------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ReadMe-DvD_Translations-The_Miracle_of_Almana.txt This file should be viewed using a mono-spaced font like "Courier". Use a font size where 79 columns are visible. The file is encoded in UTF_8 to display the Japanese characters properly. Please don't distribute the ROM file in patched form. Please don't distribute the DvD_Miracle_of_Almana.IPS file without this file or the ROM Expander Pro.txt file. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MIRACLE OF ALMANA for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System Copyright 1987 by Konami English Translation Copyright 2012 by DvD Translations Patch Version: Rev A Release Date: January 17, 2012 DvD Translations dvdtranslations.eludevisibility.org GAME Title Translation: DvD Graphics Editing: DvD Text Editing: DvD Stage Select Coding: DvD Testing by: DvD ReadMe by: DvD ----------------------------------- CONTENTS ---------------------------------- INFO (1) Game Information (2) Patch Features USING THE PATCH (3) Patching the FDS Image File (4) Playing the Game on a Flash Cart or Emulator TRANSLATION DETAILS (5) Why DvD Chose to Translate THIS Game (6) Why YOU Should Bother Playing THIS Game (7) Hacking Comments (8) Project Timeline (9) Software Used In This Translation ------------------------------------- INFO ------------------------------------ (1)---------------------------- Game Information ------------------------------ Unlike Rush'n'Attack and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest which came out around the same time, this action platformer released on the Famicom Disk System by Konami was never ported to cart for a North American NES release. Like Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, this game would have had to have its music downgraded for a US release as it makes heavy use of the FDS's extra music channel. The game is comprised of 6 stages. Originally, you got 3 continues and started with 3 lives per continue, although you can collect more lives, health, and increase your health bar. See the next section for how this has changed... Start - Start Game, Pause Game, Execute CONTINUE or END Select - Skip Demo, Choose Weapon, Choose CONTINUE or END A - Jump B - Shoot selected weapon B & D Pad Diagonal - Shoot rope Weapons are found on screen or dropped by red enemies. The spiky ball weapon called a mine can be used to blow up walls and find hidden equipment. Meat refills your LIFE gauge. Pendants increase your LIFE gauge by 1. 1-ups give you more lives, or as Konami likes to call them, RESTs. There are a number of great strategy pages out there for this game that explain everything about it with nice graphics. Check one of them out for more information on how to play. (2)----------------------------- Patch Features ------------------------------- The game is quite challenging, even on stage one, as using the rope can be a real pain. To make the game more fun for people playing it on actual hardware, we have removed the limited number of continues and have added a Stage Select feature to the Continue / End screen! Simply press up or down to select the stage you wish to continue on. - If you don't want to cheat, you can ignore the infinite continue feature and select END instead of CONTINUE the fourth time you see the Continue / End screen. - If you simply want to give yourself infinite continues, like Castlevania, but otherwise don't want to cheat, just select CONTINUE. - If you simply want to be able to save where you left off, after turning off your console, you can only choose to CONTINUE to a level you have been to before. - Or you can cheat away and go right to Stage 6! - No, we didn't give it an infinite lives or 30 lives code. With infinite continues, that kinda takes all the challenge out of it. ------------------------------- USING THE PATCH ------------------------------- (3)---------------------- Patching the FDS Image File ------------------------- How to patch the FDS (Famicom Disk Image) file: You need: 1) A FDS file. The file needs to include the standard 16 byte iNES header followed by the program disk image data. With header, the FDS file is 131016 bytes in size. The header should be as follows: 46 44 53 1A 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 I'm not telling you how to get the FDS file, but once you do, call it "The Miracle of Almana.fds". 