Saturn game hacker & reverse engineer extraordinaire, Bo Bayles, digs up long lost treasures that lay hidden away within the code of nearly every Saturn game! You can read more about his journey & findings in detail on his blog, RINGS OF SATURN at https://32bits.substack.com/.
Here we are honored to feature Bo’s ‘UNDER THE MICROSOPE’ series, where you can join him on his quest to uncovering every last Sega Saturn game secret in existence!
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, we’re examining Phantasm, the Saturn port of the controversial PC game Phantasmagoria. This Japanese-exclusive release featured celebrity voice actors and new music, and spanned a record-setting eight…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, we’re examining Time Bokan Series: Bokan to Ippatsu! Doronboo Kanpekiban, the 1997 shoot-em-up for Saturn from Eleven and Banpresto. Japanese cheat sites (like this one and this…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
My favorite Japanese cheat site has three codes listed for Langrisser IV, the tactical RPG from Career Soft: Sound Test: Enter A, Z, Y, X, A, Z, X, Y on…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire is a historical simulation title from Koei, the premier publisher for that sort of game in the ’90s. Wall of Fire…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
If you put the disc for the Saturn game Heir of Zendor into your PC’s CD-ROM drive, you’ll see a file called 99README.TXT. It contains messages from the game’s development…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
Blazing Dragons was an animated TV series created by Monty Python alum Terry Jones and entertainment industry wizard Gavin Scott. It ran for two seasons between 1996 and 1998. This…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In a previous edition, I wrote about how some Saturn games censor their high score screens. If you try to put your initials in as XXX or SEX, they’ll replace…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
The two Saturn NBA Jam games all have lots of “secret” stuff — cheat codes, bonus teams, extra players. Most of these things were documented in magazines and online in…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, we’re examining Bust-A-Move 3 (a.k.a. Puzzle Bobble 3), the puzzle game from Taito. While looking through this game’s data, some strings that seem to be part of…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition we’re examining Shadows of the Tusk, the 1998 deck-building game from Digital Media Lab and Hudson Soft. It was originally released in Japan, but these days you…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition: Lupin the 3rd: Sage of the Pyramid, the 1998 game based on the Lupin III manga / anime has some bonus elements that can be unlocked if…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
It’s well known that Battle Garegga, the innovative shoot-em-up from Eighting/Raizing, recognizes a cheat code. Here’s how GameFAQs describes it: Access a Mahou Daisakusen character: At the title screen press…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
If you examine the game data for the Saturn version of Sega Touring Car Championship, the arcade racing game from AM Annex, you’ll find some interesting strings: 0603e598: SEGARALLY_0 0603e5a4:…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
The Battle Athletes franchise has produced multiple anime series, a manga, and three video games. This article is about the 1996 Saturn game from publisher Increment P. The game is…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, we’re looking at the Saturn version of Batman Forever: The Arcade Game. This was a console port of Acclaim’s and Iguana’s 1996 ST-V arcade title. Some cheat…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, we’re covering the Saturn version of Command & Conquer. This 1996 port of the influential PC game has some secrets hiding in its game data: A couple…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition: The cheat sites list a bogus “Debug menu” code for Alone in the Dark 2. I went looking for the real code in the game data —…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, we’re examining Fire Pro Gaiden: Blazing Tornado, the 1995 game from Human Entertainment. It wasn’t published outside of Japan, but an English translation patch was made available…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition: I discovered a cheat code that enables debug mode and maximum stats in Legend of Oasis a few years ago. But there’s more lurking in the game’s…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition: There’s an Easter egg in Kaitou Saint Tail. It lets you play a ghost-fighting mini-game. To access it, hold L+R while pressing C on the minigame entry…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
What does Gebockers mean? I asked a robot and got this back: ゲボッカーズ (Gebockers) is a Japanese word that is derived from “ゲボッ” (gebo), which is used to represent the…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits Bushidou Retsuden, the Samurai Spirits RPG, was released for Neo Geo CD, Saturn, and PlayStation in 1997. Each version has exclusive bonus content. Per Wikipedia: Neo Geo…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition, I’m examining World Advanced Daisenryaku: Sakusen File for Saturn. It’s a sequel to Iron Storm that was released exclusively in Japan in 1996. It’s difficult to play…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
Hey, didn’t I already cover this game? Yes, but I missed some things in the first article. I’m taking a mulligan. As I mentioned last time: Like Actua Golf, this…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
The cheat sites have had codes listed for MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat since the Clinton administration. But do they have everything? I spent an unreasonable amount of time with…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
Today we’re looking at Layer Section II, also known as RayStorm. The Saturn port came out in Japan in 1997, but it wasn’t released in North America or Europe (the…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
Mighty Hits is a shooting gallery game made for light guns. It was developed and published by the Japanese company Altron for Saturn and PlayStation in 1996. An enhanced Special…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
The Virtual Casino Community Challenge here at SHIRO! wrapped up the other day. Some of its prizes were reserved for people who successfully got to the staff credits: SHIRO! Virtual…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
A new “65% complete” version of Quake for Saturn was recently made available by Saturn enthusiast vbt. I know what you’re wondering: does it have any cheat codes? The answer…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
I previously wrote this: When doing reverse engineering, it’s good to have a starting place — a piece of code that does something that you understand. That’s why I search…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition I’m putting Thunder Force V back under the microscope. I examined a prototype version of the game last year, but this time I’m taking a look at…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In last week’s edition, I came up with a few new cheat codes for Battle Arena Toshinden Remix. The question naturally arises: what about Battle Arena Toshinden URA, the other…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
I know what you’re thinking: “Bo, the cheat codes for Battle Arena Toshinden Remix have already been documented! We’re already aware of how to unlock the boss characters and enable…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
The Flash Sega Saturn Vol. 18 demo disc includes a preview of the Saturn port of Last Bronx, Sega AM3’s 1996 3D arcade fighting game. The preview is an “auto…
Bo Bayles' Hacks & Cheats
In this edition: Impact Racing has a hidden debug mode that’s really cool. You can tweak car settings, track parameters, and more. It’s already been documented for the PlayStation version…