Special Mode Menu

This is a sub-page of Ring Rage (Arcade).

This is a large debug menu with many different options. There are two ways to access this menu:

If the debug flag is set to 01, the menu is supposed to be accessed by using the Taito Code. However, there are two issues with this:

:*It requires bit 1 of byte 10 in the EEPROM to be set, which is impossible on a retail unit.

:*Even if that bit was set, entering the code doesn't seem to work; it does not accept the second Service 1 input.

: To fix this, put the following code in ringrage.xml:

  <cheat desc="Fix Debug Code">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@004D98=0x6000</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@00623E=0x605A</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@004D98=0x6700</action>
      <action>maincpu.mw@00623E=0x66E2</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

: This will shorten the code to just 1P Start (x3).

Or, if the debug flag is set to 03, the menu will appear automatically. That seems a lot easier.

The "DUMMY" options don't do anything, so don't select 'em...dummy.

Normal Game#

As one might think, this starts a normal game.

Data Disp#

Displays the Taito Code checksum screen.

Object Disp#

Displays the contents of the object, or sprite, graphics bank.

Controls

1P Up/Down: Adjusts OBJ Code by 10.
1P Left/Right: Adjusts OBJ Code by 80.
1P Button 1 / 2: Adjusts OBJ Code by 800.

1P Start: Converts the hexadecimal numbers to multiples of 8 when held.
2P Up/Down: Adjusts palette by 2.
2P Left/Right: Adjusts palette by 20.

Obj Block#

It's a sprite viewer, with names and everything.

Controls

1P Up/Down: Adjusts current frame number by 1.
1P Left/Right: Adjusts current frame number by 10.
1P Button 1 / 2: Adjusts current frame number by 100.
2P Up/Down: Adjusts palette by 2.
2P Left/Right: Adjusts palette by 20.

Check RAM#

Tries to write FFFF, 5555, AAAA, and 0000 to every RAM address between 408000 to 417FFF (This is the same RAM test the game normally performs on boot.) If the game is unable to write to one of the addresses, it prints "RAM ERROR"; otherwise, it prints "RAM OK".

Check Sum#

Acts almost the same as the Data Disp screen, but also calculates the "DATA" checksum, which is calculated by checking ROM addresses 0x00000 to 0xFFFFF. This value is 00 on all sets.

Test Mode#

Brings up the standard test mode / configuration menu.

Mask Disp#

Displays the contents of the Mask, or HUD, graphics bank. Also allows the character graphics in RAM to be edited, though this feature is a little hard to use on a retail unit.

Controls

1P Joystick: Moves the cursor on the left.
1P Left/Right: Adjusts OBJ Code by 80.
1P Button 1 + 1P Up/Down: Adjusts palette number by 800.
1P Button 1 + 1P Left/Right: Adjusts palette number by 100.
2P Joystick: Moves the cursor on the right.
Tilt: Copies the selected character on the left to memory. For this to work, hold Tilt and then press Button 1 to exit the tilt menu.

: This is also supposed to update the box on the right with the pixel data for the copied character, but due to changes in the HUD graphics ROM it will not be displayed correctly.

Service 1: Pastes the copied tile at the left cursor's position. For this to work, the debug flag needs to be set to "Off".

Screen Disp#

Displays the contents of the FG/BG graphics bank.

Controls

1P Up/Down: Adjusts SCR number by 10.
1P Left/Right: Adjusts SCR number by 80.
1P Button 1 / 2: Adjusts current frame number by 100.
2P Up/Down: Adjusts palette by 2.
2P Left/Right: Adjusts palette by 20.

SCR Block#

This is a viewer for the game's FG/BG "blocks".

Controls

1P Up/Down: Adjusts current graphic number by 1.
1P Left/Right: Adjusts current graphic number by 10.
2P Up/Down: Adjusts palette by 2.
2P Left/Right: Adjusts palette by 20.

