Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box

A compilation disc containing emulated versions of Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, and Dynamite Headdy along with their US versions, 8-bit ports, and the usual art galleries. Fascinatingly, a prototype of Gunstar Heroes is included as a secret bonus!

Debug Mode#

Activating the below code will put the text "DEBUG VERSION" at the title screen. This appears to only print additional debug information via printf calls. Below is an example of the additional information that gets logged in the background of the game engine.

Master Code (Only needed for cheat devices)
9016E518 0C05B8EE

Enable Debug Mode
2018DC14 00000001

g_spr_attach: 0x70001000-0x70001bff
sizeof(struct vdp_md) = 0x6ac
sizeof(struct cpu_z80_2) = 0x47c
g_spr_attach: 0x70001c00-0x700027ff
sizeof(struct cpu_m68k) = 0x944
g_spr_detach: 0x70001c00-0x700027ff, 0x980 used
g_spr_detach: 0x70001000-0x70001bff, 0xb40 used
g_spr_attach: 0x70002800-0x700033ff
sizeof(struct vdp_md) = 0x6ac
sizeof(struct cpu_z80_2) = 0x47c
g_spr_detach: 0x70002800-0x700033ff, 0xb40 used

console:   SEGA MEGA DRIVE
copyright: (C)SEGA 1995.FEB
name:      ALIEN SOLDIER
name:      ALIEN SOLDIER
version:   G-004130-00
countries: B

0x207c -> 0x601e succeeded at 0x000350.
0x60f4 -> 0xf0f4 succeeded at 0x00046c.
done
    start spu2 trans
    opn initialize
    opn mode: YM2203/4MHz
    opn reset
    psg1 mode: SSG/4MHz(480i:mono)
    psg1 reset
    opn2 initialize
    opn2 mode: YM2612/7.65MHz
    opn2 reset
    opn mode: YM2612(slave)/7.65MHz
    opn reset
    psg1 initialize
    psg1 mode: AY-3-8910/1.7897725MHz(480i:mono)
    psg1 reset
    psg1 mode: SN76489/3.579545MHz(480i:mono)
    psg1 reset

Alien Soldier Removed Gallery Images#

At offset 0x88718 inside the SLPM_627.12 ELF file there is a compressed XML file listing all the resources used in the compilation's gallery mode. Looking at the section 開発資料 (Development materials) for the game Alien Soldier there are 31 references to image files instead of the 24 shown in the final game, those additional 7 references are commented out:

[...]
  <group name="開発資料">
<!--
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln000.ima" alt="開発資料 #1"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln001.ima" alt="開発資料 #2"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln002.ima" alt="開発資料 #3"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln003.ima" alt="開発資料 #4"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln004.ima" alt="開発資料 #5"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln005.ima" alt="開発資料 #6"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln006.ima" alt="開発資料 #7"/>
-->
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln007.ima" alt="開発資料 #1"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln008.ima" alt="開発資料 #2"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln009.ima" alt="開発資料 #3"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln010.ima" alt="開発資料 #4"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln011.ima" alt="開発資料 #5"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln012.ima" alt="開発資料 #6"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln013.ima" alt="開発資料 #7"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln014.ima" alt="開発資料 #8"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln015.ima" alt="開発資料 #9"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln016.ima" alt="開発資料 #10"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln017.ima" alt="開発資料 #11"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln018.ima" alt="開発資料 #12"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln019.ima" alt="開発資料 #13"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln020.ima" alt="開発資料 #14"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln021.ima" alt="開発資料 #15"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln022.ima" alt="開発資料 #16"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln023.ima" alt="開発資料 #17"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln024.ima" alt="開発資料 #18"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln025.ima" alt="開発資料 #19"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln026.ima" alt="開発資料 #20"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln027.ima" alt="開発資料 #21"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln028.ima" alt="開発資料 #22"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln029.ima" alt="開発資料 #23"/>
   <img src="gallery_ali_pln030.ima" alt="開発資料 #24"/>
  </group>
[...]

Similarly, at offset 0x89300 there is a compressed plain text file listing the same images along with their horizontal and vertical resolutions, the previously commented files are listed again here:

[...]
gallery_ali_pln000.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln001.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln002.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln003.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln004.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln005.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln006.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln007.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln008.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln009.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln010.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln011.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln012.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln013.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln014.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln015.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln016.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln017.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln018.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln019.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln020.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln021.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln022.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln023.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln024.ima,1024,719
gallery_ali_pln025.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln026.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln027.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln028.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln029.ima,719,1024
gallery_ali_pln030.ima,719,1024
[...]

Unfortunately, apart from these two mentions, no data for these images remains in the game's files.