Shadow of the Beast Genesis

Project Title: Shadow of the Beast Genesis
Project Dates: March 2022 to July 2022
Bytes Modified: 202,685 of 1,048,560 (19%)

Original Game: Shadow of the Beast (Japan, 1992)
Platform: Sega’s 16-bit Mega Drive
Coding Language: 68K Assembly

Summary: We set out to localize the Japanese version of Shadow of the Beast because it’s the only version optimized for 60Hz. We translated the in game text from Japanese to English, fix the glitches and bugs, restored missing enemies and music present in the FMTowns and Amiga version, and introduce a brand new speed-run mode with a running clock.

Tools Used:
Exodus 2.1 (emulator, hex editor, debugger)
gensKMod_073 (emulator, tracer)
Tiny Hexer (hex editor)
UNICE (ICE format data compressor/decompressor)
YYCHR Tile Editor (graphics editor)

Some Techniques Used:

• Used a Hex Editor to extract blocks of compressed data to unpack and edit.
• Used data decompressing function within the game to load level and graphics data during gameplay.
• Use of IRQ interrupts for special effects like sky gradients.
• Used a HEX editor to rearrange data in order to fit new code.
• Sprite tile repositioning.
• Drawing custom pixel graphics.