Konami: Force Gear - Unlock Instructional Video

[Pyongyang]

Hi all, thanks to a cool video by Mr. Ghegs on YouTube, it helped me discover and want to learn more about Force Gear, a secret, PC Engine only STG hidden away in the game Tokimeki Memorial.

There is information out there, but it's a bit dry and vague for the casual gamer and doesn't really detail to a beginner exactly what you need to do to get the game to work on your console. Following these steps I've adapted from the original instructions (all credit to those guys, it's nothing to do with me at all, all I am doing is making a How To video to help folks out a bit), you too can unlock FORCE. GEAR. !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk1683ZHk4c

Also, I updated the video above with a simplified method that saves you having to use a CD all the time when you need to reinstall the patch. You can use Tennokoe Bank! I found I had problems with my card as the battery was on it's death bed and caused my Bank card to crash, so I made a little quick fix repair video which may help you out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVTu4qDKUus

Either way, I hope these videos will help people unlock and enjoy Force Gear (and Twinbee Returns!).

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Thanks for the 411 on those nifty hidden Konami produced PCE shmup titles.

It'd be interesting to see if unlocking both mini STG games is possible on a Turbo Duo setup just for fun. However, if using a plain-vanilla unmodded Turbo Duo, you'd have to use a boxy Hu-Card convertor or Kisado convertor setup to use a Tennoekoe Bank properly with it (plus the fact of carefully removing the Hu-Card access cover door as well just to fit the boxy Hu-Card converter into the cartridge slot...it's a given alrighty).

On the average, a Duo's internal RAM back-up will last about two to three weeks tops (which is literally pushing it to the edge of "no return") before dissappearing for good if the console isn't powered up on a regular basis to charge up the internal capacitor that supplies the juice to save the Back up RAM portion...makes getting ahold of a Tennokoe Bank all the more desirable/necessary (so those precious internal PCE game saves/high scores don't vanish forever). Learned the hard way of creating a PCE Sim Earth game save that uses a whopping 2,000kb save file (which'll wipeout ALL your valuable PCE game saves/high scores without prior warning). Eventually, I had to break down and get a versatile Tennoekoe Bank & start again from scratch. Lesson learned.

I haven't had any issues with using the Sony branded 700MB CD-Rs to burn PCE CD-Rom2, Super CD-Rom2 or Arcade CD-Rom2 titles -- they play just fine upon initial CD burning from the get-go. It's just with the CD-RW based discs, the PCE CD based consoles won't recognize them period (after having learrned by trial & error firsthand).

Edit: Went ahead & bought an original copy of PCE Super CD-Rom2 TM off of ebay for a mere $1.99 BIN option with shipping from within the USA. At that cheap-ass price, it's practically being given away for almost nothing. Just need a Naimi CD-R patch disc to boot up both mini games & I'll be good to go. Where's the link to d/l it?

There's another hidden shmup mini game within the TTI release of SomerAssault from the publisher Atlus on the TurboGrafx-16 console as well -- gets insanely nuts as there's absolutely no safe spot to be found whatsoever (I've played it numerous times).

I'm not sure what the average lifespan is with the backup battery on a typical Tennoekoe Bank Rom-Ram Hu-Card setup is. I've bought one brand new back in 2000 & it still keeps on ticking in 2013. You'd think that someone would've designed a solid PCE back-up flash card that saves games without the need for a backup battery, but alas, it still hasn't been done yet. If a Krizz Turbo Everdrive flash cart can be produced nowadays, why not a proper PCE backup card that doesn't use battery power? Hmmm.....

Also, the optional NEC Memory Base 128 with it's whopping 128,000kb of external memory, it'll only recognize those PCE games that support it and no other PCE titles (a general telltale sign is to look for a MB-128 logo on the front or backside of said PCE Super CD or Arcade CD).

Just out of curiosity, does Tokimeki Memorial have built-in support for use with a MB-128 setup?

Of course, NEC went with the alternative method of using four AA batteries for the MB-128 back-up saving functionality the 2nd time around (rather than using a coin-type lithium battery). And what's really odd, it won't work/be recognized on a USA region Turbo Duo console but any of the three PCE Duo, Duo-R or Duo-RX variant consoles will work just fine. Strange but true.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Pyongyang]

Greetings! Glad the video is of help!

Indeed this past week, in the space of a couple of hours of my putting that video up, 15-20 copies of Tokimeki Memorial sold on eBay within hours of each other. Coincidence? I don't know if sellers noticed because the price is now $20 a copy instead of $2. Highly likely not my video of course, I'm no Smosh channel for example! However, Hit Japan for example, had 9 copies in stock. They all sold out in a matter of a couple of hours earlier this week.

Maybe sellers looked at completed listings and just saw loads and jacked it up. A shame.

I love my Tennokoe Bank card now. I never used it before haha! Now I can save lots of games on it, which is fun and useful. I would advise you to replace your Tennokoe Bank battery because if not, you will lose everything eventually. I'm glad I have a fresh card now with a new battery.