Other Player#

Used to test gameplay. First, the user must select their character(s) and choose

Controls

1P/2P/3P/4P Up/Down: Cycles between characters.
1P/2P/3P/4P Left/Right: Sets player slot to either Player or CPU.
1P Coin: Cycles between the following ring types: Normal Ring, Street Ring, Iron Ring, and Cage Ring.
2P Coin: Toggles "Duplicate Mode". In Duplicate Mode, multiple players can select the same character.
1P Start: Starts the round.
2P Start: Swaps between Debug Mode and Normal Mode. In Debug Mode, all four players will start out in the ring in Normal and Cage matches.

After exiting the menu, the match will immediately start. The normal round timer is disabled, but a timer in the upper-right of the screen will keep track of how much time has passed. Pinfalls and countouts have no effect here, so the match will last until the user resets the game.

In Demo Cont#

Shows the pre-title demonstration, then idles. Eventually, B.B. Scorpion will get up on his own and just kinda hang out in the center of the ring.

Akira#

Shows the Extra, Battle Royal, and Tournament high score screens in an infinite loop.

Tabby's Menu#

Five more debug functions can be found in this sub-menu.

Priority Test#

Prints the raw data used for the game's 128 levels of zoom. Press or hold 1P Up/Down to cycle between zoom levels.

Game Play Test#

Starts a 4P game with four human players and the standard character select screen. Follows the same rules as the "Other Player" gameplay test, but some text from the character select screen lingers as a side-effect of skipping the match intro sequence.

Player Character Test#

A rather intricate and fairly flexible collision box viewer.

Controls

1P Joystick: Moves collision box.

1P Start: Displays the current sprite's hitboxes and hurtboxes. Moving the collision box will remove these boxes.
2P Up/Down: Adjusts frame number by 1.
2P Left/Right: Adjusts frame number by 10.
2P Button 1: Swaps between the previous two collision boxes.
2P Button 2: Horizontally flips the current sprite.
3P Up/Down: Adjusts the height of the collision box.
3P Left/Right: Adjusts the width of the collision box.
3P Button 1: Swaps between sprites. Up to four sprites can be on-screen at a time.
3P Button 2: Toggles shrinking for all sprites.
4P Joystick: Changes the position of the selected sprite.

Rapid-Fire Test#

Tests how fast the user can press 1P Button 1. The numbers represent how many frames have passed since the last button press, with the most recent data being placed on top of the stack.

Reset#

Resets the game...by setting the program counter to FFFFFF, prompting an address error.

RZF#

As if the Tabby Menu wasn't enough, this sub-menu contains an additional 25 debug functions!

The controls the screen lists are wrong: 1P Start initializes the process, and 2P Start stops it. However, not all processes can be stopped after they start.

Clock#

Can Stop: No.

Brings up the round timer, starting at 3:00. The user cannot stop this process until the timer reaches 0:00.

Income#

Can Stop: Yes.

Runs the routine that handles letting a player join the game, then runs the routine that handles taking a player out of the game. This loop continues until the process is stopped.

Weight Prog#

Can Stop: Yes.

Adjusts RAM address 40B8A6. 1P Up increases it by 1 per frame, while 1P Down decreases it by 1 per frame. This process is the only part of the game that looks at that address, but it was presumably used for something else in development. Something like weight.

SCN H Posi Line#

Can Stop: Yes.

Tests BG/FG layer scrolling. 1P Joystick controls the layer in the back.

Profile#

Can Stop: Yes (Hold during transition).

Goes through every player character's profile screen in an endless loop.

VS Disp#

Can Stop: Yes (Hold during transition).

Displays a VS screen for an Extra Mode match with four CPU-controlled copies of Gunboat Rodie.

Test#

Can Stop: No.

Doesn't do much of anything unless a separate debug function is enabled, in which case the following text is printed from 410000 to 4101FF in RAM:

PLAYER1  9
PLAYER1  8
PLAYER1  7
PLAYER1  6
PLAYER1  5
PLAYER1  4
PLAYER1  3
PLAYER1  2
PLAYER1  1
PLAYER1  0
PLAYER1  9
PLAYER1  8
PLAYER1  7
PLAYER1  6
PLAYER1  5
PLAYER1  4
PLAYER1  3
PLAYER1  2
PLAYER1  1
PLAYER1  0
PLAYER1  9
PLAYER1  8
PLAYER1  7
PLAYER1  6
PLAYER1  5
PLAYER1  4
PLAYER1  3
PLAYER1  2
PLAYER1  1
PLAYER1  0
PLAYER1  9

After each line is a timer that increments every frame and ranges from 300 to 3FF. Each group of "PLAYER1 X" strings is one frame ahead of the group below, e.g. if the first ten lines are 303, the next ten lines would be 302, the next ten 301, and the last line would be 300.

