Under the microscope: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (PlayStation, Dreamcast)

Not enough buttons

Activision published two Toy Story games for Dreamcast within a few months of each other. Toy Story 2 came out in North America in June of 2000, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command followed in October. Since both were developed by Traveller’s Tales, and since I found some hidden secrets in the former, I thought I should check the latter.

Good news: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command also has some long-unknown cheats. I found:

• An “unlock everything” code that works for both the PlayStation and Dreamcast versions.

• Various in-game cheats that work on the PlayStation version.

Details are below…

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Unlock everything

When you’re on the Mission select screen, there’s a bit of code running that looks like this (pseudo-Python adapted from Ghidra’s decompilation):

# Dreamcast   NTSC-U location: 8c015e3c
# PlayStation NTSC-U location: 800f1654

def check_cheat(counter):
    code_button = CODE_PATTERNS[counter]
    if PRESSED_BUTTON & code_button == code_button:
        counter += 1
        if CODE_PATTERNS[counter] == 0:
            CHEAT_FLAG = 1
    else:
        counter = 0

    return counter

That is, it’s listening for a certain sequence of button presses. If you match it, then a flag gets set. The sequence is:

• PlayStation: X, Circle, Triangle, Square, Triangle, Circle, X, X, X

• Dreamcast: A, B, Y, X, Y, B, A, A

It’s easiest to put this in with Star Command Options selected. Put it all in without stopping, even though you’ll be entering and exiting screens when you press some of the buttons.

You may have been kicked back to the title screen, which is OK. Return to the Mission select screen, then hold:

• PlayStation: L1+R1

• Dreamcast: L+R

The screen will update to show more missions are available and that all medals have been collected:

Left: Before the cheat. Right: After the cheat.

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In-game cheats

During gameplay, there’s a bit of code running that looks like this:

# PlayStation NTSC-U location: 8c030498
# Dreamcast NTSC-U location: 80087b48

if (CHEAT_FLAG != 0) and (HELD_BUTTON & 0x0200 != 0):
    if (HELD_BUTTON & 0x9000) != 0:
        ...
    if (HELD_BUTTON & 0x3000) != 0:
        ...
    if (HELD_BUTTON & 0x6000) != 0:
        ...
    ...

That is, if the cheat flag (i.e., you’ve entered the cheat code from above) is set, pressing combinations of buttons does stuff. On PlayStation:

• Restore health: Hold R2, then press Triangle+Square

• Reset timer: Hold R2, then press Triangle+Circle

• Get gold triangles: Hold R2, then hold Circle+X

• Hoverboard: Hold R2+Square+Circle, then press Triangle

• Jet pack: Hold R2+Square+Circle, then press X

• Jet bike: Hold R2+Triangle+Circle, then press X

• Refill fuel: Hold R2+Triangle+X

Holding X+Square does something, too, but I couldn’t quite pin down what.

Riding the jet bike

The code for these effects is in the Dreamcast version, but they don’t work! Why not? Because the Dreamcast controller doesn’t have an equivalent to the R2 button. These are the mappings of bit patterns to buttons for both consoles:

| Pattern | PSX Button | DC Button |
|---------|------------|-----------|
| 0001    | Select     | -         |
| 0002    | L3         | -         |
| 0004    | R3         | -         |
| 0008    | Start      | Start     |
|---------|------------|-----------|
| 0010    | Up         | Up        |
| 0020    | Right      | Right     |
| 0040    | Down       | Down      |
| 0080    | Left       | Left      |
|---------|------------|-----------|
| 0100    | L2         | -         |
| 0200    | R2         | -         |
| 0400    | L1         | L         |
| 0800    | R1         | R         |
|---------|------------|-----------|
| 1000    | Triangle   | Y         |
| 2000    | Circle     | B         |
| 4000    | X          | A         |
| 8000    | Square     | X         |

Because the game code checks for 0200, you can never activate these cheat effects!

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Outro

For more cheat code discoveries, see my archive here at Substack. I’ll be back with more soon!

Logo by Ashlyn Anstee