2) (optional) If you have a FDS file without a header, and don't know how to add the header with a hex editor, no worries. You can use the included ROM Expander Pro.txt file with the generic ROM expander like "ROM Expander Pro" from DvD Translations to give the game a header. You'll need to name the game "Arumana no Kiseki.fds" before doing this. Also, you can run it through ROM Expander Pro to check that your FDS file matched the one we started with. If it was different, ROM Expander Pro will give you a warning, but it will still add the header for you. 3) Patch File: DvD_Miracle_of_Almana.IPS 4) An IPS patching program Remember to patch the file only if it has a header. Recommended IPS patching program for IBM PC: Lunar IPS.exe by FuSoYa Recommended IPS patching program for Mac: UIPS by Lucas Newman Using Lunar IPS / UIPS: a) Double-click "Lunar IPS" / "UIPS" b) Click "Apply IPS Patch" / "Apply Patch" c) Choose "DvD_Miracle_of_Almana.IPS" d) Choose "The Miracle of Almana.fds" (4)------------- Playing the Game on a Flash Cart or Emulator ---------------- Game file size: One 2 sided disk 65500 bytes on each side (36 bytes less than 64k) = 131000 bytes = 72 bytes less than 128kBytes This game DOES use the extra sound channel of the FDS hardware to create some great music and sound effects! The game works well in all emulators and flash carts. It's been tested in FCEUx and Nestopia. But, of course, the best way to play it is on a real NES. And the easiest way to do that is with a PowerPak. Remember to add the resistor to the bottom of your unit to hear the FDS sound effects. ----------------------------- TRANSLATION DETAILS ----------------------------- (5)------------------ Why DvD Chose to Translate THIS Game -------------------- Pennywise suggested it as it was not much more than a title screen hack. This particular FDS game had stood out to me previously because of the great music it created with the FDS music chip. But, I had not messed with it much because, unlike other Konami platformers released in the US, I'm not very good at it. The lack of infinite continues on an already difficult game made it not too appealing. (6)---------------- Why YOU Should Bother Playing THIS Game ------------------- See one of the best Konami platformers that did NOT make it to the US. Hear what the Famicom Disk System was capable of doing with music that the NES was not. You should play the patched version of the game because it lets you pass the game without playing the game over and over again. (7)---------------------------- Hacking Comments ------------------------------ Hacking the title screen was more difficult that it looks because it is a combination of sprites and background graphics. And, as usual, I had just enough space in the code and tiles in the CRAM to fit the new title in. Although I considered changing REST to LIVES, I finally decided to leave it as REST and not change it to LIVES because: - LIFE was already used for the health bar - REST is what Konami used in the Contra series. It never bothered me for that game. - There was no "V" in the font. I'm not sure there was any room to add it. - Adding the S would have been a pain to add in the code. Konami made this game hack proof by making checksums for all the PRAM disk files. Changing just one byte in a file would make the game reset itself over and over. Strangely, they didn't check for manipulation of the CRAM files, so one could easily have removed Konami's name from the title screen w/o defeating the routine. Of course, I had to defeat the routine. I did consider making a new checksum for the patched version so that no one could tinker with my patch!, but I decided to instead use the room for the Stage Select feature that I felt was necessary for the game to be fun for me to play. Even with infinite continues, who wants to leave their NES on with nothing but this game inserted until they pass the game? By Castlevania 2 and 3 Konami fixed this issue, but at this point, password saving was not an option. (12)---------------------- Project Timeline Highlights ------------------------ Dec 16 2011 - Pennywise suggested project, Project started Jan 12 2012 - Konami anti-hacking code nullified, Title screen hack complete Jan 15 2012 - In game Engrish fixed Jan 16 2012 - Stage Select completed ReadMe completed ROM Expander Pro file created Jan 17 2012 - IPS patch file completed Patch released (13)------------- Software & Hardware Used In This Translation ---------------- * Emulator FCEUX 2.1.2 by zeromus, adelikat * Flashcart PowerPak by RetroZone * Disassembler, Table Dumper, Script/Items/Menus Inserter, File Comparator Table Dumper Pro (ver 12.1.15) by DvD * Hex Editors WindHex32 2005.4.20 by Genecyst East Software Frhed 1.7.1 by Raihan Kibria * Tile Editors Tile Layer Pro 1.0 by Kent Hansen Tilemolester 0.16 by Kent Hansen * Disassembled code manipulation, ROM Expander Pro file editing Notepad++ by Don Ho and the rest of the Notepad++ team * IPS Patch File Creator Lunar IPS by FuSoYa * Automatic Header Adder ROM Expander Pro 11.11.29 by DvD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 987654321098765432109876543210987654321 123456789012345678901234567890123456789