Under the microscope: Strikers 1945 & Sengoku Blade (Saturn, PlayStation)
Again!
In this edition I’m examining Strikers 1945 (Saturn and PlayStation) and Sengoku Blade (Saturn), which are both shooting games from Psikyo.
In a previous edition I wrote about patches for the Saturn versions of these games that give access to a special “Test mode” menu. But some more reverse engineering has revealed that this menu can be accessed without hacking — both games have previously unreported cheat codes!
Here is the summary of the new cheat effects I found:
Strikers 1945 (Saturn, NTSC-J): Test mode, level skip, and invincibility.
Strikers 1945 (PlayStation, NTSC-J): Test mode.
Sengoku Blade (Saturn, NTSC-J): Test mode, level skip, and invincibility
The details are below…
Strikers 1945
Like Gunbird, another Psyikyo shooter, this game records whether you’re holding Start at bootup. If you are, it allows you to enter cheat codes on the Atlus and Psyikyo screens.
For the Saturn version, enter this sequence:
C (x6), B (x1), C (x8), B (x1), C (x1), B (x3), C (x8), B (x1)For the Japanese PlayStation version, enter this sequence (where C is Circle):
C (x6), X (x1), X (x8), X (x1), X (x1), B (x3), X (x8), X (x1)The Test Mode screen will pop right up:
On the Saturn version you can also enter a different cheat (after having held Start at boot time):
C (x1), B (x1), C (x9), B (x1), C (x4), B (x1), C (x5), B (x1)This enables Skip mode. Hold L+R during gameplay to immediately complete the current stage. You can sail straight through to the end by continually skipping:
The Skip cheat also allows you to activate NoDeath mode. When choosing a plane, hold L+Start to make yourself invincible:
Neither of these effects are available on the PlayStation version, alas.
Note that the PlayStation game called Strikers 1945 in North America is a different game (the sequel), so these codes don’t work on it.
Sengoku Blade
The test menu code from Strikers 1945 works on this game, too. Hold Start while the game boots up. Let go of it when the Atlus screen appears. Then enter this sequence:
C (x6), B (x1), C (x8), B (x1), C (x1), B (x3), C (x8), B (x1)You’ll be taken to the Test Mode screen:
You can also enter this code at the Atlus logo screen (after having held Start) to enable Skip mode:
C (x1), B (x1), C (x9), B (x1), C (x9), B (x1), C (x6), B (x1) During gameplay, press L+R+Start to complete the current stage. You can skip all the way through to the ending sequences:
You can also enable NoDeath mode after entering the code above. On the game start screen, press L+Start to bring up the Quick Select sub-screen. Then hold L+R+Start when choosing you character:
Technical details
Like Gunbird, Strikers 1945 and Sengoku Blade check to see whether you’re holding the Start button before the Atlus logo video starts to play. This is recorded in a 2 byte flag field.
While logo videos are playing, the game checks to see whether the “held start” flag is set. If it is, it keeps track of how many times the C (or Circle) button has been pressed. This count is checked against a list of cheat code sequences when the B (or X) button is pressed. Here’s one of the lists for the Saturn version of Strikers 1945:
0604be78 0006 # Press C 6 times, then B
0604be7a 0008 # Press C 8 times, then B
0604be7c 0001 # Press C 1 times, then B
0604be7e 0000 # Press C 0 times, then B
0604be80 0000 # Press C 0 times, then B
0604be82 0008 # Press C 8 times, then BThe games actually assign several cheat sequences to the “launch test menu” effect The two Saturn games additionally assign a separate sequence to the “skip mode” effect, but the PlayStation game doesn’t.
The two Saturn games enable the “no death” effect by checking for a held button combinations when selecting your plane / character. The PlayStation game actually has the same checks, but since there’s no second code effect assigned, they can’t be satisfied. Here’s the disassembly:
# Load the "held start at boot" flag
801587bc lui v0,0x8019
801587c0 lhu v0,0x3540(v0)
801587c4 nop
# Check whether it has the skip cheat bit set
801587c8 andi v0,v0,0x2
If it doesn't, bail out
801587cc beq v0,zero,0x80158930
# Check whether L1 is being held
801587d0 andi v0,s1,0x400
# If it is, load a 1 for the "no death" flag
801587d4 beq v0,zero,0x801587ec The logic for all three games is very similar, so it’s pretty clear that Psikyo was sharing code across these projects.
Outro
How many games from the 1990s have cheat codes that never got published anywhere? More than you might think! See my archive for the list of things I’ve found.
