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One of two Mega Man Battle Network games released for the WonderSwan Color (the other being a WonderSwan version of Battle Chip Challenge), Rockman EXE WS is a platformer loosely following the NT Warrior anime storyline.
Compared to fellow Battle Network platformer Mega Man Network Transmission, this game is much simpler and more loose with how it adapts the gameplay mechanics of the source material.
Debug Menu#
The game has a fully functioning Debug Menu which can be accessed from an out-of-bounds menu option on the title screen. While on the title screen, change memory address $10EB to 03, then press Start. You should now be on the Debug Menu.
Game#
Immediately opens the first stage of the game.
Menu#
Opens the pause menu. Strangely, the menu can be quite temperamental depending on the contents of RAM/SRAM when entered this way. Normally, it will only have the starting inventory, but sometimes it will have one of every Battle Chip and every Style. It's also possible for it to prevent you from accessing the style menu, or instead let you access an unused version of the save screen. Finally, exiting the pause menu can put you in a glitched, unplayable version of FireMan's stage.
Opening#
Goes to the PET sequence that the game opens with. This effectively resets the game, as it doesn't return to the debug menu afterwards.
CM#
An unused commercial sequence that likely appeared at the end of a demo build of the game. The mode is a 2-part animation which shows the message "2月8日 発売 (On sale Feb. 8)", then the text "乞うご期待 (Stay tuned)". This is also used as the background of the Debug Menu.
VB#
Shows the post-stage completion screen.
Style Get#
Shows the Style Get cutscene. However, the "style" MegaMan gets is severely glitched and displays the text for both HeatGuts and AquaCust style at the same time.
Extra Menu#
Opens the menu for the "Extra mode" boss rush mode.
Ending#
Goes to the credits sequence.
Sprite Check#
A sprite/animation viewer for the in-level entities. The left and right Y buttons change the group number. The left and right X buttons change the character number. The up and down X buttons change the animation, and the A button loads the selected character sprite. B goes back to the Debug Menu. This menu reveals many unused sprites in the game. The first group is entirely old sprites which go unused. First is the arrow seen only in the Debug Menu. Characters 02 and 03 are Quake chips with a different palette. Character 03 is an early sprite of Mega Man, which only has an idle animation programmed. The next characters over have his other animations, which is not how his final sprites are programmed. There are only running and jumping frames.
Stage BG Check#
A level viewer. The X buttons can be used to move the camera around the map while the Y buttons change the stage and area number. Pushing A will load the map. It is also worth noting that the running sprite of Mega Man is based on an old sprite, which appears less refined and darker.
Message Check#
Tests the game's dialog box system. It seems at one point this could play back any dialog in the game. However, you can only select five test messages in the final game. The first 4 test message-box and portrait orientation.
Lan says the following on all 4 directions:
Japanese |
Translation |
|---|---|
よ!! ん?! げんき? ウン...。 |
Yo! Huh? Are you OK? Yeah... |
The last message is a sequential message test without a portrait. It tells a story:
Japanese |
Translation |
|---|---|
むかし、むかしのことじゃった。 それは、それは、なかのよい おじいさんと、おばあさんが おったそうな。 あるばん、たいそうはげしいアラシがやってきたんじゃ そのアラシに たいそうおどろいた、おじいさんとおばあさんは ショックでしんでしまったそうじゃ。 めでたし、めでたし。 おしまい |
Once upon a time, there were an old man and an old woman who were very close. One day, a great and terrible storm came, and the strength of the storm shocked the both of them to the core, and they died on the spot. And they didn't live happily ever after. The end. |
Face Check#
A viewer for character mugshots. Main No. is the character selected and Sub No. is the selected expression.
Sound Check#
A standard sound test. The sound effect number is changed with the lower D-Pad (the X1-4 buttons) and played with the B button. Likewise, the upper D-Pad (the Y1-4 buttons) changes music number and A plays the selected track. Pressing start returns to the debug menu.
Battlechip Check#
Tests the graphics for all the Battle Chips, alongside the 4 different states they can be in.
Demo Check#
Tests the game's cutscenes. FireMan's stage theme will play instead of the cutscene's normal music, and when a cutscene finishes you'll be taken to FireMan's stage at the start of the game.
Only options 00h to 10h are valid; selecting 11h shows a black screen before quickly returning to gameplay and the options from 12h to 1Fh show the first paragraph of the prologue text. This then fades out almost immediately and ends the cutscene.
Dummy#
When selected, the game goes to a black screen for about half a second before returning to the debug menu. This option likely only exists to fill the last slot in the menu's list.
Unused Menu#
An unused sub-page of the pause menu. This would have allowed you to save mid-level. It can sometimes be accessed via the debug menu under currently-unknown circumstances, but a more reliable way is to set RAM address $10E9 to $03 and then press left/X4. While visually barebones, the saving appears to be fully functional.
