Under the microscope: Elevator Action Returns

The Ving/Taito special: invincibility and more

In Taito’s Elevator Action arcade games, you play as special agents trying to prevent terrorists from blowing up stuff. In order to do that, you have to shoot a lot of them (while looking for their hidden plans). You move through the stages primarily with the help of elevators that take you between building floors, which is a surprisingly fun gimmick.

Left: Elevator Action in action. Right: Elevator Action Returns.

Ving ported Elevator Action II to the Saturn in 1997 as Elevator Action Returns. The port contains a version of the original Elevator Action as an unlockable sub-game. I examined it and found a couple of interesting things:

• A previously undocumented code for extra options in Elevator Action

• A hidden debug mode that works in both games

You can get a patch to enable debug mode, which gives you special controls and invincibility from SegaXtreme. Here’s a video!

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The extra options code

A couple of button codes for the main game, Elevator Action Returns, have been known for ages:

Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, A  # Unlock the original game
Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, B  # Unlock the sequel's extra options

Left: The OLD item lets you play the original Elevator Action. Right: The extra options are listed after EXIT.

Here’s the new code I found. First, go to the Elevator Action (OLD mode) title screen. Then enter:

Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, C  # Unlock original's extra options

The extra options are: Player Stock (lives), Game Speed, and Sound Switch.

Left: The normal Option screen. Right: The Option screen with extra items.

The code fits with the other two, yes? It’s possible that somebody else discovered this previously, but I couldn’t find any record of it!

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The hidden debug mode

I mentioned in a previous edition that Galactic Attack (a.k.a. Layer Section) and Metal Black, both ports of Taito games by Ving, have very similar hidden debug modes.

Left: Debug mode in Galactic Attack. Right: Debug mode in Metal Black.

We can add Elevator Action Returns to the list: its hidden debug mode is almost identical to the other two. It’s enabled by the flag at 0609fd10, and it works in both the original game and the sequel:

Left: Debug mode in Elevator Action. Right: Debug mode in Elevator Action Returns.

The debug controls are:

• X freezes and gameplay without bringing up the pause menu

• Y advances frames slowly when you hold it

• Z advances frames one by one when you press it

• R fast forwards the gameplay

• C instantly kills you

Something about having debug mode enabled crashes Elevator Action Returns when you first try to load a stage, so you can’t really enable it with an always-on Action Replay code. I fixed that in my patch - see below for details.

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Patch details

My patch does several things:

1. Turns on the debug flag

2. Fixes the crash that prevents the first stage from loading

3. Disables the “C button kills you” function

4. Enables the “Old” item in the mode select menu

5. Unlocks the extra Option screen items

Here are the memory edits:

06004148 e001  # Write 0x01 to r0
0600414a 2d00  # Move the 0x01 into the debug flag address in r13
0600414e 893f  # Branch into the debug control code

06004bca e000  # Temporarily disable debug while loading a stage

060309ca e000  # Temporarily disable debug before checking the C button

060062a2 ed01  # Read 0x01 instead of the "Old mode enabled" flag
060064aa e001  # Ditto

0600661e ed01  # Read 0x01 instead of the "Extra options enabled" flag
06006dda e001  # Ditto

0604c7ce ed01  # Read 0x01 instead of the "Old extra options enabled" flag
0604c400 ed01  # Ditto
0604c432 ed01  # Ditto

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Outro

For more information about new codes for old games, see my archive.

Which other games should I be examining? I've got some bonus articles planned for the rest of the year.

Logo by Ashlyn Anstee