Let's play Ibara Special ver.

[Dave_K.]

I just found the in-game debug settings:

- In Ibara, pause game (with start button), then hold C button and press up or down to scroll through 11 pages of registers and debug info (including some more @ bar graphs)
- Do the same with Pink Sweets and scroll through 17 pages worth (WTF!) of debug information. I'm sure destructable item count is here somewhere.
- While viewing debug info, you can press start to resume playing while keeping the debug screen overlayed
- No in-game debug screens for MMP
- Rank counter continues to count down, even while game is paused

I also noticed while in pause mode (or input test mode on the operator menu) pressing to many buttons rapidly or at same time (A+B+C+Left) can sometimes crash the PCB causing it to reboot.

Would it be possible to make a short summary of the buttons and options available ? I.e. what changes the rank, what is the pause button, how do you select the level and how to decipher the on screen display etc ?

It may take awhile to confirm and digest all this new info.

[update] You can hold C with up/down to bring up the debug screens at any time, not just in pause mode [/update]

[brentsg]

Hey guys, still nothing on Ibara Black Label.

I double-checked the dip switch and tried A+B, A+B+C, and every other combination of buttons along with Test. I even tried both P1 and P2 side.

It looks like it's not here for Kuro.

[EOJ]

Kuro had a different programmer. Clearly, he was no match for Yagawa's debuggerificness.

[GaijinPunch]

Gives me a reason to bring my MMP out of retirement!

[rtw]

Kuro had a different programmer. Clearly, he was no match for Yagawa's debuggerificness.

I am pretty sure that I found a special menu in Kuro back in the day. But the activation was not the same as Pink Sweets. And the activation could be done without changing SW2. Try:

. START+A then TEST
. START+A+B then TEST
. START+A+B+C then TEST
. A+B+C then TEST
. A+B then TEST
. A then TEST

[spadgy]

Great work Dave_K!

Are hidden de-bug menus at all common outside of Cave PCBs? I'm guessing not as arcade operators just need the service menus.

[cools]

Tiny update: Holding A+B while powering up does the trick too (in other words: no need to go through the test menu). Releasing A+B once the loading screen displays is just fine. Only tested this with MMP though.

Excellent! Thanks. Anyone tried with Ibara?

[Dave_K.]

Tiny update: Holding A+B while powering up does the trick too (in other words: no need to go through the test menu). Releasing A+B once the loading screen displays is just fine. Only tested this with MMP though.

Excellent! Thanks. Anyone tried with Ibara?

Nice dorakyura! Yes confirmed, A+B at power-on (dip #2 still needs to be flipped) goes straight into special ver on all three boards.

Slight correction on the debug screens, you can bring them up at anytime, no need to be in pause mode first. You can even watch the debug info for the demo play.

Are hidden de-bug menus at all common outside of Cave PCBs? I'm guessing not as arcade operators just need the service menus.

I think udderdude answered this question already.

Most games have a similar level of debug/support tools available during development. It's the only way to test the game out and not go bonkers in the process. The biggest difference is that most of the time, they are removed before the game is released. I guess Yagawa didn't feel the need to? Clearly it's intentional, as it's been left in more than one of his games ..

My thinking is Yagawa left these special modes in for the hardcore fans (and operators) who own the PCB, to take apart his complicated scoring/ranking systems and learn all the abundant secrets since these aren't typically published (at least not everything), and is a big part of the allure of Yagawa games.

[ShmupSamurai]

Interesting

[brentsg]

Interesting

Grr somehow I managed to clear all my high scores for IBL, while trying to get this to work.

[Plasmo]

Grr somehow I managed to clear all my high scores for IBL, while trying to get this to work.

Everytime you change something in the testmenu all your highscores get deleted. This goes for all Yagawa games, so watch out.

[msm]

Everytime you change something in the testmenu all your highscores get deleted. This goes for all Yagawa games, so watch out.

Thanks, that's good to know, recently got an ibara board and its full of letter scores and i struggle to get ~2m so maybe i'll delete them.

[cools]

Grr somehow I managed to clear all my high scores for IBL, while trying to get this to work.

Everytime you change something in the testmenu all your highscores get deleted. This goes for all Yagawa games, so watch out.

It does? I changed the number of continues recently and didn't lose my scores.

[Dave_K.]

I also noticed while in pause mode (or input test mode on the operator menu) pressing to many buttons rapidly or at same time (A+B+C+Left) can sometimes crash the PCB causing it to reboot.

Clarifying this previous comment. It seems this is a quick reset command for Special Version. Just hold A+B+C for 2 seconds and the game will reboot. You can do this at anytime, during the test menu, before starting a game (in the demo cycle), or in pause mode of an active game, but it will not work (thankfully) while you are acutally playing the game. You can also hold A+B immediately after this to boot right back into Special Mode.

[yetterben]

I noticed if i start the game with a+b held the bomb is different. Its a red cyclone. Maybe this was known before but i just figured it out.

[dorakyura]

I noticed if i start the game with a+b held the bomb is different. Its a red cyclone. Maybe this was known before but i just figured it out.

Holding A, B or A+B when starting the game will decide your ship type. See http://world-of-arcades.net/Cave/Ibara/System.htm for more details.

Grr somehow I managed to clear all my high scores for IBL, while trying to get this to work.

Everytime you change something in the testmenu all your highscores get deleted. This goes for all Yagawa games, so watch out.

It does? I changed the number of continues recently and didn't lose my scores.

Same here (on MMP). I’d be rather puzzled if this was true since it would make the "Initialize ranking" option in test mode redundant.

