you don't answer, it counts as a pass.

This item is only partially implemented. Failing to answer a question will prevent the player from taking damage. While the description states that only letting the timer run out triggers the item, answering a question incorrectly also triggers it.

The problem is that there's nothing in the game code to handle removing or disabling the item's effects. After obtaining the Pass Shield, the player is effectively invincible for the rest of the game.

Dragon Ring#

正解するとＨＰが 回復します。

If you answer correctly, you'll recover HP.

The item's description doesn't match its actual effect: With this ring equipped, the player will regain 1 HP every 256 frames; this can trigger up to 20 times. The ring doesn't disappear between stages.

Chick of Happiness#

ＢＯＳＳの所まで ワープします。

Warps you to the Boss's lair.

For once, this item's description matches its actual effect...

...to a point. On the world map, the player goes to the next stage instead of warping to the boss's lair, but they will end up fighting the boss there.

There are two unused sprites for the Chick of Happiness that would have been used on the world map.

Unused Graphics#

'...But what does it mean?' This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!

'...But does it make sense?' The translations on this page need to be proofread. If you are fluent enough in this language, please make any corrections necessary!

Used
Alternate
You're pretty bald!

The mermaid boss of World 2 has six different lines of dialogue that pop up every time the player answers a question correctly. There are alternate versions of each line where she insults the player's baldness; these might have been triggered by answering questions incorrectly. While the player sprites used in most of the game are indeed bald, the character seen on the Press Start screen and characters in the game's promotional material all have full heads of hair.

The "T.M-san" mentioned in the last message is probably Takeshi Murata, a Taito programmer who is credited as T.M in Master of Weapon.

Text	Text

0010		Arrived at the shop
0018		VS. Mi-Haara
001A		Found a treasure chest!!
001C		The monsters called for their allies
001E		Monsters have appeared

Six unused messages for used on the world map. One of these is a VS. Boss message: Mi-Haara is presumably the name of the final boss. The others are for events that pop up without messages in the final game.

The front of these chests are normally obscured by a red button, leaving the keyhole unseen.

A red button with an up arrow. Only buttons with left and right arrows are used. Is there a down arrow? There is not.

The Yes/No Slab has a shine animation that's never used.

Alternate Game Over Screen#

While the princess normally appears on the game over screen, there's an alternate picture of the old man seen in the game's introduction that is unreferenced in the game's code. Put the following code in qzquest.xml to swap the picture in:

  <cheat desc="Alt Game Over">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@026C5C=0x00F4</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@026F02=0x0042</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@026C5C=0x00F2</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@026F02=0x0040</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>