Under the microscope: Lode Runner: The Legend Returns & Lode Runner Extra (Saturn)
Saturn Super!
In this edition I’m examining the two Lode Runner games for Saturn: The Legend Returns and Extra. Although the series was originally developed in the West, it was particularly successful in Japan. Alas, neither of the Saturn titles were published outside of Japan.
I found some previously unreported cheats for both games, plus some others that people might have missed:
The Legend Returns: One extra stage, jump to the ending credits.
Extra: Two extra stages, jump the ending credits.
Details are below!
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
We’ll start with The Legend Returns. There’s a cheat that you can find on Japanese sites, but I haven’t found described in English:
Choose Construction on the main menu.
Select Name.
Enter in the string SPECIAL! for your name.
Press OK and then Exit to return to the title screen.
Hold L and press Start when beginning your game.
This will start you on the special stage:
This is actually shown in the credits! You can see it under Special Thanks if you’re paying attention:
Here’s a cheat that I don’t think has been reported anywhere:
Navigate to Construction > Name
Enter a space
After the space, enter this string: PATRA
Exit Construction mode and start a game
Press Start to pause
Enter this sequence on the pause screen: Up, Up, Down, Down, Right, Left, Right, Left, Y, X, Y, X
The ending cutscenes will start to play:
They will be followed by the staff roll:
Lode Runner Extra
Lode Runner Extra has very similar codes. To access the bonus level, enter your name as SPECIAL? (with a question mark instead of an exclamation point) and then begin playing by holding L and pressing Start.
This one is shown in the credits, too:
The "PATRA" code also works in this game. Enter that as your name (don’t forget the leading space), then pause and enter the Up, Up, Down, Down, Right, Left, Right, Left, Y, X, Y, X sequence. The ending cutscenes and staff roll will play:
There’s also a code that’s not in the earlier game. Enter your name as SATURNSUPER, and then return to the title screen. After that, hold R and press Start when beginning your game. You’ll go to a different extra level:
This is the level you play on the Saturn Super Vol. 11 demo disc.
Technical details
The special names that these games recognize are stored as ASCII, and so are easy to locate. In The Legend Returns there’s a function at 060357fe that has logic like this:
It looks like there was supposed to be a third cheat name, GODAI@TECHARTS! It plays a sound effect when you enter it, but it doesn’t set any flags like the other two names do.
The " PATRA" name effect is checked when the game is paused. When it’s active, the bit patterns associated your button presses are compared to this sequence:
Everything is more or less the same in Extra, but the third special name actually sets a flag there.
Outro
I checked the NTSC-U version of Lode Runner for PlayStation, which has the levels from both The Legend Returns and Extra. It’s got the SPECIAL! code, but doesn’t seem to have the same “jump to the credits” button sequence.
I’ll be back this week with more retro game reverse engineering articles. Subscribe here at Substack to get those as soon as they’re published:
