This is probably a longshot, but I've been pondering whether something is conceptually possible on the NES, so I figured I'd ask here.
I like the achievement system on the xbox 360 and I was curious whether something similar was possible on the NES. I realize this is tightly integrated in the architecture of microsoft's hardware and software, so I assume the answer would have to be some sort of hardware (Imagine a game genie-style hardware interface that plugs into both the NES and the cartridge ).
My primary question is whether this 'achievement cart' would need access to the program's source code in order to interpret whether certain game conditions were met (e.g. a boss is defeated, a stage is completed, etc.). From what I understand, the game genie effectively PEEKS and POKES instructions based on the codes the user inputs.
I suppose this theoretical cart would also need a means to upload scores associated with the particular user. A USB connection/removable flash memory could serve that purpose, since the NES isn't network-capable.
Perhaps an insane idea, but it intrigued me.
Interesting you brought this up. I've been playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the PS3 recently, and got me to thinking about unlockables on an NES game. Of course it'd have to be a mapper that allows battery-backup, but I'm sure it'd be kind of neat-o. I know, unlockables aren't achievements/trophies, but still : P
As for the online part of it, I have no idea how that would be implemented, unless there was something similar to the old Famicom add-on that was for networking stocks (or whatever that was).
Roth, I recognize your pic from the NintendoAge boards! I just joined up there.
Anyhoo, I was thinking the unlocked 'milestones' could be transferred from the cart via a compact flash card (or something similar) a la powerpak. Take the cartridge out, remove the flash card, and upload milestones online. Not the most elegant method, and prone to cheating, but it might work.
And yes, your unlockables idea is pretty awesome.
This is already possible without any new hardware. An message encrypted with one's progress, better known as a password, can be displayed and typed into a website.
But how long would the password have to be for any decent amount of information?
To be clear, I mean retroactively applying achievements to old games, not new ones.
A hardware device so people online can see game bosses you've defeated or your high score?
Sounds like a job for the digital camera.
Perhaps you guys aren't familiar with xbox 360 achievements?
Do people get coveted icons in their online profile served by Microsoft?
I believe someone created a 2600 cart like this. With a little trickery it could be accomplished. (have the addon halt until the system accesses the memory address for highscore & then store it's output)
The problem is how would you recognize the game. Perhaps it could read from an SD card, which would have different config files for each game, what addresses show what & how they should be interpreted. The game could be selected from a menu beforehand, like the game-genie passwd menu.
There's an emulator called UberNES that has some sort of database of certain games that you can submit your high scores to through what you've done on the emu. I'm not sure if looking into that could help any, just thought I'd mention it.
noattack wrote:
Roth, I recognize your pic from the NintendoAge boards! I just joined up there.
hehe Yeah, I'm all over the place : P
One problem with a system like this is that cheating is very easy to do on the NES, with things like the Game Genie and PowerPak available. I suppose the device could scan through a cart's ROM and compare its CRC with an internal database, or have some method of detecting a cheating device or flash cart (Treasure Master is able to detect the presence of a Game Genie, which is kind of important when a monetary prize is at stake).
that sounds rather inconvenient; if you're going to spend $50 or so on this unit, why would you care about cheating? It sounds very unlikely someone would really care about it...
Use a Game Genie style dumper device to make an paired MD5 and CRC32 hash in order to produce a check sum of the entire dump of the cart.
Then reverse engineer MD5 / CRC32 in order to solve for the dump based on the ROM header.
This will allow heavily for reducing the length of the password at the price of high processing power costs on the rankings server.
However, because MD5 used alongside CRC32 are pretty decent for removing check sum collisions when providing a ROM header, this will allow for reverse engineering all the RAM used by the ROM in order to produce the entire spectrum of mile stone information.
So get the fuck off your ass, and make a goddamn CRC32 and MD5 generator dumper that dumps the ROM header along with those.
Then get further off your ass and reverse engineer MD5 and CRC32 in order to be able to create an autonomous reverse engineering tool for what the RAM actually is based off those two check sums and ROM header.
This is the only completely retro-active pragmatic solution that costs nothing but CPU cycles and a web host along with a cheap piece of crap dumper cart extension that displays the two check sums and ROM header SID player style on an LCD readout.
jargon wrote:
So get the fuck off your ass
You're starting to remind us of why the community chose to ban you in the first place.
tepples wrote:
jargon wrote:
So get the fuck off your ass
You're starting to remind us of why the community chose to ban you in the first place.
my mood stabilizers are 50 miles away and my right foot has two broken phalanges.
i apologize. i will try to tone it down.