What this is actually testing is unknown.

Posi Test#

Can Stop: Yes.

This tests the visibility and priority of the game's FG/BG layers and sprites, represented here by colored squares:

SCN0: Pink.
SCN1: Lavender.
SCN2: Red.
SCN3: Yellow.
OBJ: Tan.

Controls

2P Joystick: Changes the position of the selected squares.
2P Button 1: Cycles between layers.
2P Button 2: Sets cursor back to "Mask" layer.

Zoom CHR Test#

Can Stop: No.

Controls

1P Joystick: Adjusts position of sprite (Only when zoom level is nonzero).
1P Button 1 / Button 2: Cycles between frames.
1P Button 3: Sets zoom level to either 00 or 01.
2P Button 1 / Button 2: Adjusts zoom level.

Face Disp#

Can Stop: Yes (Hold during transition).

Initiates the scrolling portrait routine that plays when a player uses a special move.

Sound Test#

Can Stop: Yes (Only after playback).

Plays the Game Over track twice, then idles.

Sound Test 2#

Can Stop: Yes.

Bare-bones sound test. The main advantage this has over the sound test in the main test mode is that this one can also play control codes, represented here by negative numbers.

Controls

1P Up/Down: Selects a sound to play.
1P Button 1: Plays sound.
1P Button 2: Stops sound.

Rankink Disp#

Can Stop: Yes (Hold during transition).

Jumps to and loops the Extra Match high score screen.

Select Sub Bat#

Can Stop: No.

Pressing 2P Start will bring up a miniature character select menu. This is used when the second player joins an active Battle Royale match and the game cabinet is set to 2P mode; this lets that player choose which CPU character they'll be replacing.

After choosing a character, the game displays this screen and then loops back.

Select Sub Ton & Ex#

Can Stop: No.

Pressing 2P Start will bring up a window with two options: Tag Play & VS Play. This is used when the second player joins an active Tournament or Extra match and the game cabinet is set to 2P mode; this lets that player choose which team they'll be join.

As above, the game will loop after choosing either option.

Sound Test 3#

Can Stop: No.

Plays the audience voice sample in a loop, fading in and out as it does so.

Name Test#

Can Stop: No.

Takes the user to the Extra Match high score entry screen. After entering a name, the user will be taken back to enter another name.

Rogo Zoom#

Can Stop: No.

Loops the logo zoom-out animation that plays on the title screen.

Rogo Zoom 2#

Can Stop: No.

Seems to be a test for how the above animation would work, with the large yellow and green block standing in for the game's logo.

Controls

1P Joystick: Moves the block.
1P Button 1 / Button 2: Adjusts the zoom level of the block.

New Title#

Can Stop: Yes.

Displays the game's logo. Holding 1P Button 1 / 1P Button 2 controls a strange curved grid that straightens out as it gets closer to the logo.

Game Over#

Can Stop: No.

Shows the Game Over sequence over and over and over again.

Title Imaima#

Can Stop: No.

Displays the title screen sequence until the user resets the machine.

4 Loser Demo#

Can Stop: No.

Triggers the screen that appears when all four human players have been eliminated from a Battle Royale match.

Ongra Champ#

Can Stop: No.

Plays the "Congraulations! We have a new champion!" voice sample heard in the game's ending for as long as it's active.

Ending#

Can Stop: No.

Plays the ending sequence for a Yasha & Gunboat Rodie championship win.

Ishii#

Plays the "We have a new champion!" screen for Scorpion, then resets the game.

Kashino#

Acts as a map viewer and tests the game's FG/BG zooming functions.

Controls

1P Joystick: Moves camera.
1P Button 1: Resets zoom level.
1P Button 2 / Button 3: Adjusts zoom level.

(Source: Original TCRF research)