Sometimes, when a game’s got catchy music, you just need to hear more of it. That’s the case for one fan of Taito puzzle game Cleopatra Fortune who modded the Saturn version to have louder music, a different warning track and new remixes to keep its earworm melodies going longer.
The modder, Riggles, made a thread Monday on SegaXtreme to announce and publish an SSP patch. The patch is hosted on their Google Drive, which is linked to in the thread.
“Really basic CDDA patch that boosts the volume of the music tracks without peaking them so you actually can hear them over the SFX,” Riggles said in the thread. “The main game theme transitions into two remixed versions by Iceferno to keep things fresh before returning back to the main theme again, giving you a lot of non-looping 90s music goodness while you play.”
Iceferno is a U.K. music producer and DJ who has been remixing video game music for nearly 20 years, uploading it to his YouTube channel and selling it on Bandcamp.
Riggles uploaded a YouTube video showing off the boosted music volume and the additional Iceferno remixes:
Riggles also changed the music that plays when the player’s pieces are nearing the top of the screen. It’s typically a five-second loop signaling danger that Riggles called “grating” but the patch replaces it with a three-minute-long track that normally plays during Cleopatra Fortune’s credits.
Riggles uploaded a video showing off that change, too:
For those who want to try out the game with these music changes, it’s crucial to read the instructions included with the patch file, as the process is a little different from most SSP patches.
The ZIP file includes version 2 of Knight0fDragon’s Sega Saturn Patcher utility, which is needed to apply the patch — earlier versions of the patcher won’t work.
Once you’ve selected the game and the patch file, before hitting the “Patch Image” button at the bottom, you’ll need to tick the box to the left of it that says “Separate Track Files” or else the patched game won’t run — take it from this reporter, who may have missed that instruction when trying this out for himself…
Lastly, the patch’s ZIP file also comes with a CUE file that will need to be used in place of the one that the Sega Saturn Patcher generates. Just copy and paste over it. If done correctly, the game should run on real hardware or emulator with louder, longer music than ever before.
Cleopatra Fortune is a falling-block puzzle game that was originally released for a home karaoke machine called the Taito X-55 in late 1995 before coming to arcades in fall 1996 and then the Saturn in early 1997. It eventually made its way to the Dreamcast and PlayStation in 2001. Only the PlayStation port was localized for the West. The Saturn version was eventually released on modern platforms worldwide by City Connection via their Saturn Tribute line last year with the Japanese text intact.
Danthrax is a contributor to the Shiro Media Group, writing stories for the website when Saturn news breaks. While he was a Sega Genesis kid in the ’90s, he didn’t get a Saturn until 2018. It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the console’s library as well as the fan translation and homebrew scene. He contributed heavily to the Bulk Slash and Stellar Assault SS fan localizations, and has helped as an editor on several other Saturn and Dreamcast fan projects such as Cotton 2, Rainbow Cotton and Sakura Wars Columns 2.
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