[Plasmo]

Maybe it was just Pink Sweets. I remember that I got quite frustrated when I changed something in the menu and all my scores were deleted.
Must've mixed something up then?! Sorry...

[dorakyura]

Maybe it was just Pink Sweets. I remember that I got quite frustrated when I changed something in the menu and all my scores were deleted.
Must've mixed something up then?! Sorry...

Hm, maybe the board is faulty somehow? My Ibara board will not remember scores no matter what and I strongly suspect that it is broken (luckily this doesn't influence gameplay in any way

[TLB]

Incredible. I'm tempted to throw all my current ventures out the window just to go back to Ibara with these new weapons for practice...Alas, I mustn't. Infinite thanks to luca and rtw for this information. I cannot thank you two enough :P I was going to buy the port and a JPS2 to ease practicing sometime in the future, but now I don't think I'll need to :)

[Jockel]

Gives me a reason to bring my MMP out of retirement!

MMP? Retirement? Does not compute.

[TLB]

Seriously, why would you retire MMP >_>

In other news, I was at first dismayed that all the useful shit is on the top, bottom, left, and right sides of the screen, which I believed left me and my shitty CRT TV no better off. Then I remembered my shitty little 5" Xbox 1 LCD, which happens to give me full vertical view and appears to cut off a little bit of the right side, but gives me enough to pick my stage. Now to actually get practicing this shit >_>

[Jockel]

I could never play on a screen that's smaller than my dick.

[Cell247]

I just bought the Ibara board and found this post today. Thanks for all the info guys! Is this info corect?:


To access the "special version" you need to have DIP switch #2 flipped like this:



Power on the game
Hold down the A+B buttons & release once the loading screen displays
You will enter a special version of the setup which looks like this:



Now press the A button to return to the games title screen. The title screen will be the same except "Special Ver" will be displayed on the right.


- At the title screen, move the stick left or right to select a stage

- While playing press the start buton to pause or hold the start button to slo-mo

- Rank counter is at the top of the screen during gameplay

- Ability to take over control of either ship and play during the demo cycle

- Hold A+B+C for 2 seconds and the game will reboot. You can also hold A+B immediately after this to boot right back into Special Mode.

- You can hold C with up/down to bring up the debug screens (anywhere except during play)

- While viewing debug info, you can press start to resume playing while keeping the debug screen overlayed

*The rank indicator appears to consists of two parts, a rank level, and a rank counter. The counter continually decrements from a high hex number. The rank level starts at 10 and slowly goes up by 1 or 2 each stage.

[kernow]

[Dave_K.]

Now press the A button to return to the game. The title screen should look like this:

No, thats just one of the two(?) title screens the game cycles through during demo mode. At first you will see the regular title screen, but of course "Special Ver" will be displayed on the right.

Good summary on all the other items.

[Cell247]

Thanks Dave K. I edited the above post.

[Gwyrgyn Blood]

Sorry if already posted, but in Ibara if you hit both players' start buttons you will reset back to the title screen.

If you choose to Stage Select, you get a completely different scoreboard called 'Direct' I believe.
Also, the stages are out of order in the select. They go, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6. No idea why.
Tapping up or down selects the mode you play in, and it'll stay activated even after you play. Kind of strange.

Is there a way to adjust rank on the title screen? I see the indicator in the upper right for it.

Quick rank notes. All of these are in hex of course, the lower rank gets the harder the game gets. Most of these are just ballparks, it's hard to get rank info with a hand held camera.

Starting Rank: DFF,EE0
Also the minimum rank, rolls down from there. Extended mode is the same.

Harder Mode Starting: 8FF,EE0
Also the minimum. Yikes.

Per Frame Rank Increase is listed as the R-## number next to your rank. I haven't found anything that causes it to increase yet though.

Shooting increases your rank but not by very much. Seems around 2E per volley with Dyne at minimum power, no options.
Increasing Autofire doesn't do anything at all it seems. Kind of knew that just from play experience but now you know for sure, jack up that autofire whenever you feel like it.

Roses: ?? Something small but it's there.
Full Size Medal: 1000
Bomb Fragment: 2000(?)
Filling Bomb: ??
Full Bomb Pickup: 1D000 (?)
Extend Pickup: 80000

Power Up via Small Powerup: 1000
Excess Small Powerup: 1000
Power Up via Large Powerup: 10000
Excess Large Powerup: 10000

Grabbing an Option: 10000
Same effect if you grab one for points.

Dropping a bomb: 8000
Activating Hadou: 10000
Firing Hadou: 0

Sealing Bullets: ??
I'm not entirely sure but I think this might be really nasty. Need to test a little more first.

Dieing with 1 Extend: -200,000
Dieing with 2 Extends: -100,000
Dieing with 3 Extends: -80,000


Nothing really unexpected here. Grabbing excess options and powerups jacks up your rank a lot, and keeping your extends low is really important for keeping rank low.

Shooting doesn't really effect your rank much. Fully milking boss 2 only maybe increases your rank by 80000 which is peanuts.

[Plasmo]

That's awesome! We finally get some concrete numbers for Ibara, someone needs to open an ST!

[throne_of_wolves]

Jaysus, I hadn't even noticed those dip switches on my board!

Thanks for the info guys, great work.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

This is fascinating stuff regarding arcade PCBs made by Yagawa. Will have to give the ol' Ibara PCB a spin on "Ibara Special Ver." setting then. Can't do this with the PS2 port of Ibara either.

So is it possible to erase the plain-vanilla PCB version of Ibara's high scores and high score intials when implementing the commands for this debug trick?

Makes me wonder what the next latest Yagawa produced Cave PCB will be like...(with a hidden debug mode as a bonus)?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~