Force Gear is awesome. It is very challenging though! I like how the ship changes from a ship to a mech and back. Its reminds me of Hyper Duel. Even the super weapon looks like the Hyper Duel power attack! The music and visuals are excellent too, Konami really went all-out for this mini-game and it shows.

I love Caravan games. Nexzr Special is probably my favourite, but Force Gear is very close!

By the way, thanks for the SomerAssault information. I will try to learn more about that one.

[Fudoh]

Highly appreciated - thanks a lot !

If your Duo (or PCE Interface) doesn't hold saves for at least a month without power, you might want to replace the capacitor providing power to the SRAM.

It'd be interesting to see if unlocking both mini STG games is possible on a Turbo Duo setup just for fun.

works - a friend just tried it. Even without a Tennokoe Bank card around, you can at least transfer the save to the BRAM and play the games. Just keep the Nanami CDR around.....

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's the link to the Nanami CD-R boot disc utility program, pick your poison: PC, Mac or Linux formats.

http://www.zeograd.com/creation_downloa ... =en&page=6

There's Chris Covell's BRAM tool utility program to use as well...have it stored on my Turbo Everdrive flash cart for posterity.

Makes me wonder if there are any other hidden PCE mini games besides the PCE Mesopotamia (aka SomerAssault in the USA) & Tokimeki Memorial games.

There must be an alternative method of extracting those two mini Konami games to run solely on their own as a seperate CD-R setup.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Tried burning several copies of the nanami boot disc but upon trying to run it, it simply says "Load Error!"

I download the patch file and extracted it with it saying 32.3KB file and using ImgBurn program to burn it as a boot disc and it still comes with the "Load Error!" message.

What did you use to successfully create a working nanami patch boot disc?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Pyongyang]

I used IMGBurn for the ISO. Make sure burn your disc at slowest speed possible your drive allows.

This is also an issue I mentioned before, the PC Engine seems to be very fussy reading CD-R discs. I used Philips brand discs and they were very hit and miss. It does work though!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Finally had to use another PC tower to d/l the nanami patch, unzip it as a 900kb ISO file and burn it properly with img burn utility program. Success at last. My problem was using my first PC tower setup with the various 7-zip & Winzip programs that would attempt to unzip it but it'd result in a further zipped up 900kb file and if burned to a CD-R, it'd result in the dreaded "Disc Error" if booted up on a PCE Duo-RX setup. As a result, have got four burned CD-Rs with the 'disc error' message to use as handy drink coasters if it needed be. Plenty of trouble but well worth it in the end just to play Force Gear properly indeed.

Wow, Konami sure went the extra mile with it's Force Gear mini STG game...makes me wonder if given the "green light" to be produced as a full-fledged PCE STG title, that certainly would've been ace in my book. It's quite something to marvel at/play.

Love the little embellishments of having support for the top three rankings with the high score screen + high score initials input + and lastly, high score/high score initial saving to Backup RAM for posterity (upon powering it down for the night) for that unmistakable arcade STG feel/vibe that Konami is known for. How cool is that? Definitely much better than initially expected for a mini PCE STG game as it is.

If you pause, the countdown timer will still proceed to go on as planned.

Could make for some cool and heated Konami Caravan FG score runs at the local shmupmeets...how about a proper FG high score list here on the Shmups site for starters?

Thanks again for the cool & informative Youtube Force Gear vids, Pyongyang.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Pyongyang]

No worries. Again its not my work, its Ghegs' video from 5 years ago that did it, and the guys behind Nanami!

Glad you got the unlock working. I received my official Tokimeki disk two days ago and can confirm that works fine, as does using Tennokoe Bank. I agree, Force Gear should be in STGT '13!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Upon getting ahold of a genuine PCE Super CD-Rom2 copy of Tokimeki Memorial, it's a pleasant surprise to learn that the actual CD was rendered in Roland Sound Space format: 3D sound format using only a pair of external speakers (the PC Engine Duo and Turbo Duo both have a handy stereo headphone jack to hook up such a pair easily). Or add a 2.1 speaker setup for that extra low end bass punch factor.

So that RSS format, indeed, carries on with both mini STG games of Force Gear & Twinbee Returns! as well. It helps to have both speakers placed at the optimum 30 degrees between your present sitting position for that perfect 3D audio sweet spot.

There are a few PCE CD titles endowed with the RSS format including Snatcher & Gradius II Gofer.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BIL]

Whoa, Force Gear looks great. You got your Hyper Duel in my Gradius then ran it over with the Hudson caravan! Why did I get SS HD last month, I could've been fappin' to TOKIMEKI MEMORIAL instead! (and had enough change for a pint and THE UNDER STELLAR 2)

Thanks to all involved in the contents of this fine thread, it'll definitely come in handy!

[rabkool]

Tried burning several copies of the nanami boot disc but upon trying to run it, it simply says "Load Error!"

I download the patch file and extracted it with it saying 32.3KB file and using ImgBurn program to burn it as a boot disc and it still comes with the "Load Error!" message.

What did you use to successfully create a working nanami patch boot disc?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

My converter of choice is AppGeeker DVD Creator (download here).

It will convert many different formats to DVD and creat ISO file if required.

An awesome piece of software for that kind of stuff!