(Source: Original TCRF research)
Unused Enemies#
ID: 00
A spinning grenade that does nothing other than loop its animation. It cannot be hit, and touching its X/Y center instantly kills MegaMan. Given the ID and that this behaviour is shared with several other unused enemies, this is likely the base enemy code with no actual AI or parameters set up.
ID: 01
A very barebones version of the Swordy that moves forwards a small distance before stopping completely. It has a broken deletion animation and drops Recov20 chips.
ID: 03
A duplicate of the Mettuar using an old version of MegaMan's standing sprite.
IDs: 04, 06, 07
A series of unmoving enemies which use an old version of MegaMan's idle animation, jumping pose, and initial jump animation respectively. The last variation can drop Recov20 chips.
ID: 05
An duplicate of the Sparky virus using the same old version of MegaMan's walking animation seen in Stage BG Check.
ID: 0E
The Floshell virus from the original Battle Network. It plays an attack animation shortly after being spawned, but no projectile is shot out and it does nothing afterwards. It has a broken deletion animation and it sometimes drops MiniBomb chips.
ID: 0B
The ever-annoying Dominerd virus was set to make an appearance. For better or worse, it's totally incomplete and uses the dummy grenade behaviour.
ID: 0F
An enemy version of the Handy virus, which only appears as a stage hazard in the final game. It lacks any behaviour and only fades to white, instead of having a proper deletion animation. Its sprite is displaced downwards from the collision box.
ID: 10
Keeping with the theme of cut shielded enemies, the HardHead virus also goes unused. It uses the dummy grenade behaviour.
ID: 12
The Gaia virus. It also uses the dummy grenade behaviour.
ID: 25
A large version of the Spikey virus. It's also the first unused enemy that's fully functional! It has about the same HP and damage output as a regular Spikey.
ID: 26
A giant version of the reverse-gravity Cannodumb. Fully functional with larger projectiles and higher damage output than the regular Cannodumbs.
ID: 27
A giant, or a more accurately sized version of the Ammonicule. Fully functional, but the death explosion doesn't really match it's larger size.
ID: 28
A large version of the pit-dwelling Swordys. Appears to be functional, but it's currently unknown how to configure the jump height.
(Source: MegaRockEXE)
Unused Animations#
Group 02 is Mega Man's sprites. The same controls apply, only the Start button here changes styles. Animations 0C and 14 show unused animations relating to scrapped game mechanics.
These sprites show Mega Man wall-jumping and dash-shooting. Similar to the X and Zero series, it was planned that the player would be able to wall-jump and dash in the game. The other styles don't have these animations, suggesting they were dropped early on.
Also, Bass's sprite has an animation for shooting upwards. This likely would have been used to hit the player from above. Unfortunately, it's not possible to activate this behavior and bosses can't hit the player high up, despite the boss rooms being tall. The inclusion of AirShoes to increase jump height was likely introduced after wall jumping was removed.
(Source: MegaRockEXE)
Unused Text#
|
To do: |
Level Placeholder#
In stage 1, the very first line in the level's text archive reads the following:
Stage 1: Under Construction!This message does not appear normally during the level and is the only level to have text like this. It likely appeared sometime during the level, while it was still being made.
(Source: MegaRockEXE)
Development Text#
In a separate text archive, the following text is repeated 3 times:
{Statement on page1!
development Tadashi it!}This is the only text in the game that appears in English, instead of Japanese. It is unclear what "page1" refers to.
(Source: MegaRockEXE)
Unused Map#
Stage $05, Area $0F is a duplicate of the Life Virus' arena with visible damage around where the Life Virus normally is. A similar room is used for Gospel upon it's defeat. However, the Life Virus instead cuts to a dialog-only scene when fading back in after its death sequence.
Curiously, the conversation in the dialog scene after defeating the Life Virus can also be found in the stage's text file. The unused room and extra dialog suggests the conversation may have continued there. Getting to that map in-game through hacks just has Mega Man teleport away, presumably since no text loads. The same can be done on Gospel's stage, which does trigger the dialog. The scene that appears after the Life Virus is defeated plays after Mega Man leaves.
(Source: MegaRockEXE)
SRAM Strings#
Multiple strings are used for checking for save data. Curiously, these feature several references to the WonderSwan's main competition, Nintendo!
!SNUUPY!
Located in ROM at $3F231A, this string is used twice for marking the start and end of save data in SRAM at addresses $08D0 and $0A6C respectively.
AGB-LOVE
This antithesis to Sonic Advance's save strings is copied from $3F2240 to $08DA upon saving to any file slot, likely for checking whether to show the "continue" option on the title screen or not.
NINTENDO
This string gets copied from $3F2254 to $08EA after saving in file slot 1...
GAMECUBE
...and this string gets copied from $3F225C to $0941 when saving in file slot 2.
*MARIO*!
If you haven't noticed a pattern yet, this string is copied from $3F2264 to $0998 after saving in file slot 3.
(Source: Original TCRF research)