Under the microscope: Road Rash 3D & Road Rash Jailbreak (PlayStation)
Using the PlayStation's BIOS functions to find cheat codes that the magazines missed
Most cheat code repositories on the Internet are essentially un-audited ledgers of decades-old rumors. They’re filled with entries that were either transcribed incorrectly from a 1999 issue of GamePro or fabricated entirely by middle schoolers. Today, we’re doing some accounting.
By looking at how Road Rash 3D and Road Rash Jailbreak actually handle string comparisons, we can move past the rumors. In 3D, I’ve found codes that seem to have gone unnoticed since 1998. In Jailbreak, I’ve worked out how to properly enter the codes that have been hazily described since 2000.
Road Rash 3D
The PlayStation BIOS provides a number of string comparison functions to game applications (see this site for details). Function 0x17 is strcmp, and its assembly code looks like this:
800a62b8 li t2,0xa0
800a62bc jr t2
800a62c0 _li t1,0x17I always check where this function is called in games that let you enter passwords and names, because it’s often used to check for special ones.
In Road Rash 3D, the function at 80044d1c calls strcmp to compare the player name you enter to four different strings. Depending on which comparison succeeds:
800e4e30is set to0x8235(33,333). This grants extra money.800b68cdis set to0x01. This unlocks all bikes.8010eeb0is set to0x07ff. This does… maybe nothing?
The most notable of these four strings is IBaChtR, which applies all three of the effects above. Select Big Game from the main menu and enter it as your name.
Doing this gives you $33,333 to spend on bikes:
You’ll also be able to select your Level and choose any Bike in Thrash mode:
The three other special names are:
MACVVASM: This unlocks bikes, but doesn’t give you extra money.
_33333: This gives you $33,333, but doesn’t unlock bikes.
BeatME: This is the unknown effect mentioned above. Whatever it does, IBaChtR does it, too.
I suspect that BeatME doesn’t actually do anything, but if you know better, do leave a comment. Based on the references to the bit it sets, I suspect this was used to change the CPU opponent behavior in an earlier version of the game.
Road Rash Jailbreak
I don’t have any new cheats for this game, but I want to explain how the ones that are already known work – the cheat sites do not currently do a great job of describing how to enter them or what they do.
First, to access the cheat menu, navigate to Options and then highlight the Multiplayer item (not the Multiplayer item on the main menu). With it highlighted, hold L1+L2+R1+R2+Left and press X.
You’ll get a text box if you got it right:
The strings that enable special effects are stored in plaintext, and are thus easy to locate:
8005ae80 "HAMZNX"
8005ae88 "GPOWOP"
8005ae90 "FDMFG"
8005ae98 "EQWJD"
8005aea0 "DIEOF"
8005aea8 "CMB"
8005aeac "BDK"
8005aeb0 "KLFSDA"Each one sets a bit on the flag field at 8005ae7c. But only four of them actually do anything: the game checks for the flag values 0x01; 0x02; 0x04; and 0x20, but not 0x08; 0x10; 0x40; or 0x80.
KLFSDA unlocks the settings in Jail Break mode. Enter the string at the cheat menu and then navigate to Solo > Jail Break. Choose Continue, then highlight Course. You’ll be able to press L1 and R1 to change the course settings.
CMB unlocks the settings in Side Car mode. Enter the string at the cheat menu and then navigate to Multiplayer > Side Car (Co-op) > Race. Press L1/R1 to adjust the Sidecar mode settings.
BDK unlocks the settings in Five-O mode. Enter the string at the cheat menu and then navigate to Solo > Five-O > Race. Press L1/R1 to change settings.
Lastly, FDMFG gives you four nitros to use in Jail Break mode. Hold Down on the D-pad and press X twice to use them.
Outro
Thanks for reading Rings of Saturn. I’ll be back next week with more articles. The current plan is for articles on:
A new mod for a beloved Saturn game.
Some unreported cheat codes for a Dreamcast game.
Some developer Easter eggs in a PlayStation game.
Subscribe to get those as soon as they’re published!
You can check out the archive for more retro game reverse engineering in the meantime.
