Under the microscope: Sakura Wars & Sakura Wars 2 (Dreamcast)

Mobilize the Flower Division

Intro

In a previous edition I uncovered debug mode cheat codes for Sakura Wars and Sakura Wars 2 on Saturn. Both games were reissued for the Dreamcast with various upgrades. Do they have debug modes as well?

Answer: yes! They are even more powerful in the Dreamcast versions. This article will describe the codes and their effects and point out the technical details behind how they work.

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Sakura Wars

Enter this sequence at the title screen:

Up, A, A, A, Right, Left, Down, Down, Down, Down, A, A, A

You’ll hear a sound effect and see a lot of debug info printed to the screen:

Hold L and press R to bring up the proper debug menu:

The items do more or less what you would expect:

• Start opening: Plays one of the intro scenes.

• The Start ending items: Prompt you for disc 2, where the endings are stored

• Start Eyecatch: doesn’t seem to work.

• Start macro: Drops you into an adventure scene. There are unused and debug options here.

• Start SLG: Drops you into a mech stage.

• The Start Minigame items: Drop you into a minigame.

• Set Heroine: Lets you choose from Sakura, Sumire, Maria, Kanna, Iris, and Kouran

• Hide Debug Menu: Hides everything so you can play. Beware, you’ll have to enter the code again to get it back!

• Dump Playlog and Capture Screen: These don’t seem to work.

• Play Music and Play Movie: These do what you expect them to.

There are more pages: hold L and R and press Up and Down to scroll through. Hold L and R and press Right to dismiss the debug text.

Real Sakura Wars connoisseurs might be able to find unused things here, but I’m not enough of an expert to ID them myself!

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Sakura Wars 2

This game has two codes to enter. At the Presented by Sega screen, enter:

A, B, Up, Down, Right, Left, Up, Down, Right, Left, B, A

You’ll hear a sound effect if you got it right. Enter the second code at the title screen:

Left, Up, Right, A, B, Y, X, Down, Y, Y, Y, Y

Now press Start on Controller 2 to get the debug menu:

L and R change pages. You can drop into the stages from the SLG page and the minigames from the Mini Game page:

You can adjust various game flags and parameters, adjust sound settings, and even VMS/VMU activity:

Outside of the menu, you can get debug info by pressing Left and Right on controller 2:

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Technical details

For Sakura Wars, the function at 8c01b61a is listening for code inputs. When you get a code button right, the counter at 8c04a174 increments. The code sequences start at 8c0408ec.

The game actually recognizes an alternate method for enabling the debug menu. This one requires two codes:

Presented by Sega screen:
A, B, Up, Down, Right, Left, Up, Down, Right, Left, B, A

Mode select screen:
Left, Up, Right, A, B, Y, X, Down, Y, Y, Y, Y

For Sakura Wars 2, the function at 8c01bc22 does the listening. After you enter the first code, the value at 8c04a4e4 is incremented. Entering the second code increments it again and also sets the 8c04a160 flag, which allows you to use controller 2 for the menu.

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Outro

As always, feel free to use this information (and these screenshots) on your favorite websites.

I’ll look at the other Sakura Wars games in future editions. For other long lost cheat codes, see my archive. Thanks for reading!

Logo by Ashlyn Anstee