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About those hidden images on CDs.
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ccovell
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:21 am    Post subject: About those hidden images on CDs. Reply with quote

Hi, everyone. Have you ever looked at a PCE CD ISO in a tile viewer and come across some strange pictures, like a 4x4 and an iguana? Well, once again, I found these pics when looking through "Sylphia", and there were even more of them. Luckily, most of them even had palette data stored before or after the pics (along with some code...), so it was not too tough to figure out the colours for them. I never could find a palette for the iguana(?), though.

So here they are:

I bet they're images from a sample CD program that Hudson sent out to developers.

Of course, poking around other CDs sometimes finds you interesting pics, like this graphic from Shadow of the Beast:

I don't think it was used in the game, and it's different from the same scene in the Genesis version of the game. There are a few more images like this if anybody else wants to poke around.

Finally, I found this in Spriggan 1 & 2:

The artists often scribbled in notes delimiting the available tile size. This one reads "Whoa! Up to here--> (32 cells)"
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Tomaitheous
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool, you found the palette data for the pics.
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stevek666
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:56 pm    Post subject: Re: About those hidden images on CDs. Reply with quote

ccovell wrote:

I bet they're images from a sample CD program that Hudson sent out to developers.
Very nice. I like the new images you found Smile. IIRC, the original images you found were on Gradius 2 SCD, or am I remembering things incorrectly?

Regardless, is it fair to say that "hidden" images and remnants of other projects can often be found in the code, regardless of developer / publisher? Or are certain developers more prone to do it?
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Paranoia Dragon
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 9:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wait, how do I view an ISO in a tile viewer? I'm pretty dumb when it comes to computers, so humor me Very Happy
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ccovell
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

stevek: Telenet is certainly prone to recycle their code, graphics, and sound effects between projects. Smile I think if you look in Valis II's ISO you'll find data left over from Cosmic Fantasy and Carmen Sandiego. Golden Axe even has quite a bunch of ASM code/pointers stored as text in the ISO, if I remember correctly.

Paranoia: If you're using Windows, YY-CHR and Tile Layer Pro are both good. You can resize the viewing window with TLP to change the modulo (tile wrap) for images that are not simply 128 pixels wide. Neither can view PCE sprites, however. As for how to view ISOs? Well, in the file load menu, it usually limits the files to known ROM types. Just change the limitation to "all files (*.*)" or whatever it says.
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Paranoia Dragon
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have Tile Studio, haven't been successful in using that to open it Confused Ah, Tile Laye Pro is working for me, yippeee!
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Black_Tiger
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Would you be able to whip up a rom that cycles through those pics and any other hidden images you might've found?

I'd love to see them on real hardware. Smile
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ccovell
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, folks. Well, I found a few more pictures in Space Fantasy Zone, so here they are:

Neither of them had palettes, so I had to guess at them. The second image is *probably* sepia-toned or similar, since a lot of colours are shared between the enemies, Opa-Opa, and the girl, and there is no "attribute clash" to suggest different palettes for each of them.

Okay, so you asked for it...

Hidden Pictures PCE Slideshow.

Merry Christmas!
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Peperocket
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great, thank you very much !!
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Jabberwok
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chris, what is basically being told in the 1st pic? Just curious...
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ccovell
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ccovell wrote:

Top-Left: "<-- Bad guy"... "Me--->"
TR: "I'm sorry"... "Cat--->"
BL: "[Listen] a little bit. I've got something good to tell you."... "<--- Idiot. He's got a weird face."
BR: "Yaay!"

I don't know what the order of the 4 images is supposed to be, but they were found in the ISO in the order TL,TR,BL,BR. I can't make out the logic of the story either, but there you have it.
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Jabberwok
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the explanation but, I must confess that I don't understand Japanese humor Wink Kinda like the weird Japanese arcade game, "Ganbare Ginkun" : This one's a jaw dropper...

Informative & kinda funny at the same time though.
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Black_Tiger
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ccovell wrote:
ccovell wrote:

Top-Left: "<-- Bad guy"... "Me--->"
TR: "I'm sorry"... "Cat--->"
BL: "[Listen] a little bit. I've got something good to tell you."... "<--- Idiot. He's got a weird face."
BR: "Yaay!"

I don't know what the order of the 4 images is supposed to be, but they were found in the ISO in the order TL,TR,BL,BR. I can't make out the logic of the story either, but there you have it.


Aren't there still cinema like screens exactly like those during the end credits?
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ccovell
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I never could get to the end credits in SFZ. The game just reset or something at the end... Can anybody post snapshots of the ending credits for us?
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chris: This is OT but I wanted to ask you. I noticed that you have done a Game Gear translation before. Would you have any interest in working on the Magic Knights Rayearth game for GG? I've dumped and translated the script. It's all done as far as I know, I just need some one to help reinsert it since I'm not good with all that fancy stuff. Wink I've inserted a font already, so it would pretty much just be script insertion and maybe a title screen hack.
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