WPG’s big thing lately has been finding out how various games, especially 16-bit games, pull off their graphics tricks. This one’s a bit different; they’ve found game-crashing bugs in several 8- and 16-bit titles and investigated their causes, and figuring out how to fix them. (30 minutes)
The five specific bugs they examine are:
- The Battletoads second-player control lockout that happens near the end of the game.
- The PRG0 version of NES Castlevania crashing hard when too many objects are on the screen. I’ve been bitten by this one several times, and it even happens in the US version of Castlevania in the recent console compilations.
- Joe & Mac 2 crashing early in the game if you’re riding a dinosaur while unlocking a door with a key.
- NES Rainbow Islands crashing during the ending cutscene.
- Sonic the Hedgehog crashing if the control pad is held in the down direction after passing the sign at the end of Labyrinth Zone Acts 1 or 2.
